Whoa! How to rein in the US's wild horses

Abstract

In south-east Nevada, near Tonopah--an area that has been in near-constant drought for six years--grazing is limited, and cattle ranchers want the horses off the range. Meanwhile, the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which is organizing today's round-up, is struggling just to keep their number in check. Since the 1970s, the BLM has gathered thousands of horses each year, trying to prevent them from dying of starvation due to overpopulation. The costs have skyrocketed to $74 million a year, 60% of which is spent on holding facilities that now keep some 49,000 horses and donkeys penned up. The best solution to the overpopulation problem, says Cheryl Asa of the St. Louis Zoo in Missouri, would be to round up the horses, treat them with contraceptives, and release them.