Do you think the 511 horses identified for removal were born in the HMA?
Do you think they lived happily therein until recently?
The EA says on page 11 (of the pdf) that the population has grown exponentially during the past nine years from 78 in the spring of 2016 to 510 in the spring of 2024.
Wouldn’t that be eight years?
The same page indicates the annual growth rate is approximately 10 percent.
These two statements are incompatible.
If the growth rate is correct, a herd of 78 would expand to 167 in eight years.
If the herd sizes are correct, the growth rate would be about 27 percent per year, requiring a birth rate of at least 32% per year, which doesn’t happen.
The gather area covers 239,431 acres so the current stocking rate, based on a population of 518, is 2.2 wild horses per thousand acres, which is too high.
The Lahontan Allotment, which overlaps the HMA, offers 1,155 active AUMs on 52,910 public acres, equivalent to 1.8 wild horses per thousand acres, which is OK.
Western Horse Watchers Association 