RENO, Nev. (AP) - The U.S. Bureau of Land Management says it will remove fewer wild horses and burros from the range across the West this summer because of budget constraints and overflowing holding pens.
Under its roundup schedule announced this week, the bureau plans to gather 2,400 of the animals through the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year. All but 215 of them will be horses.
Plans call for the removal of 1,535 horses in Wyoming, 285 in Nevada, 200 in Utah, 75 in Oregon, 50 in California and 35 in Idaho. The bureau also plans to gather 140 burros in Arizona, 50 in California and 25 in Oregon.
The BLM says it removes excess horses and burros each year to maintain the ecological health of public rangelands.
Suzanne Roy of the American Wild Horse Perservation Campaign says wild horses aren't overpopulating the West and the problem is rangelands are being overrun by privately-owned livestock instead.