On Friday, local BLM officials temporarily suspended a 30-day wild horse trap operation initiated June 23 east of Oreana. The gather is on hold until Monday, July 7 giving mustangs time to accept the gated corral surrounding a man-made watering hole fed by discharge from a municipal ground water well.
Last week, contractor Cattoor Livestock corralled 37 mustangs including 23 studs, nine mares, two yearling studs and three foals. The goal is to remove about 100 mustangs from the Humboldt Herd Area designated by the BLM for zero wild horses. Excess horses are considered a nuisance by ranchers, sheepherders, hunters, homeowners and city water officials who also use the 431,544-acre area.
Private land owners in the Humboldt HA have complained of wild horses damaging their fences, harassing domestic horses and grazing on private land. The mustangs are also considered a threat to public safety due to horse/vehicle collisions on heavily traveled roads leading to mines in the area.
The trap consists of a small water pond enclosed by livestock panels. The pond is replenished by the discharge from a ground water well operated by the Lovelock Meadows Water District. Nearby are temporary horse pens for studs, dry mares and wet mares with foals. The 37 animals caught in the trap last week have been sent to the BLM's Palomino Valley Wild Horse & Burro Facility north of Sparks for public adoption or transfer to long-term holding facilities. Under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act, the animals cannot be sold for slaughter by the BLM.
On the first day of the gather, thirsty mustangs approached the unfamiliar corral but most were afraid to enter it. One frightened animal trotted around inside the enclosure before finding its way out the open gate. Dave Cattoor, who has years of experience capturing wild horses, told visitors that it could be slow going before enough of the skittish animals behave according to plan and are safely removed.
"The thing about water trapping is the trap needs to sit there all year long so they're used to going in and out of it," he said. "This one was set up yesterday and it's going to take them awhile to get used to it. They were on water yesterday and still pretty full. When it gets to be a hundred (degrees), they'll start thinking about it."
Despite minimal forage and scarce water, the Humboldt HA mustangs remain in good condition according to BLM Wild Horse & Burro Specialist Samantha Gooch. This week, wild horses that avoided the water trap grazed at the base of the Humboldt Range while others moved down hill towards the pond. As the heat continues, life on the range will become more difficult for the herds.
"So far, they're doing pretty well," Gooch said. "We've had some moisture about once a month and it's been just enough to keep some of the vegetation coming and up in the hills there's a little more grass. The horses have been able to hold good body condition but now it's hitting the hot time of the year."
Gooch said she's keeping watch on wild horses in other drought-parched areas including the Lava Beds Horse Management Area in north Pershing County. Space has been reserved at Palomino Valley in case emergency gathers are needed to rescue animals in danger of dehydration or starvation.
LMWD Manager Rory Munns has been watching the current gather and said he was impressed with the contractor's humane treatment of trapped adult mustangs and foals. One youngster, born on the range shortly before its mother was trapped, was hand-carried by a crew member for reunion with the mare.
"They're doing a great job with the animals and there's no abuse or anything like that going on," Munns said. "They care about the wild horses and I was impressed with everybody I met up at the trap site."
During horse gathers in the foaling season, from March through June, extra holding pens are installed to separate young and weak animals and a veterinarian is on call according to local BLM officials.
A section of chain link fence around a LMWD well has been replaced by the BLM at no charge to the water district, Munns said. The fence was damaged by wild horses seeking water a few weeks ago.
BLM officials say their aerial survey in May found about 282 mustangs in the Humboldt HA. Local cattle ranchers Dan Duncan and Jim Estill disagree and claim the BLM count is low. They estimate there's at least 350 wild horses competing with livestock and wildlife for food and water on their permitted grazing allotments within the HA. The ranchers also own private water rights for livestock in the Limerick, Rochester and Coal Canyons and beyond including the Packard Flat area to the east.
Karen Vineis of the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign observed the water trap operation during last week's tour conducted by the BLM. She oversees horse fertility projects to help manage mustang populations and promotes wild horse adoption and sanctuary placement for mustang herds.
In her opinion, wild horses should not be the only scapegoat for declining range and water resources.
"The issue for my group is horses should get a fair allocation," she said. "On my Oregon project, there's 500,000 acres, 3,000 cattle and 200 horses. You're going to blame horses for range destruction?"
Vineis was surprised, however, to see so many mustangs congregating in the flats below Limerick Canyon and was concerned that people may be feeding the animals but local BLM officials said they have seen no evidence of this. In other areas, feral horses that are fed by people become a nuisance and are killed on roadways or can be rounded up and killed by the state.
"That's always the worst thing you can do for a wild animal," she said. "There's a lot of wild horses that unfortunately are being fed and getting water from people. In Stagecoach, there's tons of people that open up their pastures and water holes to wild horses and then they become a nuisance."
Lasts month, animal rights group Friends of Animals and mustang advocacy group The Cloud Foundation petitioned the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service for federal protection of wild horses under the Endangered Species Act. The groups cite evidence mustangs are a North American native species whose genetic diversity is threatened by government roundups, cattle grazing and urban development.
The BLM maintains that mustangs are non-native descendants of domesticated horses imported from Europe starting in the 15th century and not descendants of an extinct North American equine species.
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