Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Saturday 5 May 2018

Dozens of wild horses found dead amid Southwest drought

By FELICIA FONSECA lapsing the berm and bury-
Associated Press ing the animals on site.
CAMERON, Ariz. (AP) — Off Eventually, the tribe will
a northern Arizona high- redirect any water that
way surrounded by pastel- flowed into that watering
colored desert is one of hole into a safer area.
the starkest examples of "Knock on wood, God for-
drought's grip on the Amer- bid, that we have that situ-
ican Southwest: Dozens of ation anywhere else within
dead horses surrounded by the reservation," Cleveland
cracked earth, swirling dust said. "This will lay the foun-
and a ribbon of water that dation for how we respond
couldn't quench their thirst. to this."
Flesh exposed and in vari- For all the devastation,
ous stages of decomposi- there was a bright spot.
tion, the carcasses form a As Cleveland surveyed
circle around a dry water- ground earlier this week
ing hole sunken in the land- determining how best to
scape. respond to the deaths, he
It's clear this isn't the first saw a foal — no more than
time the animals have four weeks old — moving
struggled. Skeletal remain next to what was assumed
are scattered on the fringes to be its mother.
and in an adjacent ravine. Tribal officials carried it to
It's a symptom of a bur- a truck and used a long-
geoning wild horse popu- In this Tuesday, May 1, 2018 file photo provided by the Navajo Nation, scores of dead horses are sleeved, white T-shirt to
lation and the scarcity of shown in a dried up stock pond on Navajo tribal land near Cameron, Ariz. keep it warm for the trip to
water on the western edge Associated Press a veterinary clinic 45 min-
of the Navajo Nation fol- utes away. They named
lowing a dry winter and large plastic tanks in the said, standing beside his teenager in the late 1970s her Grace.
dismal spring runoff. Condi- beds of their pickup trucks. truck loaded with hay. "I in Gray Mountain, the com- Erin Hisrich, who owns the
tions aren't forecast to im- The groundwater is brack- kept calling my sister saying munity controlled horse clinic, said Grace was se-
prove anytime soon, and ish and recommended for 'this is bad.' It just hits you. populations by castrating verely dehydrated and will
tribal officials suspect other livestock only, but the two You tear up. You know you the smaller ones, he said. need to have her blood-
animals have died with not storage tanks closest to the don't have the capability Navajo culture taught that sugar stabilized and kid-
enough to eat or drink. watering hole no longer to save them." young men should train neys functioning before
"One of the things we do is function. Tribal officials counted 118 horses and tame them, part she could be adopted. On
we picture the worst-case Animals were accustomed dead horses and two cows of building endurance, a Thursday, the brown foal
scenario when we got out to finding relief at the stock this week but that tally strong work ethic and man- with a long patch of white
there," said Harlan Cleve- pond where the horses doesn't account for any aging livestock, he said. hair on its face splashed in
land of the tribe's Depart- died, but locals say the carcasses that might have "There were no feral horses a tub of water and cozied
ment of Emergency Man- pool of water beneath the been pushed deeper into back then, but then the so- up to visitors.
agement. "I did smell the decades-old earthen dam the mud by the other strug- ciety changed in greater "In the end, that made
decomposition and the has dried up more quickly gling animals, or for skeletal America but on Navajo, on my day responding to this
bodies starting to smell, the each year. Families have remains. the reservation as well," he emergency and this cha-
carcasses. But I didn't real- been downsizing their herds Tribal officials estimate tens said. otic scene," Cleveland
ize until I looked down from because they can't rely on of thousands of feral horses Staff with the U.S. Bureau said. "At least this baby foal
the berm and saw all those the vegetation or watering on the Navajo Nation, the of Indian Affairs put up a made it out."q
horses down there." holes. Some have hauled country's largest reserva- barbed wire fence around
Here, drought doesn't man- water and left it in troughs tion spanning 27,000 square the watering hole where
ifest in having to shut down for animals. miles (69,929.679 square ki- horses laid overlapping
swimming pools or let lawns Charlie Smith Jr. climbed lometers) in Arizona, Utah one another.
go dry. the small berm overlook- and New Mexico. Some Federal and tribal work-
This rural community does ing the watering hole three communities have called ers this week used heavy
not have its own potable weeks ago in search of for roundups, but often equipment to bring horses
water source. Those who his cattle. At the time, he they're halted with public found on the outskirts closer
have running water in their counted 29 dead horses outcry tied to Navajo spiri- to the others. Hydrated lime
homes get it from a well, and a cow that wasn't his tual beliefs about the ani- was spread over the site to
piped from over 30 miles stranded at the edge look- mals and the role they play aid decomposition and to
(48.2 kilometers) away. ing up at him. in prayers and ceremonies. ward off scavengers. Fri-
Most haul water, carrying "It's very emotional," he When Emmett Kerley was a day's work focused on col-