Touching or feeding wild horses is dangerous – for them and for you
Wild horses and burros are intriguing animals that often attract the attention of passersby and while enjoying the sight of one or more of these equines in their natural habitat is encouraged, it is crucial that people understand they should not interact with them in any way. Doing so has created, and continues to create, problems for both human and animal, leading officials and advocates to urge the community to keep their distance and never touch or feed a wild horse or burro.
Renee Jones, a member of the nonprofit equine advocacy group Southwestern Wilds, went before the Nye County Commission on July 15 to ask the county to buy new signage for the Calvada Eye making it clear that the law prohibits feeding wild equines. The Eye has recent become a hot spot for horse sightings due to the birth of a new filly and her group was very concerned.
“We have had a large number of incidents with residents as well as tourists that not only get dangerously close to the Calvada herd, we’ve also witnessed them trying to put their infants on top of the young filly, which is Zamora,” Jones detailed in evident frustration. “We have pictures and videos of such — multiple people trying to pet them, feed them and lay next to them as they’re having a picnic.”
Not only does interacting in these ways with a wild animal create a hazardous situation in terms of potential physical harm, it also encourages them to seek out food sources that don’t come naturally in their diet. People providing food to the horses may seem like a kind gesture but it can in fact make them sick, as has happened already.
“Just recently Southwestern Wilds, including our President Vicki Balint and myself, and [town] workers Jimmy Martinez, Courtney Kenney with the town of Pahrump Buildings and Grounds, helped an urgent matter… where someone had dumped 50 to 70 crab apples that were rotten on the grass in front of my clinic on the Calvada Eye. This incident, along with two others we know of, have caused the young filly, ‘Zamora’ as the community has called her, to suffer from gas colic on three different occasions. She was very sick,” Jones stated.
As it stands, there are signs at the Eye that ask people to please not feed the horses but Jones said she and Southwestern Wilds members have gotten plenty of pushback from people arguing that there is no law cited on the signs.
“Many who are in support of keeping the horses and burros safe feel that if an NRS code is posted on some of these newer and bigger signs, that this could help the horses and safety,” Jones said, stressing, “That has to stop. I can’t imagine what the community of Pahrump would do if this young horse was suffering to the point of death or needed to be put down by BLM.”
Nye County Animal Shelter Manager Kristi Siegmund said she too has witnessed inappropriate interactions specifically with wild burros, which are very common in the central and northern parts of the county as well as Pahrump. On a recent trip to Round Mountain, she had to intervene in one such interaction.
“There was a woman trying to ride a burro while another one fed it,” Siegmund said with obvious shock. “I had to stop them. I had to explain to them how inappropriate that was and how illegal that was. We just need to be respectful to these wild, beautiful creatures. And that means, don’t feed them, don’t try to ride them, don’t try to get them to come to your car.”
Nye County officials were clearly on board with addressing the issue, with commissioner John Koenig remarking that direction to staff has already been given to get new signs in place. Commissioner Bruce Jabbour chimed in to note, “It still amazes me that, whether it’s here at the Eye or in Pahrump or within Nye County or within the state, that people continue to think it is OK to feed the wild horses and burros. It is not OK… They are not domesticated. They are wild.”
For more information about local equine advocacy efforts visit SouthwesternWilds.org
Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com
