The only year-round wild horse and burro adoption center east of the Mississippi will celebrate 20 years of operation by offering hundreds of wild horses for adoption to qualified equine enthusiasts on Sept. 10 and 11, 1999. There will also be wild horse training demonstrations, a trained mustang horse show, and special educational activities for the whole family at the 20th anniversary celebration on Saturday, Sept. 11.

“The U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management Wild Horse and Burro Adoption Facility, located near Cross Plains, Tennessee, has adopted thousands of animals to caring people since it opened 20 years ago,” said Hord Tipton, the Bureau’s Eastern States Director. “We’re having this special anniversary celebration to say thanks to the many good adopters who have found extraordinary horses and burros through this facility, and to thank Randall and Paula Carr, the contractors who have done such a great job of running the center for these many years.”

More than 200 wild horses and about 20 wild burros will be available at the Center to qualified people for the adoption fee of $125. According to Tipton, this will be one of the largest selections of animals ever offered at the Center. “We’ll have mares, stallions, geldings, yearlings, and burros of many colors and sizes at this adoption,” Tipton said.

The wild horses and burros available for adoption were gathered recently from public rangelands in the West to maintain a balance among grazing wild horse and burro herds and native wildlife and domestic animals. The $125 fee per animal helps recover some of the expenses the Federal Government incurs for veterinary care and transporting the animals