A WHB Specialist used candy to show students at Duckwater Shoshone Elementary School the dangers of overgrazing by wild horses and burros, according to a story dated February 10 by KOLO News.
The herds increase every year, he told the class, and the amount of available forage, represented by Kit Kat bars, does not. Too many animals degrade the range, impairing herd health.
The article follows a BLM news release dated February 8.
What he didn’t tell the kids was that there is another box of Kit Kats under the table that belongs to the horses but has been shifted by his co-workers to public-lands ranchers.
That might be good news to the kids because the Duckwater Reservation lies within the Duckwater Allotment and the tribe holds 24% of the active AUMs.
Also not mentioned in the article is that the reservation lies within the Pancake HMA, and there is considerable overlap between it and the allotment, so the discussion about overpopulation may be rooted in a conflict between horses and livestock.
Western Horse Watchers Association 