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Bureau of Land Management Brings Horse and Burro Adoptions to Craig County

Bureau of Land Management

If you’re looking for a horse or burro, you can adopt one from the Bureau of Land Management this weekend.

An adoption event is Friday from noon to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon at the Craig County Fairgrounds in Vinita. Be aware, however — they aren’t your typical horses and burros.

"The animals are wild. They're very — you know, a lot of people really enjoy gentling them and training them," said the BLM's Crystal Cowan.

Periodically removing wild animals from their herds is part of the agency’s duties.

"If we were to do nothing with the horses, they would double in population size every four years," Cowan said. "The land out there is more arid, it's more desolate, and just cannot sustain that many horses on it."

The minimum adoption fee is $125, and you must have an appropriate trailer and sufficient space at home. The BLM offers an incentive if you adopt an animal 4 years old or older.

"A year from the adoption date, they'll receive an application for title in the mail. Have a veterinarian sign off on it saying they've seen the animal in good care and then mail it in to us, and we'll mail them a title as well as a check for $500," Cowan said.

This weekend's adoptions are the BLM's first in the area in two years. Over the last 43 years, the BLM has placed more than 235,000 horses and burros taken from herds they manage.

Matt Trotter joined KWGS as a reporter in 2013. Before coming to Public Radio Tulsa, he was the investigative producer at KJRH. His freelance work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times and on MSNBC and CNN.