As drought deepens, BLM says roundups can save wild horses

摘要

Animal welfare advocates consider the kind of large-scale roundups of wild horses and burros the Bureau ofLand Management has ramped up in the past year cruel and unnecessary, sometimes resulting in the frightenedanimals suffering serious injuries and, on occasion, dying.But recent history shows these roundups may be the best short-term strategy to reduce wild horse and burropopulations to manageable levels.Some federal land managers and wild horse experts further argue there has not been a more urgent time inrecent memory to cut herd sizes, with a near-historic drought scorching the West and raising fears that largenumbers of animals could die as a result.