Triple B has been dropped off the fiscal 2024 roundup schedule!

There has been so much going on that we have had little time to write after finishing up reporting from roundups in the month of July.

July was an intense month where 4,431 wild horses were captured via helicopter drive-trapping.

That number represents more wild horses and burros than were captured in the entire year of 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016… the years we had amazing progress with the beginning of a humane policy, transparency onsite and in data slowly moving in the right direction and the first steps in on range management planning. Then it was all run over by big corporate lobby groups and the backdoor agreements that led to the boondoggle of the Path Forward. (More on that later)

You can visit our daily logs from summer 2024 roundups:

North Lander

Swasey

Blue Wing

We filed additional information with the Court in the Blue Wing case that pointed to known flaws in Appropriate Management Level and the lack of actual data in determining removal numbers driving the population down below genetic sustainability.

The abuse at Blue Wing was rampant.

Our case on abuse centers on the roundups run under the Antelope/Triple B “gather-environmental assessment.” We filed additional documents in that case in July as well. In addition, the same type of shenanigans are present with AML (census data and population estimates) as are present in Blue Wing. Neither Blue Wing nor Triple B published any Determination of NEPA Adequacy (DNA) to justify using an old EA or any census data. Under this one single roundup plan, more than 10,000 wild horses have been removed in the last 7 years alone.

Our team did a large survey of the area and found fragments of the herd that was hit in hard in 2022. 

Hotshot (electric prod) still being used to speed up loading by BLM in 2022

The 2,355 wild horses BLM targeted on the schedule at Triple B have a reprieve.

We wanted to let you know.

Our team is also busy addressing the mine expansion that will eat 30% of existing prime wild horse territory without ever completing a Herd Management Area Plan (HMAP) that would identify the importance of this area to herd survival and the ability of the agency to open areas adjoining the HMA that were once designated for wild horse use, but were “zeroed out.” BLM has never done any mitigation for territory already lost in Triple B to mining and livestock… no land swaps, no water improvements, no fence removal… nothing. We are addressing this and will update you soon.

In addition, Triple B was the site of the first ruling against abuse over a decade ago. Seven years ago, instead of doing more specific management planning, BLM lumped the Triple B Complex in with the Antelope Complex in the largest roundup plan in the U.S. covering a territory larger than Rhode Island and Connecticut combined. In our “Antelope” case, it also covers Triple B.

We will update you soon… but 2,355 wild horses have just gotten a reprieve.

This area, and that population, represent less than a handful of areas left in the U.S. where the possibility of maintaining any large herd into the future is even a possibility.

The legal battle continues as we dig deep to bring more info to light.

Onward.

We need your help to continue to document, expose, work toward reform with lawmakers and litigate. Our wild ones deserve to live free on the range and free from abuse.

Thank you for keeping us on the frontline in the fight to preserve and protect our treasured wild horses and burros.