Scott Sonner / AP, file
Wild horses that were captured from U.S. rangeland stand in a holding pen, at the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s Wild Horse and Burro Center in Palomino Valley, about 20 miles north of Reno, Nev., on May 25, 2017. Wild horse advocates are accusing U.S. land managers of violating environmental and animal protection laws by approving plans for the nation’s largest holding facility for thousands of mustangs captured on public lands in 10 western states.
Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2023 | 6:55 p.m.
Seven wild horses rounded up from the range in central Nevada died Monday after the trailer they were in tipped over on a Utah highway.
The Bureau of Land Management, which is currently removing horses from a swath of land outside Eureka known as the Roberts Mountain Complex, included a note about the incident on its page for the Roberts Mountain Complex roundup.
According to the BLM, a contracted semitruck transporting 36 horses from the roundup was bound for a holding corral in rural central Utah when it turned onto its side on Highway 50 outside of the town of Delta, which is about 230 miles east of Eureka and 130 miles southwest of Salt Lake City.
Three horses were killed in the wreck, four more were euthanized because of their injuries, and many surviving animals had “minor cuts and bruises,” the agency said.
The driver was not injured. The cause of the crash is under investigation.
“BLM transported the 29 remaining horses to a holding facility in Delta where they continue to be evaluated and closely monitored by the on-site veterinarian,” the agency said in its post.
A BLM spokeswoman said Tuesday that the Roberts Mountain Complex roundup would continue.
The Roberts Mountain Complex roundup, called a gather, started on Oct. 22 and was expected to take about two and a half weeks. The BLM said it planned to round up about 1,100 horses, using helicopters to drive them into traps. As of Monday, it had gathered about 600.
The BLM routinely gathers wild horses and burros from the range in the Western U.S., especially in Nevada, to maintain ecological balance. Removed animals may be offered to the public for adoption or sale. The BLM says animals that are not adopted are cared for on open pastures for the rest of their lives.
The animals — which are the offspring of long-ago escaped or turned-out mining and ranch animals — reproduce rapidly and compete with native wildlife and privately owned domestic livestock for food and water that is often limited by drought. Nevada has by far the highest estimated population of wild horses roaming BLM lands, according to agency data.
In addition to the animals killed in Monday's crash, four other horses had died during the Roberts Mountain Complex gather as of Monday. The BLM opted to euthanize two horses for preexisting blindness. Another two suffered sudden severe injuries during the gather: a mare died of a broken neck during shipping away from the trap site, and a stallion was put down after breaking its leg attempting to jump out of a holding pen.
The wild horse conservation organization American Wild Horse Campaign called for a halt to the roundup until the truck crash has been investigated.
“This most recent tragedy compounds the trauma and devastation that wild horses suffer as a result of helicopter roundups, highlighting the inhumanity of the BLM’s capture and removal policy,” Suzanne Roy, AWHC’s executive director, said in a statement. “It’s past time for an end to the BLM’s blunt force approach to wild horse management, particularly when humane, effective and scientific alternatives exist.”
