During July, the US Bureau of Land Management has undertaken another series of Mustang round-ups in Nevada. The BLM continues to maintain that the horses must be removed from the area because of overpopulation. Activists counter that conditions for the horses are aggravated because of BLM policies.

Activists filed for temporary restraining orders against the musters based on reports of some horses dying from injuries sustained during the round-ups and others from dehydration.

Last week, the BLM published a report on their website which included the following information:

The BLM gathered a total of 1,224 wild horses because of degradation of rangeland resources on public and adjacent private lands resulting from an over-population of wild horses. This over-population also resulted in the need for emergency rescue operations to save water starved wild horses, including the hauling of 46,000 gallons water for wild horses within the Owyhee HMA from July 12 to July 18.

Of the gathered horses, the BLM contractor transported 1,064 animals, including 346 studs shipped to the Gunnison Prison Wild Horse Training Facility at the Central Utah Correctional Facility, and 718 mares, foals, and studs to the Palomino Valley Center (PVC) near Sparks, Nev., without incident. The animals are receiving good quality grass hay, water and veterinarian care as needed.

Plans for the animals includes gelding the stallions, deworming, vaccinations, and adoption. Sixty-four mares were given fertility control drugs and a total of 126 mares and studs were re-released into their Herd Management Areas. 

A total of 34 animals either died or were humanely euthanized during gather operations:  13 animals died due to insufficient water resources on the range, succumbing to water starvation/dehydration-related complications; 12 animals had pre-existing injuries or conditions such as lameness, blindness, pneumonia, or birth defect/physical injury-related deformities and were humanely euthanized.  Four wild horses died or were humanly euthanized as a result of gather-related injuries, and five animals died from assorted causes after transportation to the short-term holding facility.

Two additional wild horses (a mare and foal) that were not being gathered were also found on the range during reconnaissance activities and were humanely euthanized because of life-threatening injuries.  The contractor found the two animals while rescuing a group of approximately 28 wild horses stranded on a steep cliff as he guided the horses down the steep mountain.

The BLM did not report these two deaths as part of its daily mortality log, because that log documents mortalities for wild horses that are gathered. BLM Nevada is modifying its reporting methods to better document all wild horse deaths that occur or are found during gather operations. 

The BLM stopped regular gather operations on July 11, 2010, after three gathered horses were found dead and several others showed signs of physical distress the morning after the gather began. BLM Director Bob Abbey called for a review before any gather operations could be resumed and, if resumed, under what conditions. Necropsies by the on-site veterinarian revealed that the wild horses had been suffering from water starvation/dehydration prior to the gather and had died as a result of water starvation/dehydration or water intoxication.

 

While the gather operations were formally suspended, the BLM focused its efforts on care for the animals in the holding pens and animals on the range in need of water. The BLM delivered a total of 46,000 gallons of water to several sites near where horses were located on survey flights of the HMA. Even then, many of the animals appeared not to drink the water the BLM brought to the ponds and troughs. The BLM resumed emergency rescue gather operations in the Owyhee HMA on Friday July 16, and concluded operations on Tuesday, July 20. A total of 636 horses from the Owyhee HMA were successfully gathered, treated, and transported to holding facilities. In all, a total of 13 gather wild horses suffering from water starvation/dehydration-related complications died or were humanely euthanized. 

"The Tuscarora roundup accurately characterizes a government agency who treads heavily on the First Amendment Rights of American citizens while they destroy a beloved icon of the West," explains Ginger Kathrens, Executive Director of The Cloud Foundation and Emmy Award-winning producer.

"Originally the BLM locked down the area—to dissuade press and observers from covering the roundup for the first two weeks. We can only imagine the dirty work the BLM did not want us to see," says Laura Leigh, Herd Watch Director for The Cloud Foundation. "Even as an accredited member of the press and member of the public, I was not allowed to observe any horses during the deadly Owyhee roundup. It is absolutely unacceptable that our government can operate in such a cloak and dagger manner with a resource so important to the American people. This kind of secretive action cannot be allowed to happen again. It is a clear violation of the checks and balances afforded in our Constitution."

"It is horrific to see dead horses off rocky cliffs as a result of the Tuscarora roundup," says Anne Novak spokesperson for The Cloud Foundation. "When the press and public are barred from bearing witness, we can only wonder what the contractor and the BLM are trying to hide."

Despite the BLM's spin doctors at work on the Tuscarora death toll, Katie Fite Biodiversity Director for Western Watersheds Project states, "The desert doesn't lie," reminding us the truth will be revealed.