Above: The one video that has caught the attention of social media and gone viral. The video above is the long version we published and not the one chopped up most of you have seen. Timecode 2:29 is the incident everyone is talking about. We have reason to believe the “rope work” you see (jerking, dragging) is what caused a fracture that ultimately caused this horse to break its neck when loading on the trailer. (Both videos here)
The fatality rate at Blue Wing in Nevada was 5 times that of Swasey in Utah.
That kind of death disparity in rate is not due to one or two wranglers. The problem goes much deeper (BLM themselves.
The “kick in the head” that went viral at Blue Wing was only one outrageous event near the end of the operation. The 5 confirmed (by BLM) that died during transport (5 deaths: a heart attack, one of the broken necks, 3 others that died from causes “unknown” in blistering heat). A burro was roped and roughed up in intense heat causing lines in the video. The heat-related deaths at the beginning that could have been prevented if BLM simply postponed until after the dangerous heat event ended. The exhausted mare that collapses three times after being chased away from her baby and roped as she attempted to escape the helicopter with her tiny foal. On and on and on…
The video everyone is talking about happened after this type of conduct occurred throughout the operation and was never halted, reprimanded, discouraged in any way at all by the BLM Incident Commander (IC) onsite, at the trap, every single day.
The “kick in the face” is a culmination of all events at Blue Wing from day 1… and BLM’s failure to take the draft welfare policy (IM-2015-115), crafted in 2015, through the last steps to formalize an actual enforceable policy.
Note: We are working with our lawyers on the Blue Wing case to get horses and burros held for return pending the outcome of a post-gather census, the outcome of litigation and to protect the herd from disappearing altogether. We are also continuing work on our case against abuse.
Above: Calico 2023 after transport, same BLM IC. The BLM Winnemucca Wild Horse and Burro Specialist.
BLM is openly saying that the contractor “suspended the wrangler” pending re-training.
BLM has not noted any reprimand to the BLM NV Winnemucca District Wild Horse and Burro Specialist in charge.
BLM has not noted any reprimand for those responsible for oversight (BLMs CAWP team) that have, supposedly, been using taxpayer funds to travel the country the last few years to teach, guide, assess and fix non-compliance with (supposed) agency welfare directives. Those that have visited numerous operations with both this IC and contractor and gave each one a “passing grade.”
The public currently has no avenue for redress except the federal court system unless Congress acts (or BLM leadership itself begins rulemaking to create an enforceable welfare policy).
Question: How can the same contractor work in a different district and have a low death ratio? Or, how can a different contractor work with one BLM IC and still have those same outrageously high death rates?
Answer: Because the BLM employee in charge of the operation has the legal authority to decide “right and wrong” and directs every action as they work at trap and holding each and every day. The contractor is not in charge.
Question: How can one person continually have this type of death rate?
Answer: Because those above him do not reprimand and, instead, consistently give him “good grades” and tell him he has the authority to decide “right and wrong.”
The public does not understand that the way the current “policy” works, everything you see is at the “discretion” of the BLM IC and COR (Contracting Officers Representative) onsite. (The acronyms IC and COR come from a structure first built in the military, adopted by fire and used by BLM at roundups since around 2013. Basically “IC” and “COR” just mean the people in charge of “where, when,. how many, how far, how hard, how transparent,” the roundup happens. He gains his “understanding” of the directive from the BLM CAWP team and if, at previous operations, he did anything wrong.
The “kick in the face” in the video causing outrage and a single wrangler to bear the weight of all of public outrage is the result of a lack of oversight, and even apparent encouragement, by BLM onsite. This event is one of weeks of roping, animals collapsing and being dragged to their feet, a burro apparently being hit, hotshot use, flying in an unsafe manner (the same that caused a crash at an earlier roundup), running through heat that would kill a dog left in a parked car for 5 minutes… and so much more.
None of that was stopped… not once. None of that type of conduct has been stopped, been reprimanded or found in “non-compliance that results in anything,” for years.
One single wrangler is becoming the fall guy for the system that created him. We cannot allow the BLM Wild Horse and Burro program to “wipe their hands clean” and lay the blame on the man at the bottom of the pile, the fall guy. (Trust us, we are not defending him. What he did was wrong. What we are saying is that the responsibility for that conduct does not fall on his shoulders alone.)
Above: WARNING, video is graphic. Antelope… Sunshine Man.
This same IC was in charge at Antelope North last summer. The video above is another video that went viral as WHE filed a case against abuse that remains active in federal court. This was a different contractor. (You can see archive from that roundup HERE to see the event depicted above was one of many) Out of the 39 deaths at the Antelope roundup, 29 were under the same IC as Blue Wing. The roundup had the exact same conduct as Blue Wing with foals falling behind and out of sight, daily, blistering heat index rises and BLM not postponing. As media attention bore down on Antelope, access to view was literally made nearly impossible and denied completely at a trap where the judge said “BLM (likely) violated our Constitutional Rights in denying access.” The BLM CAWP team gave this roundup “good grades.”
This case is still in the courts.
Why is that case important? It is important because it is about the lack of clearly defined rules, the lack of enforceability and the sheer lack of understanding (by BLM itself) of how the current welfare “standards, protocol, policy” works. The case is asking a number of things (including addressing failures to validate existing NEPA and First Amendment). But at the core the case is asking the court: BLM must enforce existing CAWP parameters or they must undergo rulemaking to create enforceable rules.
We keep telling you how to help STOP this.
WE MUST GAIN A CONCISE, TRANSPARENT AND ENFORCEABLE WELFARE POLICY. That policy must include ramifications for accountability. The policy must outline penalties to both contractor (if they do not listen to BLM) and to BLM employees themselves if they fail to comply).
As WHE battles it out in the courtroom, please make a call.
Please make a call. If you have made the call, make another. 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.”
You can visit our daily logs from summer 2024 roundups:
Our team is working on our full welfare review of Blue Wing and we will have an update soon.
We are also working with our attorney to find a way to present “statistics” for BLM personnel at roundups. Kind of like baseball cards for players with stats on the back?
We won an amazing victory earlier this year where the courts recognize removal is NOT management. We have three additional cases in the system now. We need your help to keep our teams in field and expand our litigation.
Thank you for keeping WHE running for the wild.
Categories: Wild Horse Education
You must be logged in to post a comment.