Daily Reports: Sulphur Roundup

August 18, 2020

AWHC Contributor

Beginning on August 15, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Cedar City Field Office initiated a roundup to remove federally-protected wild horses from the Sulphur Herd Management Area (HMA) on the Utah/Nevada border. The BLM plans to remove approximately 600 wild horses through helicopter stampede. Horses removed from the range will be transported to the Axtell Off-Range Contract Wild Horse Facility in Axtell, Utah. Approximately 100 mares will be given GonaCon as a means of population control.

August 26, 2020

48 wild horses were rounded up and removed today. A mare died after suffering a broken neck after crashing into corral panels. The roundup concluded with 563 wild horses captured and 8 deaths.

August 25, 2020

32 horses were rounded up and removed today. The body scores were 5's.

August 24, 2020

55 horses were rounded up and removed today. The body scores were 5's.

August 23, 2020

55 wild horses were rounded up and removed and there were no deaths.

August 22, 2020

21 horses were rounded up and removed.

August 21, 2020

54 wild horses were captured and there were three deaths. According to BLM:

A stallion was euthanized due to a "deformed left foot".
A stallion was euthanized due to both front legs being deformed from the hock to the hoof.
A horse died suddenly due to colic.

AWHC field reps were not onsite as we suffered a flat tire while entering public lands on the way to the trap site.

August 20, 2020

18 wild horses were rounded up and removed today, and there were no reported deaths or injuries. AWHC's field reps were the only members of the public onsite.

Of note:

One mare was roped because she had become separated from her foal who had already been captured.

August 19, 2020

23 horses were rounded up and removed from the HMA today, and there was one death: a stallion was euthanized due to a clubbed foot - making him not desirable for adoption, though horses with clubbed feet can live happy and normal lives.

A majority of the body scores of horses coming off the range were 3's or 4's.

On the first helicopter run of the day, AWHC field reps watched as a group of three horses, attempting to avoid capture, ran directly towards a barbed-wire fence. The first horse in the group caught his front leg in the wire but managed to recover and not completely fall. The two horses behind him were able to stop before crashing into the fence or having to jump over.

One of our field representatives asked BLM to check on the horse, and they relayed he did not have any injuries.

Shortly after, another group of horses came in and the same thing occurred, this time a Bay horse nearly fell tripping over the fencing but too was able to recover. It was at that time that our field representative asked BLM to add flagging to the fence so that the horses could see it at a farther distance and avoid - this tactic has worked in the past.

The fence was not flagged and instead, the helicopter brought in a third group of horses, and again, a single horse ran directly towards the barbed fencing and thankfully came to a stop right before crashing into it.

Other images from the day:

August 18, 2020

54 wild horses were rounded up and removed today, and there were thankfully no known deaths. AWHC's team were the only members of the public onsite.

August 17, 2020

82 wild horses were rounded up and removed today, and there was one death: a foal was euthanized after suffering a dislocated front right shoulder with torn muscles and ligaments -- a direct result of this roundup operation.

AWHC field representatives were among 5 members of the public onsite today. We were placed approximately 3/4 of a mile away from the actual trap site. We were placed on level ground with no vantage point making it extremely difficult to get a good view of the horses, and the mouth of the trap was behind rock dwellings so we were unable to see how the horses reacted coming in.