One year ago this week, dozens of wild horses were found dead on the Tonopah Test Range. The BLM and Air Force announced at the time that a full investigation would be launched to find out the cause of death. Twelve months later, the public is still waiting for answers.
You would think that a year would be enough time to find out why 71 wild horses died around a water hole in the Nevada desert, but it's not enough time for the BLM. We've called them every month since the horse carcasses were found, and every month we've been told the answers are coming soon. The public is still waiting.
The vast range was the first place in the nation designated as land where wild horses could run free, but the Nevada wild horse range overlaps with restricted military ranges, which sometimes puts horses in harm's way. Still, the Nevada BLM's wild horse director, Suzie Stokke, described the range this way last fall.
"It's a tremendous place for horses in terms of habitat. The horses do very well there," she said.
Except for the fact that they keep dying in large numbers.
At the time, Stokke told us how great the Tonopah area is for horses, she had already decided that hundreds of horses had to be removed. Just days before out interview, 71 horses were found dead around a temporary water hole inside the restricted Tonopah test range. A similar incident occurred in the same area back in 1988 when 61 horses died after ingesting chemicals from a de-icing agent washed off a runway.
Employees had a betting pool on how many horses would eventually keel over. Because the 2007 horse deaths occurred miles from any runway, Stokke -- who is not a scientist -- surmised that naturally occurring nitrates poisoned the animals. She promised definitive answers.
"Hopefully we will have those tests and that information over the next several months," said Stokke.
A month after the horse deaths, Nevada Senator Harry Reid wrote to the BLM and said he too wanted answers in case the cause of death might pose a threat to humans.
Pat Putnam, a BLM range scientist said, "At this point, we really don't know."
BLM investigators like Putnam worked diligently with the Air Force, collected samples, analyzed materials, and then -- nothing. Higher ups seemed in no hurry to solve the mystery. BLM hired the Desert Research Institute to conduct a study. It took until January of this year to finalize a contract.
Each month, the I-Team has called BLM to ask about the results, and each month, we were told they are coming soon. An April deadline came and went. A promised July deadline also wasn't met.
BLM spokespersons told us the source of the delay was DRI. That is simply not true, DRI says. Their report has been finished since April. The delay came because BLM wanted to edit the report before it was released, DRI told us, even though there was no such arrangement in the original contract.
It isn't known what type of edits BLM wants to make but wild horse advocates are fed up with the managers who call the shots in BLM's Nevada office.
Jerry Reynoldson, an advocate for wild horses said, "Why this is happening right now is hard to explain but under no circumstances should we accept 71 horses being dead in due course."
A BLM memo obtained indicates the water hole where the horses died remains fenced off so no other animals are poisoned.
By the way, after 61 horses died in 1988, it took BLM just five days to figure out what killed them. This time, it has taken a year... so far.
Email your comments to Chief Investigative Reporter George Knapp.
Nevada BLM's wild horse director, Suzie Stokke
Pat Putnam, a BLM range scientist
