Issue: "Trap and toss" horse management. Lies and possible illegal activities surrounding the Nevada Department of Agriculture's dumoing of Virginia Range horses at the livestock sale.

Priority: HIGH Status: Working Date: September 7, 2012

Quick Links Free Dickie! What you can do

Reno, NV. Horse advocates became alarmed, then outraged, when the Nevada Department of Agriculture (NDA) announced to the media that they were taking twenty "nuisance" horses that were removed from the South Reno area to Nevada Livestock Marketing in Fallon where the predominant buyers for untamed horses are the "kill buyers." Link: Nuisance Horses taken out of Virginia Range. Provocative claims made in that media release have prompted many advocates to resurrect an old chant used during the "Horse Wars" of 2008. For example, the NDA claimed, "There are 2,500 to 3,000 horses total on the range, and that's almost three times the amount when they were counted back in 2002." A much more recent count showed the free-roaming horse population to be more like 1600 horses. Advocates who monitor the herds have reported between a 10 and 12 percent increase in the herd since the last published census. Cougars have been actively reducing the foal crop and NDA removals have reduced population growth. In a few areas where removals have been focused the horse population has actually dropped.

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NDA also misled the public in claiming that the department was rounding up nuisance horses. This group of 20 was trapped in the Clean Water area along the edge of South Reno. Reports from residents are that these horses were not among those that frequented residential neighborhoods. Trapsite located in a rural area near the sewer treatment plant. Under NDA's plan, adults and foals will likely go to kill buyers. Link: Nevada policy change sells its wild horses by the pound NDA's "straying from the facts" has become commonplace in recent years. Since the "Sagebrush Rebel" mentality has taken over the department, reality and Nevada state laws only seem to apply when it is convenient for their purposes. Free-roaming horses don't belong in residential neighborhoods or on highways, however it is NDA policy that is causing most of these problems to occur by canceling volunteer-group based management programs. When viewed in a broader context, it seems apparent that the department is attempting to actually create a crisis, the objective perhaps being to push the legislature into removing the Virginia Range herd. A clearer explanation as to how this strategy is being employed appears later in this series. Continue to Understanding the Virginia Range Horses "Jump" Links

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The "Clean Water" Horses

Public Reaction

WHAT YOU CAN DO! Here are actions that you can take to protect the Virginia Range horses. Please remember that these horses fall under the jurisdiction of the Nevada Department of Agriculture and Governor Brian Sandoval. Here is contact information. You are encouraged to express your opinion in this matter. If you call, try to speak with someone in authority. Let's fix this business before more horses go to the kill buyers and we experience another tourism boycott! Contact Governor Brian Sandoval 775-684-5670 (Carson City office) 702-486-2500 (Las Vegas office) eMail (web form) Contact Agriculture Director Jim Barbee 775-353-3613 [email protected] The Virginia Range horses are not protected by any federal statute. The involved wild horse groups are just about all that stands between them and the kill buyers. Funds are always needed to protect these horses and to find homes and sanctuary opportunities for those that have been taken off the range. Every contribution counts. The groups are all staffed by volunteers so the money donated actually goes to pay the expenses for these horses. Please help!

WILD HORSE DEFENSE FUND (PayPal donation button) FUND FOR LEGAL EXPENSES (To protect horses from illegal actions)

VIRGINIA RANGE ROUND-UP FUND (PayPal donation button) VIRGINIA RANGE HORSE RESCUES (To keep horses from kill buyers)

Continue to Understanding the Virginia Range Horses