CAÑON CITY, Colo. — A spokesperson for the Colorado Department of Agriculture said Friday that the number of horses that have succumbed to equine influenza at a federal facility managed by the Bureau of Land Management in Cañon City has reached 94.
According to that spokesperson, equine influenza is “usually not deadly,” and the affects of the virus are more so determined by the herd and its status. Altogether, she said, the facility houses 2,184 horses. She noted the horses have been segragated and that “no mortality has occurred in the large group.”
“It’s just sheer evidence that cramming these horses into confined holding facilities is putting them in harm’s way,” Scott Wilson, a member of the Board of Directors of the American Wild Horse Campaign, told FOX21 News earlier this week.
But according to the BLM’s website, their wild horse and burro holding facility can house up to 3,000 horses.
CDA noted that the horses “seeing severe effects” were all brought to Cañon City from the West Douglas Roundup Area.
BLM’s own website seems to report the horses were removed from the area in 2021 after its White River Field Office “determined that the West Douglas Herd Area and other areas outside the Piceance-East Douglas Herd Management Area are not to be managed for wild horses because of the complex terrain and lack of summer range.”
The BLM’s write-up of this operation said “The Appropriate Management Level for the West Douglas Herd Area is zero wild horses.” At the time, they said, about 450 horses were living there.
“They came from a very challenging landscape,” Steven Hall, director of commucations for BLM, told FOX21 last week. “It’s actually an area the BLM has determined is not suitable for wild horses and a lot of those horses were gathered… which means these horses, when they came into our care, oftentimes had health issues.”
The state department of agriculture said it sent a veterinarian down to the facility earlier this week after BLM reported horses were getting sick. Additionally, a spokesperson said, their team made sure the facility was meeting biosecurity recommendations, which means making sure surfaces are clean and that people handling the horses are changing clothes and washing hands properly, to help curb the spread of the illness.
CDA said its animal health experts believe this outbreak is confined to the BLM facility and that it’s being monitored by them in addition to the US Department of Agriculture and BLM.
FOX21 has reached out to BLM for an update.
