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Apr. 11, 2008
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Official says state won't feed its starving horses

Virginia Range herd called strays

By ED VOGEL
REVIEW-JOURNAL CAPITAL BUREAU

Wild horses graze outside Virginia City on July 6, 2004.
Photo by Cathleen Allison/Special to Review-Journal

CARSON CITY -- Nevada's new Agriculture Department director has vowed not to purchase hay to feed stray horses, although many of them may be starving in the mountains near Virginia City.

Director Tony Lesperance said Wednesday that neither the state of Nevada nor the state Agriculture Department can afford to feed wild horses.

He quickly noted that although people refer to the 200 horses in the Virginia Range as wild horses, they technically are strays -- horses that may have been set free by their owners.

Lesperance told the Legislature's Interim Finance Committee that he will come up with a plan to remove many of the horses.

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    • "I am far more concerned about the decline of the Virginia Range as an environmentalist than I am concerned about those horses," he said. "There is a total loss of forage."

    A 1997 law gave the Agriculture Department responsibility for managing the horses wandering the Virginia Range, mountains that run from near Dayton past Virginia City and the south edge of Reno. The stray horses run on state or private land.

    The U.S. Bureau of Land Management oversees wild horses on federal lands.

    Assemblyman Tom Grady, R-Yerington, said he has been getting calls from people concerned about "starving" horses.

    "There are over 1,200 horses up there now and no feed for them," Grady said. "Where are you going to get the money to buy hay for them?"

    But Lesperance and Deputy Agriculture Director Rick Gimlin said it is not their intention to buy hay for horses. It costs about $4.60 a day to buy hay to feed horses, according to estimates made by the Agriculture Department in January.

    "Those horses are starving to death up there," Grady said. "What are you going to do about it? Where is the management?"

    Lesperance said: "It is a serious, serious problem. It is going to be dealt with. We are going to bring the number of horses down as rapidly as we can."

    He gave no indication on what plan for managing the horses he is considering, although he did say there is little public demand for adopting the horses.

    In material given the committee, Agriculture Department representatives said they are concerned there would be "picketing and demonstrations" if they tried to auction off stray horses.

    In an interview, Grady said he was not aware of any horses that have died in the Virginia Range.

    Gimlin requested and received Interim Finance Committee approval to spend $15,934 in emergency funds to construct additional corrals to hold stray horses at the Northern Nevada Correctional Center in Carson City.

    The department already has corrals there to contain about 100 horses. Some horses are broken by inmates and adopted by residents.

    Until Lesperance comes up with a plan, the horses in the Virginia Range will be dealt with on a "by complaint" basis.

    Some of the Virginia Range horses wander into highways or residents' yards. The Agriculture Department gathers those horses and moves them to the Carson City corrals.

    A majority of these horses are "repeat offenders," some having been captured more than five times. If not adopted, horses are returned to the range after 30 days in the holding corrals.

    Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said after the meeting that they will request Lesperance return to a future meeting and explain to legislators his plan for managing the horses.

    Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.



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    Willis Lamm wrote on May 03, 2008 05:55 PM: Here's the biggest joke of all. The state doesn't feed horses on the range - never has. The wild horse groups provide emergency hay if there's some blizzard or other range catastrophe. Plus look around. The horses up there almost fat and the place is covered with grass.

    Follow the money. Some folks want high density development in the Virginia Range horse range.

    Chicken Little Lesperance. The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

    When programs you want are being cut back, ask why the state is spending money to round up horses and feed them in the state corrals.

    Willis,
    Stagecoach, NV


    IndyO wrote on April 12, 2008 07:15 AM: Federal land, which is owned by the taxpayers, is leased by the government to big cattle ranchers for pennies on the dollar and those cattle barons want every single wild horse off of their cheap leased property. The BLM and the Ag Dept. is happy to remove the horses for them so the taxpayers AND the horses end up getting shafted.

    Here is an idea. Lease the federal land for the full market value and use the increased revenue to feed these horses instead of using even more taxpayer money to round them up and send them to slaughter. Once these wild herds are gone, they're gone forever. The American public does not want them destroyed as the Dept. of Ag and the Bureau of Land Mis-management seems determined to do.


    redbutterfly wrote on April 11, 2008 04:20 PM: Tony Lesperance, I would hang you up by your toes for the horses to eat you if I could. You belong in the Nazi Army instead of Nevada.


    Karen M. wrote on April 11, 2008 03:55 PM: Mr. Tony Lesperance, I am far more concerned with your moral compass than I am of you environmentalist views. What public figure would show such disdane for the very animal that has been part of our American history. You put a plan in place that the people of America can be proud of that treats our horses with respect and dignity which they deserve. Stop using the buzz word, environmentalist and think Humanitarian instead and let the environmentalist take care of the environment. Horses are living, breathing animals and were here long before we worried about the environment. They are part of nature and it all works together and has for many many years before you. Give them hay and feed and the hay growers and feed producers of your state will love you. Take a Stand for the right thing to do, you will be rewarded in the end. FEED THE HORSES !!!!


    Preserve The Herds wrote on April 11, 2008 03:32 PM: It's always the "starving horses" while at least 9 million cattle somehow managed to get fed. Gotta get them rounded up NOW with PREDICTIONS of starvation - before we can see they are still fat at the end of the summer.
    Who provides photos? Still healthy? Changing stories of "We must protect the RANGE BEFORE they eat all the food!" Senator Dean Rhodes: "The forage is for the cattle..." Currently still feeding a 1,200 lb cow + calf for $1.35 per month. Hay costs what? Pull cattle off the range Gibbons and feed them for $1.35 per month instead!
    Or would that pose a re-election problem for you?


    oldlawdawg wrote on April 11, 2008 02:34 PM: "MAY" have been left by previous owners? Sounds pretty thin to me. This guy has his priorities all screwed up, and that he has "vowed" to not feed the horses suggests it has nothing to do with affordability, but with his own personal agenda. SOMEBODY VETO THIS MAN, ASAP!


    ednvfb wrote on April 11, 2008 12:43 PM: No one commenting on this story knows crap about this issue. The State's broke, the advocacy groups can't get rid of horse at adoption...and for the last time, these are not wild horses. These are estray roaming on private land. It was people like you who caused this problem by releasing their horses onto the range when they couldn't afford to keep them anymore. Everyone always yells about humnae treatment of these horses...put your money where your mouth is or shut up and let the State deal with this cluster as best they can. Ranchers pay to graze their cattle by the way. Why don't you cough up some dough Juice and make it all better.


    duh wrote on April 11, 2008 11:33 AM: 10 billion a week for the iraq war...


    Carolyn LaRue wrote on April 11, 2008 11:31 AM: Someone has got to feed the horses - wild horses have been around forever and we have to keep them. You cannot let an animal die of starvation that is cruel and inhumane. It's animal cruelty. Why can't you start up a collection and take donations to feed the horses? Times are tough but no animal should suffer they can't take care of themselves or go get a job like people can. If people want to adopt them why don't you just let them take them with no charge? This is riduculous.
    Help save these horses.


    Juice wrote on April 11, 2008 09:52 AM: What a JOKE! We open up millions of acres to ranchers so they can graze cattle but this new guy in the Ag Department is an environmentalist and does not want the horses to over graze?
    What a crock of horse manure.
    Feed the state's horses Gibbons!


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