Pancake wild horses

On March 9, without a public gather schedule or meaningful lead time, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced four new wild horse and burro removals in Nevada that will begin “on or around March 15.” All four will use bait and water traps, not helicopters, but the goal is the same: remove more than two thousand wild horses and burros from the range and funnel them into already crowded off‑range holding.

Please take action. Contact your lawmakers and ask them to stop this madness: Require BLM to allow independent public observation at trap and holding sites, pause foaling‑season bait‑trap gathers, and strengthen protections to keep wild horses and burros out of slaughter pipelines.

Take action click HERE.

Four complexes, thousands of lives

BLM’s own announcements describe the scope:

• • Antelope/Triple B Complex (Elko & Ely Districts)
    On or around March 15, BLM will begin bait and water trap operations south of Wells, Nevada. The agency estimates about 5,067 wild horses in the Antelope Complex (AML 427–789) and 1,844 wild horses in the Triple B Complex (AML 472–889), not counting the 2026 foal crop. BLM plans to remove approximately 700 horses from Antelope and 300 from Triple B—1,000 horses in total—using temporary bait and water traps stocked with forage and water.​

  • Caliente Complex (Ely District)
    The Caliente Complex, nine Herd Areas encompassing about 911,892 acres in southern Lincoln County, is managed by BLM for zero wild horses. BLM’s March 9 notice says the current population is about 1,503 horses, not including the 2026 foal crop, and the agency plans to remove approximately 350 horses using bait and water traps starting on or around March 15.​

  • Spring Mountains Complex (Southern Nevada District)
    In the Spring Mountains Complex—Johnnie, Red Rock, and Wheeler Pass herd management areas west and northwest of Las Vegas—BLM estimates 749 wild horses and 1,048 wild burros on the range as of 2026, not including this year’s foals. The agency plans to remove about 425 wild horses and 425 wild burros using bait and water traps beginning on or around March 15.​

  • Pancake Complex (Ely District)
    At Pancake, BLM will begin a bait and water trap gather March 15 to remove approximately 300 wild horses from in and around the complex. The agency cites “overpopulation” and horse use around water sources as justification, relying on the Pancake Complex Wild Horse Gather and Herd Management Plan Environmental Assessment as its legal and planning base.​

Across these five announced operations (these are five, not four as the press releases are misleading), BLM is targeting at least 2,500 wild horses and burros for removal from Nevada public lands in a matter of weeks

We are also aware that BLM is trying to get helicopter roundups approved to begin in July at Pancake, Antelope/Triple B and other areas like Kiger, Salt Wells (and the other HMAs in the Rock Springs complex) and Callaghan (where they plan the largest roundup in U.S. history).

Previous roundup at Caliente

All of these are “bait traps” as there is a prohibition against helicopters from March 1 through June 30th. Bait operations are designed to unfold out of sight: no public at the trap, no public at loading, no independent eyes on foals being separated, mares going down in trailers, or injuries and deaths that occur in the pens.

On top of the lack of access during capture, most of these horses are being shipped out of sight into private facilities that offer no regular public access.

BLM has a profound transparency problem. When the public cannot see, the public cannot verify BLM’s claims of “humane care” and compliance with its own Comprehensive Animal Welfare Program.

Where these horses and burros are going after capture

The agency has already assigned destinations for most of the captured animals:

• • Antelope Complex horses: to Indian Lakes Off-Range Corrals in Fallon, Nevada. (off-limits)​

  • Triple B horses: to the Sutherland Off-Range Corrals in Utah. (off-limits)​

  • Caliente horses: to Indian Lakes in Fallon. (off-limits)​

  • Spring Mountains horses and burros: to the Palomino Valley Off-Range Corrals near Reno.​

  • Pancake horses: to BLM-managed off-range corrals Sutherland Off-Range Corrals. (off-limits)​

Upon arrival, BLM says animals will be “checked by a veterinarian” and “readied for the Adoption and Sales Program,” the same pipeline that has already put thousands of wild horses at risk of ending up in slaughter pipelines after adoption or sale.

Notable: BLM is only bringing the horses and burros into public view that are actually experiencing the lower body scores. The horses that look good? All are going into facilities you cannot visit. The horses/burros from Spring Mountain will travel 4 additional hours to Reno than the time it would take for them to get to Sutherland in Utah or Ridgecrest in California (oopen to public).

On February 27 we reported that the BLM’s Sale Program has surged by 1,287% since 2015, with 3,718 wild horses and burros sold in 2025 alone. The agency continues to push this program—using a legal loophole that funnels animals straight toward slaughter—clearing out holding pens to make room for more roundups, all while sustaining a system that fails to protect wild horses and burros at any stage of “management.”

Antelope horses just removed in February in holding at PVC already being pushed fast toward to “Sale” door that leads to slaughter

The new plan at Antelope/Triple B is in the Administrative Appeal phase. BLM is racing forward without completion of this guaranteed process.

Pancake Complex: The Pancake bait and water trap operation is tied to the Pancake Complex Wild Horse Gather and Herd Management Plan EA, which is already in federal civil court. That case has been stalled—first by the federal government shutdown, then by repeated “extensions of time” requested by Department of Justice attorneys citing post‑shutdown “overwork” and resource constraints.

This timing is not isolated. We saw the same pattern in January and February at Owyhee and Antelope, where BLM used 72 hours or less notice instead of a forward-looking gather schedule, making it extremely difficult for advocates and attorneys to respond. The sudden shift away from a public “gather schedule” toward last-minute announcements is a disturbing trend that undermines both public participation and meaningful judicial review. (We are researching a way to challenge this on a broad scale.)

Newborn in trap

Bait traps do not make foaling season safe

BLM closed helicopter drive‑trap season on March 1. Two weeks later, the agency is launching at least four major bait and water trap operations across Nevada. On paper, BLM frames this as a safer, quieter approach, but for heavily pregnant mares and newborn foals, the dangers remain very real.

Tiny foals—sometimes only days or weeks old—are especially vulnerable to stressors. Their legs, joints, and immune systems are not fully developed; they can be easily injured in panels, knocked down in crowded pens, or weakened by long hauls and abrupt changes in feed and water. For mares late in pregnancy, the same stress can trigger complications, including premature birth or loss of the foal.

Placing 5 operations that will include at least 9 distinct areas in a rapidly announced bait trap avalanche to begin at the start of BLMs foaling season is unprecedented. BLM’s decision to push forward with large-scale bait trap operations in March is not a pause for foaling season; it is a pivot in methods that still subjects pregnant mares and tiny foals to trapping, loading, and shipping, now entirely out of public view. 

February in Pancake is the start of foaling season

Body Score 3-4 at the end of February is NORMAL

BLM’s own announcements also lean on body condition scores of 3–4 as part of the narrative for why these removals are “necessary,” presenting those numbers as if they are evidence of poor condition or herd distress. Under the Henneke system, however, a score of 3–4 is a normal winter body score for many wild horses coming out of the leanest months of the year, reflecting the natural seasonal cycle of weight loss in winter and gain in spring and summer—not an automatic red flag that justifies large‑scale removals. As your own field work and body‑scoring guidance note, wild horses—like elk, deer, and pronghorn—normally move through this seasonal curve, and a 3–4 in February is not, by itself, an indicator of crisis on the range.

Our team is working on overdrive. 

You can help.

Please take action. Contact your lawmakers and ask them to stop this madness: Require BLM to allow independent public observation at trap and holding sites, pause foaling‑season bait‑trap gathers, and strengthen protections to keep wild horses and burros out of slaughter pipelines.

Take action click 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.