Horses Kicked in the Head, Imprisoned, and Killed: Roundup Cruelty Continues

Over the past month, the cruelty of the Bureau of Land Management’s wild horse roundups has been on full display as thousands of horses lost their freedom across the West in Utah, Wyoming, and Nevada, while dozens more lost their lives.

The North Lander Wild Horse Roundup in Wyoming ended last month with 2,577 horses rounded up, including 471 foals. Sixteen horses were killed.

In Utah’s Swasey Mountain roundup, 189 wild horses were captured, including 33 foals. All of these horses were chased down by helicopters and subjected to extreme stress, with many foals separated from their mothers during the chaos.

One mare was euthanized for the non-life-threatening condition of having only one eye, demonstrating the complete lack of compassion or respect on the part of the BLM for the lives of these horses.

Nevada’s recently concluded Blue Wing Complex roundup involved the most egregious abuse of wild horses this year, with mustangs forced to run for their lives in triple-digit temperatures on days with dangerous air quality due to wildfire smoke.

Despite regulations that prohibit roundups during peak foaling season, Nevada’s roundup saw baby horses far younger than the permissible age caught up in the violent gathers. These conditions created a recipe for disaster, leading to the Blue Wing roundup having the highest death rate yet, with over 40 horses killed.

Nevada’s wild horse roundup also saw a particularly shocking act of violence when a BLM-contracted wrangler was caught on video kicking a horse, who had collapsed from exhaustion, in the head. The video has sparked outrage and led the wild horse advocacy nonprofit American Wild Horse Conservation to file a notice of abuse and call for an immediate investigation by the Bureau of Land Management.

Unfortunately, the horrors of these roundups are far from over, and thousands more horses are slated to suffer the same violence over the next few months in scheduled gathers across the West. We need to make sure this issue gets the attention it deserves, and you can help by sharing our petition with your networks.

Together, we will save America’s wild horses from suffering!