Adoption event offers chance to rehome wild horses and burros in Girard [Video]

GIRARD, Kan. — 100 wild horses and burros were up for adoption today at the Crawford County Fairgrounds in Girard.

The adoption event is part of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971.

Last year, the Bureau of Land Management placed more than 8,000 animals in new homes.

Around 73,000 wild horses and burros live on public ranges, three times as many as the land can support.

“If left unmanaged, they would overrun the range. There would be no forage, there would be no water. Most of these herd management areas are desert-like areas, so it probably looks like this floor right here. But it’s certainly different from southeast Kansas as far as rainfall and forage. If we did nothing, they would double in numbers every four years, and triple in numbers every six years,” said Crystal Cowan, Bureau of Land Management Wild Horse & Burro Specialist.

If …