On January 26, BLM began what they call an emergency roundup saying the wild horses are in poor condition as their is no food for them after the Jakes fire in the Snowstorm and Little Humbolt Herd Management Areas (HMAs) in the Owyhee Complex in Nevada.
The Winnemucca District Office issued a Determination of NEPA Adequacy (DNA) stating 182 wild horses needed to be removed from Little Humbolt and Snowstorm.
The last gather plan completed in this Complex is from 2012. Relying on that 14-year-old plan would not be sufficient NEPA so they did the DNA and tiered it to a Winnemucca fire rehab plan.
To see more on questions raised concerning the location of the first trap being outside the boundaries of the paperwork and lack of access to temporary corrals in the long form report from day 1… click HERE
UPDATE 2/4: Now that the roundup has ended BLM seems to be changing the reason. Now they are telling the news it was “overpopulation.” Reminder: BLM announced this roundup with only 3 days notice claiming it was an “emergency” due to no food in the fire area. Perhaps the footage collected by observers, well outside the burn area and of wild horses in amazing body condition, has them needing to change the narrative?
Cumulative Totals: (NOTE: BLM has not updated their official count since 1/27)
Captured: 180 (87 Stallions, 93 Mares, and 0 Foals) . Please note, this is BLMs breakdown. It appears at this specific roundup BLM is calling everything over 4 months old an adult. At other operations BLM will call any horse under six months old a foal. BLM has no clear cut designation.
Shipped to the off-limits to the public Winnemucca facility: 173 (82 Stallions, 91 Mares, and 0 Foals)
Deaths: 7 Please note: The last two days of the operation BLM began shipping from the range directly to the facility. When they do that the “found dead” or “died from colic overnight” do not appear in the daily stats. We will not know the actual death toll until our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests come back.
The first death was a chestnut foal, probably 4-5 months old. BLM blamed the death on a degenerative pre-existing condition and calling it a “yearling stud.” The foal is in the featured day 1 video. Day 2 deaths (according to BLM) Roan Mare, age 15, Large Abscess (right hip, Sorrel Stud, age 10, Severe Arthritis (right rear leg). Of important note is that mares in this area have been treated with GonaCon known for causing abscesses that may persist years after application. We do not know if this is related as BLM has provided no documentation and probably failed to document in violation of CAWP documentation requirements prior to putting her down. BLM said “Bay stud, age 12, Lameness, Severe Arthritis (right knee), Bay stud, age 10, Lameness, Severe Arthritis (left knee).
NOTE: Since BLM finalized the 2012 Gather EA there have been numerous roundups in this area including reaching “AML” in 2016. Due to heavy grass loads following the removal of thousands of wild horses from the area the Martin fire struck; the largest fire impact in term of acreage to any wild horse herd. Then BLM used the fire to do another roundup in 2018 and 2021; again the largest fires in the state hit the area. The ten-year gather plan then expired in 2022. We all expected BLM to do a new Gather plan and begin a Herd Management Area Plan (HMAP) after our wins in court that show an illegal delay in creating them where things like the impact of removals on fire fuels would need to be addressed. Instead, BLM is using a fire rehab plan for Jakes Fire to remove from (supposedly) the two HMAs directly impacted because there is a “lack of forage emergency.”
Newer reports will appear at the top. Scroll down for older reports.
01-30-26
One of the last captured, the last to load. He cannot get home because BLM closed the gate after pushing horses through the barbed wire livestock fence (because the cows are already out). He is now in unfamiliar territory.
The last day began at around 25 degrees. 26 (11 Stallions, 15 Mares, and 0 Foals) were captured.
01-29-26
Operations began at around 20 degrees.
70 (37 Stallions, 33 Mares, and 0 Foals) were captured. Two were trailered out onto the range and shot. BLM said: “Buckskin stud, age 6, Blind and Black Mare, Physical Defect: Acquired, Right front fetlock .”
Video: The entire day boiled down into two minutes. Cows, cold, steaming breath, a valiant attempt at escape and steam coming off bodies. Beautiful horses in amazing body condition for this time of year. Cattle on the range will not have any competition soon for forage. We see no signs of an active or pending emergency. Long form report HERE
01-28-26
No fly day as trap and temporary holding move to the Winnemucca side.
BLM put down two stating: “Bay stud, age 12, Lameness, Severe Arthritis (right knee) and Bay stud, age 10, Lameness, Severe Arthritis (left knee).”
01-27-26
Today there was 1 run at the Rock Creek trap where BLM is insisting that somehow all of the horses coming in are from the neighboring Little Humbolt HMA miles away and over really rough terrain and fencelines.
It was cold, but not as cold as roundups can be in northern Nevada. Capture began (when we could hear the chopper) at around 26 degrees and rose to near 40 as the day ended. It is being reported that the winter (to date) is the warmest on record in the state.
24 (12 Stallions, 12 Mares, and 0 Foals) were captured. Many of you have noted the nearly 50/50 sex ratio of the two days at Rock Creek. Sex ratio skewing (favoring stallions) is something BLM does on top of using infertility drugs. They think it keeps reproduction low (with no proof) and no analysis of the behavioral consequences in having very few fertile mares and an abnormal ratio of studs (it increases aggression on the range in competition).
Injury is either from a bite (this stallion had been fighting with another) or during loading.
There were two reported deaths: Roan Mare, age 15, Large Abscess (right hip, Sorrel Stud, age 10, Severe Arthritis (right rear leg). Of important note is that mares in this area have been treated with GonaCon known for causing abscesses that may persist years after application. We do not know if this is related as BLM has provided no documentation and probably failed to document in violation of CAWP documentation requirements prior to putting her down.
As always, wild horses coming from this area are big and beautiful. Many of the people at adopt horses from the HMAs in the Owyhee Complex (including one of our volunteers) say these horses have “beautiful minds.”
Rival stallions can be captured at the same time and you can see fighting as they are pushed through the alleys to be loaded. I this area the use of GonaCon (long acting fertility control that stops ovulation) has limited the number of mares that simply cycle normally increasing tension on the range.
Below: We see loading and a horse in the first compartment pushed back and go down before the trailer pulls out (with the horse appearing to be back up).
Both trap and temporary holding are moving tomorrow and there will be a “no fly day” as things now move to the Winnemucca side.
01-26-26
Day 1 of the roundup included the death of this foal, probably 4-5 months old. BLM blamed the death on a degenerative pre-existing condition and calling it a yearling. BLM is counting all horses as adults and identifying “adult” as “over 1 year.”
BLM set the trap in Rock Creek. The horses coming in are in good condition and exhibit traditional markings of Rock Creek horses we know.
There were two runs after a two-hour drive into the Rock Creek HMA in the Elko district: the larger group at around 9 a.m. and the second around 10:30. 60 Wild Horses (27 Stallions, 33 Mares, and 0 Foals) were captured in total.
No access to the temporary corral was provided.
Both the trap and temporary corrals were located in the Elko district portion of the Owyhee Complex and not the Winnemucca portion (the district that did the paperwork and noted only two Winnemucca HMAs as part of the “emergency removal.”
Every mile we travel to cover roundups or assess a herd, every court case we bring, every win, every action we take is only possible because of your support. Thank you for standing with us as we strive for justice, mercy and freedom. We cannot do this without you.
Categories: Wild Horse Education
You must be logged in to post a comment.