ELY, Nev. (AP) — Federal officials say they plan to begin rounding up as many as 800 wild horses from vast range in eastern Nevada to reduce what land managers call damaging overpopulation.
The Bureau of Land Management says the operation is scheduled to begin Tuesday in a public land study area known as the Triple B Complex.
The complex covers about 2,500-square-miles in the bureau's Elko and Ely districts.
A statement says helicopters will be used, the roundup should last less than four weeks and the aim is to reduce the number of wild horses from an estimated 3,400 to about 2,600.
The bureau says agents will escort public observers at pre-scheduled times, and captured horses will be checked by a veterinarian and offered for adoption or sale through a bureau program in Sparks.