MERCEDES — It took just three hours on Friday to adopt nearly half of the wild horses and burros that were up for adoption at the Rio Grande Valley Livestock Show grounds.
An annual event held by the Bureau of Land Management’s Wild Horse and Burro Program, the adoption helped at least 15 of the 36 animals available find new homes between noon and 3 p.m. That number grew to 19 by the end of the first day of the two-day event.
Adoptions were for $125 each, with the exception of a couple that went for $25 on Friday after being passed over at previous events. Adoptions continued yesterday.
The process helps burros, mares and geldings, as well as yearlings, from Oklahoma, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona and Oregon find homes locally.
Crystal Cowan, a wild horse and burro specialist for BLM, reacted to the initial turnout with enthusiasm.
“So far we’ve got an awesome response,” Cowan said before explaining that prospective adopters must meet certain requirements. “We even had some first-timers that came out and adopted.”
Minimum criteria for applicants consists of being 18 years of age or older, having no prior animal abuse convictions and being in possession of a corral that’s at least 400 square feet with access to shelter, food and water.
“That’s not very big,” Cowan added about the corral requirements. “So once this wild animal is gentled, you can put him into whatever pasture you feel comfortable.”
For the rest of this story and many other EXTRAS, go to our premium site, www.MyValleyStar.com.
Subscribe to it for only $6.99 per month or purchase a print subscription and receive the online version free, which includes an electronic version of the full newspaper and extra photo galleries, links and other information you can’t find anywhere else.
– More than 67,000 wild horses and burros were roaming Western public rangelands in 2016 — a 15 percent increase over the estimated 2015 population.
– Numbers show more than twice the number of horses on the range than is recommended under federal land use plans.
– Last year’s estimate is two and a half times the number of horses and burros that were estimated to be in existence when the Wild and Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act was passed in 1971.
– In the early 2000s, nearly 8,000 horses were being placed with private adopters each year. That number is now down to roughly 2,500 animals each year, compounding an already difficult management situation.
Source: Bureau of Land Management
