This story is part of our Quick Hits series. This series will bring you breaking news and short updates from throughout the state.
Parts of southwest Wyoming’s iconic sprawling sagebrush landscape will soon look different: No wild horses.
Last week, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced final plans to remove the roughly 3,000 horses from about two million acres in Wyoming’s southwest corner. This includes all herds in the Great Divide Basin and Salt Wells Creek areas, and herds in portions of Adobe Town.
If roundups go to plan, it’ll cut a sizable chunk out of Wyoming’s total wild horse population. Right now, that number could be around 6,000. The state plans to manage about 2,566 total.
The first roundup is scheduled for July 15, although the agency says it could take years to finish the job.
According to the BLM, the plan is its only option for managing the horses. That’s because the animals are on checkerboard land, meaning ownership alternates every square mile between public and private. Private landowners no longer want wild horses roaming onto their land and fencing them out isn’t feasible.
The plan was in flux earlier this spring, waiting on public comment and a court decision. But according to the BLM, it’s cleared to move forward.
Wild horse advocates previously sued, saying removal of all the herds violates federal protections for the animals. They also argue that there are other management options for this specific situation, like, eliminating the checkerboard by chunking larger federal acreage together through land swaps with private owners.
Rounded up horses will be put in BLM holding facilities and many will go up for adoption.
While the agency says it doesn’t sell them to slaughter, horse advocacy groups say there’s a loophole in which some U.S. wild horses still meet that fate in Mexico and Canada.
This played into the pausing of the BLM’s program that pays people to adopt wild horses. A judge ruled that it’s plausible the federal government is paying taxpayer money to people who turn around and sell the horses to slaughter.
