“This wild horse was put down at the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge on Aug 11, 2014 after being rounded from beyond the distant horizon. It was then pushed for miles by a team of helicopters on a injured leg.” – Steve Paige, reporting from the Sheldon Roundup
August 14, 2014
Return to Freedom Wild Horse Ranger Steve Paige is on site to bear witness to the Sheldon Roundup. The end of an era is ushered out by the deafening sound of the helicopter and the thundering hooves of panicked horses.
In the first two days, 124 horses were rounded up and chased into traps to be sorted and separated, the beginning of the end of for these horses. Before its over, over 400 wild horses — all that remain on the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge — will be gone.
“Sheldon FWS managers have for years experimented with permanent sterilization on the horses there – they could have let those horses live out their lives on the Refuge. At one point they had decided to manage 150 horses there. Now none . . . all gone, another vital link to our living history wiped out” laments Return to Freedom Founder Neda DeMayo. “I look at our Sheldon herd – the 50 horses we took from the 2000 roundup – and I know that they are safe because of our work, but their wild relatives are not and that breaks my heart” DeMayo continues.
Here we see a noble bay stallion on the outside, trying to keep his family in tact in the midstof the chaos. His effort will be futile in the end. And though we worked to make sure that unscrupulous horse traders would not get their hands on the Sheldon horses, we cannot be certain of their fate.
This cruel disposal of our wildlife has to end! Please stand with us and help us fight these senseless roundups.
Support Our Advocacy Work and help us fight to keep wild horses IN THE WILD!
Become a Member and help us feed and care for the horses we’ve rescued from past roundups.
P.S.
Our voice is being heard in Wyoming! The BLM has delayed its Wyoming Roundupdue to pressure from our lawsuit. We await the court’s decision in this precedent setting case!