"The Bureau of Land Management is prepared to ramp up wild horse and burro gathers over the next two months as extreme heat and drought conditions across much of the West threaten the safety of thousands of federally protected animals.

BLM estimates that as many as 6,000 additional wild horses and burros need to be rounded up and removed from federal rangelands by the end of September in order to "prevent widespread thirst and mortality in wild horse and burro herds as drought intensifies across most of the West," the bureau said today in a news release.

The drought conditions have already forced BLM to conduct multiple emergency gathers to remove nearly 1,200 animals.

The bureau did not specify where it would concentrate the emergency gathers, if executed. But the number of wild horses, and the current condition of the rangelands, likely means the bureau will target animals in Nevada, Utah and California."

Scott Streater reports for E&E News August 2, 2021. [2]