US officials rounding up wild horses in Utah

Officials with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management have been rounding up wild horses this week in Utah. BLM officials say the herd has grown to an unsustainable size, according to local media reports.

BLM was tasked in the early 1970's with controlling and sustaining the wild horse populations across Utah and the western U.S. The agency sets standards for the number of wild horses a given area could sustain, taking into consideration other animals, such as livestock, which also depend on public lands for grazing.

Federal officials have also expressed concern for the need to control the size of wild horse and burro populations at a time of long-term drought in the West and the potential danger to animals.

Critics say the helicopter roundups can be physically demanding and potentialy deadly for weaker horses and have urged the BLM to take a different approach to managing the herds.