Living on a Nuclear Wasteland

http://news.rgj.com//apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070725/NEWS18/70725037

Federal officials were investigating the deaths of at least 55 wild horses and an antelope found near a watering hole on a Cold War proving ground for ballistics and bombing experiments in central Nevada.
Tissue from the animals and water samples were being tested, Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman Hillerie Patton said Wednesday. She said toxicology tests could take up to a week to complete. A water pond on a dry lake bed on the Tonopah Test Range was suspected to be the cause of the problem, the BLM and Air Force said in a statement released Tuesday. The area, about 210 miles northwest of Las Vegas, was home to about 250 wild horses. Patton, in Las Vegas, said workers were fencing off the pond and setting up storage tanks to offer fresh water to wild horses and burros. The Energy Department and National Nuclear Security Administration were involved in the investigation, which began after animal carcasses were first seen in the area Friday. The secure area is managed by Sandia National Laboratories.