<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Fort Polk will be working to find a new safe home for each of the horses wandering freely across the military base, officials announced this weekend.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">After careful consideration of several proposed means of removing the “trespass horses,” officials declared Sunday the preferred alternative to remove the animals will be through a cyclic process with animal welfare groups.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“The cyclic process begins with the round up of about 10 to 30 horses. The first step provides official 501(c)3 animal welfare groups with a 10-day window to claim the horses. Fort Polk officials will maintain a list of interested advocacy groups and will contact a group via email when horses are available to be picked up,” spokesperson Kim Reischling said in a news release.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The next step, Reischling said, will allow members of the general public to claim one or more horses themselves, and finally any that remain that have not been adopted will be placed for sale to the general public at a local sale barn.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">This cycle will repeat itself until no trespass horses remain at the military installation, though officials said that could take up to three years.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“Throughout the process, Fort Polk officials will consider offers to relocate all or significant numbers of the horses to non-Army property,” Reischling said.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Since last year, officials have been working with both members of the military and the general public to come up with a solution on how best to remove the herd of more than 700 horses that roam across the military base.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Declared “trespass horses” installation chief of staff Col. Brian Sullivan said previously the animals are not wild and were most likely abandoned by their previous owners or escaped from their homes and were never caught.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“They do not run and hide from us. They congregate in open, grassy areas used for drop zones or they disrupt training procedures,” Sullivan said at a public forum last August when the military first approached the public for comments on how to handle the growing herd.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Reischling said the decision to adopt out the horses came after carefully combing through analysis that took into consideration the safety, training impacts, environmental impacts, public perceptions, cost and time of removing the horses. </span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The public has 30 days to comment on the decision and may do so via email to usarmy.polk.imcom.mbx.pao-public-response@mail.mil or by mail to JRTC and Fort Polk, Public Affairs Office, Attention: Public Response, 7033 Magnolia Drive Bldg. 4919; Fort Polk, LA 71459.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“No final decision will be made until all input has been considered,” Reischling said.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody"> </span>

<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Follow</span> Pamela Sleezer on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/PamelaAmPress">twitter.com/PamelaAmPress</a>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">

</span><p>(MGNonline)</p>