Letters to the editor for Saturday, May 14, 2016

Facts needed on horse and burro issue

In the effort to be clear about the wild horse and burro issue, the one thing missing is the clarity. In the last two decades, the BLM has failed to produce the data to support their figures.

It seems every news article throws figures around like a lottery drawing. First it’s forty-something-thousand horses. Now they say sixty-something-thousand. With all the technology — satellites that can see everything in real time — why has there not been an actual count of wild horses and burros? Give the people the real facts, not the politics.

This land is coveted on many sides. And the wild horses and burros are the ones with no money to gain and the most to lose. Isn’t it time for at least one issue in the news for common sense to be used? And for questions to be asked?

Horses do not breed like rabbits. Neither their gestation periods, nor their band (social) behavior permits the percentage of growth as claimed. Just please produce the facts. The land — especially after this winter — is shareable.

Mandy McNitt

Washoe Valley