Day 7 was muggy and hot after rains. The Heat Index rose into “Extreme Caution” zone. Our team lead is keeping statistics we will share as time allows.

We are working on the underlying lawsuit at Callaghan and an update for the court as we edit and publish extensive video each and every night. We are the only organization doing this. There are others present, but they are not doing the daily coverage we are. It leaves us less time for emails, social media and everything else. If you are emailing us questions, we apologize for the delay in response.

189 (66 Stallions, 79 Mares, and 44 Foals) wild horses were captured today.

Two more have been reported as deaths. BLM says a 3-year old bay mare and a 10-year old bay mare were both put down due to missing eyes. We have documented these bands a very long time and have never documented mares with missing eyes. We do know that when there are a lot of horses coming in, often there are injuries in the area of the eye from the chute and even eyes punctured during sorting; we have documented this. As we are not permitted to observe any handling of animals (at trap or temporary corrals) we can only report on what we know. We will do a full report on the roundup and facilities post-operation and death rates (what the public knows and the history of the “hidden.”)

This brings the cumulative total captured to 1240 Wild Horses (516 Stallions, 501 Mares, and 223 Foals). About 155 wild horses spent the night in the corrals.

This video shows the moment the peace of the bands shatters. These horses are bands we know well and call them the “pole line” bunch. We would sit with them, so many evenings, and watch sunset. There is a first escape that then sets off the group to push back out of the jute. Many of these bands are pushed countless times during the day to attempt to capture them.

BLM is still in South Shoshone. We told the court this is not a “Callaghan Complex roundup,” but a South Shoshone roundup. BLM had lumped previously unrelated HMAs into an administrative construct to make the outcome look more palatable (instead of saying “we are going to remove all the horses except a few from one HMA” they are claiming “we are only removing 2000 from 5000 in a complex”). BLM fails to recognize their 22% error rate in population estimates. BLM is highly likely to remove all but tattered fragments from this single HMA. So we are writing a report for the court to show that we were not speculating (as the court agreed with BLM that we were speculating)… we knew exactly what they were going to do and that is why they refused to be transparent. This underlying case is vital to the survival of all of the HMAs in this complex.

Below: The band with the tiny baby is not driven in alone. There are two choppers and the large group is pushed into the trap at the same time. This is extremely dangerous and we have documented babies run over and crushed.

BLM does not monitor these herds. They do a drive by a couple times a year. We know this because our founder worked for a short time trying to “collaborate” with the office. If BLM actually monitored this range as we do, they would know foaling season extends into July.

As we stated earlier, it was hot and humid for this region. The Heat Index hit the Extreme Caution zone. You can clearly see the sweat on many of the horses that came close enough to observers to document it clearly.

We are still editing the video from the holding corrals.

There are so many faces we know. This is very hard for our team.

The captives from today are all being shipped off limits to public view to a facility that has carried the highest annual death rates numerous years since it opened in 2010, Broken Arrow on Indian Lakes Rd, in Fallon, NV.

Unlike at Saylor Creek in Idaho where capture ended July 15 and a viewing scheduled at the facility July 19… we may never get a chance to see these wild horses again. If we do see them in the facility it will be months from now and after they mix in with general population. Please remember the average death rate from range into facilities id 12%; 1 in 9 will die and the total could be higher. There will be no way to check on their condition, know who lived or died, tag a single one for adoption. The next time we see a South Shoshone captive wild horse from day 7, it will probably be on a kill buyer lot where they are essentially ransoming them to the public. 

You can see the first 3 days HERE.

Day 3-6 here and a “week 1” rundown HERE

After the win on the Preliminary Injunction for the Carter, Buckhorn and Coppersmith (and getting them pulled off the schedule) we are working on the underlying case that can create long term relief for these herds.

At the same time we are working on the lawsuits at Pancake (where we had a groundbreaking win), Stone Cabin (where we won part of our case and have the rest now in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals), Devil’s Garden, etc. These lawsuits can also bring long term relief to these herds and gain desperately needed precedent to assist the work to protect more herds. 

Our team works very hard at roundups. We keep extensive data bases for litigation and outreach to Congress. We also take reporting to you very seriously.

We are also working hard to educate Congress. We provide extensive information to other groups as well. One group is heading to “lobby days” next week. You can participate. More HERE.

Plain and simple, we need support to keep going. We do not spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on public relations or search engine priorities. We use the funds in field, in the courts and trying to break through the wall “campaign contributions” have built around Congress. If this is the kind of advocacy you want for your wild horses and burros, we need your help.

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 taken with you as our partner. 

Gratitude.