BLM plans wild-horse roundups

FILLMORE, Millard County — The U.S. Bureau of Land Management's Fillmore Field Office has announced plans to remove excess wild horses from the Conger Complex Herd Management Area near Garrison, east of the Nevada state line, to reduce the herd's population levels.

Gatherings of the horses are anticipated to begin next month and involve the removal of an estimated 480 wild horses for placement in the adoption program or long-term pastures. An estimated 50 studs of the captured wild horses from the Confusion Mountain management area will be returned to the range to adjust the sex ratio and slow population growth.

The Conger management area is in Millard County, 20 miles northeast of Garrison, and encompasses approximately 170,000 acres, with a current population estimated at 291 wild horses based on an inventory done earlier this year. The appropriate level for herds in that area is between 40 to 80 horses, the agency has said, so about 230 will be removed. Another 250 horses will be removed from the Confusion Management area.

Animals removed from the range will be available for adoption through the BLM's Wild Horse and Burro Adoption Program.

Those that are not adopted will be cared for in long-term pastures, where they retain their "wild" status and protection under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. The BLM does not send any horses to slaughter.

— Amy Joi O'Donoghue