Return to Freedom Demands Accountability After Kicking of Downed Wild Horse Caught on Video

LOMPOC, Calif., July 31, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Return to Freedom Wild Horse Conservation today demanded that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) take swift action after an advocate captured video of a wrangler kicking an exhausted and downed wild horse during a helicopter roundup in Nevada.

The BLM must take immediate action:

• It should suspend the roundup taking place on the Blue Wing Complex Herd Management Areas, during which 39 wild horses or burros have been killed;
• Terminate contractor CD Warner Livestock LLC and prohibit this contractor from further involvement with wild equines;
• Continue the ongoing investigation into the incident, and impose significant consequences for the contractor; and
• Implement meaningful changes to improve how wild horses and burros are handled.

"In no world is it OK to run horses to the point where they are staggering around or kick them in the face when they're down," said Neda DeMayo, president of Return to Freedom (RTF), a national nonprofit wild horse and burro advocacy organization.

"These are our public lands and the BLM's wild horse program is paid for by our tax dollars. The agency must adopt a culture that prioritizes the spirit of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, which was passed to protect wild horses. We will not stand by and watch this level of cruelty, and we are prepared to take further action."

The blatant abuse shown by the wrangler in the video is a major violation of the BLM's Comprehensive Animal Welfare Program (CAWP). The humane handling protocol specifically prohibits "hitting, kicking, striking, or beating any (wild horse or burro) in an abusive manner." Congress has repeatedly stated — including as recently as last week — that the BLM and its contractors must abide by the CAWP.

The BLM is allowed to capture and remove wild horses and burros from the range under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, as amended. However, the explicit purpose of the act is to protect America's remaining wild horses "from capture, branding, harassment, or death." Violations of the law carry a penalty of up to $2,000 and up to a year in prison.

In the advocate's video, a wild horse, visibly exhausted after being chased by a helicopter in smoky conditions, is roped by a pair of the contractor's wranglers on horseback. The wild horse slumps to the ground.

The video then shows one wrangler dismounting, pulling the horse by the tail and kicking the wild horse in its hindquarters. Back on his own horse, he pulls at the lasso around the downed horse's neck, in an apparent attempt to pull it to its feet. The lasso, positioned at the horse's throatlatch, causes the horse distress.

When the horse cannot be pulled to its feet, the wrangler dismounts again and kicks the wild horse in the head before swatting at its face with his cowboy hat until the horse rises unsteadily to its feet.

The Blue Wing Complex totals about 2.3 million acres of unfenced public land. It is located about 65 miles northeast of Reno in Pershing County, Nevada. The complex is made up of five federally-designated Herd Management Areas and five Herd Areas on which the BLM no longer manages wild horses.

Another 39 wild horses killed

Beginning on July 8, the BLM set out to capture and remove 1,373 wild horse and 365 burros from their home ranges in the complex. As of July 29, 1,233 wild horses and 360 burros had been captured, according to the BLM's gather report. Thirty animals have been euthanized for reasons that include developmental deformities, arthritis, club foot and blindness in one eye.

Another nine have died from what the BLM defines as a "sudden" or "acute" cause. These have included deaths from broken necks, being kicked in the head by another horse, and, on three separate occasions, animals reportedly being found dead in trailers after being shipped to holding corrals.

Of the wild horses and burros captured, 40 are to be treated with fertility control and returned to the range in order to slow population growth, according to the BLM. Fertility control use is not mentioned on the webpage for the gather or in a press release that preceded the roundup.

The BLM last conducted a roundup on the Blue Wing Complex in 2022, capturing and removing 804 burros and 218 wild horses from the range. Fourteen animals were killed. The agency chose not to treat any mares or jennies with fertility control.

Systemic change needed

Return to Freedom has long advocated for the robust use of fertility control as a way to slow herd growth and phase out the BLM's failed, decades-long attempt at management by capture-and-removal. Fertility control now enjoys support from the public, other rangeland stakeholders and Congress.

Population modeling has shown that the BLM must immediately implement fertility control to stabilize herd growth so that removals, which decimate family bands and herds, and off-range holding can be phased out.

Yet, for decades, the BLM has chosen not to use this proven, safe and humane tool in impactful amounts. It has tried and failed to reach an agency-set "Appropriate Management Level" of 26,785 wild horses and burros across 10 states almost solely by removing wild horses and burros from the range in roundups like those on the Blue Wing Complex.

As of March 1, the agency estimated the on-range population nationwide to be 73,520. Nearly as many captured wild horses and burros — more than 63,000 — now live in off-range holding facilities at a cost to taxpayers of more than $108 million annually.

Return to Freedom Wild Horse Conservation (RTF) is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to wild horse preservation through sanctuary, education, conservation, and advocacy since 1998. It also operates the American Wild Horse Sanctuary at three California locations, caring for more than 450 wild horses and burros. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for updates about wild horses and burros on the range and at our sanctuary.

SOURCE Return to Freedom Wild Horse Conservation