White Mountain Roundup Begins

The incident started today as scheduled, with 144 horses captured, none shipped, none released and no deaths.

Court Upholds Rock Springs RMP Amendments

A story by E&E News indicates that cases brought by the following groups were dismissed yesterday by the U.S. District Court of Wyoming.

The full article is available to subscribers only.

But a link to the court’s order was provided, which you can read in its entirety.

Status of Sand Wash Roundup?

It’s on the July 31 schedule with a start date of today but a link to the daily reports still hasn’t been added to the Colorado gather page.

Sands Basin Emergency Roundup in the Works?

A new project was created in ePlanning today to assess NEPA adequacy ahead of an unplanned roundup because the Jump Fire burned 90% of the HMA.

As of this evening, no documents have been posted for public review.

Western Horse Watchers was unable to find the fire in InciWeb.

Four Mile Emergency Roundup?

A new project was opened in ePlanning today to assess NEPA adequacy ahead of an unplanned roundup because the Paddock Fire burned 100% of the HMA.

As of this evening, no documents are available for public review.

Superintendent Leaves TRNP

An August 14 report by AP News indicates she left her job for an opportunity in New Mexico but does not say if she’s still with NPS and if her departure was related to the failed attempt to remove wild horses from the park.

Sulphur Roundup in Progress

The incident started today as scheduled, with 89 horses captured, none shipped, none released and one dead.

A mare tried jumping out of the trap and broke her neck.

RELATED: Sulphur Roundup Announced.

Lake Havasu Roundup, Day 6

The incident started on August 7. Results through August 12:

Scope: West of Havasu HMA, north of Lake Havasu City
Target: Burros
AML: None
Pre-gather population: Unknown
Type: Nuisance
Method: Bait
Goals: Gather 100, remove 100
Captured: 90, up from 71 on Day 3
Shipped: 48, up from 21 on Day 3
Released: None
Deaths: 1, no change from Day 3
Average daily take: 15.0
Unaccounted-for animals: 41

The figures above are based on the daily reports.

The death rate is 1.1%.

The capture total includes 29 jacks, 51 jennies and 10 foals.

Youngsters represented 11.1% of the animals gathered.

Of the adults, 36.3% were male and 63.8% were female.

The location of the trap site is not known.

The July 31 schedule classifies the roundup as an emergency but the gather page says nuisance.

The BLM asserted that an EA from 2008 fully covers the removal.

RELATED: Lake Havasu Roundup, Day 3.

Black Rock Desert Closing for Burning Man

The first part of the closure went into effect on July 25 and runs through September 28, according to the BLM news release.

Phase 2, affecting a wider area, begins on August 19 and runs through September 7.

Refer to the closure map for boundaries.

Black Rock City, “a temporary metropolis dedicated to community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance,” opens on August 25.

The incident was marred last year by rain that turned the playa into a quagmire.

Marietta Roundup Announced

The incident will begin on or about August 20 according to today’s news release.

The capture goals are 31 wild horses and 290 wild burros.

The removal goals are identical, meaning there are no plans to return any of the animals to the HMA.

The current population is thought to be 378 burros and 31 horses.

A helicopter will push the animals into the trap and operations will be open to public observation.

The HMA covers 66,045 total acres southeast of Hawthorne, NV, including 64,466 public acres, according to the 2024 population dataset.

The 104 burros allowed by plan require 624 AUMs per year.

The AML for horses is zero.

Burros identified for removal will be taken to the Axtell off-range corrals.

Horses identified for removal will be shipped to the off-range corrals in Palomino Valley.

Marietta is exempt from permitted grazing although last year the BLM looked at reactivating the Bellville allotment, among others, which overlaps the southern half of the HMA, but then cancelled the project earlier this year.

Mustang Monday

Horses have the day off. In the Black Mountain HMA with WaybrightVentures.

Boulders, Not Advocates, Cause of Sunny Hills Roundup?

The head darter-in-charge with the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses told This Is Reno in the following report that they baited the horses out of the construction area with alfalfa but couldn’t shut the gate behind them because of boulders.

You couldn’t set up some temporary pipe panels to keep them from going back in?

Lash them to existing posts with hay string if necessary?

That should have been plan C.

For those of you in Rio Linda, her remark at 1:36 about putting a lot of money and time and effort into the management of the horses means they’ve spent hundreds of thousands of dollars over the past five years trying to ruin the mares with PZP, a restricted-use pesticide that tricks the immune system into attacking their ovaries.

Sulphur Roundup Announced

The incident will begin on August 13 according to the BLM news release.

The July 31 schedule puts the capture and removal goals at 420 and 360, respectively.

The current population is thought to be 606.

Free-roaming horses will be pushed into the trap by a helicopter and operations will be open to public observation.

The HMA covers 265,711 total acres in western Utah, including 230,157 public acres, according to the 2024 population dataset.

The 250 horses allowed by plan, a number the bureaucrats and ranchers are willing to tolerate—not the number of horses the land can support, receive 3,000 AUMs per year.

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

The schedule indicates that 30 mares will be treated with GonaCon Equine and be returned to the range with 30 stallions, but this is not mentioned in the news release.

Animals removed = Animals captured – Animals returned = 420 – 60 = 360

As of today, a link to the daily reports has not been added to the Utah gather page.

The roundup supports three tenets of rangeland management.

UPDATE: Gather stats and daily reports will be posted to this page.

Tassi-Gold Butte Draft EA Out for Public Review

The former HMA, which was zeroed out in 1998 to protect the desert tortoise, covers 101,816 acres of Mojave Desert in northwestern Arizona.

The environmental assessment analyzes the use of periodic removals to achieve and maintain zero wild burros in and around the HA, according to yesterday’s news release.

The current population is thought to be 219.

The Proposed Action, discussed in Section 2.2, would authorize helicopter and bait trapping over an unspecified period.

Comments will be accepted through September 9.

The EA was copied to the project folder along with the news release.

The HA is not subject to permitted grazing but adjacent lands are.

Refer to the maps in Appendix A.

UPDATE: The NPS news release was published on August 12.

Lake Havasu Roundup, Day 3

The incident started on August 7. Results through August 9:

Scope: West of Havasu HMA, north of Lake Havasu City
Target: Burros
AML: None
Pre-gather population: Unknown
Type: Nuisance
Method: Bait
Goals: Gather 100, remove 100
Captured: 71, up from 42 on Day 1
Shipped: 21, up from zero on Day 1
Released: None
Deaths: 1, no change from Day 1
Average daily take: 23.7
Unaccounted-for animals: 49

The figures above are based on the daily reports.

The capture total includes 24 jacks, 39 jennies and 8 foals.

Youngsters represented 11.3% of the animals gathered.

Of the adults, 38.1% were male and 61.9% were female.

The location of the trap site is not known.

The July 31 schedule classifies the roundup as an emergency but the gather page says nuisance.

The BLM asserted that an EA from 2008 fully covers the removal.

RELATED: Lake Havasu Roundup Begins.

Advocates Bungle Sunny Hills Rescue, 24 Horses Lose Freedom

The number of horses removed from the construction site has climbed to 24 according to an NDA news release dated August 9.

The news release confirms they were taken to NNCC where they will be microchipped and identified to ensure they are not returned to the range.

An inventory of the animals was not provided.

An advocate with the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses, organizer of the mass sterilization program, told KRNV News in the following report that the horses could be sent to auction, where they could be sold for slaughter.

RELATED: Sunny Hills 20 Taken to NNCC?

Sunny Hills 20 Taken to NNCC?

Willis Lamm of LRTC indicates at 0:49 in this report by KOLO News that the horses were taken to the prison (in Carson City), which is probably the Northern Nevada Correctional Center.

The BLM occasionally offers saddle-started horses at the facility, trained by inmates.

Advocates Knew “Sunny Hills 20” Were in Construction Zone

They want you to think they were caught off guard when NDA took 20 wild horses from the housing development to corrals in Carson City. Nobody saw this coming.

The Nevada Department of Agriculture, headed by a public-lands rancher, gave the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses, organizer of the mass sterilization program, and its affiliate, Wild Horse Connection, several weeks to relocate the horses, presumably to another part of the Virginia Range, but they failed, according to a report by The Nevada Independent.

The advocates say the developer reneged on its word to allow them to move the animals.

NDA staff discovered yesterday that fencing and a lock had been cut at the construction site, letting more wild horses into the area.

Foal-Free Friday, Right Versus Wrong Edition

Western Horse Watchers reminds you that thinning the herds is a necessary step for ranching superiority in the lawful homes of wild horses, but there is a right way and a wrong way to do it.

Actually, there are many wrong ways but only one right way according to the advocates.

UNACCEPTABLE