Primary sources & practical guidance
Start with jurisdiction. Nevada's free-roaming horses do not all have the same legal status, and the correct law or agency can depend on where an animal is located and how that population is classified.
NV.Horse is an informational resource and does not provide legal advice. Laws, agency responsibilities, emergency procedures, and management decisions can change.
Know the jurisdiction
Federal jurisdiction
Horses protected and managed under the federal Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act are generally associated with federally managed herd areas and herd management areas.
The Bureau of Land Management manages wild horses and burros on BLM-administered public lands under federal law and regulations.
Visit the BLM programNevada jurisdiction
Nevada law separately addresses estrays and feral livestock. Federally protected horses and burros are expressly excluded from Nevada's statutory definition of feral livestock.
The Virginia Range population is a prominent Nevada example that is managed under state rather than federal wild-horse jurisdiction.
Read NRS Chapter 569Federal law
The 1971 Act established federal protections and a management framework for qualifying wild horses and burros on public lands.
Current codified federal law covering protection, management, inventory, removal, adoption, sale, enforcement, and related authorities.
The original 1971 statute establishing federal protection for wild free-roaming horses and burros.
BLM administration of the federal program is also governed by regulations in Title 43 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
Nevada law
Defines estrays, feral livestock, livestock, and Nevada Department of Agriculture authority concerning qualifying animals.
Nevada law prohibits specified unauthorized acts involving wild horses, including removal, harassment, certain killing, and other conduct.
Current data
Population estimates, Appropriate Management Levels, gathers, removals, releases, and disposition data should be checked against current agency records rather than repeated indefinitely from older reports.
BLM publishes annual population estimates and statewide Appropriate Management Level figures, along with national program statistics.
View current dataBLM's Nevada gather pages provide operation-specific plans, daily reports, numbers gathered, removals, releases, deaths, and supporting documents.
View Nevada gathersAs of March 1, 2026, BLM estimated 37,426 wild horses and 5,146 wild burros on BLM-managed lands in Nevada, for a combined estimate of 42,572 animals. The statewide maximum Appropriate Management Level listed by BLM is 12,811 horses and burros.
Data date: March 1, 2026. Population figures are estimates and should not be treated as exact head counts.
2026 operations
These examples link directly to BLM records. They are included to help visitors distinguish documented gather numbers from figures circulating without a source.
BLM reported that the 2026 operation concluded July 26 after 703 wild horses were gathered.
Review BLM record →BLM reported that its July 2026 Callaghan operation gathered and removed approximately 2,000 excess wild horses.
Review BLM record →BLM reported 700 horses gathered from Antelope and 301 from Triple B during the 2026 bait-and-water operation.
Review BLM record →Scientific research
Scientific findings should be read in context. Effects can vary by landscape, population density, climate, water availability, and other land uses.
Peer-reviewed research examining relationships between feral horse abundance and greater sage-grouse population dynamics.
Nevada wildlife-agency material addressing wild horse and burro populations, habitat, wildlife interactions, and management concerns.
Report an incident
NV.Horse is not an emergency-reporting service. Immediate threats to human safety should be reported through normal emergency channels.
For factual information concerning inhumane treatment of a federally protected wild horse or burro, BLM provides a national reporting channel and Nevada program contacts.
BLM reporting contactsNevada Department of Agriculture materials direct Virginia Range public-safety, roadway, injured-horse, fencing, feeding, and related concerns through state and cooperating reporting channels.
Nevada AgriculturePrioritize human safety, do not enter traffic or attempt to capture the animal yourself, and contact the appropriate emergency or law- enforcement authority.
Source policy
NV.Horse generally prefers statutes, regulations, agency records, official datasets, planning documents, and peer-reviewed research over summaries of those materials.
Secondary reporting can provide valuable context, but a news article is not substituted for an available primary record when the underlying document can be linked directly.
Claims involving alleged misconduct, animal disposition, mortality, illegal activity, ecological effects, or population figures should be presented according to the strength of the available evidence.
Submit a correction or sourceLast reviewed: August 25, 2026