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BLM, Nye County Sheriff to investigate shooting of 13 wild burros

Daniel Rothberg
Daniel Rothberg
Criminal JusticeEnvironmentIndyBlog
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After 13 wild burros were shot to death last week near Beatty, the Nye County Sheriff’s Office and the Bureau of Land Management have launched an investigation. More than half of all U.S. wild horses and burros graze in rural Nevada, and they are protected under federal law.

Law enforcement received a report of three wild burros killed by gunshots May 5, according to a press release from the Bureau of Land Management, the federal agency that oversees wild horses. Since then, the BLM has found 10 additional wild burro carcasses with similar wounds.

The Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act requires the BLM to protect and manage horses across the West. It also outlaws acts of violence toward horses, making them punishable for up to a year in prison or steep fines. But the policy has been the subject of controversy.

For decades, policies around wild horses and burros have created tensions across the West, as federal land managers argue that the range is not big enough to support the animals. Wild horse advocates argue agencies like the BLM are making those arguments because they are captured by ranching interests. At the same time, many ranchers and farmers argue that the BLM is not doing enough to manage horses they see as destructive to their ranges.

In February, the BLM launched a similar investigation into the shooting of five wild horses in Wyoming. In 2016, the BLM offered a $10,000 reward to investigate a wild horse shooting in Carson City at the Northern Nevada Correctional Center, which has a ranch to train horses.

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