BLM looks to reduce wild horse population in Pryor Mountains

In the Pryor Mountain range that straddles Montana and Wyoming, Bureau of Land Management officials are trying to cull the wild horse herd.

"As soon as we get over 130, we start picking up the overuse" of the range, said Jared Bybee, the wild horse and burro specialist at the BLM's Billings Field Office.

Officials are trapping horses living across the 39,000-acre range. They are looking for about 40 individual horses -- and so far, they have caught 25 horses and two foals. Horses that are trapped but not targeted will be released, and the horses destined for removal will be adopted.

Wild horse advocates question the need to cull the herd, which spawned from some of the first horses to come to the Americas. The horse advocates say the range is still in good shape, and the horses' population will naturally balance itself.