Mule Found Running With Wyoming’s Wild Mustangs

A branded Wyoming mule has been hanging out with wild Wyoming mustangs for about a decade.

Wyoming's own Ranger Jessice (Jessica Korhut) of Buffalo, Wyoming, recently posted these pictures along with Ned, the mule's, interesting history.

Update: his name is Ned the Long-Eared Outlaw!
Howdy everyone, meet the Long Eared Outlaw of the Adobe Town HMA wild horse gather!

Ned loves apples and is very friendy,

He was captured a few days ago along with some other wild horses.

He is on the skinny side now, but is safe and has all the food and water he needs to live his best life!

I was told he had a brand, but the Brand Inspector couldn’t find his home.

Apparently, he has been seen running with the wild horses as an emotional support mule for the past ten years!

Or maybe Ned thinks he is a mustang.

Who knows.

But he did not seem to mind being picked up and penned by humans, probably because of all the apples they have been feeding him.

According to Wyoming's BLM,

This gathering is being conducted to remove approximately 1,675 excess wild horses. The area includes nearly 348,000 acres of mostly public lands managed by the BLM intermingled with some private lands. Chronic wild horse overpopulation in fragile ecosystems endangers overall land health, with the possibility of permanent, irrecoverable damage to important resources and impacts to other wildlife populations.

Recent infrared aerial surveys have shown wild horse populations exceed the established appropriate management level of 259 to 536 wild horses in the area.