Since the announcement that the Uintah Animal Control and Shelter Special Service District will be gathering estray horses living on open range areas of Uintah County, some community members have expressed interest in the process. The district has shared that the following steps will be taken before, during, and after the drives and gathers. A licensed, insured horse gather company will be hired to use helicopters to humanely round up the animals into temporary holding pens. All animals will be examined by state and tribal brand inspectors and by a licensed veterinarian. After a gather, all unclaimed horses will be transported to the District’s livestock pens at the animal shelter. All horses held at the animal shelter will be examined by a licensed veterinarian. Unclaimed horses will be held, advertised and sold. All claimed horses traveling to an out-of-state facility must comply with the health requirements of the destination state. The District is acting on an executive order from the Uintah County Commission that was issued on December 9th. The objective is to safely and humanely remove as many estray, abandoned and / or nuisance horses as possible from the project area. They plan to conduct the drives and gathers between January 6th and April 1st.
