The Triple B roundup of 2024 is NOT about a repetitive water emergency in a part of the Maverick-Medicine HMA, over any data-based set population number (AMlL) or a “range that can’t sustain” a population. This roundup is about removing wild horses down to numbers the politically powerful permittees want and to get horses out of the way of another mine expansion and another new mine approval  (that will eat 30% in total of the Triple B HMA).

This roundup is also intentionally shrouded in clouds of secrecy where any actual data and even simple procedure seems paramount. There is so much that simply does not make sense in any realm.

The roundup began at ground zero of this zone and, now at the end, is squeezing out the last few horses.

Ironically, sheep and cattle were turned out during the roundup in these areas… and BLM is removed wild horses near an area they  have released horses back to the range and will count them as “left on range.” The horses are not marked with any unique brand or tracking number. BLM says they put in a microchip. Is BLM scanning every horse captured? (They won’t answer the question and seem annoyed at any question asked.)

When asked about why BLM was approving the roping of so many adults, the first responses had to do with “meeting objectives.” Basically that translates as they are claiming they have to spend so much time on single adults because they want to remove a certain number and then release only mares treated with the fertility control agent GionaCon (a powerful hormone in 2 doses that will leave a mare infertile for 4-10 years, longer than the natural lifespan of the older mares they plan on releasing).

Roping of this many adults to “make numbers” is associated with zeroing out (removing everything) and not roundups leaving healthy populations.

Video from 11/19… with audio… click to watch “bad horses” video

Then, when pressed on another day, BLM basically claimed they needed to catch these “bad horses” because they would teach other horses how to evade a chopper. An absurd claim. Any wild horse on the range, particularly one in the prime of life, will evade predators. Stallions try to draw the predator away from families by splitting and running back and forth. So basically this response is either another cowboy myth, a protocol we never heard of, or they just take it personally when a smart and athletic horse gets away?

There have been issues with shipping as well. BLM refused to post where they were shipping horses on their update each day. In an extremely weird and almost cruel move, BLM shipped stallions and foals to an off-limits to the public facility and mares to another facility saying “the youngest foals” would ship with the mares. When we checked in at the facility there were no nursing foals from Triple B. After we wrote about it the following week another team member visited the facility and they said received 2 “compartments” on a semi of weanlings and a few nursing foals a couple of days before. None of this makes sense as nursing foals would trickle into trap over the course of the whole roundup. How are the nursing babies transported? In semi compartments with adults? Smaller stock trailers? We do not know and when questioned, we are not getting clear answers.

We also found out that BLM really shirked any reasonable responsibility after a helicopter accident during the last Triple B roundup in 2022 when BLM returned to that trap to literally squeeze the living horses out of the area.

We also documented additional trauma by loading from stock trailers onto semi trucks during trapping. When BLM does this each compartment on the semi is not sorted by sex and the semi can sit there for hours without anyone there to stop fighting. When you look at the map and tracked travel time and accounted for the time it took to transfer from one trailer to another, absolutely no “time” was saved (or minimal time).

BLM also pushed a few days so long that it was so dark during sorting a flashlight had to be used. On this day BLM stopped to load from stock trailers to semi-trucks when the day had already completed and the sun was going to do down soon. Why not just get the horses to the temporary corrals as quickly as possible?

As this operation continues toward conclusion, access to witness dwindles. Observers are being kept over 2 miles from trap. A trap set only a couple of miles from the traps earlier in this operation and in the vicinity of the release. Why is BLM making it so hard to see wild horses we know to determine if BLM is truly trying to capture everything that lives in these valleys?

It is important to remember that BLM NV refused to release and data prior to the roundup. Most districts are now doing a Determination of NEPA Adequacy (DNA) after court rulings earlier this year. For this roundup BLM won’t even answer simple questions with any fact-based response and is playing games with the most basic questions like” Where did you ship horses today?

Before this operation began we did an article showing just how hard BLM is making it to find out what is really going on. The article points to the fact that BLM really padded estimates and is targeting nearly every single horse in the 1.6 million acre complex. 

Yes, we are in the court now against this roundup plan, the lack of disclosure and more. We did file a motion before the roundup but BLM presented images from the one area of a repetitive water emergency (where they had already removed 106 horses a month before) and made it sound like the entire 1.6 million acres was in extreme danger. The court allowed the operation to move forward, relying on BLM as the “honest experts,” as arguments now move into the merits of our case. Just like at Pancake and Blue Wing (precedent setting cases won in 2024), we have a good chance of winning and kicking this plan to the curb so BLM cannot come back and, under absolute power to manipulate and make assertions seem like fact, completely destroy this herd.

In addition, when BLM approved the two new mines that are eating up over 30% of one of the HMAs they did not mitigation for the damages being done to horses. We are jumping that case into federal court as the land appeals court is siding with BLM claiming we have no right to fight for our interest!

Our team is working really hard to keep you informed as we fight for our wild ones. We wish that the courts and policy changes worked faster. But we have decades of deceit to wade through and undo before we can bring lasting reforms.

In 2025 we have a big fight on our hands to protect Triple B and all of our herds from being pushed into slow extinction.

You can find our onsite team reports:

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

This is the most critical fundraising time of the year for all nonprofits.

A second donor has doubled our match challenge! Our 10K match has just turned into a 20K match to keep our team in the field and in the courts! We have raised just over $6,000. toward unlocking the match. We have about 14K to raise between now and December 4 to unlock much needed funding.

Help us raise the funds to unlock this critical match!

You can also support WHE while you shop!

Gift items, iGive and shirt sales are all ways you can support WHE. Shirt sales will also be matched as part of this challenge. Learn more HERE.

For 1 week only, we relaunched our t-shirt. The short window of availability assures you will receive your shirt no later than December 23rd. We have a commitment from a generous WHE supporter to match any donations made through the Bonfire site you make during your purchase. Funds raised from the shirt sales will be matched dollar-for-dollar! Click HERE or on the image to order.