A contractor’s helicopter drives wild horses toward the trap site during a 2021 roundup on the Adobe Town Herd Management Area. Photo: Meg Frederick.
A helicopter roundup of wild horses on the Adobe Town Herd Management Area in Southwest Wyoming is nearing its sad end.
Through Tuesday, 1,612 wild horses had been captured. The federal Bureau of Land Management set out to remove 1,675 in order to reach a BLM-set maximum of 536 wild horses.
Seven horses have died. They include an 18-year-old mare that suffered a broken neck during transport, a 4-year-old mare found dead in a trailer after transport (necropsy inconclusive) and a 4-month-old foal killed by stress and overexertion.
Another foal’s death was “determined to not be part of gather operations.” It is under investigation, according to the agency.
Three horses were put down for what were deemed pre-existing conditions.
Return to Freedom and our co-plaintiffs were among organizations that prevailed in recent federal appeals court rulings affecting a portion of the Adobe Town and nearby Salt Wells and Great Divide Basin Herd Areas.
The court found that the BLM violated the law when it decided to remove 2 million acres from wild herds in what’s known as the Checkerboard: 1-mile blocks of private and public land set up in the 1800s. A District Court judge must now determine a remedy.
The ruling also delayed another planned roundup until at least October. The BLM was able to go forward with the current Adobe Town roundup under a different Determination of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Adequacy.
The BLM is compounding the tragedy of removing horses from their home range by not treating a portion of the mares with proven, safe and humane fertility control, then releasing them. That would have slowed (but not stopped) herd growth.
Not doing so guarantees that the BLM will soon return to remove more horses.