Wild Horse and Burro

As the Bureau of Land Management carries out its mission to manage and protect wild horses and burros on public lands, we’re trying to develop and use a variety of humane fertility control methods that can slow herd growth and reduce the need to gather excess animals and find them good homes.

A new peer-reviewed article affirms that having some wild geldings in wild horse herds is safe and does not disrupt wild horse welfare or social systems. However, unless a high fraction of males are gelded and released, their presence does not meaningfully reduce mare fertility rates in the long term. 

We caught up with Michelle Crabb, BLM Population Biologist stationed in Fort Collins, Colorado, to talk about the work she does supporting the surveys used to determine the accurate number of horses and burros on public land managed by the BLM.

Amy Dumas, wild horse and burro specialist and program lead in California, shares her story of how an adopter became hooked on mustangs. 

As part of the Bureau of Land Management’s commitment to the health and safety of the wild horses and burros under our management, agency personnel and contractors take extra caution when handling animals, including during helicopter-assisted gather operations. The proof can be found by just looking at the numbers.