The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has announced its tentative fall/winter schedule for gathering wild horses and burros from overpopulated herds on drought-stricken Western public rangelands. The gathers and removals are needed to bring herd sizes into balance with other rangeland resources and uses, as required by federal law. Changes to this gather schedule may occur if range conditions deteriorate more quickly than expected in certain Herd Management Areas (HMAs).

Sixty-five of the BLM’s 179 HMAs have already been identified as areas of concern because of drought and wildfire. Along with removals, the fall/winter gathers will be used to apply fertility-control vaccines starting in November and continuing through February, the ideal time for maximum efficacy. From Oct. 1, to Feb. 28, 2013, the BLM plans to remove approximately 3,500 wild horses and burros and apply fertility-control treatment to more than 900 others that will be returned to the range.

Additional summer gathers will be conducted starting in July 2013, with the specific number of removals and fertility-control applications yet to be determined. Population growth-suppression techniques will include applying porcine zona pellucida (PZP) fertility-control vaccines; adjusting sex ratios in some herds to favor males; and possibly applying other measures, all of which would be aimed at reducing the number of on-the-range pregnancies.

The public and media are invited to observe gathers conducted by helicopter. Observation points will be determined by the BLM in a manner that recognizes the need for good viewing sites, along with the need to ensure human and animal safety. Several gathers might use bait- and water-trapping methods, rather than helicopters, to capture the animals. Public and media observation of these passive types of gathers is unlikely to be permitted because of the inherent challenges involved in capturing the animals using these methods, such as the animals’ natural wariness