Unedited News Release from the BLM
Release Date: 05/13/11
Contacts:
Heather Emmons, 775-861-6594, heather_emmons@blm.gov
News Release No. 2011-28
BLM to Host Public Tours of its Fallon Wild Horse and Burro Facility
Reno, Nev. —The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is offering public tours of its Indian Lakes Road Short-Term Holding Facility in Fallon, Nev., Friday, June 3, and Friday, July 15, from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. The tours can each accommodate up to 30 people and will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis. The public can sign up to attend and get driving directions to the facility by calling the BLM at (775) 475-2222.
The facility is located at 5676 Indian Lakes Road, Fallon, and is privately owned and operated. Those attending the tour will be taken around the facility as a group on a wagon so visitors can hear information about the facility and program, ask questions, and to provide safety for visitors, since the facility is quite large to walk around by foot.
About a one and one-half hour drive from Reno, the Indian Lakes Road Facility is the BLM’s newest contracted short-term holding facility, and provides care for up to 2,850 excess wild horses that are removed during gathers. The facility encompasses 320 acres and contains 36 large holding pens that are 70,000 square feet per pen and can hold approximately 100 horses safely per pen. The horses are fed an abundance of feed tailored to their needs each day, and a veterinarian routinely inspects the horses and provides necessary medical care.
Once preparation for adoption is completed, and the animals have fully transitioned to a diet of domestic feed, they are ready for shipment to adoption venues and may be available to the public for adoption through the BLM’s Adopt-A-Horse or Burro Program.
The BLM plans to hold periodic public tours in the future. Announcements of future public tours, as well as information about the Indian Lakes Road Facility and the public tours, can be found at the BLM Nevada website at www.blm.gov/nv.
Related articles
- The BLM and Lack of Transparency (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
- Video Report Shows Obama’s BLM Abuse Wild Horses in Short Term Holding (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
- 100 Captive Wild Horses Moved From Squalid BLM Facility (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
- Captured BLM Wild Horse Gets New Home (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
Categories: Horse News, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
This is very nice. Any physical documentation of the horses is welcomed and deserved.
Approx. 200 were removed from extremely unhealthy conditions, so these and those, will constitute about 3,000 horses.
Where are the other 45,000 America’s imprisoned wild horses?!
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Good, I hope I am out there for one of these. When the Calico horses were there it was awesome to see them all. Very beautiful horses, too.
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I think the public from 9am-6pm ( just making random times) should be able to visit any BLM facility and see the horses. Those horses are funded via the tax payer, they should be kept on public land and be viewed via the public at anytime, and if they are in a facility then they should be able to be viewed via the public at any time at the facility. You shouldn’t have to set up an appointment it should run almost like a public park service building/center. BLM I am sure will only clean the pens and facilities when they have to…they have proven that when they got caught the first time.
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Propaganda tours so they can say in the next lawsuit against them that they do allow the public in.
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The holding pens do look like a concentration camp. The horse pictured looks so sad. They have taken his freedom and his spirit:(
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So, on 2 days out of the year, our horses can be seen by 60 people max? Out of a country of 300 million? Pathetic. Open the doors and keep them open.
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That’s exactly what I was thinking. Thirty on a tour. Give me a break!!!
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As compared to seeing them BEFORE being captured and imprisoned:
Photos by Craig Downer, ecologist. Taken in mid-October 2009. No damage from horses found in 5 days, only damage from domestic livestock was apparent. Youtube video of the Calico horses includes even more photos, click here to view.
http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/news-events-a-media/photo-galleries/235-calicophotos
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Agree with savewildhorses: let them out, let them free. This has got to be the most ridiculous “program” ever.
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Louie, OMG, they’re beautiful. Pray the BLM keeps away from them. And thanks for sharing. They look to be in magnificent shape and don’t see anything wrong with the terrain they roam on.
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One big question…How is riding in a wagon more “safe” than walking?
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I was at Fallon a year ago on a cold day in April. One of things I remember most clearly was how the sand blew into my eyes IMMEDIATELY. You couldn’t rub it out, Sand encrusted eyes hurt. I finally got home that night and rinsed and rinsed my eyes with Systane.
Now think about the horses. They have no wind break. No shelter. Babies are being born right into all this sand. And somehow this is humane??? Give me a break. There is nothing humane about having sand encrusted eyes.
Others have noted moldy rotten hay at this facility. I didn’t see it but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.
I know Dean Bolstad told me that because Palomino was open every day and we could see all the horses we wanted to there–that this facility was closed.
Okay for the person asking about the wagon–I think they somehow feel walking takes a long time. People want to see all the horses. And there just isn’t time with those few hours. So to move people along AT BLM’s PACE they’ll use wagons. It’s BLM’s version of how to round people up. Besides if we’re on foot we might get to close to one of the horses and get bit–or some such nonsense.
I want to see the horses not go for some hay ride.
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When we go there, or to any of the holding facility “tours”, as many as can, should take still cameras and video cameras. Be a “TOURIST” and take lots of pictures / video. If I can go I will take my “tourist-looking” small Hi-Def video cam (not the bigger Pro cam). I’m just saying… we need to Document things, but look / be like any curious “tourist”, eager to see the wild horsey. “Tourists” will be perceived as less threatening than a bunch of us Wild Horse Activists. It will take a lot of control for me to refrain from doing something that would get me booted off the tour and banned from any future visits, but I will try.. for the sake of the horses and burros.
We also need a central location to send copies of our documenting pictures and videos for “archiving” or other purposes. Any suggestions?
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Why do you have to be a “tourist” or a wild horse activist? Why not just be an American who loves and cares about wild horses?
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Once again, we are at a dichotomy with our government. Why is it okay for THEM to keep horses on .11 acreage per animal, when most counties require 2 acres PER HORSE. This also flies in the face of their outrageous calculations on 1,000 acres or more PER HORSE for wild horses. This is just insane.
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I have some very valid questions : Once these horses are adopted out what is the return policy if any that if it should not work out for the new owner?. What prevents theses animals from going south to end of life? Who checks to see if the future owner has a job to support these animals and do they do back ground checks?
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good questions. They will adopt out to anyone and encourage them to fudge on the application. Once a guy came to my booth. He picked up a halter and asked me what it was for. He was approved to adopt a wild horse. In Texas they have taken to having most of their adoptions close to the Mexican border. Wonder why?
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Forest Horse, that’s horrible that they encourage people with little to no knowledge of horses. And to have these adoptions close to Mexican border is a slap in the face to all of us that are fighting the transport and sale of horses to Mexico and Canada. Would be nice if these sites were more publicized.
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Why not a tourist, happy at being there and imaffected by the import of the situation?
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