On the second day at the trap in the Antelope Valley HMA, 19 (8 Stallions, 9 Mares, and 2 Foals) wild horses were captured.
2 wild horses died. 6-year-old Palomino stallion broke his neck. A 10-year-old Sorrel mare was put down because she had club foot. (We believe this may be the mare that goes down in the trailer in a later video on the page. We will check with BLM tomorrow.) This brings the totals at Triple B to 346 captured and 8 dead in 7 days of active capture.
Above: After a run BLM pulls off the foals into a small pen alongside the alley that leads to the trailer. Adults and foals will be loaded separately; usually the foals in the back compartment. Mares and stallions are not sorted at the trap.
Above: The next run appears to be an attempt to get some of the wild horse bands that had fractured in the first run through the grazing livestock. This stallion makes an amazing attempt at escape as he crashes through the jute wing, gets tangled and falls. He rises, dusts himself off… but they do not let him go. He is recaptured.
Above: As noted earlier, stallions and mares are not sorted at trap, but loaded together. Adults in the front and, most often, foals will be in the rear. This sets up a bad situation. It is not uncommon to see fights between rival band stallions or mares trying to keep others from her foal in the back. When BLM drives in a group of wild horses it is usually a bunch of family bands grouped together and driven in.
This time of year can be particularly bad; new babies and a mare may be in heat. You can see that with this trailer load, it gets bad.
It takes nearly 20 minutes for anyone to check on the trailer after loading. Before getting in to drive the trailer, it appears they finally see the horse that has been kicked so much it went down. They offload and reload separating the dominant from the one that was down. He is not “overly aggressive,” he is simply a wild stallion protecting his family. He will now be taken to an off-limits to public viewing facility in Utah, labelled unadoptable, and be at risk for a fast sale that leads into the slaughter pipeline. He needs to go back home.
There was another run and a tour of holding.
It is important to remember that the paperwork driving this roundup (2017 EA) has repeatedly hit these areas every year. BLM does no additional NEPA for ten years and uses these EAs to remove, remove, remove and ignore actual management.
We need to stop this madness.
You can see the ongoing daily sheet from this operation, with links to more in-depth coverage, Click HERE.
For those looking for a “deeper dive,” BLM will be hosting a public meeting online for the Greenlinks transmission line. More HERE.
Help keep us in the field and in the fight.
Categories: Wild Horse Education
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