Unlike the Spruce-Pequop Incident, a judge’s decision to halt the sterilization of mares at the BLM wild horse corrals in Hines, OR has been picked up by national news outlets.
Wild horse enthusiasts may be pleased with the ruling, but it’s still a win for the public-lands ranchers, who have access to most of the Warm Springs HMA, and it’s now devoid of horses (grazing allotments denoted by green in the following map from 2014, HMA boundary highlighted in yellow).
If the project is stopped for a few years, will the HMA be restored to pre-gather conditions? If not, will the 200 horses that were to be returned after sterilization be allowed to go back?
The HMA contains 475,460 acres and has an AML of 202, for an aimed-at population density of 0.42 animals per thousand acres, the lowest of all HMAs in Oregon.
RELATED: Federal Judge Says No to BLM Sterilization Experiments.
Western Horse Watchers Association 