RENO, Nev. — The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has completed the emergency capture of more than 1,000 wild horses on federal land in northern Nevada near the Idaho line.
The agency ordered the emergency roundup in the Owyhee complex in Elko and Humboldt counties because a large wildfire that broke out June 5 burned more than 600 square miles of rangeland, resulting in significant forage loss.
Bureau officials say they gathered a total of 1,178 mustangs and removed 873 they declared as "excess" between Sept. 21 and Oct. 4.
They returned 129 mares to the range after treated with a fertility control drug, along with 151 studs.
The others were transported to the National Wild Horse and Burro Center in Palomino Valley north of Reno, where federal officials intend to offer them for adoption or public sale.
