Source:  Various



At the Salt Lake Regional Wild Horse and Burro Facility in Herriman, Utah, at least eleven horses have died from a strangles outbreak in the last two weeks. BLM officials are working with veterinarians to control the spread of the bacterial disease. Between 25 and 35 additional animals show symptoms and the entire facility of 500 horses is under quarantine until officials determine that the outbreak is under control.

A state veterinarian sought to reassure local horse owners that there was little risk that their animals could contract the disease. Some domestic horses have been vaccinated against it and most of them develop a natural immunity as youngsters from antibodies in their mothers milk.

Because of the outbreak, adoptions have been halted and will not resume until the quarantine is lifted.

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Now that is just sickening! It's a wonder these horses don't get sick much more then they seem to. The stressed conditions, way to close for any kind of comfort for a horse and they've got to be depressed. They go from bright eyed to sadly dull.
This has got to come to a stop....it is so wrong.
I completely agree! Its like being in prison. One day you are running free and the next you are taken to a facility that is scarey, crowded, and food that their bodies aren't used to. This is so unfair that these beautiful animals that are completely innocent are put in this terrible environment that causes too much stress on them. They are so scared and have no idea why they are being punished in such an unhumane way. Let them roam FREE again as they were promised. It is the only right thing to do for their sake.
They expect the strangles to go through the whole herd and a few horses more may not make it I I am here in Utah)

While I agree that putting a wild horse into these large confined groups is not ideal, Utah is a desert and when these horses arrive, they are very, very skinny. With the urban sprawl, all land that does get a bit of rain and does have some green is taken over by the humans or used for cow grazing. Thus the herds are pushed out more into the desert. Many die of starvation. The BLM gets them back to health and when the economy was better, adoption rate was fairly high. In fact, once they have been at this facility, I have seen many too chubby horses so now you may get founder, etc. There needs to be a better solution for desert type states. The states that have wild herds that actually get rain and have grass/plants that is not taken over by agriculture, then left wild would be much better!

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