UPDATE: Wild horses placed in temporary home with Department of the Corrections
Horses from the West Douglas herd area rounded up two weeks ago are adjusting to life at their temporary home at the Department of Corrections in Canon City.
The Bureau of Land Management works with the DOC to keep wild horses picked up during gathers on its property. Inmates will train horses under 5 years old and put them up for adoption.
The DOC can host 3,000 horses on its property. With the latest addition of 167 horses from the West Douglas Herd Area, it’s up to 2,200 animals.
The horses have packed on several pounds since their arrival at the facility. Next, they will be vaccinated and then gelded.
The animals’ trainers said it can take a few weeks or even several months for the wild animals to become more comfortable around humans. It typically takes four months for horses to be trained through their program.
If horses are not adopted after three attempts, they are sold. Several years ago, a Southern Colorado rancher was caught buying horses from the BLM and selling them for slaughter in Mexico. BLM spokesperson Kyle Sullivan said there are measures in place to prevent people from selling them for slaughter.
“After a year, we go out and inspect the property and make sure the horse is still healthy and after that, we give them the title,” said Sullivan.
Horses older than 5 years old are placed in long-term holding facilities. These facilities are usually large plots of land owned by private ranchers that can hold as many as 500 wild horses.
“It’s kind of like a really plush retirement community,” said Sullivan.
During the roundup two weeks ago, a contractor hired by the BLM used helicopters and bait traps to capture the animals. Two horses died during the roundup.
The herd management practice has been met with much criticism and backlash from advocacy groups across Colorado. The Cloud Foundation, a group trying to preserve the U.S.’s wild horse population, filed a lawsuit to try to stop the roundup scheduled for the West Douglas Herd Area. They lost the lawsuit and shortly after, the roundup started.
In September, a spokesperson with the BLM said the bureau must manage wild horse herds so they don’t go through “boom and bust” cycles. In that cycle, the population grows, the environment can’t supply enough food or water for that large a number, causing large numbers of animals to die off.
Sullivan said the bureau must protect the population, as well as the land they graze on.
“The BLM has a legal responsibility for maintain the health of the land,” said Sullivan.
The horses’ trainers said people have already expressed interest in adopting horses from the West Douglas Herd Area.
More information on the adoption process can be found on this link provided by the BLM:
http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/whbprogram/adoption_program/how_to_adopt.html
