Video Released Showing Gov’t Helicopters Stampeding Tiny Foals & Heavily Pregnant Mares in Frigid Winter Conditions

Ely, Nevada (February 21, 2018) ... Today, the American Wild Horse Campaign released video showing Bureau of Land Management (BLM) helicopters stampeding newly born foals and their mothers in a wild horse roundup currently underway in the Triple B Complex in Nevada. One of the foals was so tiny that he/she was carried into the trap by a BLM wrangler.

In a letter to the BLM today, AWHC Executive Director Suzanne Roy asked the District Managers of the BLM Elko and Ely Offices, which are overseeing the roundup, to immediately halt the capture operation. In the letter, Roy states:

“There can be no excuse for continuing this helicopter roundup in which heavily pregnant mares – many about to give birth – are being driven for miles in frigid temperatures – and now tiny foals are also being ensnared in the capture operation.  The decision to continue the roundup is especially unjustified in light of the fact that, as of yesterday, the BLM has already captured a total of 1,308 horses."

AWHC is also suing the BLM over its ten-year plan to remove nearly 10,000 wild horses from this 1.2 million acre public lands area in Eastern Nevada and castrate wild free-roaming stallions on the range, a move that would take the “wild” out of these federally-protected wild horses by destroying their natural behaviors.

AWHC has two representatives on the ground documenting the Triple B roundup, and their reports, videos and photographs can be seen at this link.

The American Wild Horse Campaign (AWHC) is a national wild horse advocacy organization whose grassroots mission is endorsed by a coalition of more than 50 horse advocacy, public interest, and conservation organizations. AWHC is dedicated to preserving the American wild horse in viable, free-roaming herds for generations to come, as part of our national heritage.