McCullough Roundup, Day 46

The incident started on January 22.  Results through March 7:

• Scope: McCullough Peaks HMA
• Target: Horses
• Method: Bait
• Type: Planned
• Goals: Gather 80, remove 35
• Captured: 90, up from 68 on Day 44
• Shipped: 24, up from 14 on Day 44
• Released: 41, up from 40 on Day 44
• Deaths: 1, no change from Day 44
• Average daily take: 2.0
• Unaccounted-for animals: 24

The figures above are based on the daily reports.

No horses were shipped on Day 45 due to poor road conditions.

The capture goal has been exceeded by 12.5%.

Roughly half of the horses in temporary holding would need to be shipped to achieve the removal goal.

Retained mares might be treated with fertility control pesticides before release.

The churn rate has decreased sharply in the last three days, suggesting that the Cody Field Office has switched from a fishing expedition to Git-R-Done.

The death rate is 1.1%.

The location of the trap site was not disclosed.

Body condition scores were not provided.

The HMA is subject to permitted grazing.

• Forage liberated to date: 588 AUMs per year (will go down if horses returned)
• Water liberated to date: 490 gallons per day (ditto)

The National Data Viewer shows habitat loss and overlapping allotments.  Click on map to open in new tab.

An estimated 535 wild horses have been displaced from their lawful home by permitted grazing, making the True AML almost five times higher than the current AML.

The roundup supports three tenets of rangeland management.

RELATED: McCullough Roundup, Day 44.