RENO (AP) - Wild-horse advocates staged weekend rallies across the country, including ones in Carson City and Las Vegas, to drum up opposition to the government's removal of mustangs from the range and to proposals to slaughter them.
Rallies were held Saturday in all 50 states as well as Canada and Australia, according to organizers.
A demonstration that drew some 70 people outside the Legislative Building in Carson City was the largest, organizers said. Similar rallies attracted about 50 people in Las Vegas, 25 people in Oakland, Calif., and 20 people in Rock Springs, Wyo.
The rallies were initiated through social media by Wild Horse Preservation League member Patty Bumgarner of Dayton.
Horse groups are hoping new Interior Secretary Sally Jewell will represent a shift in direction for the government's management of wild horses. They note nearly 40,000 horses were removed from the range across the West during the tenure of her predecessor, Ken Salazar.
The organizations also are fighting efforts to return to domestic horse slaughter. Last week, a New Mexico facility moved one step closer to becoming the first plant in the country in more than six years to slaughter horses, with a successful inspection by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
About half of the estimated 37,000 horses and burros on federal lands are in Nevada.
BLM maintains that the range can sustain only about 26,000 and conducts roundups regularly to try to get closer to that number.[[In-content Ad]]
