Official: Solving wild horse problem will take $5B, 15 years

SCOTT SONNER Associated Press RENO, Nev. (AP) — It will take $5 billion and 15 years to get an overpopulation of wild horses under control on federal lands across the West, the acting head of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management said Wednesday, adding that several developments have made him more optimistic about his agency's ability to get the job done. William Perry Pendley announced the agency adopted out more than 7,000 mustangs and burros captured last year — the most in 15 years and a 54% increase from the previous year. He said that helps clear space in government holding pens so they can accelerate roundups while scientists develop new fertility-control drugs to eventually shrink the size of the herds from 88,000 to the 27,000 he says the range can sustain. He said a new coal
Subscribe or log in to read the rest of this content.