The incident started today with 133 horses captured, none shipped, none released and one dead.

PREVIOUS: BLM Announces Red Desert Roundup, Finally.

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The incident started on October 2.  Results through October 16:

• FY: 2027
• Scope: Sulphur HMA
• Target: Horses
• AML: 250
• Pre-gather population: 560
• Type: Planned
• Contractor: Cattoor
• Contract amount: $287,650
• Unit cost: $959
• Method: Helicopter
• Category: Cruel and costly (according to advocates)
• Better way: Snuff out new life with PZP (according to advocates)
• Capture goal: 300
• Removal goal: 300
• Captured: 255, up from 228 on Day 13
• Shipped: 220, up from 193 on Day 13
• Released: None
• Deaths: 2, no change from Day 13
• Average daily take: 17.0
• Unaccounted-for animals: 33
• 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 gather stats say 221 shipped.

The death rate is 0.8%.

The capture total includes 72 stallions, 130 mares and 53 foals.

Youngsters represented 20.8% of the animals gathered, enough to support a herd growth rate of 15% per year.

Of the adults, 35.6% were male and 64.4% were female.  These numbers don’t look like they came from a population that’s 50% male / 50% female.

Body condition scores were not given.

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 HMA is subject to permitted grazing.  Resources liberated to date:

• Forage: 3,060 AUMs per year
• Water: 2,550 gallons per day

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

PREVIOUS: Sulphur Roundup, Day 13.

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The incident begins tomorrow according to the news release.

The capture and removal goals are 320 each.

The target is horses.

The pre-gather population is thought to be 424.

The contractor is Cattoor and the contract amount is $213,082.

Operations will be open to public observation on a limited basis.

Animals identified for removal will be taken to the Litchfield off-range corrals.

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

The Complex, consisting of three HMAs, is subject to permitted grazing.

Whenever you see statements like “more wild horses on the landscape than the range can sustain,” you should be skeptical.  In many cases the resources are there but your faithful public servants gave them to livestock.

PREVIOUS: BLM Closing Public Lands for North Complex Roundup.

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A new project has been opened in ePlanning and three documents have been uploaded.

Areas within five miles of active trapping locations and temporary holding facilities will be closed to all public entry according to the Decision Record.

The exceptions are contractor personnel and observers escorted by BLM staff.

A map in the Categorical Exclusion indicates the area to be swept for wild horses extends well beyond the HMAs but does not show the trap sites or holding pens.

The incident is on the schedule with a start date of October 16.

PREVIOUS: North Complex Roundup Goes to Cattoor.

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Baited traps don’t sterilize mares, destroy breeding populations and eliminate genetic mixing.

But long-term use of PZP, prescribed by the new management plan, does.

If the judge understood that, he would have dismissed the case brought by The Cloud Foundation, known for its unwavering support of the pesticide, whose attorney argued that removal of 37 horses would cause irreparable harm to the herd.

The October 13 hearing was originally covered by the Billings Gazette but the story was placed behind a paywall.

You can access an unlocked version at Montana Outdoor.

Contrary to a statement in the report, animals showing signs of genetic defects, like club feet, will be euthanized, not removed and put up for adoption.

PREVIOUS: Darkness at Pryor: Aging Herd with Fewer Foals.

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TRUE or FALSE: The Salt River horses live the way nature intended.

HINT: The advocates have sterilized the mares, destroyed the breeding population and eliminated genetic mixing.

The herd is shrinking, not growing.

The mares are suffering from injuries and infections.

The sex ratio is shifting in favor of females.

The average age of the herd is increasing along with the death rate.

A normal person, knowing these things, would say FALSE, not what nature intends.

A subversive, not playing for the home team, would also know these things but say TRUE.  That’s what you’re getting from the advocates.

PREVIOUS: Foal-Free Friday, Cruel and Costly Edition.

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The incident may already be in progress but better late than never.

The capture goal is 1,035 according to the news release.

The target is horses.

The pre-gather population is thought to be 2,278.

The contractor is Sampson and the contract amount is $393,488.

Operations will be open to public observation on a limited basis.

Some mares may be treated with fertility control and returned to the range along with an equal number of stallions.

Animals identified for removal will be taken to the off-range corrals at Rock Springs.

The Complex, consisting of five HMAs, is subject to permitted grazing.

The overall capture goal is 1,800 but this segment will focus on Green Mountain and Stewart Creek.

PREVIOUS: BLM Closing Public Lands for Red Desert Roundup.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

The advocates are embarrassed by nature and nature’s way, especially the transmission of life.

They want the populations subjected to never-ending fertility control, with the inevitable result of permanent infertility, loss of genetic diversity and herd collapse.

They are phonies, enemies of the horses, and don’t deserve a penny of your support.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

The incident started on October 2.  Results through October 14:

• FY: 2027
• Scope: Sulphur HMA
• Target: Horses
• AML: 250
• Pre-gather population: 560
• Type: Planned
• Contractor: Cattoor
• Contract amount: $287,650
• Unit cost: $959
• Method: Helicopter
• Category: Cruel and costly (according to advocates)
• Better way: Stop genetic mixing with PZP (according to advocates)
• Capture goal: 300
• Removal goal: 300
• Captured: 228, up from 196 on Day 11
• Shipped: 193, no change from Day 11
• Released: None
• Deaths: 2, no change from Day 11
• Average daily take: 17.5
• Unaccounted-for animals: 33
• 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 gather stats say 194 shipped.

The helicopter did not fly on Day 12 due to bad weather.

The death rate is 0.9%.

The capture total includes 65 stallions, 116 mares and 47 foals.

Youngsters represented 20.6% of the animals gathered, enough to support a herd growth rate of 15% per year.

Of the adults, 35.9% were male and 64.1% were female.  These numbers don’t look like they came from a population that’s 50% male / 50% female.

Body condition scores were not given.

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 HMA is subject to permitted grazing.  Resources liberated to date:

• Forage: 2,736 AUMs per year
• Water: 2,280 gallons per day

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

PREVIOUS: Sulphur Roundup, Day 11.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

The obligated amount is $213,082 according to a report at USA Spending.

The capture goal of 323 gives a unit cost of $660 per animal taken.

Western Horse Watchers has not been able to find a gather page or news release but the incident is on the schedule with a start date of October 16.

RELATED: BLM Issues North Complex Final Planning Documents.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

A new project has been created in ePlanning and two documents have been uploaded.

Comments on the management evaluation are due by November 1.

The Complex consists of three HMAs and four HAs.

The goal of the new plan is to achieve and maintain a thriving ecological balance.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

Areas within two miles of trap locations will be off limits while gather operations are conducted according to the Decision Record, which was copied to the project folder with a Categorical Exclusion.

The exceptions are contractor personnel and observers escorted by BLM staff.

A map showing the closure areas was attached to the document but it’s not there.

PREVIOUS: Red Desert Contract Goes to Sampson.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

If you’re feeding them they’re not wild.

What you have at the Salt River is a curated horse exhibit, the result of massive human involvement.

A few months ago the population was 270.

The numbers are going down not because of drought but because of the advocates and their ruinous darting program.

What makes you so sure that your donation will used for hay and not pesticides?

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

Two more opportunities appeared today:

• BLM Eastern States
• BLM Arizona

Salaries range from $40,736 to $80,243 per year.

Both jobs are open to the public.

PREVIOUS: BLM Seeks Wild Horse and Burro Coordinators.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

The case involves a new, made-to-order interpretation of the grazing rules designed to limit grazing permits to production-oriented livestock, precluding the use of grazing allotments for conservation purposes, such as wild horse preserves.

If conservation herds were illegal, as the ranchers and their allies claim, the folks at Wild Horse Refuge would have been told to keep their animals on their own property, Mustang Monument never would have been proposed and American Prairie’s bison restoration project would have been dead on arrival.

Last month a federal judge ruled that the Taylor Grazing Act does not require a grazing operation to focus exclusively on production and ignore conservation or restoration.

PREVIOUS: Court Puts American Prairie’s Permit Revocation on Hold.

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The news release says the Monticello Field Office issued a proposed decision authorizing the agency to drill a new well on the Spring Creek West Allotment but the DNA, copied to the project folder in ePlanning, indicates that installation and maintenance would be the responsibility of the permittee.

The allotment offers 150 active AUMs on 1,360 public acres, equivalent to 9.2 wild horses per thousand public acres.

Your faithful public servants claim that public lands in the western U.S. can only support one wild horse per thousand acres.

The allotment master report puts Spring Creek West in the Improve category with no AUMs in the suspended column to help the land recover.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

State legislators drafted a resolution asking Congress to remove restrictions on the management and disposition of wild horses and burros and to authorize additional methods for the management and disposition of said animals, and to amend federal funding restrictions to allow for the destruction of healthy, unadopted wild horses and burros by the BLM, according to a report by Wyoming Public Media.

A draft bill, sponsored by the same representative, would repeal the criminal penalty for killing these animals.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

The incident started on October 2.  Results through October 12:

• FY: 2027
• Scope: Sulphur HMA
• Target: Horses
• AML: 250
• Pre-gather population: 560
• Type: Planned
• Contractor: Cattoor
• Contract amount: $287,650
• Unit cost: $959
• Method: Helicopter
• Category: Cruel and costly (according to advocates)
• Better way: Sterilize the mares with PZP (according to advocates)
• Capture goal: 300
• Removal goal: 300
• Captured: 196, no change from Day 9
• Shipped: 193, no change from Day 9
• Released: None
• Deaths: 2, no change from Day 9
• Average daily take: 17.8
• Unaccounted-for animals: 1
• 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 gather stats say 194 shipped.

The helicopter did not fly on Days 10 and 11 due to bad weather.

The death rate is 1.0%.

The capture total includes 59 stallions, 98 mares and 39 foals.

Youngsters represented 19.9% of the animals gathered, enough to support a herd growth rate of 15% per year.

Of the adults, 37.6% were male and 62.4% were female.  These numbers don’t look like they came from a population that’s 50% male / 50% female.

Body condition scores were not given.

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 HMA is subject to permitted grazing.  Resources liberated to date:

• Forage: 2,352 AUMs per year
• Water: 1,960 gallons per day

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

PREVIOUS: Sulphur Roundup, Day 9.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

Data from gather pages yielded 23 accidental deaths between July 1 and September 30, such as a mare crashing into a pipe panel and breaking her neck.

A pivot table for contractor versus horses captured and acute deaths gave these results:

At first you might think that Warner had the highest death rate but from a statistical viewpoint, using some basic calculations, you can’t tell them apart.  One contractor’s methods are no better or worse than the others.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.