You can find 7/8 through 7/15 (the heatwave at the beginning) of the Blue Wing Complex roundup by clicking HERE. The first week includes background information. 

Above: The last run of the day first. This small band is chased relentlessly and brought into the trap as temperatures hit the mid 90s and the Hat Index teeters at the danger zone.

Throughout this roundup BLM has been relentlessly pursuing wild horses and burros that not only live inside Herd Management Areas (HMAs), but also in areas just outside the boundary and in Herd Areas (lands designated for horse and burro use but BLM says they can’t manage in those areas).

Today, was one of those days where BLM relentlessly pursued horses that have lived in the Trinity HA since BLM “zeroed it out” a long time ago due to conflicts involving things like checkerboard lands and water.

Back in May BLM began scoping for an actual management plan at Blue Wing after our court win in another area and the active litigation at Blue Wing awaits a ruling. It is rather obvious that BLM is racing to complete their objectives so they do not have to respond to comments in scoping that request evaluation for returning the 3 HAs in the complex back to a managed status.

The capture of the last 3 horses in the area, in the video above, shows BLMs determination to eradicate the area of horses and burros to satisfy a settlement with the county (Pershing) from 2015.

Our observer provided us with numerous videos and observations we are currently loading. The volume is too great to load on this page.

CLICK HREE to see full video REPORT.

Blue Wing. One of the few HMAs you can see both horses and burros (or could before this roundup began)Week beginning 7/15.

Cumulative totals as of July 17. (The BLM does a meeting each night and they write the daily sheets. If a horse or burro dies after the meeting, it is not reported until the following day. However, with most things “BLM” this is not consistent.) 

Captured: 1,087
727 Wild Horses (285 Stallions, 299 Mares, and 143 Foals)
360 Wild Burros (186 Jacks, 152 Jennies, and 22 Foals) 

Shipped: 1,005
652 Wild Horses (248 Stallions, 268 Mares, and 136 Foals)
to the off-limits to the public facility in Fallon, Nevada.
353 Wild Burros (183 Jacks, 148 Jennies, and 22 Foals) to the off-limits to the public facilities in Fallon, Nevada, and Axtel, Utah. 

Deaths: BLM reports 25

15-year-old, Gray jenny found deceased on trailer upon arrival at temporary holding. (She died during transport from trap to sorting corrals probably from heart failure or was fatally injured during capture or transport.) 2-year-old, Gray jack BLM put down due to a broken leg. 20-plus-year-old, Gray jack killed because it had club foot. 4-year-old, Brown jenny BLM killed because they said she had deformed front legs. 18-year-old, Brown jenny killed because BLM said she had deformed front feet. 20-plus-year-old, Gray jack put down due to severe arthritis in front right knee. 5-year-old, Gray jenny died due to Colic (a stress and heat related condition). 2-year-old, Pinto jenny found deceased on truck upon arrival at Indian Lakes Off-Range Corrals. A 5-year-old, Bay stallion broke his left hind leg.  BLM put down a 15-year-old Sorrel stallion for arthritis in front left knee. 5-year-old, Bay stallion put down for arthritis in front right knee. 20-year-old, Black stallion put down due to arthritis in front right knee. 16-year-old, Dun mare put down, BLM said due to deformed right front leg. 3-year-old, Grulla stallion due to club foot, right front. 11-year-old, Bay mare BLM said had a developmental deformity, right hind leg. 17-year-old, Bay stallion BLM said fractured front left shoulder. 12-year-old, Bay stallion due to lameness, BLM said “previous injury to right rear hock.” 20-year-old, Roan mare killed due to heart disease-failure (our commentary if you look for the old roan w/foal in video: if she had issues with her heart, it was probably capture stress). 9-year-old, Sorrel stallion killed due to lameness, BLM said “previous injury to front right knee.” 25-plus-year-old, Gray stallion put down BLM said “due to poor body condition (BCS 1) with a poor chance of recovery (this is a body score 1 horse, We saw no body score “1”. 12-year-old, Bay mare put down due to broken left hind leg. 16-year-old, Roan stallion killed due to lameness, BLM said, arthritis in right hip. Foal, Buckskin mare killed, BLM said congenital deformity front legs (baby with lax tendons, very common in domestics not run by helicopter). 1-plus-year-old, Bay mare  due to broken neck. 11-year-old, Bay stallion died due to broken neck at trap.

(As usual, BLM NV is NOT documenting deaths according to the requirements of the CAWP “policy, protocol. whatever they call it that day.” We have always had serious concerns with certain personnel when they are “in charge” of determining who lives and who dies.)

The death rate at Blue Wing is nearly 2.5 times that of North Lander in Wyoming.

Released (means escaped in NV): 1 stallion. But the roundup is still active.

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Daily reports will appear newest at the top. Scroll down for early reports.

July 20

Above: Usually BLM stops traffic on roads during active capture. At the beginning of an overview video above, you can see a tiny horse looking over the sage as a helicopter hovers overhead and and a roper goes racing by in pursuit behind the hill.

The answer to any question at Blue Wing simply revolves around getting to AML (AML alone is NOT a definition of excess defined in the courts numerous times). At Blue Wing they are now beginning to take horses by stock trailer and load directly into a semi-truck before going to holding… because it is “efficient.” Wild horses will sit in the semi truck, unmoving in a standing and crowded compartment, for 3 hours before being offloaded at temporary.

We remind everyone that at this operation 4 horses/burros have already died during transport.

This operation is the most brutal roundup we have ever seen.

Another horse has died: 11-year-old, Bay stallion died due to broken neck at trap. In the video above you can see a big bay struggling during rushed loading (the BLM employee in charge is notorious for using hotshots top speed loading.

Below: Poignant video of a single horse walking by after family was driven into trap.

July 19

Above: End of day. Run and roped for no reason. This is not supposed to be a zero out. But BLM is hell-bent on capturing every horse and burro out there.

3 more died: 16-year-old, Roan stallion killed due to lameness, BLM said, arthritis in right hip. Foal, Buckskin mare killed, BLM said congenital deformity front legs (baby with lax tendons, very common in domestics not run by helicopter). 1-plus-year-old, Bay mare  due to broken neck.

32 (12 Stallions, 11 Mares, and 9 Foals) 0 (0 Jacks, 0 Jennies and 0 Foals) wild horses captured.

Each and every day more and more die as this roundup surpasses three times the national average for death rates and four times the death rate as North Lander in Wyoming. (More HERE)

A second heatwave begins tomorrow.

July 18

BLM captured 112 (41 Stallions, 49 Mares, and 22 Foals) 0 (0 Jacks, 0 Jennies and 0 Foals).

5 more have died.

The death rate at Blue Wing is nearly 2.5 times that of North Lander in Wyoming.

Click here for full report. 

July 17

Above: Mare and foal pursued and roped. Mare collapses 3x’s.

169 (69 Stallions, 70 Mares, and 30 Foals) were captured on this relentless day where temperatures reached the mid 90s.

You can find the full report for 7/17 by clicking HERE.

July 15

Above: This bay is one of the wild ones roped and put down by BLM. This is the only band we have been able to see clearly in days of observation. Not because we are placed at a reasonable observation location, but simply because the horses came our way.

BLM captured 28 (12 Stallions, 10 Mares, and 6 Foals) wild horses. 

3 are now dead: 3-year-old, Grulla stallion due to club foot, right front. 11-year-old, Bay mare BLM said had a developmental deformity, right hind leg. 17-year-old, Bay stallion BLM said fractured front left shoulder.

What BLM onsite told our observer does not match what was reported online. Apparently there was a misunderstanding.

As things happen our observers are interested in BLMs decision making process onsite. Not what you or I, or even a BLM employee that did not make decisions, thinks. Just like a judge at trail, you are not particularly interested in what is referred to as “hearsay.”

Roping single horses or burros at the end of each day, when capture in the area will continue the next day, has been met with “to get to AML” more often than not. A welfare consideration is not the first answer (not to stress an animal further in the heat), but a number that in and of itself does not legally represent “overpopulation.” Basically, welfare seems to come second to “reaching numbers as fast as possible.”

One of the things we are really interested in, right now, is how BLM is determining what is a rigid parameter and what is a discretionary boundary. 

In answers to our observers questions BLM themselves can’t seem to figure out where CAWP sits (program, policy, standard, authority, memorandum that sets a policy or standard or?). When questioned they seemed to get rather flustered and blame the person asking the question… instead of their own people higher up the food chain.

If you track roundups the death rates in Nevada districts are always the highest in the nation. If you look at North Lander (ongoing in Wyoming), the number captured is over 3xs more to date than Blue Wing in Nevada. The death rate is lower in Wyoming (Wyoming 13 with 2247 captured and Nevada is 16 with 643 captured as posted on the BLM website on 7/15). Wyoming has also shipped non life threatening things like (severe) arthritis to holding; BLM NV has killed them. This makes our interest in interpretation of “policy, standard, memos, whatever” really peak. This is why we need rulemaking to happen now: to create a set series of clear rules and enforceability.

Our research through Freedom of Information Act requests over years demonstrates that 1 in 9 wild horses or burros that enter a BLM trap will die from that day through six months out while held in BLM facilities. 

We are in court at this time on several cases. Some to address the sheer lack of actual on range planning and data in the program.

We are also in court of welfare issues. In that case, even in the courts, it is unclear what BLM considers oversight to comply with the parameters set clearly in the 1971 Act to “manage humanely.” We will have an update on this case soon and filed additional briefing this month. 

Our team remains onsite.

When observers onsite ask questions, more often than not, we are treated as an absolute annoyance and there is no other way to see it as a sheer lack of respect. We do know (from experience) that a livestock operator or mine employee can ask a lot of questions, often repeatedly, and be answered with courtesy. We wish BLM would extend that courtesy onsite (and off-site) to advocates.

You can find 7/8 through 7/15 (the heatwave at the beginning) of the Blue Wing Complex roundup by clicking HERE. The first week includes background information. 

You can help create an “incentive” for the agency while WHE battles this out in court. 

Please make a call. Our wild ones desperately need an enforceable welfare policy that is crafted with transparency, public participation and complies with current welfare standards for equines.

The phone number for Congress is: (202) 224-3121. You should put it in your speed dial. Call the number tell the operator who your representative is (or where you live if you do not know) and you will be connected to an aide in the office. Ask to register your concerns and request. Ask that an amendment to the funding bill for the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program be crafted to simply create a line item for funding for “Rulemaking to create an enforceable welfare policy.”

Thank you for keeping WHE on the frontline in the fight to protect and preserve our treasured wild ones!