BLM wraps up wild horse gather east of Fallon

FALLON—After two weeks of operations the Bureau of Land Management this week said it had finished its wild horse roundup effort in the Desatoya Herd Management area 77 miles east of Fallon. The BLM gathered 200 wild horses from the area with plans to return 38 mares back to the range.

“BLM’s goal during the Desatoya HMA wild horse gather and removal was to achieve appropriate management levels and administer GonaCon to selected mares as safely and humanely as possible,” said Stillwater Field Office Manager, Jake Vialpando.

BLM officials have estimated the appropriate management level for the area as 127-180 horses. In October 2020 the population was surveyed by aerial inventory and estimated to be nearly 280 horses.

Of those horses gathered during the operation, 160 will be transported to the Palomino Valley Wild Horse and Burro Off-range Corrals north of Reno for placement in the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Adoption and Sale Program.

Two stallions gathered were released back to the range, and nine privately-owned horses caught up in the gather were returned to their owner. An additional six horses died during the roundup; five had pre-existing or chronic health issues and one had a sudden or acute injury.

Thirty-eight mares will be returned to the range following treatment with GonaCon, a fertility control.

For more information on the gather visit https://www.blm.gov/programs/wild-horse-and-burro/herd-management/gathers-and-removals/nevada/2022-desatoya-wild-horse.

Source: BLM