Editorial: Save our wild horses

Monday, Feb. 9, 2004 | 8:57 a.m.

Wild horses, colts and burros were all up for adoption this past Saturday at Oliver Ranch in the Red Rock Canyon Conservation Area. The adoption event provided a chance for these marvelous animals to get away from Nevada's open range lands, where their sheer numbers place them at risk. The more they eat the less sustainable the land becomes. In such cases, they are at risk from more than starvation. Ranchers have been known to shoot burros and horses that threaten to deplete the land their livestock needs for grazing. Adoptions such as the one Saturday give the animals a chance to live at a home where the conditions for their care have been approved by federal inspectors.

Unfortunately, Saturday's adoption may be the last one for awhile, as the Bureau of Land Management in Nevada is running out of money for the roundups and for the care and feeding of the animals until adoption time. Half of the nation's wild horses and burros reside in Nevada, but our BLM office receives only 14 percent of the federal funds made available for population control.

The Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners has decided to sue the federal government over this issue, a tactic once used successfully by Wyoming. We support the board's suit. All wild horses and burros are federally protected. Nevada's horses deserve an equal share of the available resources.