Population Control of Wild Horses

The wild Mustang is as much of a symbol of the American West as the cowboy the cactus and the tumbleweed. Opening movie and television show credits flow over a scene of wild horses running through barren land. They capture the imagination of every horseloving human.
But when images and videos appear in the media showing herds being rounded up via helicopter emotions run high. These are called gathers and they occur when the Bureau of Land Management BLM brings herds of wild horses into a smaller area so they can implement their fertility control treatment plan which can consist of a vaccination that essentially renders the mares heat cycles unproductive.

No Room to Expand
The big issue between passionate supporters of the wild horses and supporters of the BLM is what seems to be dwindling acreage making it difficult for the wild horses to find enough to eat and drink. However according to the BLM the acreage isnt shrinkingthe population is outgrowing the land they have.
The difficult position for the wild horses is that the size of their habitat has not grown with time. The 1971 Wild Horse and Burro Act says that the BLM can only manage wild horses and burros where they are found when that act was passed. This means that the land inhabited by wild horses in 1971 is the same range they can inhabit 52 years later.
Jason Lutterman public affairs specialist with the BLM says that because of this act the BLM is not able to move horses to areas where they were not originally found back in 1971 and the BLM cant use government funds to purchase more land.
There are some public lands where the horses can be found but those are not federally protected says Lutterman. We have a large diversity of situations that we

manage with our wild horses and burros.
Wild Horse Population Spike
Currently the BLM manages wild horses and burros in 177 herd management areas that cover 26 9 million acres of public lands across 10 Western states. As of March 1 2021 the BLM estimates there were approximately 71735 wild horses and 14454 wild burros on these lands. This is in addition to the 59007 as of December 1 2021 wild horses and burros receiving care on BLM offrange facilities.
In recent years the wild horse and burro population has experienced a rather significant population spike. This has prompted more action in regard