Little Book Cliffs: Mare Breaks Leg While She & Her Foal Flee Helicopter
Photo TCF - Little Book Cliffs roundup 2024.
The Cloud Foundation (TCF) executive director Kerry Ferguson recently attended the first half of the helicopter roundup in the Little Book Cliffs (LBC) Herd Management Area (HMA) in Colorado. (Read Kerry's roundup summary below.)
TCF friend, supporter and wild horse advocate, Nalinka - Marion Fernandez, also attended the roundup. On the last day, she captured devastating video footage of the helicopter chasing a frightened mare and foal ... causing the mare to run into a ditch and break her leg.
While this tragic event was captured on video -- these horrific events ending in injury and/or death occur at every roundup. The government hides these occurrences from the public by refusing to put cameras on helicopters, at traps, and in holding pens which is why TCF is suing the Bureau of Land Management to get cameras at all roundups.
WARNING: Viewer discretion advised. Footage contains graphic/disturbing content.
Copyright © Nalinka - Marion Fernandez -
This video is exactly why we fight so hard for America's wild horses and burros and reminds us of the importance of winning our lawsuit.
We cannot do this alone.
Please support TCF's lawsuit to hold BLM accountable and in addition to in-person observation force them to put cameras on helicopters, at trap sites, and in holding pens -- making all footage available UNEDITED to the public. Lawsuits are expensive and we need your support to see this through.
~The Cloud Team
Little Book Clips Roundup Summary
Kerry Ferguson, TCF Executive Director
The Bureau of Land Management's (BLM's) goal was to round up 130 horses and return 30 after administering the PZP birth control. Though we support using safe and reversible fertility control, we of course do not support the removal of all these wild horses from their homes and families on the range.
DAYS 1 - 3: The roundup began on September 11. For the first three days, observers were taken up to the Low Gap area of the range to observe operations taking place over on the Monument Rocks area of the range -- about 2 miles away, across a canyon (see photo below). Even with a powerful zoom lens, the helicopter appeared tiny, and only a cloud of dust told us that horses had been driven into the all-but-invisible trap. Meaningful observation... No.
NOTE: The Monument Rocks area is considered remote and difficult to get to. For our safety, we were placed in the Low Gap Area of the HMA on an outcrop of boulders on the edge of a steep drop off so that we could see the operations taking place across the valley about 2 miles away. We could make out the white Monument Rock jutting up from the trees... and all the semi-trucks with horse trailers and BLM vehicles. If we really squinted, we could make out a portion of the trap wings. At least we were safe. 😐
We were unable to see the horses loaded onto trucks or driven away.
Observation at temporary holding was not allowed at any time during the roundup. It was located on private property.
Day 1: 10 horses captured (Monument Rocks Area, observation ~2 miles away in Low Gap Area).
Day 2: 9 horses captured (Monument Rocks Area)
Day 3: 7 horses captured (Monument Rocks Area)
The view from our Low Gap outcropping of the Monument Rocks trap site across the valley. Lens is zoomed in about 2/3 capacity. You can see the dust cloud indicating some horses were just driven into the trap.
LBC Summary Cont.
Day 4: On this day, the trap was moved over to the Low Gap Area of the LBC HMA. Once again, observers made the two-hour drive into the Low Gap area of the range not far from where we were previously observing the Monument Rocks Area portion of the roundup.
While we were closer to the trap site, our observation was severely limited due to the Sampson Livestock LLC/BLM-designated observation area -- so, still no meaningful observation. The trees and topography made seeing the horses being stampeded by the helicopter impossible. We were only able to see the horses entering the wings leading to the trap for a few seconds ... there was no observation of the trap, no observation of loading horses into trailers.
The placement of the only visible wing (entrance to the trap) was along the top of a hill with the opposite wing -- placed to create a chute that narrows to guide the horses into the trap -- below the ridgeline and out of our line of site. The trap itself was behind trees.
NOTE: The BLM contractor for this roundup was Sampson Livestock LLC notable for brutal treatment of wild horses in past roundups -- including banging panel doors on horse's legs, using electric shock prods to move horses, etc. More recently, you may remember the video footage of their wranglers roping, dragging and kicking a young mare. We did not witness any such treatment during what we could see of this operation.
This was my last day at this roundup.
Also present observing these first days were Scott Wilson (AWHC), Friends of the Mustangs members, Nalinka - Marion Fernandez (Filmmaker/France).
Marion, her partner Max, and I arrived back at the hotel later that afternoon and discovered that they had left their tripod on the range in Low Gap. They were hoping to get some good footage of the roundup (she is filming a wild horse documentary) but also wanted to have some "vacation" time before returning to France later that week. The need to recover their tripod necessitated their return.
They were meant to return.
Day 4: 71 horses captured (Low Gap Area).
This is one of the drives into the trap in the Low Gap area of the Little Book Cliffs HMA.
LBC Summary Cont.
Day 5: Sunday, Sept. 15
Low Gap Area roundup continues.
Day 5: 19 Horses captured.
Day 6: Monday Sept. 16
No observers were permitted due to potentially severe weather conditions.
Day 6: 18 horses captured.
2 Deaths -- One 2-year-old mare was killed due to a "pre-existing knee
injury"; one 23-year-old mare was killed for a "pre-existing knee injury with
severe infection."
TOTAL HORSES CAPTURED TO DATE: 134
Day 7: Tuesday Sept. 17 - Cameo Area/LBC HMA
Observers were allowed to attend. However, about 10 - 15 minutes after arriving at the site, operations were cancelled due to rain.
No horses captured.
Day 8: Wednesday Sept. 18 - Cameo Area/LBC HMA
The weather was improved, so operations resumed with observers - Marion and Max included - in attendance. The helicopter flew at 8:14 and began its search for horses. It had found about 9 horses and was driving them toward the trap area. In the chaos that is often the case in a helicopter roundup, the group of horses separated into two groups -- one small group of 3, another with 6.
In an attempt to collect the 3 that had escaped, the helicopter set off in pursuit and the horses fled in fear. The rough terrain was covered with vegetation and seems to have blinded a mare to the ditch directly in her path.
The result -- catastrophic for her. Her young foal huddled close to her when she finally lay down to rest. Wranglers tried to move her toward the trap several hundred feet away, her leg dangling and useless. But it finally became clear that it was too much of a struggle for her.
The observers were cleared from their vantage point above the roundup area.
Ten minutes later, the gunshot rang out.
BLM initially reported that the foal was sent to a foster home. However, that turned out to be incorrect. The foal was left on the range to fend for itself. Winter is coming. We hope that the foal found its way to a new band.
Day 8: 6 horses captured.
ROUNDUP ENDS
TOTAL HORSES CAPTURED: 140
Photo credit Nalinka - Marion Fernandez (photo taken of the image on the camera screen)
These 6 were driven into the trap after the group split up in the chaos of the helicopter chase.
NOTE: Henneke Body Condition Chart.
Reports aired that BLM's vet gave the deceased mare a score of 2.5. They left out critical information on what a 2.5 means. An ideal body score is between 4-6. Based on the photos and video, we can see that she was in better condition -- more like a 3-4. This was a 24 y.o. mare with a foal. Not being a 5 or 6 is understandable under the circumstances. Life in the wild is uncertain. But her condition was not such that she was in imminent danger -- had she not been rounded up with a helicopter.
