The Bureau of Land Management Ely District wrapped up their Eagle and Silver King Emergency Wild Horse Gather a few days after Christmas.
Public Information officer Chris Hanefeld said BLM “gathered and removed 74 excess wild horses from public and private lands adjacent to U.S. Highway 93 and State Route 322 in and outside the Eagle and Silver King Herd Management Areas (HMAs) in eastern Nevada.”
In addition, another 31 horses were removed from between Pioche and Eagle Valley and 43 more were taken from the Bennet Springs area southwest of Panaca.
Hanefeld said the Eagle and Silver King Emergency Wild Horse Gather began on Tuesday, Dec. 20, and concluded on Wednesday, Dec. 28. An Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) veterinarian was on call throughout gather operations.
BLM Ely District Caliente Field Office manager Chris Carlton said at the county commission meeting motorists need to be watchful for remaining horses being on any of the roads in the county, even those not targeted by the gathering, because the salt the road and/or highway department may put on the roads can attract the wild horses. “If you see one or more, report it to our office.”
Commissioner Paul Donohue said he had a recent near-miss, close-encounter with a horse. “I brushed a horse’s tail coming over Caliente summit. It was that close to an accident. I’ve gotten to the point where I honk my horn quite a lot.”
Shawn Frehner said a man who came into the treasurer’s office in Pioche earlier in the day said he had “never seen a horse on the highway until just today, and that made me very alert.”
As is customary, the wild horses removed from the range were transported to the BLM’s Indian Lakes off-range corrals located in Fallon, Nev., to be prepared for the BLM’s adoption program. Unadopted 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.
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