As the year draws to a close we thought it might be a good time to feature a few photos that would not make any “Top Ten List.” 

As our team worked on the year-in-review video, tries to find images that illustrate the entire year, the following images stood out as truly thought provoking. 

The image above is not steam rising off of freshly captured sweaty horses in frigid weather. This is the “down time” while waiting for trailers to return to load more horses to go to the temporary corrals.

The smoke is actually smoke. The crew is grilling burgers for lunch right next to the corrals while our team member is held over a mile away so as not to disturb wild horses. Flipping burgers and kids running around is not a problem. Maybe only cameras scare wild horses? Pass the Ketchup?

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The loss of territory to mining is sometimes hard to imagine. From the air it is really easy to see. When you realize those roads are built to accommodate trucks taller than a two-story building, this mine uses over 3,000 gallons of water per minute, the impacts from mining cannot be ignored… although BLM has never done any mitigation for loss of habitat to wild horses. Even though they have done it for species that can legally leave the area, BLM does zero mitigation for the species that cannot leave: wild horses and burros. Land use courts also won’t let wild horse advocates appeal these decisions. WHE just filed a lawsuit in federal district court against the land use court rulings. 

If you travel public lands you know this “skinny cow” is very common sight. Most permittees do what is called “dump and recover,” a process where they just dump cattle on the range and then pick them up 6-11 months later. The idea that somehow livestock grazing on public lands is “humane husbandry” is really absurd.

A scorched tree still stands after wildfire tore through the grazing allotments that overlap the Sands Basin HMA in Idaho. Our public lands are a series of fenced grazing allotments that are also cross-fenced. Wildfire moves fast. Wildfire seems to correlate to areas where BLM has completed large scale removals of wild horses and this fire follows that pattern. In September of 2023 a mass removal took place. In August 2024 it burned. Most of the (few) wild horses that had been returned were found after the fire… and then they were captured. In 2-3 years BLM says they will release a few back without ever including their importance in preventing wildfire in any analysis. (We won litigation against this lack of analysis in 2024 for another herd and need to expand this work for force BLM to do their jobs.)

This picture is a bit self explanatory. Not only do helicopters fly dangerously close to wild horses… but wranglers are often documented nearly “loosing their hats.”

BLM has no enforceable welfare policy, they have a set of standards they only created after relentless litigation. Welfare standards need to include enforceable and concise rules that protect “human and animal safety” as BLM claims they do. Air Quality Index and Heat Index are already things states are legislating for employee safety. But BLM feels they can ignore those as well.

WHE has active litigation to push BLM toward rulemaking (the last steps to make welfare standards enforceable). You can push your lawmakers as well.

Off road tourists were held in a line-up right next to the wings of the trap that crossed a dirt road. Observers are over a mile away because someone with a camera seems to be the most “scary” thing on the range?

Access to view roundups and holding facilities is, once again, being limited by BLM so much it is verging on meaningless if your purpose is to assess conditions and advocate for welfare.

This is particularly true when it comes to burros. We could only take a photo with an extremely long lens down the alley at Axtell to see captive burros. We were not even allowed to see the processing chute and area at all. Burros are even more susceptible to death from capture stress and deaths can rise to 1 in 5 within weeks after capture. Through litigation, we are finalizing changes that will help assess handling of burros… and another case to help keep them on the range.

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Our wild ones should be living free on the range and free from abuse.

The 12% of public lands designated for their use can support herds of thousands of wild horses and burros as truly living symbols of the pioneer spirit. Instead, greed and politics keeps then in the crosshairs as private profit interests continue to target the grass, minerals, and even the sunshine (solar) in Herd Management Areas (HMAs).

As greed destroys the landscape, “blame the horse” remains a driving factor of the program today.

As 2024 draws to a close our team has already begun battles that will push into 2025 to defend our wild ones from threats new and old.

Help us fight back. No matter how difficult the challenge may be, together we will stand strong. We won’t back down. 

The last week of the year sets the most critical fundraising goal of the year. Funds raised now determine just how much we can carry into the coming year.

We must raise 10K to unlock a match that will be doubled dollar-for-dollar. If you make your contribution a monthly donation, another supporter will match your contribution tripling those funds.