• Old mare collapses during helicopter stampede

• Stallion escapes, family left behind

38 horses captured

1 fatality

44 horses (mares and foals) shipped to Palomino Valley

Exhausted mare collapses during chase

A band of eight horses enters the chute after being chased for a long distance. They run for a distance before an older mare collapses in the snow, her legs buckling beneath her, utterly exhausted from the long, terrifying run. She lays there helplessly as the helicopter hovers over her. She is too exhausted to move. Two wranglers run toward her waving whips with plastic bags tied to the ends, forcing her to struggle to her feet. Incredibly, the helicopter continues the chase. The spent mare tries to escape, breathing hard, puffs of steam billowing from her nostrils. The helicopter comes within feet of her as she summons her last strength to trot and then run to escape it. To those of us watching, the chase of seems to go on forever; we are shocked that BLM allows it to continue. Finally, the helicopter gives up and the mare is left dazed, her sides heaving. She stops for a moment, then walks off, away from the trap where her family is confined, and out onto the range. Alone.

This mare’s ordeal exemplifies the inhumanity of the roundups, which indiscriminately stampede the elderly, the infirm, the crippled and the very young along with the able-bodied, subjecting them to extreme, and sometimes fatal, terror, trauma and exertion. Even a local, pro-BLM rancher observing the roundup remarked on the chase of the elder mare, “that shouldn’t have happened to that old sister.”

Mustang killed after breaking hip

The first fatality of the roundup occurred today when a mustang (sex unknown) being transported from the trap to the temporary holding site slipped and fell (or collapsed) in the trailer. BLM reports that the horse suffered a broken hip and was killed by gunshot.

This tragedy highlights the dangers that winter conditions create for roundups. The entire area is a muddy mess, and portions of the roads leading to the trap sites and temporary holding location are so thick with mud that even the heavy, BLM 4-wheeler trucks slip and slide. The trailers that haul the horses have no shock absorbers and no rubber matting on the floors. It is unbelievable that there haven’t been more injuries and accidents hauling the Antelope mustangs out of the HMA.

The winter conditions are treacherous for the horses during the helicopter chase as well. The horses are forced to run over icy and snowy conditions. They sink into the snow and slip on the ice and mud. In addition, mares are heavily pregnant; many will abort their foals because of the trauma and stress. (We’ll never know how many because of the BLM’s lack of transparency.)

Mustang stallion & family, including pregnant mares, stampeded in snow @ BLM Eagle roundup. Photo by Laura Leigh

Stallion reluctantly chooses freedom, leaving family behind.

It is the last run of the day and a band of six horses is being stampeded into the trap. A hesitant stallion lags slightly behind. He appears apprehensive, but continues to follow his family all the way through the chute . As the horses run through the chute, they go down an embankment. We, the observers, lose visibility for a second or two until the horses re-emerge in the trap pen. I watch the stallion’s family go into the trap, then look for him. Amazingly, he has turned around at the pen and is heading out at the chute. The horse had come within feet of entering the trap. He must have known there was no escape once in it, and made a conscious decision to turn around, leaving his family behind.

After a feeble attempt to push the stallion back, the helicopter gives up quickly. We watch as the stallion walks off reluctantly, climbing the hill, then stopping to look back and listen, to see if his family was coming. He waits a moment, then puts his head down and moves on, climbing a little farther before looking back again at the trap. In this hesitant manner, he makes his way up the hill. Sometimes he just stands and stares toward the pen. Once, he stops with his body pointed toward freedom, but his neck craned backward toward the capture pens.

As the stallion approaches the top of the hill, his family is loaded into the trailer. When he reaches the peak, he takes one last look back and goes over the ridge.

After repeatedly stopping to wait for his family, he must have realized that they were not coming. So, he headed toward freedom. It was just as well. If he had returned to the trap, he would never have seen his family again anyway. BLM separates the sexes during processing. Mares are permanently removed from their stallions, and foals are taken forever from their mothers.

(Video to follow.)

Antelope horses arrive at PVC

Report by Dorothy Nylen

Antelope foals at BLM Palomino Valley holding pens

The truck came in at 2:17 to Palomino Valley Center, a few minutes earlier than on Monday. All 44 horses were reluctant to get off the trailer, but all 30 mares and 14 foals were in excellent condition. A couple of older mares had ribs showing, but when comparing them with the rest it appeared to be a matter of old age. Every horse was some version of brown – bays, sorrels, one with a lot of black on the head – many blazes. All started eating right away. No crying babies today. Mares and foals were separated into different pens.

Antelope mares @ BLM Palomino Valley holding pens

The mares, foals, and stallions brought in Monday have already been processed – branded, tagged, blood tests. Mares and foals separated.

VIEW VIDEO

http://www.wildhorsepreservation.org/news/?p=3513

Jan. 28, 2011