Although the underlying case remains active, BLM has placed Triple B on the roundup schedule yet again. The HMAs inside the Antelope Triple B complex have been hit every single year for the last eight years. Wild horses coming from this complex account for 19% of all wild horses rounded up nationwide during this time (over 12,000 under this one gather plan EA). Just in the Triple B HMAs, BLM has removed or killed over 4,400. If the November roundup takes place as scheduled, over 6,600 wild horses will have been removed without BLM ever releasing any range data or census to show if or where any excess wild horses exist.

We are making a plea to the court to halt this roundup until the case is fully adjudicated. We are on file. 

Press Release:

Wild Horse Org Files Motion To Stop Unjustified Removal

(RENO) Wild Horse Education (WHE) filed a Motion for Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) and Preliminary Injunction (PI) against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in federal district court. The action specifically asks that the capture of 2,355 wild horses in the Triple B portion of the Antelope Triple B Complex west of Ely, Nevada, be stopped. The roundup is set to begin November 1.

The organization states that the BLM has failed to make a determination of any actual excess wild horses remaining in the Triple B portion of the complex. BLM has already captured or killed over 4,400 wild horses in the Triple B portion of the complex since the 2017 gather plan was approved. BLM has executed 5 different roundup operations over that timeframe in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022 and one already in 2024.

WHE notes that if BLM moves forward with the roundup of over 2,000 additional wild horses in November, they will have removed nearly twice as many as they analyzed in the original gather plan. WHE has reason to believe sections of the Triple B complex are at or below Appropriate Management Level (AML).

“I have gone out to the range after every roundup since 2017,” stated Laura Leigh, President of WHE. “Where I once saw valleys with competing bands (representing genetic exchange and healthy herds), I now have to search for fragments that are often separated by fencing throughout the complex. Wild horses are being pushed into smaller areas and vast spaces of their designated territory no longer contain any horses or even old horse sign. It is heartbreaking.”

Court documents state that BLM has never released any range data or census information to demonstrate that excess wild horses continue to exist in the complex. BLM is only authorized under law to remove wild horses they have designated (through data) are “excess.” Requests for BLM to craft a Herd Management Area Plan (HMAP) and release data, review of management strategies and allow public input on management goals have been rejected by BLM. Additionally, requests for BLM to release current range data and census data in a supplemental document (such s a Determination of NEPA Adequacy) demonstrating if and where any excess wild horses exist have been refused.

“These ten-year roundup plans are not a blank check to remove horses anywhere in the complex at any time BLM chooses,” Leigh continued, “Only through disclosing current range data and current flight census data can BLM begin to claim any overpopulation even exists. In the case of Triple B, BLM has not released one single piece of supplemental information since 2017 and has removed record breaking numbers from the complex. This is truly unsound and unjust.”

“We simply cannot watch these herds shattered once more and not try to stop this injustice. BLMs lack of transparency is either motivated by laziness or pressure from profit driven interests… or both. Either way, the lack of any effort to operate transparently is simply wrong.”

Wild Horse Education states that if BLM is allowed to move forward with the roundup at Triple B in November the damages to the herd could take decades to repair, if repair is even possible.

The issues surrounding a lack of supplemental data and the lack of oversight on welfare issues have been part of underlying litigation concerning the Antelope Triple B complex since July of 2023.

More information:

“Triple B” was once managed as a complex in its own right. In 2017, BLM simply lumped Triple B in with Antelope creating the largest complex in the nation referenced as the Antelope Triple B Complex. The acreage of this single roundup plan for this new complex is larger than Connecticut and Rhode Island combined.

So far over 12,000 wild horses have been removed under this one massive single “gather plan” in the both the Antelope and Triple B complexes combined. About 19% of all wild horses caught since 2017 were caught under this one gather plan or nearly 1 in 5 wild horses.

The scope and intensity of this gather plan has been unprecedented in the history of the Wild Horse and Burro Program.

Since the largest gather plan in the history of the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program began, BLM has not released any supplemental range data or census flight data to justify continued removal.

Even though winning these kinds of motions is hard, we must take on this fight. We are losing far too much, far too fast…. without any actual management planning or disclosure of data. 

Stand with us! 

Shout Out: We want to take a moment to give a “shout out” to members of the public that showed up at the NV State Office yesterday to protest this roundup. You did an awesome job and should be very proud of your effort to represent America’s wild ones.

We do need your support to keep our teams in field and in the courts. Without you, none of our work is possible.

Thank you for keeping WHE running for the wild.

There are several ways you can support WHE from gift shopping to stock donations. Learn more HERE.