The Bureau Of Land Management (BLM) has a wild horse round up planned for next month, but a local advocate group would like the animals to stay where they are.
Today they held a rally to voice their concerns and we spoke to representatives from both groups.
"Save our mustangs, save our mustangs!" chants the group of about 40 protesters, standing with signs on the sidewalk outside the BLM offices in Reno.
Keeping more of northern Nevada’s mustangs in the wild is what these advocates want - and they have a plan: "Our proposal is not to remove these horses, it's to let us continue darting with fertility control." explains Deb Walker, founder of Pine Nut Wild Horse Advocates.
The BLM says the fertility controls are helping but not enough - the number of wild horses is still too large.
Jenny Lesieutre is a wild horse and burro specialist for the BLM. "We gotta do what's best for the animals and the other wild life and the plants and the water."
Each horse needs about five gallons of water and 20 pounds of food per day. The BLM says their studies show these ranges just cannot support that, and the round ups are necessary.
The next one is planned for early August.
"We're hoping to adopt out a large amount of the ones we do take off of the range and then work with the community on leaving the ones that are part of the pilot program that we've been working with them on." says Colleen Dulin, the Associate District Manager with the Carson City District Office for the BLM.
The crux of the matter right now is over the number of horses planned for round up.
The Pine Nut group wants more to stay on the range.
"They have compromised,” admits Walker, but – “We need them to further compromise with us."
"The BLM is mandated by law, on what we have to do,” says Lesieutre “We're driven by the act the 1971 Wild and Free Roaming Horses and Burro Act.”
That act is what prompted the round ups and adoptions we still see today.
However, not enough horses are adopted so, many wild mustangs are kept in long term holding facilities.
"It's fiscally irresponsible, it's not fair to the horses." says Walker.
The BLM maintains they are working for balance: "In what the community needs and what the BLM needs to do as far as managing their resources responsibly," says Dulin.
For more information on either group, click links below:
