The Nevada Department of Agriculture removed nearly two dozen feral horses on Wednesday from the Virginia Range — the first time in seven years that the agency has removed such a large number of horses.

The 20 horses were removed from a property under development in southeast Reno, an area known for ongoing horse and human conflict as developments encroach on their rangeland. 

The developer of the property is digging trenches to install water lines on a new development off of Rio Wrangler Parkway, a heavily congested area. Between 2012 and 2016, the Nevada Department of Transportation reported 116 horse-related crashes on all roads in the Virginia Range. 

Volunteers with Wild Horse Connection, a group that, along with American Wild Horse Conservation, contracts with the Nevada Department of Agriculture for management and fertility control measures of Virginia Range horses, were granted authority to relocate the equines, according to J.J. Goicoechea, director of the Nevada Department of Agriculture. 

The removal efforts during a two-to-three-week period were unsuccessful, he said, adding that the horses needed to be removed from the site to protect them from the active construction zone and for public safety.

“This set of horses is habituated to that piece of property,” Goicoechea said in a Thursday interview. The department received reports that the horses had been illegally fed in the area, spurring them to return for food. “Because they’re habituated to it, we know they aren’t going to stay away from it.”

It’s illegal to feed Virginia Range horses; providing water is legal. 

Drought conditions are not present on the range and water and forage are available, Goicoechea said, but, because the horses were being fed by humans, “they aren’t used to doing what native horses do and graze the range.”

In a press release, American Wild Horse Conservation reported they were blocked from completing the agreed upon plan to relocate the horses and, in a video shared online Wednesday, blamed a large boulder for blocking a gate needed to keep the horses out of the construction zone.

“The developer reneged on its word and the agreement to allow Wild Horse Connection to safely relocate these animals,” Tracy Wilson, Nevada state director of American Wild Horse Conservation, said in the release.  

Goicoechea told The Nevada Independent that the gate could still be closed with the boulder there.

Horse advocates have concerns that the horses removed by the state will be sold for slaughter, and held a protest Thursday at the state capitol, calling on Gov. Joe Lombardo to intervene and ensure the horses are relocated and not permanently removed.

Nevada Department of Agriculture staff also discovered on Thursday that fencing and a lock were cut around the construction site and more feral horses made it into the construction zone. As of Thursday afternoon those horses were still there, and the department was investigating the situation before determining what to do, Goicoechea said.

Cutting the fence “is the worst thing we can do for the horses right now,” he said.  

Wilson concurred.

"I have warned the developers and the city for years that vandalism could occur and they need to take measures to prevent it," Wilson said in an email.

While the department occasionally removes horses for public safety or the animal’s safety, in 2017 a similarly large number of horses were removed from the range, Goicoechea said, “for very similar circumstances.”  

The horses were transferred to a state holding facility in Carson City. They will be advertised in an attempt to locate any possible owners; if no owners are found, they will be put up for adoption. The horses will not be sent to slaughter, he said.

The Nevada Department of Agriculture estimates there are roughly 4,000 horses on the Virginia Range, bordered on the north by Interstate 80, in the south by U.S. Highway50 and to the east by U.S. Alternate 95. The department plans to do an aerial census later this year to get a more accurate count. 

The department manages feral horses in the Virginia Range; the Bureau of Land Management oversees wild horses on federal land across the state. 

Editor's note: This story is being updated at 11:45 a.m. Aug. 9, 2024 to correct the name of American Wild Horse Conservation.