Located in Nevada, the Blue Wing Complex was the home for hundreds of wild horses and burros. However, recent roundups by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) have wreaked havoc and left these herds decimated.
Reports from wild horse advocates indicate they have been unable to find a single burro in Porter Springs, which was once an historic burro habitat. Now it is heavily populated by cattle.
The horror and brutality of roundups is not over once horses and burros are trapped. American Wild Horse Conservation (AWHC) learned via a 2023 FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request that 31 of 45 burros rounded up from the Porter Springs area died from hyperlipidemia in a Utah holding facility.
Others bled to death during castration procedures. While burros are hardy, they are also highly sensitive. The stress and trauma from BLM roundups have cost many of them their lives.
Horrifying documentation from last year’s roundup showed a government contractor punching and kicking a collapsed wild horse. Despite this inhumane and gross violence, the BLM gave the roundup an “excellent” rating and merely reassigned the abuser with no penalty for his depraved action.
What is needed asap for the Bureau of Land Management to consider and use in their final plan for the Blue Wing Complex:
- Make humane, safe and proven fertility control over roundups a priority.
- Phase out helicopter roundups and immediately require cameras on all helicopters and wranglers to ensure full accountability.
- Acknowledge that wild horses and burros play a very important and proven role in promoting biodiversity, reducing fire risk, and supporting healthy habitats.
- Evaluate the cost and welfare risks of warehousing more wild horses and burros in off-range facilities.
- Update Appropriate Management Levels (AMLs) to reflect current range science.
- Re-designate eligible Herd Areas (HAs) as Herd Management Areas (HMAs) and return wild horses and burros to the range, lands that were allocated to them by the 1971 Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act.