Harsh drought conditions in parts of Colorado and other states are pushing wild horses to the brink and spurring extreme measures to protect them.
As The Denver Post reports, water and food is being hauled to Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona to aid wild horses in remote grazing areas where drought has caused dried up springs and vanishing vegetation.
The federal Bureau of Land Management says overpopulation of wild horses and extreme drought conditions - present across much of the high plains into the western half of the country - is putting a strain on pasture land and water in those areas.
Wild horse advocates touting birth control as a better way of managing the large wild horse population say the agency is instead using the dry conditions to scale populations back due to pressure from ranchers whose livestock graze the same land.
Whatever is done, trucking in food and water could cost several thousand dollars per month and could make the horses overly dependent on humans.