More in depth reporting from Animals’ Angels as it has intensified its investigations into New Mexico kill buyer Dennis Chavez reveals that conditions at Chavez’s Los Lunas feedlot have grown increasingly concealed.
From their recently released report:
During a recent 2026 investigation, Animals’ Angels investigators encountered armed guards surrounding the property. From a nearby ridgeline, they documented a massive bone yard — containing what appeared to be the remains of hundreds of horses. The scale of this discovery raises questions about how many animals are dying within this system, and under what conditions.
But restricted access did not stop our investigation. It shifted it.
Unable to fully document activity on the ground, Animals’ Angels expanded our focus — tracing records, transport documents, and auction connections to better understand how horses are moving through Chavez’s operation.
We’ve now shaped a clearer picture of Chavez’s high-volume slaughter pipeline.
In 2025 alone, 4,880 wild horses were documented entering Chavez’s network — followed by an additional 1,160 wild horses in just January and February of 2026.
A significant portion of these horses originate from tribal lands in the Southwest. Records obtained by Animals’ Angels confirm that Chavez has acquired horses through agreements with the Navajo Nation and the Ute Mountain Tribe, moving large groups of horses off reservation lands and into his pipeline.