Wild horse advocates are worried a proposal to shift ownership of thousands of Northern Nevada horses from the state to a non-profit group could lead to mistreatment or slaughter of the animals.
The proposal is on the Tuesday agenda for the Nevada Board of Agriculture, the group that oversees free range horses in the Virginia Range near Reno.
The agenda item calls on the board to vote on the proposal to hand over the state’s interest in the horses to a “non-profit animal advocate organization.”
The online agenda doesn’t include further documentation in support of the idea or to explain how such a transfer might work.
That has horse advocates worried the result could be bad news for the estimated 3,000 horses in the Virginia Range.
“There is no humane group that could take this on,” said Deniz Bolbol, communications director for the American Wild Horse Campaign. “This would destroy all the horses.”
The proposal by board Vice Chairman Boyd Spratling, who did not return calls for comment, follows public feuding between Nevada Department of Agriculture officials and Bolbol’s group, which until recently had worked with the state to humanely manage horses on the range.
The department ended the agreement on Oct. 25, saying the non-profit group wasn’t fulfilling its end of the deal.
Bolbol denied the accusation and said the department undermined her group by authorizing people unaffiliated with the group to conduct diversionary feedings and other management activity in a way that conflicted with proper protocol. Under the defunct agreement the group used birth control, adoptions and other humane measures in an attempt to control the horse population.
Management dispute disrupts deal that saved hundreds of Nevada horses
“If the agenda item passes, and an RFP process leads to a transfer of ownership to an animal advocate group, horses in the Virginia Range will be identified by our staff via a helicopter census and transfer of ownership documentation would be provided to that organization,” Barbee said via email.
It’s not clear whether the non-profit would be expected to manage the horses on the range or would be allowed to take them elsewhere.
Horses in the Virginia Range are essentially wild but categorized as feral or estray by the Nevada Department of Agriculture, which has jurisdiction over their management. That means federal legal and regulatory rules that restrict the slaughter of wild horses elsewhere don't apply to Virginia Range horses.
Bolbol said she suspects state disavowal of ownership could lead to slaughter, something Spratling and other board members have discussed in the past.
“It is a model for people who want to send horses to slaughter, which is what this board has been talking about for years,” she said.
Full-time horse advocates aren’t the only people to come out in opposition to the proposal.
On Saturday Lance Gilman, principal and director of the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center, the industrial park home to projects by Tesla, Google, Switch and other major companies, joined the horse advocates in opposition.
“This is one of the last bastions of true wild horse environment,” said Kris Thompson, project manager for the industrial center. “To wipe it out I think would be a mistake.”
Thompson estimated there are as many as 1,000 Virginia Range horses on the property of the industrial center at any given time.
Thompson said leaders of companies that have built in the area, including Tesla’s Elon Musk, have specifically described the horses as a positive presence that distinguish Northern Nevada from other potential locations for businesses.
“They are emblematic of the fact we are not San Francisco or Chicago,” Thompson said.
The Agriculture Board meeting is in Las Vegas at 8 a.m. There will be video teleconference connections in Elko and Sparks. Locations below.
Meeting location:
Nevada Department of Agriculture
2300 East St. Louis Avenue
Las Vegas, NV 89104
702-668-4590
Video conference:
Nevada Department of Agriculture
405 South 21st Street
Sparks, NV 89431
775-353-3601
Nevada Department of Agriculture
4780 East Idaho Street
Elko, NV 89801
775-778-0270
