(Last update: 7/20/2012)
Bait trapping has started in the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range, capture operations have been in both the upper and lower elevations.
So far three horses have been caught:
- Kokopelli: 2 YO apricot dun colt with a blaze (Strawberry x Blizzard)
- Joaquin (BLM name Jumping Badger): 3 YO bay colt with a blaze (Cecelia x Sitting Bull)
- Liesl: Yearling bay filly with a star (Greta x Bristol)
- Lynx: Yearling solid dun colt, from Cloud's band (Ingrid x Ferdinand)
- Breeze (BLM name Kierra): 2YO brown filly with star & LH pastern (Aztec x Cloud)
BLM wants to remove 30-40 horses ages 1-3 years old. That's about 2/3 of the population in that age range... far too many.
There is a tiered removal system that BLM created:
Tier 1 being horses "whose removal would maintain the objectives for the herd primarily by balancing representation and sex ratios." These horses are primarily ones who have siblings on the range and/or are not of rare colors or genetics.
Tier 2 being horses "whose removal would also meet the objectives for the herd, but perhaps with other circumstances such as a tier one horse is not captured or if the dam of the identified horses would most likely have more opportunities to produce more foals due to her age and fertility control prescription." This meaning horses who may be the only offspring of a mare, but that mare is still young and is likely to foal again.
Tier 3 horses being those "whose removal would make it more difficult to meet herd objectives in the future." This meaning horses who are of rare color and/or rare genetic lines.
While horses on tier 1 and 2 will be the focus of BLM's removal, horses in tier 3 are still at risk, as they "would only be removed if one and two tier horses are not located where they can be captured or cannot be captured in sufficient numbers after gather operations are approaching the end of the season."
You can read our previous press release on the bait trap here.
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