Local Group Urges BLM to Control Helicopter Use Amid Controversial Wild Horse Roundup

BLM Urged to Control Helicopter Use in Wild Horse RoundupBLM Urged to Control Helicopter Use in Wild Horse Roundup

Sand Wash Basin Advocate Team Calls on BLM to Rein in Helicopter Wranglers

Weeks-old foal left alone on the range after mother was captured sent to vet hospital for care

Media Update 9/7/2021

  • An estimated 93 horses (26 Stallions, 55 Mares, and 12 Foals) were captured on 9/6/21, totaling 422 wild horses since the roundup began on Sept. 1.
  • Sand Wash Advocate Team (SWAT) states that it will be calling on BLM to rein in the helicopter contractor, Cattoor Livestock Roundups, due to foals being left behind on the range after their mothers were captured.
  • Sierra Club Grazing & Wildlife/Endangered Species Teams reveal that the 3.6 million-member Sierra Club has appealed to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to remove livestock from wild horse habitat, adding national weight to the Sierra Club Colorado’s call for a halt to the Sand Wash Basin roundup.
  • A weeks-old foal was found in the care of a stallion named Merlin near the trap site. The foal was left alone after its mother, a mare named Serendipity, was captured. The stallion and the foal were chased by helicopter into the trap, and the foal was taken to a local vet clinic for care. The stallion was sent to temporary holding and will be transported to the Canon City prison holding facility.

Photo credit Scot Wilson, Wilson AXPE Photography

Photo credit Scot Wilson, Wilson AXPE Photography

  • On Sunday, another foal named Semper was found in the care of two stallions, Cognac and Triumph, near the trap. The foal had been left alone after his mother, a mare named Spotlight, was captured. The foal and stallions were captured and sent to the Canon City holding pens, where Semper will presumably be reunited with his mother.

Photo: SWAT

  • The contractor is violating the BLM’s Comprehensive Animal Welfare Program (CAWP) guideline by allowing foals to be left behind in helicopter stampedes. The guideline requires that the helicopter drive the horses no faster than the slowest animal in the group. The BLM dismissed a CAWP guideline limiting temperatures for running horses to no higher than 95 degrees F as “just a suggestion.” BLM states that the only hard stop for chasing wild horses with helicopters is at 105ºF.
  • Two horses escaped capture: Licorice, a young black stallion, and PJ, son of the famed stallion Picasso. PJ ran for hours beside the trap whinnying to his family inside. He remains free.

About AWHC

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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