Year after year, thousands of wild horses endure brutal roundups. Wild horse advocates have documented the abuses for decades.
Animals’ Angels and American Wild Horse Conservation obtained information recently about wild foals in the hands of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM):
Dead Foals & Missing Numbers: What the BLM Isn’t Telling the Public
Behind the fences of federal holding facilities, wild horse foals are born — and some die — with little public accounting of their fate. Yet on its own website, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) insists it “cares deeply about the well-being of wild horses, both on and off the range,” and rejects concerns that its program harms horses.
But FOIA records recently obtained by American Wild Horse Conservation (AWHC) and Animals’ Angels (AA) raise serious questions about what happens to foals once pregnant mares are removed from the range.
The documents suggest that births, stillborn foals, and facility deaths may not be consistently reported — leaving the public with little visibility into how many newborn wild horses survive — or how many die — inside the federal holding system.
Key Findings
- Foals are dying in BLM holding facilities — and the public is not told how many.
- BLM policies allow delayed birth reporting and eliminate required reporting of stillborn foals.
- FOIA records and disposal/rendering documentation show foal deaths that were not publicly reported.
- This is not new. AA exposed major mortality reporting discrepancies in 2013 — including “newborns” and “babies” listed on rendering receipts.
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