BLM NEWS RELEASE
Today Ninth Circuit Court Judges Wardlaw, Paez and Chief Judge Kozinski denied a request for emergency injunction filed by the Cloud Foundation on Friday, July 15. This ruling by the Ninth Circuit allows the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to proceed with the Triple B gather while the Court hears the plaintiffs’ appeal. The Triple B gather will begin on Wednesday, July 20 to remove excess wild horses.
“The BLM is very pleased that the Ninth Circuit’s ruling allows us to proceed with the gather,” said Amy Lueders, BLM Nevada Acting State Director. “The wild horse population is five times over the minimum appropriate management level and the excess wild horses must be removed to maintain healthy rangelands and ensure there will be adequate water and forage for the remaining wild horses, wildlife and permitted livestock.”
The BLM will gather and remove approximately 1,726 excess wild horses from in and around the Triple B, Maverick-Medicine and Antelope Valley herd management areas (HMA) and the Cherry Springs Wild Horse Territory located approximately 30 miles northwest of Ely and 70 miles southeast of Elko, Nev. Removal of the excess wild horses is necessary to prevent degradation of rangeland resources and to ensure sufficient forage and water is available for the wild horse population.
The estimated population for the entire gather area is 2,198. The appropriate management level (AML) for the entire area is 472-889 animals. Any horses gathered above targeted removal numbers will be released back to the range so that the remaining population is within AML.
Any gathered mares released back to the range will be vaccinated with the PZP-22 (Porcine Zona Pellucida) fertility control vaccine. Additionally, sex ratios of gathered animals to be returned to the HMAs may be adjusted to achieve an approximately 60 percent male/40 percent female ratio.
The gathered animals will be transported to the National Wild Horse and Burro Center at Palomino Valley (PVC), in Reno, Nev., Gunnison Correctional Facility in Gunnison, Utah, and the Delta Wild Horse Corrals in Delta City, Utah. The animals will be prepared for the BLM adoption program or for long-term holding.
For more information about the Triple B wild horse gather, visit: http://www.blm.gov/nv/.
