An advocacy group has highlighted seven locations across the Western United States where they say federal roundups of wild horses could occur this September. As Newsweek reported previously, thousands of wild horses and burros are being rounded up across the American West as federal officials look to curb herd numbers that they say have grown beyond levels the landscape can sustainably support. Welfare organization American Wild Horse Conservation (AWHC) highlighted several locations across the country in a social media post that it said could see roundups, also referred to as gathers, occur.
The AWHC said it was watching operations “tentatively planned” involving the following locations: “Another roundup month begins,” the group wrote in an Instagram post last week. It’s a critical window to document what happens, demand accountability, and support humane solutions for wild horses and burros.” The federal government’s schedule includes gathers, emergency removals and fertility-control operations across numerous Western states. For example, according to a May 15 Bureau of Land Management schedule, a Wyoming operation, scheduled to begin on or after September 15, would remove approximately 286 animals from the Fifteenmile Herd Management Area.
Newsweek reached out to the Bureau of Land Management for comment via email on Monday. The Bureau of Land Management says gathers are used to protect wild horses and burros as well as the public rangelands supporting them. According to the agency, herds have a lack of predators and can double in size within four to five years, potentially outgrowing available food and water and damaging the land.
The agency therefore seeks to keep each herd within an “appropriate management level,” which reflects the land’s capacity to support the animals alongside wildlife, livestock and other authorized uses. It says its management measures include removing animals through gathers and, in some locations, using fertility control to slow population growth. Wild horse advocacy groups have criticized helicopter roundups, arguing that they harm animals and separate established family groups.
Return to Freedom describes helicopter roundups as dangerous, saying horses may be driven long distances over rough terrain before family groups are separated in holding pens. The organization advocates using fertility control instead to reduce population growth while keeping horses on the range. As for AWHC, it says helicopter pursuits can leave horses stressed and exhausted and may cause injuries or deaths.
It also argues that roundups separate family groups, place animals in federal holding facilities and impose substantial costs on taxpayers, while supporting fertility control as an alternative approach. Colorado Governor Jared Polis and Representative Joe Neguse urged the Bureau of Land Management to immediately pause upcoming wild horse roundups in the state. In a September 3 letter, they said around 800 horses had been captured in the Piceance-East Douglas Herd Management Area, with six dying during the operations, while a planned roundup in the Sand Wash Basin would reduce that herd by more than 60 percent.
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