A Bureau of Land Management review of the functions at the wild horse facility in Cañon City concludes too little staffing led to issues of care with the wild horse population at the facility.
An outbreak of equine influenza complicated by a streptococcal bacteria looks like the likely culprit behind the deaths of 144 horses.
“EIA testing and freeze marking has not always been completed within 30 days. The delays appear to be a combination of management and staffing issues, such as the prioritization of other tasks,” the report from a Comprehensive Animal Welfare Protocol Team said. “Among animals received from gather operations as well as those that had been at the facility for some time, current and timely vaccinations had not been maintained in several instances.
She wonders why, if the horses were in rough condition from their time in the wild and exposure to smoke from wildfires as the BLM has suggested, the horses weren’t ill sooner. ”One thing that we know did happen in Cañon City is we prioritized vaccinating Sand Wash horses over West Douglas horses,” said Hall. “In hindsight maybe we should have approached that differently.”‘Complete Scam On The U.S. Taxpayer’: Feds Criticized Over Wild Horse Removals In Favor Of Livestock“What the report is saying is by and large, BLM did comply with the standards of care that one would expect in a setting like this.