BLM has abandoned plans to geld stallions and spay mares of the Great Divide Basin Herd Management Area near Rock Springs, Wyoming. The plan would have created a non-reproducing herd.
BLM’s Decision Record indicates the agency will still round up 1500 wild horses from the herd and permanently remove 1225 of them. Some mares will be administered PZP, a birth control measure, and returned to the wild.
An earlier plan to geld stallions and spay mares in the White Mountain and Little Colorado Herd Management Areas was met with a public outcry and challenged in court; BLM opted to withdraw the proposal. Now, in the wake of that outcry and the litigation, BLM has decided not to proceed with the same plan of extinction here.
The roundup is scheduled for mid-October, and it is expected that only 415 wild horses will be left in the herd.