July 2025, tour of BLM privately contracted holding facility, Axtell, Utah.
Wild Horse Education burro subject matter expert Laurie Ford attended the tour of the Axtell. She was the only observer from advocacy to attend the tour.
With the prohibition against sales without limits (slaughter) and the outright killing of healthy wild horses and burros left out of the Presidential Budget Request, visiting any facility is particularly painful.
Each wild horses or burro standing in a facility sits at the mercy of the fickle winds of politics that rarely blows in their favor.
We have created a very fast and simple letter you can send directly to your lawmakers.
Click HERE to send a letter to your lawmakers.
There is also an article and sample script for you of what to say if you would, please, make a call to your lawmakers HERE.
Killing our wild ones (captive or free) or selling them to slaughter is a betrayal and abhorrent actions that are simply not a management tool. There are many options for reform. Creating government “mustanging” is simply not an “alternative” to anything. It is simply indecent, immoral and a betrayal.
Axtell is one of the privately contracted facilities paid for through the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program budget. Over the last 15 years, the only new facilities BLM has created are all private contracts that do not allow regular visitation, nor do they facilitate adoptions. BLM says they “do all they can” to “place wild horses and burros in safe homes.” Only approving privately contracted (tens of millions of dollars) that do not facilitate adoptions or public viewing is a very strange way to promote adoptions.
Last year our team members made the trip to attend the tour so they could assess the condition of the newly captured burros from Blue Wing. They were denied access to view burros because (apparently) the person that created the contract only typed “tour of horses.” (You can see last years tour HERE)
We actually had to include the lack of access to see captive burros in litigation surrounding the Blue Wing Complex. BLM said the facility contract was in the renewal process and they would work to get “burros” included and provide a tour in the summer months when burros are (usually) arriving at this facility from the capture (this year it is Three Rivers burros). Blue Wing was the second ruling we obtained from the court last year where it was found BLM illegally delayed the creation of Herd Management Area Plans (HMAP).
To learn more about access and welfare issues in privately owned facilities click HERE.
It must be noted that the BLM did not mention one word about burros in answer to public concerns from the Hearing on the use of motorized vehicles. The mortality rate from capture stress in burros from helicopter capture can rise well over 20%. Helicopters should simply not be used for burros.
Visit to Axtell, July 2025 (by Laurie Ford)
Not to be discouraged by only a 6-day notice, or having to travel the Sunday of 4th of July weekend, I attended the Axtell Holding Facility Tour on July 8 as both a private citizen who cares deeply about our wild horses and burros and, importantly, as a team member of Wild Horse Education, an organization who fights non-stop to protect them.
At first glance Axtell looks harmless enough. As you enter the property a large pasture filled with jennies and foals was in plain view but the only hint that over a thousand horses were housed there were the massive piles of cubed, sunburned hay. It was eerily quiet.
Arriving early, I visited with Lisa Reid, Utah BLM Public Affairs, until being joined by the facility’s owner, a few employees and other BLM personnel. The only other public attendees were two Farm Bureau Associates and a mother who brought her 5 homeschooled children to learn about the Wild Horse and Burros Program.
The tour started with the typical BLM narrative about our wild horses and burros – explained in a manner the kids could understand – talking about “managing the range, how the wild horse and burro populations double every 4 years and why helicopters are the most effective way to round up them up.” We were shown the area where the horses were processed, vetted, freeze marked and microchipped before being further prepared for adoption. After explaining how animals over the age of 10, or those being passed over for adoption 3 times (three strikers) become “sale authority”, they went on to emphasize that the facility was set up to provide short term care for the animals.
This, of course, opened the door for me to ask about the burros that remain in pastures long term despite the facility not being recognized as providing “off range pasture” care in the program. Axtell is a designated “off-range corral” yet there were still burros there from the 2022 Sinbad roundup as well as Blue Wing.
BLM has historically been contradictory about whether they provide long term pastures for burros – often skirting around the issue claiming it is not a concern because burros are in such high demand and they can move them quickly out of the system.
Despite stating Wild horses and burros not adopted or sold will be placed in long-term pastures where they will be humanely cared for and retain their “wild” status and protection under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, when BLM is questioned as to How many off-range pasture facilities are currently under contract with the BLM their response clearly states There are no off-range pastures for wild burros. (Off-Range Pasture Solicitation Frequently Asked Questions As of October 2023)’
The BLM maintains a monthly off-range facilities report, which can be accessed at https://www.blm.gov/programs/wild-horse-and-burro/about-the-program/program-data. For older reports click on historical data.
“Pasture” for longer term residents.
In the reports Axtell is listed under corrals as a “preparation facility’ with a capacity for 2000 burros and 2250 horses, but it does not appear under “pastures” despite having burros that remain in the on site pastures for long periods of time. No pasture facilities are listed for burros in the monthly report at all. In the June 22, 2025, report Axtell showed 1191 horses and 927 burros being listed under the “preparation facility” numbers.
Off range pasture contracts have different facility requirements than off range corral contracts with the most important being a gradual transition from dry pens to pasture.
The contractor must have smaller acclimation areas where the animals are able to adjust to the new environment.
Animals are moved into pens or smaller pastures to become familiar with the feed before they enter the larger pastures.
After acclimation, horses enter the large pastures.
When I questioned Axtell about such a transition for the burros it was apparent non existed which would automatically disqualify them from obtaining a “pasture” contract. The payment scale for pasture care is lower than that for short term facility care in an off-range corral.
As a group we then proceeded to take a wagon tour around the perimeters of the pens – the majority filled with mares and foals. The first pens were filled with those from the recent Muddy Creek and Chloride gathers with the following pens holding mares and foals from other roundups. There were very few geldings in the last pens of horses we passed before reaching the north end of the road.
I have never experienced this kind of sadness. These majestic, beautiful animals taken from their lawful habitat where they lived wild and free and subjected to a life so very foreign to them in a crowded pen with nowhere to run no matter how desperately they tried.
Below: Wild horses with no shade. Bales of hay appear to still be wrapped in twine.
Giant cubes of hay sat in the feed bins and alfalfa was spread out along the exterior of the pens – both suggesting difficulty in accessing feed for some of the animals. Despite BLMs notations about shelter being needed on the range there was no shelter at all in these pens so, therefore; there is no adequate space for animals to move freely and rest in dry areas within enclosures comfortably as required by CAWP in the Off-Range contracts. I did not see any signs of a drainage system within the pens either.
Beyond the north side of the perimeter road you could see many more horses in a holding area off in the distance.
On the corner where we turned around were the burros waiting for processing and preparation. A variety of fencing was used for these pens – some with horizontal openings and others with slanted narrow vertical bars – both making it challenging to access feed on the opposite side. The burros are free-fed the same alfalfa/grass hay as the horses – spread out on the opposite side of the pen panels.
Below: The modified chute that was forbidden to see last year. They cut the chute so it is shorter in height to make burros easier to access through the windows. They said they want to cut the chute so it is shorter in length as well. The freezemarks on the neck appear lower on the neck than we see at other facilities.
By the time these burros have reached the facility they have already been subject to extreme stress from the helicopter roundup, transport, changing environments and separation from their harems and companions. Some may already be experiencing the onset of Hyperlipidemia – the main cause of death for pregnant jennies after a roundup. In some instances, up to 25% of the jennies rounded up died from Hyperlipidemia within 30 days – some on the same day they arrived at holding.
The combination of stress with the introduction of an unnatural food source being fed in an abnormal manner, can result in inappetence for these jennies who then experience a negative energy balance which too often leads to Hyperlipidemia.
Burros are highly efficient for energy storage and mobilization due to their ability to adapt in harsh environmental conditions and thrive with limited and poor-quality roughage but this efficiency also makes them more prone to pathological conditions like hyperlipidemia.
Cortisol, which increases in stressed animals, also contributes to the development of hyperlipemia by activating hormone-sensitive lipase, fat mobilization and reducing insulin sensitivity, emphasizing the relevance of stress as a risk factor for this condition in burros.
Much like with gelding horses, the male burros do not remain at the facility for any length of time. On the other hand, jennies, who are not only in less demand, but often nursing or ready to foal will remain much longer. After being processed they are transferred from a dry pen to a lush field with no transition period as required in the pasture contracts. When personnel were questioned about the health ramifications from such a transition the response was tepid to say the least.
In short, when confined, fed high caloric diet, and allowed access to pastures with high non-structural carbohydrate content, metabolic (obesity and hyperlipemia), endocrine (metabolic syndrome and insulin dysregulation) and clinical (laminitis) disturbances can easily develop. In FOIAs Manner of death is often listed simply as “found dead in field”.
When discussing hyperlipidemia with staff members it was readily acknowledged that most burros received were in good shape and it seemed to be a mystery as to how
after being then fed the high energy alfalfa/grass mix, the burros could decline into a negative energy balance.
Almost 90% of the burros being received at Axtell are from Arizona where the Three Rivers Complex bait and trap gather (target 1,000 burros) is ongoing with 547 having been shipped since June 9th. Hundreds from Lake Pleasant have also been removed since the beginning of the year.
Before leaving I was able to spend a few minutes just observing the jennies in the big field. I found their behavior a bit odd.
Instead of congregating in small groups or grazing they were clustered together. There was no calling back and forth to the jacks or playing among each other. Burros are stoic but I to me it appeared these burros were simply stressed about their environment and grieving over lost loved ones.
The following day they were expecting another shipment of burros from Arizona.
When the group disbanded, and it was obvious the 3-hour tour (9-12) was over I got in my truck and drove off. Between the tears I finally glanced at my phone. It was only 11 am.
We remain committed to advocating to create management plans to keep our wild ones free on the range, protect their wild homes and to the ongoing battle to obtain concise and enforceable welfare rules.
All of our work is only possible with your support.
Your support keeps our teams in the field, our investigations running and our litigation alive. Together, we will take a strong stand to defend our precious wild ones.
Categories: Wild Horse Education
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