Friends of a Legacy, a group that works with the BLM to manage the wild horses of McCullough Peaks HMA in northern Wyoming, has received a $5000 grant from ASPCA to support a fertility control program started in 2004, according to a story posted today in the Cody Enterprise.
“The program has lowered birth rates in the herd management area and the reduced population has benefitted habitat for the wild horses, wildlife and domestic cattle that share the public land.”
The AML for the area is 140 animals, which has nothing to do with the carrying capacity of the land. Rather, it represents an acceptable forage loss. By keeping the wild horse population in check, more food is available for livestock.
Welcome to the new reality of western rangelands. Areas set aside in 1971 for horses and burros are now managed primarily for cattle and sheep.
Anything for the public-lands ranchers.
Western Horse Watchers Association 