Yukon wild horse wrangler dies from head injuries

People in the Kluane area of Yukon are mourning a Burwash man who died yesterday after an accident while wrangling wild horses.

The accident happened near Kusawa Lake on Sunday.

Coroner Kirsten Macdonald says Arnold Johnson, 57, sustained serious head injuries and died at Whitehorse General Hospital on Monday.

Richard Mostyn with the Yukon Workers Compensation Board says Johnson was an agriculture branch contractor for the Yukon government.

"The man was trying to round up wild horses and in the course of corralling the animals he was injured," Mostyn said. "Our safety officers are looking into the events of this workplace fatality and these are early days."

The Yukon coroner says an autopsy and toxicology report have been ordered.

Two or three herds of wild, or at least feral, horses have been roaming southwest Yukon for at least 20 years.