Just before the Callaghan Complex roundup

When roundups occur, everyone has an opinion. Everyone takes to social media and hurls insults at each other expressing those opinions. None of that actually matters. 

What matters is site-specific planning (the impact to the herd) and the impact on each individual life.

There are deep site-specific issues in management planning: basically there isn’t any. There is no data-based based framework underlying any area in the West. There are boundary lines and numbers set through agreements in the 1980s that were “reaffirmed” through retyping them into overarching land use documents.

We are battling this out in the courts. The courts have found that actual management plans (HMAP) have been illegally delayed; the first win at Pancake. So now BLM is lumping HMAP language into generic Appendices (like in the active court case at Callaghan), simply changing a gather plans name (active court case at Pancake, phase 2).

Recently, the court shut down the Carter, Buckhorn and Coppersmith gather plan as we showed a high likelihood of success on the underlying case that shows the trail of “decision through agreement,” no actual analysis, that saw vast acreage designated for wild horse use (over 280,000 acres) removed and absurdly low target umbers (AML) that included leaving only 25 wild horses in the isolated Carter Reservoir area.

The battle on Facebook is pretty meaningless. Historically our opposition on social media keeps trying to draw attention into red herring arguments. They will also, consistently, us threats to open direct sales to slaughter as a sort of blackmail type discussion: stop fighting for the law or we will open those sales. The closer we get to gaining data-based management plans, the louder the distractions will get.

The arguments and name calling will continue on Facebook. The distractions and the “send them to slaughter” attacks on the SAFE Act (a domestic animal bill that covers wild horses after title transfer) to stop the slaughter trade discourse will also get louder.

The battle for science and data-based management planning is moving forward. The Facebook discourse does not impact that fact.

When it comes to onsite at a roundup the work has one purpose: the welfare of wild horses and burros. 

Concerns with the lack of a formalized welfare standard run deep. Gaining an enforceable welfare policy that contains clear standards is vital. The concerns include concerns with foaling season, air quality and heat index standards. All of these critical issues are very relevant to this roundup. 

You can learn more about the issue and take ACTION here.

Right now there are some serious facts you need to be aware of: We are back in the battle for meaningful access to assess and apparent budget cuts have impacted critical needs like having a veterinarian onsite. 

But before we get into the issue we want to thank the State of Colorado for stepping in and providing an onsite veterinarian at the ongoing roundup at Piceance-East Douglas. Sincere Gratitude. 

Our team has been working very long hours to address these deficits.

We began reporting on the issues with access in the first big summer roundup this year: Callaghan.  None of the reasons given for limiting public access fell within the lawful bounds. There was no veterinarian onsite to even diagnose a wild horse prior to euthanasia or to perform a single necropsy on the foals that “dropped dead.” No veterinarian to determine a single safety parameter, direct wound care, provide any input at all, leaving control of the entire operation in the hands of BLM. A staff that has expressed “we should shoot them all” as a management strategy.

At the ongoing roundup at Bible Springs in Utah, there is also no veterinarian onsite.

“If there is an emergency we can call a vet out,” is the response when you are sitting at a trap our on the range and an “emergency” would need to wait to be addressed until a vet got the call and found time to travel out?

It seems “no vet onsite” is the “new normal.”

Below: How did this orphaned baby get there? This baby ran for over 40 minutes in sight of observers. The band entered the jute (that we cannot see) and BLM said the family blew through the jutes but the baby kept running into trap. 

If BLM knew there would be no vet onsite at a summer roundup where foals in distress or orphaned foals is more likely, why didn’t BLM prepare for it?

The baby spent hours in trap. Trap was broken down before the baby was even transported to the temporary corrals. There were no electrolytes or foal lac onsite to give the baby. The exhausted and dehydrated orphan lay there for hours until the “pre-approved” adopter arrived.

There have been personnel changes as well.

Below: At roundups under prior leadership in the state of Utah babies that get separated have been given a bucket of water or formula and given electrolytes. The one below was reunited with his mom in the temporary corral.

Swasey, 2024

The babies never should have been separated in the first place.

The foal at Swasey that was bucket fed and given electrolytes was then reunited with mom that had been captured.

The foal captured at Bible Springs, who is much younger, received no care.

If there is no vet onsite then BLM must make sure that appropriate care, particularly for the most vulnerable, is available. 

However, at Bible Springs the public has had access and that access has served the “public good” by providing the opportunity to document and use that documentation to engage. That same situation occurred last year in Wyoming. (Today, the same thing happened in Colorado. But after being informed there was no vet onsite, the State of Colorado has now provided one for the operation at Piceance.)

Meaningful public access is necessary. 

Adobe Town, 2025

At Adobe Town in 2025, BLM had no vet. They also had not authorized any staff member to even give electrolytes to distressed foals or do basic wound care (like spraying Blue Cote on open wounds).

Our team engaged and the authorizations occurred.

At the ongoing roundup at Piceance in Colorado our team has been very busy. It may not look like we can see much, but that does not mean we are not busy. 

Our legal team sent a letter regarding meaningful access, proposed discriminatory access. Both issues we have already addressed in court before. 

We have provided information through additional channels. The combination of no meaningful public access and no veterinarian onsite raise concern levels. 

Today, we are happy to say, there is a veterinarian onsite. 

The Colorado state veterinarian is onsite and will remain onsite. 

All we know is that the adapter picked up the foal. The foal was alive when the adopter received it. When it arrived at the adopter’s home, about 6 hours after capture, we know it was bucket-fed. We do not know more because this is now considered a private adoption. We are working hard to get veterinarians at all roundups so that kind of delay in care does not happen again.

At the end of the day advocacy, all of advocacy, from on range management planning to protecting formerly wild horses and burros from landing in the kill-pen, is about each individual life. 

Documenting roundups is about reporting to the public… and most importantly… about reducing the suffering of each individual life. 

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

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. Sincere Gratitude.