Wild horse advocate named to advisory board

Tuesday, Feb. 3, 1998 | 12:48 p.m.

U.S. Bureau of Land Management Director Pat Shea announced that Lappin, active in wild horse matters for more than 20 years, would serve on the board.

Members meet for the first time Monday in Reno to discuss problems with the wild horse adoption program. More than 6,000 wild horses remain unadopted and are being fed in pens throughout the country, including 2,000 at Palomino Valley, north of Reno.

Salt Lake Tribune Editor Jay Shelledy also is scheduled to analyze media coverage of the wild horse adoption program.

The Associated Press reported last year that the BLM failed to keep track of about 32,000 adopted horses, thousands had been sold for slaughter, BLM employees were among those profiting, and that agency officials gave false information about the program to Congress.

The federal agency had denied the charges. But Shea, who took over the BLM in October, promised an overhaul and conceded there had been a tendency within the agency to "cover up" mistakes and problems.

People may adopt horses for $125 per animal. After caring for the horses for one year, they get titles. About half of the wild horses in the United States are in Nevada.

Lappin is a leader of the Wild Horse Organized Assistance organization and a former member of Nevada's Wild Horse Commission.

While Lappin is the only Nevadan among the nine members of the advisory board, member John Artz, of Cool, Calif., is a former member of the University of Nevada, Reno, Cooperative Extension Service. Another member, Naomi Tyler, of Boise, Idaho., is an endurance rider who has adopted wild horses from Nevada.