Before we begin the update on the Callaghan Complex roundup in Nevada, we need to say a few words.

There is no doubt the system is broken. The system was broken shortly after the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act was codified into law. Today, advocates are left working hard to reform that system. There is no single change that can “fix” a multi-layered public lands issue. Wild horses and burros are a public lands issue. Just like any public lands interest, wild horses and burros are managed through a site-specific planning process. No matter how Congress might direct funding to be used, the work to impact how a specific herd is managed is done within the very site-specific process surrounding that herd. This is just a fact. There is no “magic wand” and we will not insult your intelligence by trying to tell you there is one.

Far too often wild horses that live in large, rugged and wild places are treated differently than smaller herds closer to populated areas where large numbers of people visit them regularly. Not just by the agency tasked with their management, but by certain factions in advocacy.

The history and current work surrounding the Callaghan Complex is, admittedly, complex. It involves attempts to get BLM to update the Land Use Plan nearly 15 years ago, working on site-specific management planning BLM simply abandoned in 2017 (as the “get to AML, increase fertility control” was rolled into policy through what most of you know as “Path Forward“), and so much more.  Instead of doing the real work, built on actual data, BLM lumped previously unrelated Herd Management Areas (HMA) into an administrative complex to “get a roundup done fast,” not to properly “manage.”

We are in court on this plan, now. The longterm survival of all of the wild horses in this complex is dependent on the outcome of that case. Once a plan is finalized by BLM the only avenue to change it is litigation. We are litigating Callaghan. Callaghan is very different than the Carter, Buckhorn and Coppersmith plan we were able to gain a Preliminary Injunction for to stop the roundup from starting. 

If you want to know a little bit about this specific lawsuit you can click here. 

Gone Now

These are also individual wild horses known by those that travel these ranges. Just like the herds closer to human population centers, right now there are advocates watching horses they know removed at this roundup. Many of these wild horses will go to off-limits to the public holding facilities where their welfare cannot be checked on and they cannot be tagged for adoption. The loss is just as real here, where the herds are large and remote, as it is anywhere else.

Every roundup is part of a broken system. But every roundup happens because of very site-specific planning. And Callaghan is NOT about fertility control. These herds have not faced a sanctioned roundup in a long time. South Shoshone has had exactly one since the 1971 Act passed. In our article “The Math That Doesn’t ‘Math‘,” we quoted the BLM’s own words — that “the Bald Mountain and South Shoshone HMAs are the only HMAs in the Shoshone-Eureka Planning area that exhibit a low or negative growth rate that cannot be explained by gather activities, fertility control or inherent movement patterns.” BLM cannot explain what is happening in these herds. And BLM’s failure to actually examine issues like this in its planning documents are part of our lawsuit.

The Callaghan roundup is about Callaghan herds. 

If you are moved to take a specific action to directly address what you see at roundups in general, you can help gain enforceable welfare standards. You can reach out to your lawmakers. Learn more here. 

Our team is working on multiple incidents and issues. We will update as often as we can.

Cumulative Totals (as of 7/15):

Captured: 1046 Wild Horses (446 Stallions, 422 Mares, and 178 Foals) from South Shoshone

We had to push to get BLM to update capture totals. It is unclear of they updated any number except the capture totals. It is very disheartening that BLM is simply not transparent and makes gaining the simplest of information difficult fueling distrust.

Shipped: 723 Wild Horses (284 Stallions, 284 Mares, and 155 Foals)  Wild horses will be shipped to two different facilities: Palomino Valley Center and to Broken Arrow (Indian Lakes RD.) in Fallon. The Fallon facility is off-limits to public view. We were told only 700 will ship to PVC, the rest off-limits.

Deaths: 3, Day 1, during active trapping: A sorrel filly foal was reported to have been kicked by another horse at temporary holding and broke a leg. (This death is from July 10. Any deaths that occurred on July 11th will be reported the next day.) Day 2, during shipping and holding: 3 y/o, Bay, Mare – Acute/Sudden, broken neck , 3 m/o, Sorrel, filly – Acute/Sudden, indicators consistent with colic. (We will be filing formal requests for information on deaths from this operation from trap and into facilities. BLM is not updating official counts in the standard timeframe and we will continue to monitor).

You can see the first 4 days HERE.

We believe BLM could wrap up this operation within the next two weeks even though they are approved to operate until August 31. The target BLM published and conveyed to the court is 2000 captured and permanently removed.

Newer reports will appear at the top.

Day 6, 07-15-26:

Today BLM shipped wild horses from the temporary holding corrals. We are often asked about foals. Foals are separated for transport to the facilities to avoid injury. When the mares and foals arrive at the facility it will essentially be at the discretion of the employees at the facility to decide which foals are reunited. Too often they are “weaned at the facility” and many are far too young.

The horses shipped today will face an approximately 4-hour haul. At some operations these transports are much longer, up to 9 hours.

We are continuing to review footage from today.

Day 5, 07-14-26:

245 (114 Stallions, 91 Mares, and 40 Foals) wild horses were captured. This is the same trap as day one.

There are two helicopters pushing wild horses from the mountains to the east of the trap. As one band is pushed to move, other bands begin to move back toward home. Then those bands get pushed back toward trap, the helicopter then goes to push another band as the first band tries to turn home. In other words, the drive to trap is not a “straight line” and the distance travelled is long.

In South Shoshone foaling season has always extended into July.

This band has two extremely new babies. The path to trap is not a straight line. It is a back and forth. You can see one of the foals is desperate to rest.

The prohibition against helicopter capture during foaling season is meaningless if the agency fails to define any site-specific foaling season (and that would be easy to do if they actually monitored the herd). This is part of our underlying lawsuit for these herds so this does not happen again. These kinds of things need to be addressed in the specific Herd Management Area Plan (HMAP). BLM wrote a “gather plan” and not a management plan. This is something that must be addressed in site-specific litigation.

Our team is working hard on and off-site.

Day 4, 07-13-26:

It took BLM 2 days to publish capture numbers. We can now update the total from our earlier report.

259 (104 Stallions, 102 Mares, and 53 Foals) were captured.

This video is edited to give you a glimpse into the distance travelled by this tiny foal.

During capture we cannot assess handling.

We have been unable to assess any sorting at the temporary corrals as BLM is refusing to allow any. We really cannot assess the condition of foals or adults as the pens are crowded before we can get a view of individuals.

What we can see are faces we know. We can identify some of the captives from bands we know on the range… if they happen to lift their head while our camera scans the crowd.

This is a hard roundup for many of our team members.

The first day BLM captured 329 wild horses. We did notify them over our concerns involving the amount of water  that would need to be trucked to the corrals. We mentioned the heat. (The requirement is 10 gallons per day per horse but in extreme temperatures that requirement can nearly double.) Over crowding holding is the number one violation of BLMs handling recommendations.

BLM is only posting temperatures for when active trapping ends. The high temperature BLM is posting is not the high temperature for the day. More than 260 wild horses were at temporary holding when temperatures reached 100 degrees and the heat index reached 94 (midway in the “extreme caution” zone).

Please remember: Congress sets a framework. Then the agency creates a site-specific action (plan). The legal framework has included actual Herd Management Area Plans (HMAP) for over 45 years. We had to go to court to get BLM to even do them (they denied they had to). Now we are back in court to get them to stop creating roundup plans and just changing the title. (All of this could be fixed by the Secretary of the Interior through a simple memo requiring actual data analysis and complete planning documents. This is already within authority and law. But the Secretary is the one directing things to be done the way they are being done. So, we go to court.)

Congress can create language to make it easier to hold BLM accountable in court on everything from how they do planning to how wild horses and burros are handled. Congress can also add language to the spending bill directing BLM to formalize an enforceable welfare standard. CLICK HERE TO TAKE ACTION

Once a plan is finalized by BLM the only avenue to change it is litigation. We are litigating Callaghan. Callaghan is very different than the Carter, Buckhorn and Coppersmith plan we were able to gain a Preliminary Injunction to stop. 

Yes, the system is broken.

But each plan must be engaged distinctly to make changes to how a specific herd is managed. 

Callaghan is about Callaghan. 

We need your support to keep our teams engaging lawmakers, our team fighting in the court, our team ready to run the roundup schedule.

WHE is a small organization that has no corporate sponsors or government grants. 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. Gratitude. 

We want to thank Save Our Wild Horses for creating an online “popup art gallery” to help support our work. If you are looking for a wild horse or burro picture for yourself or as a gift, you can visit their gallery HERE.