After several weeks of complaints, two dozen wild mustangs still romp through northeast Carson City, creating traffic hazards and trampling people's gardens and yards.
Nevada Department of Agriculture Director Paul Iverson, who is in charge of removing wild horses that find their way into the city limits, said traps have been set and it is just a matter of time, and luck, before the horses are caught.
Iverson said the horses will either be adopted out or relocated back into the wild.
"We'd rather catch them and adopt them out rather than relocate them, but the facility is full," he said. That leaves relocation as the only option.
Often, the removed horses, who are placed in the hills near Virginia City, will find a way back into a populated areas.
In the meantime, traps set up on Goni Road lure the horses with hay and it is up to the attendant to close the gates while they are inside. The problem with this method, Iverson said, is that trappers will not likely catch more than a few at a time.
While the residents are waiting for the problem to be solved, horses continue to roam through city streets. Iverson said a horse was hit by a car Monday night.
"We don't think we'll get them all, but anything we can do is an improvement," he said. "We need to see what we can do as far as some long term solutions."
Iverson, City Manager John Berkich and other city officials met Tuesday to talk about some of the possibilities, but nothing new has yet been proposed.
Berkich said the first consideration is to discourage people from feeding horses.
"That's really the source of the problem," he said. "It doesn't take long before they figure out where they can get free food from."
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