LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The spotlight is on the wild horse and burro population here in Nevada once again.
For years, how the population has been managed has stirred up a lot of controversy. Many times, the Bureau of Land Management has used helicopters to get the job done over a large territory. Many times the roundups have ended up with horses being injured or dying.
Advocates have pushed for other ways to control the population. One way is with human fertility. I talked to advocates who say the 2024 national spending bill that President Joe Biden signed makes a cut to the BLM's budget, a step in the right direction.
Valerie Juick took me to her property in the northwest valley where she has two horses behind her home. She adopted Aspen seven years ago. At just a few months old, Aspen ran away from her mother during a roundup near Cold Creek.
Juick said she has turned a wild horse into her own and said the roundups are hard to watch.
"It is horrible, if you watch those videos with the compound fractures and the bones sticking out and they are still chasing these horse," Juick said. "They round them up and they get split up."
The American Wild Horse Conservation estimates there are 44,000 wild horses and 4,000 wild burros in the state. They have pushed for the Bureau of Land Management to use alternative population control methods.
According to the conservation, the latest 2024 national spending bill cuts the BLM's budget for the horse program by nearly $6 million.
"Congress is watching and they are not going to throw money at the BLM to continue implementing a failed approach to wild horse management," said Suzanne Roy, the Executive Director of the conservation.
She adds the $11 million designated for human fertility control is staying the same and that it sends a message.
"That report language also includes a directive to BLM to evaluate alternatives to helicopters in the management of horses."
As for Juick, she tells me using more fertility control measures with darts could work to control the state's wild horse and burro population.
"We have to be better at taking care of the wildlife," Juick said.
Channel 13 has reached out to the Bureau of Land Management for a statement. As of the time this report was filed, we have not heard back.
