BLM Accused of Abusing Young Wild Horse Foal During Nevada Roundup

Leading Wild Horse and Burro Advocacy Organization Urges Roundup Pause

Reno, Nev. (July 5, 2022) — Today, the American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign) (AWHC) released video footage showing Bureau of Land Management (BLM) contractors fiercely throwing down a young wild horse foal during a federal capture operation in the Buffalo Hills Herd Management Area (HMA), approximately 70 miles north of Reno, Nevada.

The timing coincides with the start of the Buffalo Hills federal roundup, which began on July 1st and has already resulted in the deaths of 5 horses.

The animal abuse was first witnessed by an AWHC field observer who described the action against the foal as a “body slam.” An additional four-month-old captured foal was also found dead on the first day of the federal roundup operation due to “unknown causes.” The Buffalo Hills roundup contractor is Sampson Livestock of Meadow, Utah.

AWHC strongly asserts that the BLM should not initiate roundups while young foals are on the ground and while mares may still be pregnant. Foals can die in summer roundups due to “capture myopathy,” where muscle damage results from extreme exertion, struggle, or stress. They often fall behind their families in the helicopter chase and become separated from their mothers, sometimes left alone on the range to fend for themselves.

“This overtly violent action against the young foal is completely unacceptable. Foals continue to be born throughout the summer. Foaling season should not be helicopter season,” said Suzanne Roy, AWHC executive director. “The BLM must immediately pause the helicopter roundup in Buffalo Hills and remove the contractors involved in the mistreatment of the foal. It’s time for this agency to heed the calls from Congress to reform its Wild Horse and Burro Program.”

The U.S. House Committee on Appropriations recently advanced bipartisan language calling on the BLM to evaluate alternatives to off-range holding, ensure all roundups are conducted in strict compliance with animal welfare standards, and implement a robust reversible immunocontraceptive fertility control vaccine program, funded at the mark of $11 million. Citing cruelty and harm to wild horses and burros, U.S. Congresswoman Dina Titus (D-NV) this year introduced a bill banning helicopter roundups (H.R. 6635). Last month, Reps. Titus and Steve Cohen (D-TN), joined by Reps. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Ted Lieu (D-CA), Albio Sires (D-NJ), Peter DeFazio (D-OR), and Salud Carbajal (D-CA) called for an oversight hearing of the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program.

While the documented abuse of the young foal in Buffalo Hills is extremely cruel, evidence shows a BLM pattern of allowing contractors to commit animal welfare violations without consequences. According to a BLM report conducted in May for a roundup operation involving wild burros in Arizona, a contractor’s employee violated the agency’s animal welfare standards for “hitting, kicking, striking, or beating a wild horse or burro in an abusive manner,” yet the agency continues to hire the contractor to conduct more roundups.

In addition, at least 146 wild horses recently died at a BLM government holding facility in Cañon City, Colorado following an outbreak of the Equine Influenza Virus (“EIV”), a disease that captured wild horses were supposed to have been vaccinated against. An internal BLM assessment documented significant mismanagement at the Cañon City corrals, and others, including understaffing, vaccination and other biosecurity failures, poor record-keeping, poor animal management, lack of basic equine care, inadequate shelter, and substandard facility maintenance.

This latest abuse of the young foal leads AWHC to renew its calls for a pause to helicopter roundups in all states with scheduled summer roundups to allow for investigation into the BLM’s off-range holding facilities and roundup contractors. The organization also supports a congressional oversight hearing into the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program.

About the American Wild Horse Conservation

The American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign) (AWHC) is the nation's leading wild horse protection 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.

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