Some of Montana's most iconic symbols of the West, the wild mustangs, are leaving the Pryor Mountains for good as part of a contested federal effort to reduce the herd.
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The Bureau of Land Management gave media a look at some of the wild horses removed from the Pryor Mountains. They have nine total horses, including foals as of Wednesday, and they removed them from the herd using bait traps. The agency says the herd has grown too large and must be managed, while others warn the removals could damage the herd.
"We have about 200 horses right now. We want to get down to about 150," BLM Field Manager Nate Arave said.
The BLM says fewer horses means less pressure on the land and a healthier herd.
For Nancy Cerroni, these aren't just numbers. Cerroni moved to Wyoming from Red Lodge because of her love for the outdoors. The Pryor Mountains and their wild horses became part of her backyard and part of her life.
"I really want to know that decisions being made are going to help preserve the future of these horses," Cerroni said.
Cerroni, who is with the Pryor Mountain Wild Mustang Center, says her concern isn't simply how many horses leave the mountain. It's which ones.
"It's a special group of horses. They're isolated. They've been up there for many years," Cerroni said.
The BLM says one of its goals in the roundup is to maintain the characteristics of the Pryor horses. But Cerroni says she wants to know exactly how that will be done.
"One of my concerns with this plan is I don't see the criteria defined in how they're going to do that," Cerroni said.
Cerroni told MTN in an interview that she also worries about maintaining fertility control in the herd. The BLM has partnered with ZooMontana to implement contraceptive darting to manage fertility in the long term future.
The removals are part of a 10-year management plan. For the BLM, the goal is to give the land a chance to recover.
"It means that nature has that opportunity to respond and restore and operate as it naturally should," Arave said.
The horses that leave the mountain don't necessarily disappear from people's lives. BLM Communications Specialist Brittany Jones knows that firsthand.
"I've actually adopted three wild horses myself," Jones said.
Horses removed from the herd can be placed for adoption.
"Many of these horses go on into the adoption pipeline and end up being wonderful horses," Jones said.
But for Cerroni, adoption doesn't answer the bigger question: What does each removal mean for the herd that stays?
"You got to protect what you have there because every time one of those lineages is removed, I just see that gene pool maybe shrinking a little bit more," Cerroni said.
