Unalaska, AK – The organization Friends of Alaska National Wildlife Refuges has received a grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to geld, or neuter, the six stallions in Unalaska's wild horse herd.

It's an effort to rein in the growth of the local population. The wild horses are a beloved fixture in Unalaska, but they're also a headache for the FWS, which manages most of the land on the island that doesn't belong to the Ounalashka Corporation. The herd has doubled in size over the past decade, from eight to 16 horses. More and more frequently, the horses are moving beyond their usual territory near Summer Bay and Morris Cove onto federally managed land.

Jeff Hancock, project manager for the FANWR, said it makes sense to deal with the problem now, rather than wait for it to get worse.

"If they're left to continue reproducing as they are, the herd size will double again and again in probable half as much time," he said. "It'll continue to increase exponentially in size."

The FWS is giving $10,000 to the FANWR, which has worked on other invasive species projects in Unalaska and elsewhere, to deal with the problem. The organization is hiring a Homer-based veterinarian to geld the half-dozen stallions.

Hancock said the idea is to keep this part of Unalaska from eventually looking like the southwestern end of the island, where an estimated 800 to 1,200 wild horses have overgrazed much of the land surrounding the Chernofski sheep ranch.

"They are having a dramatic impact on the land down there, and as the population expands and grows to those kind of numbers, then there begins to be starvation death--and that's not anything that anyone wants for domesticated animals," he said. "So we need to address this with our local herd before it gets out of control."

Feed will be brought in for the horses sometime this summer or early fall. Ideally that will bring the herd together in one place, making it easier to round them up for the operation, and ensure that the stallions are healthy enough for surgery.