More horses die of mysterious disease at Colorado facility
The death toll of horses at a wild horse facility in Cañon City rose to 85 as of Wednesday, the Bureau of Land Management said.
Horses at the Cañon City Wild Horse and Burro Facility were infected with a “unknown, highly contagious and sometimes fatal disease,” the agency said.
Officials are working to determine the causes of death since the outbreak began Saturday. The facility is now under voluntary quarantine.
There are 2,550 horses at Cañon City facility, and those from the West Douglas area near Colorado’s northwest corner have been the most impacted.
BLM spokesman Steven Hall told Reuters that samples of the dead horses and blood tissue will be tested at two university laboratories as federal, state and independent veterinarians investigate the disease.
The wild horse and burro herds are not native to the United States but are descendants of animals freed or abandoned by miners, prospectors and others who settled the American West, Reuters reported.
The animals number around 80,000 nationwide and eat vegetation at the expense of native species. That’s why their populations must be managed, according to Reuters.
BLM relocates and manages the populations of wild horses and burros, but activists say the agency’s practices are “inhumane.”
“Disease outbreaks and deaths are the direct result of the BLM’s inhumane mass roundups,” Suzanne Roy, executive director of the American Wild Horse Campaign, the nation’s leading wild horse protection organization, said in a news release.
More horses die of mysterious disease at Colorado facility
The death toll of horses at a wild horse facility in Cañon City rose to 85 as of Wednesday, the Bureau of Land Management said.
Horses at the Cañon City Wild Horse and Burro Facility were infected with a “unknown, highly contagious and sometimes fatal disease,” the agency said.
Officials are working to determine the causes of death of the horses that died since the outbreak began Saturday. The facility is now under voluntary quarantine.
There are 2,550 horses at Cañon City and those from the West Douglas area near Colorado’s northwest corner have been the most impacted.
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BLM spokesman Steven Hall told Reuters that samples of the dead horses and blood tissue will be tested at two university laboratories as federal, state and independent veterinarians investigate the disease.
The wild horse and burro herds are not native to the United States but are descendants of animals freed or abandoned by miners, prospectors, and others who settled the American West, Reuters reported.
The animals number around 80,000 nationwide and eat vegetation at the expense of native species, that’s why their populations must be managed, Reuters reported.
BLM relocates and manages the populations of wild horses and burros but activists say the agency’s practices are “inhumane.”
“Disease outbreaks and deaths are the direct result of the BLM’s inhumane mass roundups,” Suzanne Roy, executive director of the American Wild Horse Campaign, the nation’s leading wild horse protection organization, said in a news release.
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