A contractor’s helicopter pursues a lone wild horse. RTF file photo courtesy of Lynn Walleen.
Update on the tragic government helicopter roundups in Nevada:
Callaghan Complex — In the largest roundup in the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) history, on the 1.2 million-acre complex of Herd Management Areas (HMAs), 1,916 of a planned 2,000 wild horses have been captured.
Causes of 10 deaths have included a head injury, a broken neck, and a broken leg, as well as horses put down for “chronic” conditions, like having one eye. Three have only been listed as “undiagnosed.”
The agency’s stated purpose for the roundup, which began July 10: lower the population closer to a total agency-set “Appropriate Management Level” of 323–552 wild horses and improve traffic safety. The BLM estimated there were 4,489 horses there in 2025.
By comparison, the agency allows seasonal grazing on the complex for privately owned cattle and sheep, equivalent to an annual grazing of 5,132 cow-calf pairs.
Lahontan HMA — In and around the 9,687-acre HMA, 569 of a planned 700 wild horses have been captured since July 20. One died of a fractured neck.
The agency’s reasons for the roundup include reducing what it says is range degradation caused by horses and a lack of water.
The Lahontan HMA has an Appropriate Management Level of just 7-10 wild horses. The agency estimated there were 809 in and around the HMA. It allows up to the annual equivalent of 10 cow-calf pairs to graze there.
Captured horses will be shipped to off-range corrals for possible sale or adoption. They will join more than 58,000 captured wild horses and burros warehoused in government facilities.
Compounding the tragedy — Continuing its failed practice of management by capture and removal, the BLM has no plans to treat and release horses with proven, safe and humane fertility control.
That means that the agency will soon return to the same areas to remove even more horses.