Helicopter Roundup Undermines State's Progress Toward Humane Wild Horse Management
(Grand Junction, Colo., Aug. 12) – Today, American Wild Horse Conservation (AWHC) weighs in on the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) decision to move forward with a contested roundup and removal of wild horses by helicopter from the Little Book Cliffs Wild Horse Range, starting Sept. 11, 2024, outside of Grand Junction.
The decision to move forward with the Little Book Cliffs Wild Horse Range helicopter roundup, despite calls to delay and modify the operation by the Governor and policymakers who worked on legislation designed to minimize the need for roundups, shadows an otherwise encouraging announcement by the state.
Last week, the Colorado Department of Agriculture announced it had signed a contract with the USDA Wildlife Services to provide additional resources to hire professional, on-the-ground, fertility control darters as part of the Colorado Wild Horse Project (the result of SB23-275).
“We welcome the hiring of full-time, on-the-ground, fertility control darters, but this much-needed step forward has been overshadowed by confirmation of an unmodified Little Book Cliffs helicopter roundup, which will needlessly remove 120 wild horses. With so much progress by our state policymakers and the Governor to make Colorado a model state for managing wild horses differently, the BLM’s persistence in pushing forward with Little Book Cliffs is discouraging,” said AWHC spokesperson Scott Wilson.
“The BLM has failed to adequately respond to the concerns of the Governor and other stakeholders. Little Book Cliffs is a designated Wild Horse Range - meaning there is no competition from livestock grazing - and no pressing need to round up horses by helicopter. It’s a waste of taxpayer money, particularly when the state of Colorado has allocated in-the-wild conservation funds through the Wild Horse Project,” said Wilson.
In June, AWHC submitted official comments to the Colorado office of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which urged the BLM to reconsider its proposed management plan and instead support local efforts to expand the fertility control program for this historic herd. The decision by the BLM to move forward with Little Book Cliffs defies calls from the Governor and bill sponsors of SB-275 who also pushed for a delay.
The BLM had also announced that a bait-trap removal operation will begin in Sand Wash Basin, outside of Craig, on Aug. 15. This roundup will take up to 60 horses, remove 45, and treat and return 15 mares (female horses) with fertility control. The operation could run until the end of February 2025.
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About American Wild Horse Conservation
American Wild Horse Conservation (AWHC) is the nation’s leading nonprofit wild horse conservation organization, with more than 700,000 supporters and followers nationwide. AWHC is dedicated to preserving the American wild horse and burros in viable, free-roaming herds for generations to come, as part of our national heritage. In addition to advocating for the protection and preservation of America’s wild herds, AWHC implements the largest wild horse fertility control program in the world through a partnership with the State of Nevada for wild horses that live in the Virginia Range near Reno.
