The incident started on October 16.  Results through October 26:

• FY: 2027
• Scope: Green Mountain and Stewart Creek HMAs (two of five in Complex)
• Target: Horses
• AML: 475 (720 for Complex)
• Pre-gather population: Unknown (2,278 for Complex)
• Type: Planned
• Contractor: Sampson
• Contract amount: $393,488
• Unit cost: $380
• Method: Helicopter
• Category: Cruel and costly (according to advocates)
• Better way: Snuff out life with PZP, pray for older horses to die (per advocates)
• Capture goal: 1,035
• Removal goal: Unknown
• Captured: 1,013, up from 776 on Day 9
• Shipped: 784, up from 588 on Day 9
• Released: None
• Deaths: 12, up from 11 on Day 9
• Average daily take: 92.1
• Unaccounted-for animals: 217
• Snippet from statute: It is the policy of Congress that wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death
• Snippet from manual: To protect wild horses and burros from unauthorized capture, branding, harassment or death

The figures above are based on the daily reports.

The sidebar at the gather page says 1,014 horses captured, 98% of the goal.

One horse was dispatched on Day 10 for a physical defect.

The death rate is 1.2%.

To date, all deaths are intentional.

The capture total includes 360 stallions, 429 mares and 224 foals.

Youngsters represented 22.1% of the animals gathered, a sign of genetic vigor.

Of the adults, 45.6% were male and 54.4% were female, no indication of an abnormal sex ratio.

Body condition scores were not given.

The location of the trap site was not disclosed.

An unspecified number of mares will be treated with fertility control and returned to the range, prolonging the genetic bottleneck created by the roundup.

The Complex is subject to permitted grazing.  Resources liberated to date:

• Forage: 12,156 AUMs per year
• Water: 10,130 gallons per day

Public lands within two miles of active trapping locations and temporary holding pens are closed to the public, with the exception of observers escorted by BLM staff.

PREVIOUS: Red Desert Roundup, Day 9.

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The incident may have started on October 20, when the traps were placed in service, but no horses were caught until October 25.

The capture total as of today is three, with none shipped, none released and no deaths.

PREVIOUS: BLM Announces Pryor Mountain Roundup, Again.

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The DR, FONSI and EA were posted to the project folder on October 21.

The Decision Record authorizes Alternative B, the Proposed Action, discussed in section 2.2 of the Environmental Assessment.

• Adoption of new HMAP
• Removal of excess animals to low AML
• Application of fertility control pesticides
• Maintenance of 50/50 sex ratio
• Introduction of horses from other areas

Table 2-1 compares management actions for the three alternatives considered in the analysis.

The HMA is subject to permitted grazing.

Table 3-2 gives livestock types, AUMs and seasons of use.

A roundup is on the schedule with a start date of December 1.

PREVIOUS: Muddy Creek EA Out for Review.

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In the Green Mountain HMA with Lost Soldier Oil & Gas.

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The DNA for the roundup said all of the horses would be removed but some would be held for two growing seasons and returned to the HMA after the land recovered.

With most of them still on the range per court order, leaving the HMA at 5X AML, there is probably little if any interest in repatriating those in off-range holding.

PREVIOUS: Riddle Mountain Population Threshold Sustainable?

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The incident started on October 16.  Results through October 24:

• FY: 2027
• Scope: Green Mountain and Stewart Creek HMAs (two of five in Complex)
• Target: Horses
• AML: 475 (720 for Complex)
• Pre-gather population: Unknown (2,278 for Complex)
• Type: Planned
• Contractor: Sampson
• Contract amount: $393,488
• Unit cost: $380
• Method: Helicopter
• Category: Cruel and costly (according to advocates)
• Better way: Snuff out life with PZP, pray for older horses to die (per advocates)
• Capture goal: 1,035
• Removal goal: Unknown
• Captured: 776, up from 666 on Day 7
• Shipped: 588, up from 432 on Day 7
• Released: None
• Deaths: 11, up from 7 on Day 7
• Average daily take: 86.2
• Unaccounted-for animals: 177
• Snippet from statute: It is the policy of Congress that wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death
• Snippet from manual: To protect wild horses and burros from unauthorized capture, branding, harassment or death

The figures above are based on the daily reports.

The sidebar at the gather page says 777 horses captured.

Four horses were dispatched on Day 8 for physical defects.  To date, all deaths are intentional.

The death rate is 1.4%.

The capture total includes 278 stallions, 328 mares and 170 foals.

Youngsters represented 21.9% of the animals gathered, a sign of genetic vigor.

Of the adults, 45.9% were male and 54.1% were female, no indication of an abnormal sex ratio.

Body condition scores were not given.

The location of the trap site was not disclosed.

An unspecified number of mares will be treated with fertility control and returned to the range, prolonging the genetic bottleneck created by the roundup.

The Complex is subject to permitted grazing.  Resources liberated to date:

• Forage: 9,312 AUMs per year
• Water: 7,760 gallons per day

Public lands within two miles of active trapping locations and temporary holding pens are closed to the public, with the exception of observers escorted by BLM staff.

PREVIOUS: Red Desert Roundup, Day 7.

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The incident concluded on October 22 with 323 horses captured, 322 shipped, none released and one dead.

There were no unaccounted-for animals.

Operations continued for six days and the average daily take was 53.8.

The death rate was 0.3%.

The capture total included 100 stallions, 145 mares, and 78 foals.

Foals represented 24.1% of the haul, a sign of genetic vigor.

There was some evidence of an abnormal sex ratio but not enough to provide a basis for action.

There were no plans to treat any of the mares with fertility control and return them to the range, which means the 100 horses left behind should be able to repopulate the area and reverse the genetic bottleneck created by the roundup.

The incident liberated 3,876 AUMs per year for other mandated uses of public lands.

RELATED: BLM Announces North Complex Roundup.

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If you’ve been thinking something’s not quite right you’d be correct.

This is the first year since 2017 there hasn’t been a Devil’s Garden roundup.

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The management plan allows 56 wild horses on 28,331 public acres, or two wild horses per thousand public acres.

In an October 7 hearing about the emergency roundup, the plaintiffs testified that, based on the current literature, a minimum population of 278 is necessary for the herd to be genetically viable.

The court agreed, specifying that limit in its October 15 ruling.

A roundup this week took 140 off the range, leaving 278.

The court did not stipulate that the herd be protected from chemical extermination, sometimes referred to as sustained fertility control, so the order does not guarantee its future.

A population of 278 requires 3,336 AUMs per year.

The management plan offers 672.

The judge did not order the BLM to update the AML and forage allocations to sustain a herd of 278.

If that number is a minimum, the upper end of the AML would be around 500, allowing for a doubling of herd size every four to five years (a sign of genetic vigor).

Where are those resources coming from?

The Burnt Flat Allotment, which contains the HMA, offers 3,716 AUMs per year, which would support a herd of 278 but not 500.

The stocking rate would be 9.8 wild horses per thousand public acres, despite claims by your faithful public servants that public lands in the western U.S. can only support one wild horse per thousand acres.

Shifting AUMs from livestock to horses, a frequent request in EAs for roundups, is not easy:

“Changes to livestock grazing cannot be made through a wild horse gather decision and are only possible if BLM first revises the land-use plans to re-allocate livestock forage to wild horses and to eliminate or reduce livestock grazing.”

The allotment would have to be zeroed out and the HMA enlarged, triggering a lengthy NEPA review and strong opposition from ranching interests.

RELATED: Management Priorities at Riddle Mountain.

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Roundups do not cause irreparable harm provided the remaining population does not fall below the threshold established by SMEs (278 in the Riddle Mountain order, 150-200 in the BLM handbook), and the remaining population is not subjected to PGS, which includes fertility control (chemical sterilization), sex ratio skewing and surgical sterilization.

Specifying a threshold without the PGS qualifier leaves the herds vulnerable to nonmotorized extermination, which is happening at the Salt River, Virginia Range and elsewhere under the guise of humane manegement.

Roundups create genetic bottlenecks, some more severe than others, but if the advocates are confined to their base properties, the herds will recover.

The best way to achieve “Stay Wild!” is for them to stay home.

PREVIOUS: Foal-Free Friday, Enemies from Within Edition.

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The incident started on October 16.  Results through October 22:

• FY: 2027
• Scope: Green Mountain and Stewart Creek HMAs (two of five in Complex)
• Target: Horses
• AML: 475 (720 for Complex)
• Pre-gather population: Unknown (2,278 for Complex)
• Type: Planned
• Contractor: Sampson
• Contract amount: $393,488
• Unit cost: $380
• Method: Helicopter
• Category: Cruel and costly (according to advocates)
• Better way: Stop new life with PZP, pray for older horses to die (per advocates)
• Capture goal: 1,035
• Removal goal: Unknown
• Captured: 666, up from 467 on Day 5
• Shipped: 432, up from 250 on Day 5
• Released: None
• Deaths: 7, no change from Day 5
• Average daily take: 95.1
• Unaccounted-for animals: 227
• Snippet from statute: It is the policy of Congress that wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death
• Snippet from manual: To protect wild horses and burros from unauthorized capture, branding, harassment or death

The figures above are based on the daily reports.

The death rate is 1.1%.

The capture total includes 236 stallions, 284 mares and 146 foals.

Youngsters represented 21.9% of the animals gathered, a sign of genetic vigor.

Of the adults, 45.4% were male and 54.6% were female, no indication of an abnormal sex ratio.

Body condition scores were not given.

The location of the trap site was not disclosed.

An unspecified number of mares will be treated with fertility control and returned to the range, prolonging the genetic bottleneck created by the roundup.

The Complex is subject to permitted grazing.  Resources liberated to date:

• Forage: 7,992 AUMs per year
• Water: 6,660 gallons per day

Public lands within two miles of active trapping locations and temporary holding pens are closed to the public, with the exception of observers escorted by BLM staff.

PREVIOUS: Red Desert Roundup, Day 5.

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The incident started on October 17.  Results through October 21:

• FY: 2027
• Scope: Dogskin Mountains, Flanigan, Granite Peak HMAs
• Target: Horses
• AML: 157
• Pre-gather population: 424
• Type: Planned
• Contractor: Cattoor
• Contract amount: $213,082
• Unit cost: $666
• Method: Helicopter
• Category: Cruel and costly (according to advocates)
• Better way: Sterilize mares with PZP, pray for older horses to die (per advocates)
• Capture goal: 320
• Removal goal: 320
• Captured: 275, up from 87 on Day 3
• Shipped: 136, up from 47 on Day 3
• Released: None
• Deaths: 1, no change from Day 3
• Average daily take: 55.0
• Unaccounted-for animals: 138
• Snippet from statute: It is the policy of Congress that wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death
• Snippet from manual: To protect wild horses and burros from unauthorized capture, branding, harassment or death

The figures above are based on the daily reports.

The death rate is 0.4%.

The capture total includes 84 stallions, 122 mares and 69 foals.

Youngsters represented 25.1% of the animals gathered, a sign of genetic vigor.

Of the adults, 40.8% were male and 59.2% were female, no indication of an abnormal sex ratio but close.

Body condition scores on Days 4 and 5 ranged from 3 to 5.

The location of the trap site was not disclosed.

There are no plans to treat any of the mares with fertility control and return them to the range, which would prolong the genetic bottleneck created by the roundup.

The Complex is subject to permitted grazing.  Resources liberated to date:

• Forage: 3,300 AUMs per year
• Water: 2,750 gallons per day

Public lands within five miles of active trapping locations and temporary holding pens are closed to the public, with the exception of observers escorted by BLM staff.

PREVIOUS: North Complex Roundup, Day 3.

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The incident concluded on October 21 with 140 horses captured, 139 shipped, none released and one dead.

There were no unaccounted-for animals.

The death rate was 0.7%.

The capture total included 55 stallions, 70 mares, and 15 foals.

The operation was delayed and scaled back due to legal action.

A court order prevented the BLM from reducing the population below 278.

The pre-gather population was thought to be 418.

RELATED: BLM Announces Riddle Mountain Partial Emergency Roundup.

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