Rob Sharp

While traveling through Oregon in August, 2015, I noticed a road sign for BLM wild horse and burro corrals, and turned in to see if I could film and talk to someone there. Signs near the corrals directed cars to travel around the corrals on a self-guided tour that prospective wild horse or burro adopters can take, similar to visiting a pet shelter and considering adopting a cat or dog. In this case, the wild horses or burros have been taken off public lands as a management practice when the BLM views herd sizes as being to large for the land resources to bear along with the private livestock herds that also roam public lands as part of a lease agreement between the US government and ranchers. 

After filming at the corrals, I was able to talk with Rob Sharp, who directs the Wild Horse & Burro Program in Burns, Oregon. In this interview, Rob goes into the history of the Program, and he describes the process for capturing, housing, and adopting our wild horses and burros, and the future for the roughly 75 percent of horses captured who are not adopted.

The Interview