Wild horse round-up scheduled for mid-November

A wild horse gather in the Pine Nut mountains will begin in mid-November, and will use helicopters.

The Bureau of Land Management will gather approximately 118 wild horses from within the Pine Nut Herd Management Area, vaccinate approximately 45 of the mares with a two year fertility control vaccine, and then release all 118 horses (including the 45 treated mares) back into the area.

About 67 additional wild horses congregating outside the area in the Fish Springs area will be rounded up and taken away.

The gather is expected to last about a week.

Treating selected mares with a two-year fertility control vaccine on the Pine Nut gathers will assist in maintaining the appropriate management level of horses and reduce the number of excess wild horses that would need to be removed in the future.

BLM officials say the gathers are needed to achieve the appropriate population of horses in order to maintain a thriving natural ecological balance for the remaining wild horse population, wildlife, permitted livestock and.

Officials say helicopters will be used to gather the wild horses and will transport the animals by motorized vehicles. The use of helicopters, which is authorized by the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, has proven to be the safest and most practical means for gathering excess wild horses.

For more information, call 885-6000, for Supervisory Natural Resource Specialist Alan Bittner, for the Sierra Front Field.