Our team has just completed submission of comments on 4 new holding facilities the BLM is rushing to complete. Fiscal year 2024 was a record shattering year of removals causing overcrowding in BLM facilities. The new facilities BLM is on the verge of approving will all add to the list of “off-limits” to the public roadblocks and prohibit real public oversight.
In 2023 BLM spent nearly $110. million dollars of tax payer money to warehouse wild horses and burros (instead of fixing the on range program). The majority of these facilities do not allow the public that pays the bills to see wild horses and burros until months (or years) after capture.
Repeated FOIA investigations by our team continue to show that from trap and into holding, 12% (or 1 in 9) will die in the first 6 months in BLM care. After Blue Wing, the death rate of burros sent to Indian Lakes rose to 13.8% in the first 3 weeks!
BLM constantly claims that die off on the range is negligible when doing growth estimates and never does any deductions in the population modeling for die off.
These facts raise the serious question: Are the wild horses and burros in more danger on range or in BLM care?
Broken Arrow (Indian Lakes Rd. Fallon, NV) October 25, 2024.
Four months after the last wild horse or burro landed in this facility the public finally got a glimpse. Deaths from capture stress can be immediate or stretch out for months. In the first 6 weeks, 13.8% of the burros originally sent to this facility died. We are awaiting further information on ongoing death rates through FOIA.
Over the last four months injuries and illness directly related to the gather are impossible to see. The facility gets a good cleaning before any tour and the expense of cleaning facilities for tours is one of the reasons BLM has used to not give frequent tours.
The tours of closed facilities might be a chance to see a horse or burro you once knew free, but provide very little opportunity to assess care or condition after capture. At this facility you are held on a moving wagon and see each pen for mere seconds and, if you are lucky, the wagon will perhaps a minute.
We did see wild horses from Antelope, Blue Wing, East Pershing and more.
Boise corrals, Idaho
Yesterday our team member was given a last glimpse of wild horses from Sands Basin and Four Mile in Idaho after wild fires.
BLM will determine how many will go back to the range. At this time the only information we have is that the release will take place in 2-4 years.
These horses will be housed for the next 2-4 years at the off-limits to the public corrals in Bruneau.
We do not know if we will ever see the paint above that was either scarred in the fire or being beat up by the others in this pen…
We will continue to do our best to follow our wild ones in holding.
As the year comes to a close WHE has been asked if we have a calendar for sale. In fact, we added a new design to our calendar selection and have several other gift items in out storefront you can access HERE.
We are sincerely grateful for your support.
Thank you for keeping WHE running for the wild.
Categories: Wild Horse Education
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