From March 1 through June 30, BLM has a prohibition against using a helicopter to capture wild horses due to foaling “season.” BLM claims there is no foaling season for burros. There are a lot of issues with the anecdotal statement by BLM regarding foaling season that are simply not backed up by data and, due to the use of various infertility vaccines that change breeding seasons, is not a static date range. You can learn more HERE.
Bait and water trapping is allowed all year for both wild horses and burros.
After issues in Congress caused delays in funding distribution for fiscal year 2027, BLM could not pack the fall and winter roundup schedule. Once funds were released they announced bait and water trapping of at least 2500 wild horses and burros. Then the full gather schedule was published targeting 14,830 for capture in total (14,378 for permanent removal).
Of the five bait and water trap operations that target at least 2500 wild horses and burros, the only ones that are being sent to a facility where the public can see them are Spring Mountains Complex (Southern Nevada District) wild horses and burros. All of the others are being sent into facilities the public has no regular access to assess conditions.
Red Rock and Johnnie jacks
The Spring Mountain Complex:
Johnnie Herd Management Area (HMA) comprises about 179,368 acres and BLM set the AML at 65-108 wild burros, 0 wild horses.
Red Rock HMA comprises about 161,969 acres and BLM set the AML at 16-27 wild horses and 29-49 wild burros.
Wheeler Pass HMA comprises about 275,575 acres and the AML is set at 47-66 wild horses and 20-35 wild burros.
The target for removals is not the high end of AML but the low end. The goal of BLM nationwide is to reach a number that represents approximately 60% of the number found when the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act was passed and Congress declared them “fast-disappearing” from the landscape. The nationwide goal is to have only 14,259 wild horses spread across ten western states and only a total of 2,101 burros.
Note: There is a rumor going around online that there are no helicopter roundups allowed in Nye County because the county commission passed a resolution. Although the resolution passed in the county, the county has no jurisdiction on federal lands. If this were true, no helicopter capture in areas like Reveille or Stone Cabin, Pancake, etc. (not just the HMAs in the Spring Mountains) would be able to take place. BLM usually takes county commission recommendations into account when it involves things like increasing livestock. But in this case BLM has ignored them, not even including the recommendation into assessments.
BLM does not breakdown how many wild horses and burros they estimate in each HMA and how many they plan to remove in each HMA. Instead they represent the target for capture in a lump sum number. BLM says they estimate 749 wild horses and 1,048 wild burros in the entire complex and plan to capture and remove 425 wild horses and 425 wild burros.
However, when we are talking about AMLs in each distinct HMA that are so low (in any other species it would be called “functional extinction”) knowing the distinct targets for each HMA is relevant. When given a “lump sum target” in areas BLM manages as a “complex,” we have often watched BLM repeatedly drive one HMA below AML and neglect other areas creating a cycle where “over AML” is used to fund another roundup where the area they did not remove from is used to take horses out of the area where they dropped below AML in the last roundup (skirting court rulings that disallow “gather plans” to be repeatedly used after AML is reached. This places large areas at risk (example: Wall Canyon in the Surprise Complex was hit so hard 2 years in a row that BLM only left 5 horses in the HMA and we had to engage BLM to get 5 more turned back out to reach the low AML of 10).
So far BLM reports that the Spring Mountains bait and water trap has captured 102 Wild Burros (49 Jacks, 35 Jennies, and 18 Foals). Their website does not note which trap (HMA) the burros were captured from.
Our team member is tracking intake at the facility and was told these burros came from Red Rock and Johnnie, but not specific numbers from each.
Burros are highly susceptible to issues from capture stress. When helicopters are used, deaths can rise to as high as 24% (in pregnant and nursing Jennies). Using BLM data we can determine that helicopters should never be used for burro capture. Bait trapping does not eliminate burro deaths from forms of capture myopathy.
This is one burro specific issue that must be addressed in a formal set of welfare rules. There are several burro specific issues including diet and medical care that also need to be addressed.
BLM only created their Comprehensive Animal Welfare Program (CAWP) after our relentless litigation. Part of that program was to include formalized and enforceable welfare standards. Our new litigation has shown that shortly after launching draft welfare standards BLM simply dropped the ball and did no review and simply refused to do the required public input process.
Please help us get formalizing the welfare rules back in front of Congress.
Ongoing bait traps where wild horses are all being shipped out of the public eye and no observation is allowed at capture operations:
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 and the agency plans to remove approximately 350 horses using bait and water traps.
To date: BLM reports 32 Wild Horses (13 Stallions, 18 Mares, and 2 Foals) captured and 2 deaths. The first capture was reported on March 19. BLM has not reported that they have shipped any horses yet to Broken Arrow, Indian Lakes Rd in Fallon, NV (off-limits). This indicates BLM is intending to hold wild horses in temporary corrals for a long time prior to shipping.
Pancake Complex (Ely District)
At Pancake, BLM will began a bait and water trap gather March 15 to remove approximately 300 wild horses from in and around the complex. BLM wants to place over 1000 on the helicopter schedule. The agency cites “overpopulation” and horse use around water sources as justification after refusing to do any replacement of waters or improvements after approving multiple new mining projects. The Pancake Complex Wild Horse Gather and Herd Management Plan Environmental Assessment is currently the subject of our ongoing litigation in this area. In 2021, we began what became successful litigation that both showed that BLM illegally delayed creating a Herd Management Area Plan (HMAP) and shot down the gather plan due to a failure to analyze large scale removal of wild horses on existing fire fuels.
To date: BLM reports 216 (117 Stallions, 85 Mares, and 14 Foals) wild horses captured. They have reported 3 deaths: they put down a 12-year old stallion for club foot, a 9-year old for sway back and a senior stallion). So far BLM has shipped 155 (92 Stallions, 53 Mares, and 10 Foals) to the off-limits to the public corrals at Sutherland, Utah. BLM is not allowing access to view trapping or temporary corrals (rumored to be on the Duckwater reservation).
Antelope/Triple B Complex (Elko & Ely Districts)
BLM 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. In the last 8 years
BLM has removed over 14,000 wild horses in the last 8 years from these two complexes that span a land mass larger than Rhode Island and Connecticut combined and are separated by a highway. BLM is rapidly approving mining and livestock projects in these areas. BLM is back in court after releasing a new roundup plan to negate the ld roundup plan already in court. BLM is lumping some of the last large herds together in these plans to avoid any site-specific disclosure and management.
To date BLM reports 16 Wild Horses (5 Stallions, 9 Mares, and 2 Foals) have been captured. They have shipped 15 Wild Horses (4 Stallions, 9 Mares, and 2 Foals). BLM put down a 20-year old stud for sway back.
Continuing with the theme of going to extremes to hide any specific actions in the HMAs in this massive area BLM does not disclose where the horses were captured. This is extremely disturbing as Triple B wild horses are being sent to Sutherland Off-Range Corrals in Utah (off-limits) and Antelope to Broken Arrow on Indian Lakes Rd in Fallon, NV. So there is not even a way to track this operation until Freedom of Information Act requests are filed and answered. The extent these districts (this area is so big it is managed by two district offices) go to to hide HMA specific actions and data is the most extreme in the country.
Our team is working in overdrive on litigation and engaging lawmakers.
We created a new report for you to use in your own advocacy outreach to your lawmakers that debunks the BLM Population Statistics Report BLM is actively using now to seek funding and authorities (like open sales to slaughter) in the 2027 fiscal year Appropriations bill. You can find that report HERE.
We thank you for being an active advocate and standing up for Freedom, Mercy and Justice.
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.
Categories: Wild Horse Education
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