Horses Dying of Thirst on Military Land : Nature: Officials at the White Sands base say the wild herd is too large. Water is being given the animals; some will be sold to reduce the population.

The decaying body of a foal bleaches in the hot desert sand, yards from the water troughs that are filled daily. The severed, skeletal leg of another horse lies nearby. Vultures flap overhead.

Wild horses are dying on this 3,200-square-mile military reservation, victims of overgrazing and a vicious dry spell.

“We’ve got a huge problem,” White Sands spokesman Larry Furrow said.

The first 20 bodies were discovered July 6. Two days later, 104 horses were dead, some of starvation, others shot by military officials anxious to end their misery.

Officials at the Army missile range in southern New Mexico estimate that White Sands has about 1,400 feral horses--descendants of those living on the land when the government took it over in 1945.

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Three of the four major herds seem to have adequate food and water, but the Mound Springs herd, which numbered about 400 before the recent deaths, has overgrazed its land and finds itself facing barren ground and starvation.

Rainfall for the year is 20% below normal, and temperatures have topped 100 degrees for 20 straight days.

The military has begun filling water troughs daily. Officials hope the water will give the horses enough strength to move on to better grazing elsewhere on the range.

Once the horses regain their health, many will likely be sold at auction to help trim the population to a manageable level. The roundups probably won’t begin until the fall, and some don’t look like they’ll make it.

At a watering hole about 75 miles north of range headquarters, a handful of horses edged toward six water troughs one recent day, their ribs protruding and their flanks emaciated.

“Nobody hates this more than the people here at the range,” Furrow said.

The crisis has brought offers of aid from around the country. Karen Sussman, president of the nonprofit International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros in Scottsdale, Ariz., said the response has been tremendous.

“We have a person in Colorado who has the capacity to haul in one ton of hay,” Sussman said.

But the Army won’t provide food. Officials say the horses are fiercely territorial and food might keep them from leaving the stricken area.

Even if the drought ends and summer rainfall greens up the rangeland, problems could persist. The range can support only about 300 to 500 horses, which would mean trimming the population by two-thirds, Furrow said.

The military attempted to do that in 1989 but abandoned the effort. Some attribute that to protests by animal-rights activists who feared the horses would wind up in slaughterhouses.

This time, range officials won’t be deterred.

“This is a growing problem,” Furrow said. “If we don’t fix it now, it will never be fixed.”