Starving? Stallion races by observation as bands scatter all over the valley floor.

Today, BLM raced to capture wild horses on the range as they tell the court they could not possibly respond to a Motion for a Restraining Order until Monday (court filings are public knowledge, we are not disclosing any confidential material in the BLM response).

Roundup update

The death toll is now 29. BLM said they killed a 15-year old mare (that apparently was able to run from a helicopter with a pre-existing broken hip) and a 1-year old with a broken shoulder. BLM does not consider either death roundup related.

However, 2 more deaths is not all that happened. A horse is dragged by the neck and “choked down.” A foal crashes into panels as families are run back and forth and back and forth by 2 choppers all day long. The incidents below took place after the heat index reached the caution zone. Heat Index does not only impact wild horses, it impacts people and judgment. 

Long form story of the day:

After being driven back and forth across the valley, repeatedly, as the heat index hit the caution zone, a mare stays near the trap after evading capture, but her family did not follow and she stays close to where her family disappeared into the trap. The chopper tries to move her and she is roped. Then she spends about another 30 minutes struggling in the rope as the chopper keeps bringing in more horses. Then the BLM person “in charge” takes the rope, hands it to a man on horseback through the side rails of the trailer and … they try to drag the horse by the neck onto a trailer. After collapsing, they appear to pull her onto a board with a rope and then wranglers flip her into the trailer. On the trailer she remains down for at least another 30 minutes until she is manually lifted to standing so that other horses can be put onto the trailer and taken to holding.

Long form in 3 video edits so you can see the whole thing. We have video loaded in a lower resolution so we can give you the entire story. When we have better internet, we will increase quality. 

Why doesn’t the public trust BLM? What happened over those 6 days BLM hid traps? It would be nice to hear BLM, just once, recognize that these horses have families that they are attached to and that their actions cause “weak” or “feeling poorly.” She was fine before the roundup. 

Above: Before trailer (roping). When in incident is happening onsite you usually have to wait to get an answer from BLM about what happened. You have to be careful how you ask, and even who asks the question, or you simply won’t get an answer.  The audio is BLM in charge and staff answering an observer. BLM is claiming this horse that stayed by trap because family was in trap, fought for 45 minutes before collapsing (video below) after being choked by a rope around her neck… “weak” and “skin and bones.” What was heard in video is pretty outrageous and made our editor say, “Blame the horse (starving, sick, unhappy). BLM always blames the horse they abuse and then says they are saving it.” (She had to put the chatter in a loop over the video. Perhaps this is the only way to get people to understand the entire program, not just roundups?)

Above: Go to timecode 1:28 to see the “Incident Commander” (BLM in charge) take the rope and hand it through the side rail window of the trailer to the wrangler before this horse is dragged by the neck. They try the same move again at timecode 2:28 and she drops. Keep in mind this mare was roped after at least 45 minutes of running back and forth in the valley, in the rope for over 35 minutes as BLM brought in more horses… then pulled by the neck. We edited this in as long a form as possible due to upload capability (but had to drop quality) so that you can see the event without leaving anything out.

Above: After being placed on the trailer this horse was flat inside and could not be seen. After being moved and coaxed several times, you see a head rise. At timecode 1:12, you can see the horse manually helped to standing right before other (agitated) horses are loaded into the same trailer.

Below: Youngster roped after appearing to go lame and a baby crashes into panels.

There is a tremendous amount of information, video and underlying story from this immense roundup operation yet to share. We will get it loaded as time allows. 

As this case moves forward we will find time to revisit additional aspects of how BLM has operated under the largest Environmental Assessment (EA) in the country at the Antelope Complex.

We won’t stop fighting for justice. 

We have been informed that members of the public will be showing up today at the BLM NV Headquarters in Reno to protest in support of our legal action against BLM. We are not affiliated with the protest. The public is truly fed up with how BLM treats our wild ones. We hope BLM pays attention. 

Many of you are asking if media has covered this. Yes, it has.

The Hill. and 8 NewsNow and Associated Press coverage went around the world.

Our team members are in the field and in the fight to stop this madness again today.

Thank you for keeping us in the fight!

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