At the ongoing roundup at the Antelope Complex pilot conduct is extreme. High speed stampedes are causing foals to be left behind, collisions and reckless actions including the skids of the chopper (appearing) to knock over a wild horse!
Wild Horse Education (WHE) has sent notification to the agency of the incident and a request to immediately address the situation according to policy. In addition the organization requested a meeting to address ongoing issues of abuse and a notification of the necessity for legal action should the agency fail to take appropriate measures.
For years, beginning in 2010, Wild Horse Education (WHE) took BLM to court again and again over abusive actions at roundups. This litigation drove the creation of the current Comprehensive Animal Welfare Policy (CAWP) that was included into contracts and official underlying paperwork in fall of 2015.
The agency has failed to review, revise and enforce the policy on numerous occasions.
“The cases we have already brought into a courtroom include rulings against the very type of pilot conduct we are documenting at the Antelope Complex,” stated WHE founder Laura Leigh,”It was absurd that we had to take the agency to court just to get a policy to stop things like electric shocking babies in the face and hitting wild horses with helicopters. It is gut-wrenching that it looks like we need to go back into a courtroom to get the agency to take the welfare of wild horses seriously.”
“Watching these babies run, be trampled, left behind,” choked Marie Milliman, WHE volunteer, “Over and over it breaks my heart, year after year. This is our tax dollars at work that claim to protect our wild horses. It really makes you physically ill.”
“The next step would require that we take the agency tasked with managing wild horses and burros humanely back into a courtroom to prove, yet again, when BLM says ‘we care’ it is nothing but words that never match their actions.” stated Leigh, “How can the public believe that any action the agency takes is in the best interests of the wild horse if they can not even capture without trampling babies and hitting wild horses with choppers?”
You can follow daily reports from the ongoing roundup from the organization on our website.
