ELY, Nev. (KRNV & MyNews4.com) -- The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Ely District, Egan Field Office concluded the Pancake Herd Management Area (HMA) Emergency Wild Horse Gather on Thursday, Sept. 13.
The BLM gathered and removed 124 wild horses from the southern end of the HMA in south-central Nevada, about 30 miles west of Ely or 80 miles northeast of Tonopah, Nev. The animals were at-risk of death if they remained on the range because of minimal forage growth and reduced water availability due to severe drought conditions.
The horses were transported to the Palomino Valley Center outside Reno, Nev., to be prepared for the BLM’s adoption program. Un-adopted wild horses will be placed in long-term pastures where they will be humanely cared for and retain their “wild” status and protection under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. The BLM does not sell or send any wild horses to slaughter.
The emergency gather began on September 12. An Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) veterinarian was on site daily through the gather to evaluate animal conditions and provide recommendations to the on-site BLM wild horse and burro specialist for care and treatment. BLM staff utilized the Henneke body condition scale to classify gathered wild horses. On a scale from one to nine (one being poor condition and nine being extremely fat), the horses were generally a body condition score of two and three, with a few wild horses observed to be higher or lower.
The BLM’s Pancake HMA Emergency Wild Horse Gather website can be accessed
here.
