Ongoing drought and decades of overgrazing have devastated grasslands on the Navajo Reservation. With a wild, feral horse population in the tens of thousands, the tribe has made the difficult decision to round up as many of the animals as possible. Most of those horses will end up at a slaughterhouse in Mexico. At daybreak a group of Navajo cowboys hired by the tribe’s Department of Agriculture set up a corral at a lone windmill. Then they spread out on horseback and ATVs in search of the animals. The man in charge, Ray Castillo, is scouting from a hilltop. "As we were driving in," Castillo said, "there was eight of them right down here so we figured we'd go after them first. The further in there we go, the more horses we're probably gonna start finding." This is a problem all across the western United States. But on the reservation it’s estimated there are somewhere between 60,000 and 75,000 feral horses. Officials say that’s four times what the land can support. So the Navajo Nation has decided to round up as many as possible and sell them.Get the Story:
Navajo Nation Seeks To Balance Resources With Feral Horse Roundups (KNPR 9/5)
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