BLM rounds up wild horses after wildfire ravages habitat

Associated Press

Saturday, Aug. 29, 2015 | 12:46 p.m.

U.S. Bureau of Land Management officials are in the process of moving nearly 300 wild horses after a 442-square-mile fire ravaged almost all viable forage.

Flames from the fire along the Oregon-Idaho border not only killed 35 wild horses, but they also destroyed critical habitat in three regions used to manage several wild horse herds.

"These horses have been through a lot. The Soda Fire that came through here really stressed the horses. The lack of forage, the fire suppression activity also can play a role in stressing out the horses," Jason Lutterman, spokesman for the BLM's Wild Horse and Burro Program, told KTVB-TV (http://bit.ly/1KkY0fQ ).

A veterinarian will check each horse before moving them to corrals.

The BLM will move the horses from Owyhee County to the Boise Wild Horse Corrals or to larger corrals in Nevada. Some will return to their herds, although roughly 100 of the horses will be made available for adoption while waiting for their home to grow back from the blackened earth.

Horses are gathered using traps that are later transported by helicopter to the Boise corral.

"The wings of the trap are sort of set up like a funnel, so when they come into the wings of the trap they go into the corral. We then sort them and they are transported to the Boise Wild Horse Corrals," said Heather Tiel-Nelson, spokeswoman for the BLM.