On January 26, BLM launched an “emergency” helicopter roundup at Snowstorm/Little Humbolt, claiming there was “no forage” after fire and that wild horses were in poor condition. Observers on the ground documented something very different: horses in strong body condition, cattle still on the range, and a 14‑year‑old plan being dusted off to justify fast‑track removals.

BLM’s “emergency” Snowstorm/Little Humbolt roundup tore family bands off the Owyhee Complex capturing 180, saw 7 die, and shipped 173 wild horses into the off-limits Winnemucca facility.

Those captured wild horses have now disappeared behind the same gates we were allowed to pass through only once, ever, at Winnemucca. In May 2024, Wild Horse Education joined the first and only public tour of the facility since it began receiving horses in 2022, on a 100‑acre, privately‑contracted feedlot approved to hold up to 4,000 wild horses and burros. Our FOIA work tracked thousands of East Pershing Complex horses into Winnemucca and found a grim picture: at least 65 deaths from capture through the first weeks in holding, including 39 dead at the facility by late February alone, with render receipts showing 103 carcasses over the winter. (See more HERE)

May, 2024

Inside the pens, we documented injuries consistent with unsafe pen design, repeated facial swellings near low rails over feed troughs, foals and mares separated by inadequate fencing, orphaned foals standing alone in “sick pens,” no shade, no windbreaks, no dust control, and no sprinklers in a flood‑plain facility that county officials had already flagged for drainage and contamination concerns. Despite pen after pen of yearlings and local residents ready to adopt, BLM refused to facilitate onsite adoptions and told one nearby resident she would have to travel hours away to pick up a horse from another facility, not from the town where the horses actually stand.

This is the pipeline your Snowstorm/Little Humbolt wild horses have just entered: captured in an “emergency” that does not match what we saw on the ground, then hidden in a private feedlot where the public is allowed in only after months have passed, injuries are cleaned up, and records are muddled in spreadsheets that obscure basic questions like “How many died?”

A single sanitized tour in 2024 and incomplete FOIA responses are not transparency — it simply keeps you from seeing what mass removal and off‑range warehousing really look like.

Take Action

Please sign this letter to BLM Acting Off-Range Branch Chief.

Simply click and add your name HERE.

You can also send a letter directly to your Representatives and Senators to urge them to add specific language to the Appropriations bill to complete a review and formalization of welfare rules by clicking HERE.

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.