Clan Alpine colt, 2023

The roundup of Clan Alpine wild horses continues into the second week. 

You can find reports from week 1 HERE as well as a breakdown and background of the operation.

Cumulative:

BLM has not posted final capture numbers as of 9:30 a.m. on 11/29. We are working on a review of the operation after a release of stallions today. 

Final numbers from capture:

Captured: 1605 Wild Horses (658 Stallions, 737 Mares, and 210 Foals) 

Shipped: 1325 Wild Horses (515 Stallions, 612 Mares, and 198 Foals)
(To Palomino Valley Center north of Reno where it has been confirmed there is a Pigeon Fever outbreak).

As of 4:45 pm on 11/30, BLM has not updated their website to reflect release numbers. However, they sent a press release stating 109 studs in total were released. 

Deaths: 22 (BLM said: 20+ year-old bay mare, blind in right eye; 13 year old palomino stud, broken left hind leg20+ year-old sorrel mare, blind in right eye, Foal roan stud, broken left hind leg, 2 year-old white stud, blind in both eyes, 4 year-old black stud, blind in left eye – cancer, 7 year-old sorrel stud, club foot deformity, 12 year-old bay stud, fractured left knee, 11 year-old bay mare, fractured pelvis, 5-year old bay mare, missing left eye due to a previous injury 2 year-old black mare, ruptured tendon on hind, 20+ year-old grey stud, cancer polyps on head. 3 year-old sorrel stud, cancer. 3 year-old bay mare, cancer.  20+ year-old bay stud, abscess infection. 3 year-old sorrel mare, severe abscess on neck, 6 year-old buckskin stud, broken neck (no further details), 20 year-old sorrel mare, cancer in left eye, 12 year-old brown mare, blind right eye, 16 year-old brown mare, blind right eye., 12 year-old bay mare, prolapse uterus) This seems like a large number of wild horses showing signs of cancer and BLM needs to do an additional environmental study to determine the cause. (NOTE: BLM has the total number of deaths listed incorrectly. On the 17th, they dropped 1: they dropped the only one they list as “acute,” the broken neck from the total. On 11/24, they finally rectified the error and publish accurate counts.)

Note on injuries and deaths: this is the same contractor you all watched at Surprise/Calico where the number of eye and facial injuries was disproportionately large. Calico HERE and Surprise HERE

A “Roundup rant” from our founder about the beginning of the fiscal year 2024 schedule HERE.

Note to BLM: Until BLM creates a visual complete record of each day of capture, publishes the day of capture or live feed, stop complaining about what we put on the website with the limited bandwidth a nonprofit organization has. 

Newest daily reports will appear at the top. Scroll down for earlier reports.

112823: We do not have final capture numbers as of 9:30 am. 11/29. We will update when we have them.

Confirmed capture numbers: 64 (22 Stallions, 32 Mares, and 10 Foals)

We are working on a long form report for this day and will link it here when complete with video of capture, escape and an odd trap release that we have only seen once before in 15 years.

Long form, packed with video HERE.

Samples from videos in slideshow below as we load video into long form report that will breakdown the roundup and provide all the details that continue to show that your horses are being managed for the convenience of the agency… and data and science take a back seat on the bus.

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112723: 73 (32 Stallions, 32 Mares, and 9 Foals) wilds horses captured as BLm pushed operation until dark.

Below: Temporary holding from parking location waiting for BLM to finish sorting so observer can walk to a rise and see. BLM will not allow observation of processing at this operation.

2 more have died. BLM said, “20+ year-old bay mare, blind in right eye; 13 year old palomino stud, broken left hind leg.”

We are working on a long report packed with video and will link it here. Long report of the day HERE.

112623: 43 (18 Stallions, 19 Mares, and 6 Foals) captured and 2 deaths (BLM said: 20+ year-old sorrel mare, blind in right eye, Foal roan stud, broken left hind leg).

BLM released 25 studs but has not updated release total (BLM is counting 2 escapes that may have been recaptured as released).

112523: BLM has not updated official daily totals as of 9:50 am Pacific Time.

123 (61 Stallions, 48 Mares, and 14 Foals)  captured.

Long report HERE and a look at why we need enforceable Rules for wild horse and burro welfare. 

We are working on a long form report for the day and will publish soon.

112423:

62 wild horses were captured, 25 studs, 30 mares and 7 foals. At the new trap we cannot see the wings and any pressure that takes place. We can view catch pen, alleys, what loading we can see with the heavy tarps and trailering. On these rough roads, it is good to have public onsite when we have witnessed extremely fast driving. Public eyes matter.

112323: 42 (19 Stallions, 21 Mares, and 2 Foals)  wild horses captured on Thanksgiving.

112223

68 (22 Stallions, 32 Mares, and 14 Foals) wild horses were captured. 5 died. BLM said: “2 year-old white stud, blind in both eyes, 4 year-old black stud, blind in left eye – cancer, 7 year-old sorrel stud, club foot deformity, 12 year-old bay stud, fractured left knee.” No mention of the palomino you see limping in the video above.

112123

Week 2 ends with 67 (29 Stallions, 33 Mares, and 6 Foals)  captured on a cold day that began around 20 degrees.

We did notice that it looks like the same tarps (that are replacing see-through snow fencing) BLM says make horses feel “safer” are not only being used to “urge” horses onto trailers as they were at Robert’s Mountain, but appear to be “shaken” to move horses through trap alleys.

We are working on a long form report and will link it here.

112023: Back in Clan Alpine HMA. Bad trap, bad road, wind. Trap will move tomorrow. Multiple runs saw bands fracture, break from the wings and escape. 12 (2 Stallions, 9 Mares, and 1 Foals)  captured.

111923

40 (17 Stallions, 11 Mares, and 12 Foals)  wild horses were captured as BLM squeezed the last day out of the “Ravenswood” trap. These are the horses that actually move seasonally from New Pass/Ravenswood (Battle Mountain District) into Clan Alpine (Carson District). There is no approved and active “Gather-EA” at New Pass/ Ravenswood. BLM knows these are the wild horses we were concerned about in our comment and Appeals. However, BLM feels that they can plow ahead and fix historic issues “later.” Not one of these horses has any chance of being released.

Above: A horse tried to escape and caught a leg on the rail. You can see how the tarps flap in the wind and may also give the appearance of being a “solid” that horses seem to repeatedly misjudge and catch their legs. We do not know why snow fencing (that you can see is not a solid) is being replaced with heavy flapping tarps. We have no idea the extent of any injury to the horse. It is interesting that they are not counting this horse as captured and released as they did with another horse that escaped. This may have been a mare as BLM says they captured 11 mares and 12 foals? (It was cnfirmed later that BLM roped a foal after this run. This may be the mare who the foal belonged to that was left on the range? 

They did replace the panel. Good thing it was aluminum and not the heavyweight steel. The give in the panel might have saved that horse a serious injury. BLM said they saw her run away (where we could not see). 

Trap moves back into Clan Alpine proper tomorrow.

111823

97 (33 Stallions, 51 Mares, and 13 Foals) wild horses were captured and BLM said a mare had a prolapsed uterus and put her down.

Below: After capture and loading, this band with the small baby is trailered behind a cattle truck and a rider and another driver head over. Did they redistribute the load?

111723

IT MUST BE NOTED: BLM admits that these are Ravenswood horses. BLM is doing exactly what we said they would in our comments: use a Clan Alpine EA to remove wild horses from another district (Battle Mountain) and different Herd Management Area (HMA), New Pass/Ravenswood.

Ignoring our comment and Appeal, BLM is basically saying to advocates “take everything to court or we will just do whatever we want to.” This is how wild horses are “managed” by BLM. The permittee and lobby groups matter… the actual public process and data and facts do not. 

81 wild horses were captured at the new trap location where the paints live. Not one will be returned as BLM chose only horses from the first trap locations to be returned claiming “genetics and color.” Picking from the first 2 traps to go back to the range 3 days ago (where cancer seemed more prevalent than usual in BLMs death reports) seems more for their ability to hold horses (keep corrals up) for a shorter time and not any pretense of “genetics.”

111623

76 (24 Stallions, 46 Mares, and 6 Foals)  wild horses were captured. BLM added 4 more deaths: 6 year-old buckskin stud, broken neck (no further details), 20 year-old sorrel mare, cancer in left eye, 12 year-old brown mare, blind right eye, 16 year-old brown mare, blind right eye.

Many times people make remarks about the debris kicked up at roundups. When an image is a close-up it looks like it is the horses. It’s usually the chopper close to the ground. Some pilots do it intentionally to scare horses (it appears) to get them to turn. Sometimes we wonder if that debris can get caught in the rotors of the chopper?

After capture, wild horses are trucked to temporary corrals where they are sorted for shipment and the ones selected for release are sorted.

BLM applied the first dose of GonaCon to 81 mares. It appears only mares captured in the particular livestock grazing allotments in the first week will be returned. No horses captured in any other area of this nearly 300,000 acre HMA will even have a chance of being returned no matter the color or genetics represented in the rest of the HMA. BLM will keep the temporary corrals up for a month to apply a second dose of GonaCon (a hard hitting hormonal vaccine that causes a lack of ovulation for 5-10 years) before releasing them back to the range. BLM said they will have an employee check on the horses each day and feed them.

HOWEVER, treating mares NOW (instead of waiting to determine the best overall for return) the release will occur within the timeframe allowed for the roundup itself.

It appears, once again, BLM is making decisions based on their own convenience. 

We are going to start adding the total number in temporary to our daily public updates as BLM repeatedly overstocks holding corrals: 230 wild horses overnight 11/16 (according to BLMs published official numbers)

111523

155 (70 Stallions, 77 Mares, and 8 Foals)  wild horses were captured at new trap location.

Below: One band captured, one escapes. Even though observation is far, far away from the trap you can still see how this brave horse crashes through the jute and brings his family to safety.

We are going to start adding the total number in temporary to our daily public updates as BLM repeatedly overstocks holding corrals: 281 wild horses overnight 11/15 (according to BLMs published official numbers)

BLM did enlarge the corrals after we noted the CAWP violation of overstocking holding. We do not know why we keep having to remind them roundup after roundup after roundup.

Without your help, none of this work is possible. Our teams are in the field and deep in the fight to protect and preserve our wild ones.

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