The 68,000 acre Marietta Burro Range (now 66,000 acres) was officially dedicated in 1991 as a “Range.” This means the area is to be managed “principally” for wild burros. There are 177 Herd Management Areas (HMAs) in the country. There are only 4 Wild Horse or Burro Ranges and the only Burro Range in the nation. BLM says only 78-104 burros can live on this range and 0 horses.
BLM says there are 387 burros and 31 wild horses on the Range at this time. BLM Nevada came up with this number after a flight survey and then placing that survey into a computer program that adds numbers. BLM claims that burros can be undercounted by as much as 52%. BLM NV refuses to use the more accurate new thermal imaging adopted by states like Wyoming.
BLM plans to capture and permanently remove 290 wild burros and 31 wild horses.
BLM does not plan to do a post-gather census to make sure they are not removing below the legal limit.
Wild Burros will be shipped nearly 8 hours to the “off-limits” to the public facility in Axtell Utah, where even during a “once a year” tour burros are kept off-limits to the public. Over 60 burros died within a few months at this facility after the Blue Wing roundup in 2022.
The drove to Palomino Valley Center (PVC) north of Reno would be less than 3 hours. However, PVC is open to the public. Any wild horse that survives capture will be sent to PVC.
Cumulative totals:
Captured: 25 Wild Horses (6 Stallions, 14 Mares, and 5 Foals)
297 Wild Burros (111 Jacks, 121 Jennies, and 65 Foals)
Shipped: 21 Wild Horses (5 Stallions, 11 Mares, and 5 Foals)
296 Wild Burros (110 Jacks, 121 Jennies, and 65 Foals)
Deaths: 4 wild horses: BLM put down a 20-plus-year-old, Bay mare, an 18-year-old, Bay mare and a 15-year-old, Bay mare claiming all of the were a body score 1. We do not disagree that some were in rough shape, But a body score 1 horse is the lowest on the scale, basically a walking skeleton that needs assistance to make it from one place to another… at a walk. In the morning, before shipping wild horses from temporary corrals to the facility, BLM said they put down a 13-year-old, Gray stallion “due to severe lameness — right front leg.”
082224
No access to view anything meaningful was provided. No access to view handling at trap, temporary corrals or morning loading for shipping to facilities.
87 (27 Jacks, 38 Jennies and 22 Foals) were captured.
BLM exceeded capture goals today. The operation ended in 3 days.
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210 Wild Burros (84 Jacks, 83 Jennies, and 43 Foals) were captured.
The day was long and hard.
Donkeys have a reduced flight response compared with horses, but an increased tendency to display fight or freeze behavior.
Our onsite team member has been devoted to burros all of her life and watching so many display confusion, try to go on alert, freeze, was really hard on her. Our observer reported that there was “little baby-after-baby-after-baby.”
She had scouted this exact area at dawn the day before and only saw a few in this specific area. This day, at dawn, it seemed as if all the burros in the complex had moved into the valley.
At holding she said she heard a burro making a distress sound like one she had never heard before.
In the morning, before shipping wild horses from temporary corrals to the facility, BLM said they put down a 13-year-old, Gray stallion “due to severe lameness — right front leg.”
082024
On the first day of the operation BLM targeted the few small bands of wild horses.
25 Wild Horses (6 Stallions, 14 Mares, and 5 Foals) were captured and 3 died. (Our observer counted 26, including horses roped. We could not see wings nor trap and it is possible one did not make it in.)
After absolutely relentless pursuit, BLM put down a 20-plus-year-old, Bay mare, an 18-year-old, Bay mare and a 15-year-old, Bay mare claiming all of the were a body score 1. We believe one of these mares had a baby at her side contributing to her body score.
We do not disagree that some were in rough shape, But a body score 1 horse is the lowest on the scale, basically a walking skeleton that needs assistance to make it from one place to another… at a walk.
Rest in peace old survivors. We wish BLM NV would create agreements with rescues and sanctuaries to help place the horses and burros with non-fatal conditions like club foot, one-eye blindness, and a need for good feed.
Below: This is a body score 1 horse. This is a domestic horse from a hoarding case that went to trial. We saw body score 2s, not 1s. A “1” would have dropped dead the way the pilot was chasing those horses.
Domestic example of body score 1
BLM can get insanely angry at advocates when we post pictures of limping or injured horses, horses down in trailers, hot shot use, smoke, and violations of their CAWP standards like we did at Blue Wing when a horse was “kicked in the face” and dragged and yanked with a rope, accusing advocates of exaggerating abuse and neglect.
BLM seems to intentionally exaggerate body score (it appears) in a way to blame the horse. We did see some body score 2-3 come in. We were concerned BLM would euthanize them.
Observation was on a hill overlooking the valley/basin where they drove the wild horses through to get to trap – trap and wings were completely out of sight. Most horses were driven east towards trap from the hills to the west.
The first run (a band of 4 and 1 foal) came in at around 7:30 and active trapping was done by noon.
The third run had a very new baby.
The pilot spent over an hour chasing a single horse that kept evading back and forth, into the mountain and back again.
The last run of the day saw 2 horses turn around at trap a number of times. 1 was roped and the other kept evading capture. They chased him all over the place including behind us thru a ravine pictures below). A wrangler joined up and everybody disappeared towards the highway.
Heard the helicopter land at 1120 to refuel – returned to trap at 1130 – and at 1145 a trailer brought the wrangler and his horse back. They said they left the horse on the range.
Throughout the day horses were turning around at trap and running away repeatedly having to continually be recaptured. The pursuit was intense, fast and heavy pressure was applied from the air and on the ground.
At the temporary corrals the tiny foal was seen. We are concerned and will follow up at Palomino Valley (if the foal ships in the morning).
OF NOTE: The hay you see is packed alfalfa. BLM says it is a “mix” but it certainly does not look like there is any grass in that hard packed flake. Alfalfa is not a good choice for newly captured horses. It is an outright “bad choice” for newly captured burros.
BURROS are not horses. Burros should only be fed grass hay or even small amounts of straw. The nitrogen content in it is much too high for burros and they are unable to excrete excess nitrogen; feeding alfalfa can potentially cause them harm. On top of BLM continuing to feed burros as if they are horses, burros are also more prone to dying from forms of capture myopathy (capture stress).
We believe BLM will begin capturing burros tomorrow.
We need your help to keep our teams in the field and expand our litigation.
Thank you for keeping WHE running for the wild.
You can see reports from summer 2024 roundups:
Facility Reports 2024
Categories: Lead, Wild Horse Education
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