BLM ends wild horse roundup in state

RENO -- A day after announcing it would scale back costly roundups of wild horses across the West, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management abruptly halted a controversial gather in northeastern Nevada.

The roundup ended Friday with the removal of 1,368 horses from the range in the 1.3 million-acre Antelope Complex about 60 miles south of Wells, which was short of the agency's goal of gathering about 2,000 there, said BLM spokeswoman Heather Jasinski.

She said the halt to the roundup that began on Jan. 23 had nothing to do with BLM Director Bob Abbey's announcement Thursday that the agency will reduce the number of wild horses removed from the range by about one-quarter, to 7,600 a year.

It was called off because of high winds that frequently grounded a helicopter used to herd horses, Jasinski said, and the dispersal of horses into smaller groups that made them more difficult to gather.

But some horse activists say the roundup may have been called off because the BLM and a contractor were having difficulty locating horses in the complex, raising questions about the validity of census data upon which the agency bases its management decisions and the true number of horses on the range.

Animal rights activists complain that the roundups -- which include the use of helicopters -- are inhumane because some animals are traumatized, injured or killed.

BLM officials said the agency has a mandate under federal law to remove "excess" horses to sustain the health of herds, rangelands and wildlife. It was determined the complex can handle only 427 to 788 horses .

The BLM offers horses gathered from the range for adoption to the public. Those too old or considered unadoptable are sent to long-term holding facilities in the Midwest .