Owyhee Roundup: Week 3 Highlights and Daily Logs

December 15, 2012

AWHC Contributor

The Owyhee Complex roundup in northern Nevada has seen the capture of over 817 wild horses, with at least nine fatalities reported. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has been using Sun J Livestock, Inc. as the contractor for this operation. Observers, including an American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign) videographer, have documented ongoing issues during the roundup.

The BLM plans to capture a total of 847 wild horses by the end of the operation, scheduled to conclude or pause on December 23. For more details on the Owyhee Complex roundup, visit the official page.

Daily Logs

Sunday, Dec 9

Total Captured: 97 horses (47 mares, 31 stallions, 19 foals)

Temperatures: High 38°F, Low 27°F

6:00 AM: Left meeting place
8:00 AM: Arrived at trap (helicopter already flying)
8:15 AM: 30-40 horses brought into trap
9:20 AM: 14 horses brought into trap
9:55 AM: ~25 horses brought into trap
10:17 AM: 12 horses brought into trap
10:17 AM: Refueled
10:45 AM: Back up and flying
12:50 PM: Refueled
2:00 PM: Called

COR: Kristine Dedolph

IC: Ed Sume, NM Las Cruces (in office)

APHIS Vet: Dr. Smiley, Pennsylvania

Monday, Dec 10

Total Captured: 42 horses (20 mares, 16 stallions, 6 foals)

Killed: 3-year-old stallion due to "club foot"

Temperatures: High 30°F, Low 27°F

6:00 AM: Left meeting place
8:00 AM: Arrived at trap (helicopter already flying)
8:15 AM: ~20 horses brought into trap
8:15 AM: Refueled
9:40 AM: ~21 horses brought into trap; wranglers on horseback
10:00 AM: 1 roped foal brought in
10:00 AM: Refueled
10:20 AM: Helicopter left
12:00 PM: Helicopter brought in due to mechanical issue
12:30 PM: Called

COR: Kristine Dedolph

IC: Ed Sume, NM Las Cruces (in office)

APHIS Vet: Dr. Smiley, Pennsylvania

Tuesday, Dec 11

No horses captured

No fly day due to mechanical issues. Shipped 66 horses to Litchfield, CA because PVC, NV is full.

Wednesday, Dec 12

Total Captured: 38 horses (14 mares, 15 stallions, 9 foals)

Temperatures: High 35°F, Low 28°F

6:00 AM: Left meeting place
7:20 AM: Arrived at temp; helicopter in the air
8:00 AM: Arrived at trap
10:00 AM: Refueled
11:00 AM: ~12 horses (2 escaped); ~10 captured
11:20 AM: ~12 horses brought in and captured
Wranglers went out on horseback - roped 2-year-old horse within 200 yards of trap
12:07 PM: 6 horses brought in
12:15-12:45 PM: Refueled helicopter
1:30 PM: Helicopter was pushing 5 horses towards back end of trap then pushed horses north (as if there was a fence line) .. then helicopter left horses
1:30 PM: Called

IC: Ed Sumes (in the office)

APHIS Vet: Dr. Smiley, Pennsylvania

Lili Thomas: On site all day at trap.

Thursday, Dec 13

Total Captured: 67 horses (25 mares, 28 stallions, 13 foals)

6:00 AM: Left meeting place
8:00 AM: Arrived at new trap site
8:20 AM: Helicopter flies out from holding, lands and refuels
10:50 AM: ~33 horses brought in and captured
12:00 PM: Helicopter switches back to Sun's older helicopter which previously had mechanical problems
1:30 PM: ~34 horses brought in and captured; refueled.
A stallion came in with a limp, 1 horse falls in the wings of the trap.
Wranglers struggle to load horses into trailers for nearly two hours.
1:30 PM: Called
3:15 PM: Last horse is loaded into trailer

COR: Kristine Dedolph

IC: Ed Sumes (in the office)

APHIS Vet: Dr. Smiley, Pennsylvania

Lili Thomas: On site all day at trap.

On Thursday, a stallion with a "clubbed foot" was captured. This horse would later be killed.

Friday, Dec 14

Total Captured: 38 horses

Temperatures: High 36°F, Low 27°F

6:00 AM: Left meeting place
8:00 AM: Arrived at temp; helicopter in the air
8:30 AM: Refueled
10:25 AM: Refueled
11:12 AM: Helicopter goes back up
12:50 PM: Refueled
2:30 PM: 33 horses brought in
2:40 PM: 1 foal roped by wranglers on horseback
2:44 PM: 4 horses brought in
2:44 PM: Called
4:00 PM: Finish loading horses on trailers
(It took 1 hour to load 38 horses, used electric prods)

COR: Kristine Dedolph

IC: Ed Sumes (in the office)

APHIS Vet: Dr. Smiley, Pennsylvania

Notes: The helicopter spent a long time stampeding horses down into the valley where the trap site was located. When the horses came into sight of the observers, there were two groups of horses - a large group of ~33 horses and a smaller group of 5 horses. Instead of bringing in the group of ~33 horses into the trap, the pilot decided to try to get the 5 horses to be run with the ~33 horses. The helicopter chased horses for approximately 40 minutes trying to combine the two groups of horses -- this helicopter stampede ran horses on the face of a steep cliff! After this needless and inhumane chase, the ~33 horses came in separately from the 4 who were brought in later.

Once in the trap, wranglers used two electric prods repeatedly to load horses on the trailers. Electric prod was used ~10+ times on one single horse.

Saturday, Dec 15

Total Captured: 70 horses (30 mares, 20 stallions, 20 foals)

6:00 AM: Left meeting place
8:00 AM: Arrived at trap
9:00 AM: ~20 horses brought in and captured; helicopter refueled
10:45 AM: ~30 horses brought in and captured
11:15 AM: Two wranglers went out to rope a foal; during the chase a horse with a wrangler falls hard to the ground throwing the wrangler off the horse. The horse walked away as the wrangler laid on the ground for five minutes (he was later reported as fine).
11:55 AM: 10 horses were driven into the trap - during the stampede into the trap one horse fell in a ditch (but got up and was captured). Helicopter refueled.
1:30 PM: ~34 horses brought in and captured; refueled.
A stallion came in with a limp, 1 horse falls in the wings of the trap.
Wranglers struggle to load horses into trailers for nearly two hours.
2:00 PM: Called
3:15 PM: Last horse is loaded into trailer

COR: Kristine Dedolph

IC: Ed Sumes (on site)

APHIS Vet: Dr. Smiley, Pennsylvania