Wild Horse bills set for legislative hearings

Tuesday, March 23, 1999 | 11:18 a.m.

SB396 would make it a felony to willfully and maliciously kill unclaimed animals or livestock. It also increases penalties for other offenses against animals on state or private lands.

The Senate bill also provides for a number of other protections for animals, particularly for those used by law enforcement agencies and for helper animals used to assist people with handicaps.

Wild horse advocacy groups called for the felony provisions after 33 wild horses were found shot between Virginia City and Lockwood at the end of 1998. At the time, the violation of shooting a wild horse was only misdemeanor.

Another wild horse bill, giving Nevada counties the authority to gather and sell such horses, is up for a hearing next Monday in the Assembly Natural Resources, Agriculture and Mining Committee.

AB509 also would let counties enter into agreements providing for the adoption of such horses.

The Assembly bill was requested by John Carpenter, R-Elko, who said it's a response to the inability of the federal Bureau of Land Management to manage federally protected wild horse herds. He said the BLM has been unable to keep the wild horse population at levels sustainable without damage to rangelands.

The counties would only be able to gather the BLM-managed horses if they left federally managed lands, Carpenter said. Herds that range on state and private lands would also fall under the jurisdiction of counties.