Nevada's Wild Horses Review

   NEVADA'S WILD MUSTANGS

Nevada is home to the largest population of the nation's wild horses and burros. In 1988 the estimate was 26,160 horses and 1,318 burros. Many herds have grown significantly since the 1980‘s.

Most of these horses are located on public lands. They are taken care of by the BLM in Battle Mountain, Winnemucca, Las Vegas and Carson City Districts. The largest population of burros are in the Las Vegas District.

There are also over 1000 head of non-BLM wild horses, they roan in the Virginia Range, that are administered by the Nevada Department of Agriculture. The Virginia Range encompasses Storey County and parts of Washoe and Lyon Counties.

Nevada Wild Horse Range has been established. This 394,000-acre range in the northeast corner of Nye County is cooperatively managed by the BLM, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Air Force, the Nevada Division of Wildlife and the Department of Defense.

A helicopter is used for most of the gathers of excess animals in Nevada. Although some animals are gathered by "water trapping" or "bait trapping." When a helicopter gather is in progress the BLM has inspectors on-the-ground that monitor the helicopter to oversee safe and humane practices. Representatives of recognized wild horse groups are usually present at state gathers.

Wild horses and burros gathered in Nevada by the BLM are brought to the National Wild Horse and Burro Center in Palomino Valley, north of Sparks, Nevada where they are readied for adoption. All horses and burros receive an identification number (freeze mark), vaccinations, the age is determined and they are classified for adoption.

State (non-BLM) horses are usually brought to the horse holding unit at the Northern Nevada Correctional Facility in Carson City, also known as the Stewart Conservation Camp or the Carson Prison Farm.

Once the horses are processed they either go to the prison training program at the Warm Springs correctional Facility to be gentled and saddle started, or are made available directly to adopters through a network of wild horse groups that are approved adoption agents

Congress passed legislation in 1971 to protect, manage and control wild horses and burros on the public lands. The Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act declared these animals to be "living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West."

Congress further declared it is the "policy of Congress that wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death..." and that they are "...an integral part of the natural system of the public lands."

These animals are gathered "in order to preserve and maintain a thriving natural ecological balance and multiple-use relationship in the area."

In several areas of Nevada, ranchers turned loose many breeds including Shires, Percherons, Hambletonians, Morgans and Irish stallions and mares to set a standards and patterns in the herds that roamed nearby. As the cavalry, ranchers or miners needed horses, many were trapped and trained for the purposes of man.

Burros were first brought to the "New World" by early Spanish explorers and were used by prospectors and sheep herders.

The Act allows the Secretary of the Interior, and the BLM, to offer excess animals for private maintenance and care. Between 1972 and 1988, a total of 91,419 animals had been adopted. Leading the states with the most number of horse adoptions are Texas, followed by South Dakota, California, Oklahoma and Oregon. Californians have adopted the most burros.

To adopt a horse or A burro, an individual must be at least 18 years of age, have no convictions for inhumane treatment of animals and have adequate facilities and means of transportation to provide humane care and proper treatment for the animal. Parents or legal guardians may adopt a horse or burro and allow children to assist in caring for and training the animal.

An adoption fee of $125 per horse or burro is usually charged at adoption centers. Unweaned foals accompanying a mare or jenny will be sold only with their mothers. Progeny of adopted wild horses or burros which are born in captivity while under adopters' care are not considered to be "wild and free-roaming" and are, therefore, the property of adopters.

One year after signing an adoption agreement, the adopter may receive title to the horse or burro provided that the animal has received proper care and maintenance.

To adopta BLM horse in Nevada, write: Palomino Valley Wild Horse and Burro Adoption Center, P.O. Box 3270, Sparks, NV 89432 or telephone (775) 475-2222.

85 percent of Nevada is public land and most of it is managed by the Bureau of Land Management.

Nevada's Highway 50, the so-called "Loneliest Road in America" and once described by a leading tourism organization as having "no points of interest," is a National Scenic Byway and gateway to the Great Basin.

Nevada's Velma B. Johnston, later known as Wild Horse Annie, spearheaded the popular movement that inspired passage of the 1971 National Free-Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act.