Public Outrage Erupts Over Wild Mustang's Death at Federal Roundup
FILLMORE, Utah (July 19, 2020) – A wild mustang mare tragically died after crashing and breaking her neck during a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) helicopter roundup in Utah’s Swasey Herd Management Area (HMA). Photos released by the American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign) have sparked public outrage, highlighting the urgent need for Congress to protect the nation's wild horses and burros by reining in the BLM's roundup program.
Thousands have reacted to a photo posted on social media showing BLM wranglers covering a 5-year-old wild mustang mare with a sheet after she broke her neck in a small trap pen. Observers had warned that the trap design could lead to such accidents, but the BLM ignored these concerns. Horses continued to crash into the panels even after the mare's death.
According to AWHC’s onsite observer, the BLM claimed the mare died instantly, but photos show she was still moving after the crash. Instead of immediate euthanasia, BLM wranglers covered her with a sheet, waited until she stopped moving, then dragged her away with chains.
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“The BLM’s callous handling of this federally-protected wild horse, who just moments before was living free with her family, exemplifies the agency’s disregard for the welfare of America’s iconic mustangs,” said Grace Kuhn, Communications Director of the AWHC. “This young mare’s death could have been avoided had BLM followed its own animal welfare guidelines and heeded warnings from observers on the ground.”
The roundup continues today in sweltering desert temperatures. AWHC’s observer reports that the horses are more stressed and agitated than in previous operations.
AWHC charged that the BLM is routinely violating its own animal welfare guidelines while requesting more funding from Congress for roundups, promising humane handling.
“Unbeknownst to most Americans, we the taxpayers are funding this brutality. It’s wrong, it’s unnecessary and it has to stop,” Kuhn continued. “Today we’re calling on Congress to act definitively to rein in the BLM’s wild horse roundup program. There’s a way to manage wild horses, and terrorizing them with helicopters and removing them en masse from public lands is not it.”
Congress recently allocated an additional $21 million for the BLM’s roundup program, with the expectation of humane treatment. AWHC stated that the incident was anything but humane, and more deaths can be expected unless the BLM is held accountable.
The Swasey roundup aims to capture 800 wild horses, permanently removing them to reach a target of just 60.
Wild horses removed from Swasey HMA will be transported to BLM Holding Corrals in Delta and Axtell, Utah, becoming part of a system where the BLM warehouses over 47,000 wild horses and burros.
The Swasey HMA encompasses approximately 120,113 acres of Federal and State lands, located fifty miles west of Delta, Utah. The BLM allows just 60-100 wild horses to roam within the HMA, while authorizing over 12,000 privately-owned sheep and cows to graze. Across Utah, the BLM permits livestock grazing on 22 million acres of public land, of which less than 10 percent (2.1 million acres) is shared with wild horses.
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The American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign) 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 in viable, free-roaming herds for generations to come, as part of our national heritage.