SIGN ON: Join our demand for transparency at BLM Roundups!

The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:

Thanks in part to AWHC’s public awareness campaigns, a growing number of Americans are speaking out against the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) cruel helicopter roundup and removal cycle. Despite this growing outrage, the agency continues to conduct these operations – oftentimes in some of the most remote corners of the West and away from the public eye.

Photo of the January 2024 roundup at Black Mountain by Darlene Smith

While we send observers to document as many of these roundups as possible, the BLM and its contractors enact restrictions on public observation, including placing our observers over a mile away from the trap. This often results in a significant lack of transparency during the roundups.

That’s why we are continuing to call on the BLM to require camera installations on all helicopters and wranglers used during roundups and at the trap sites of these operations. Will you join us and help ensure transparency and accountability for any violations during BLM helicopter roundups?

SIGN ON →

The roundups of the Black Mountain Herd Management Area (HMA) burros in Arizona over the past few years are prime examples of why these cameras are so desperately needed.

This HMA spans an impressive 1.1 million acres and encompasses public, state, tribal, and private lands in Mohave County, AZ. The BLM estimated the current population of the Black Mountain HMA to be nearly over 800 burros, making it one of the most genetically diverse wild burros herds left in the American Southwest.

Unfortunately, this herd has been repeatedly targeted for removal by the BLM and has suffered tremendously as a result.

Photo of the January 2024 roundup at Black Mountain by Darlene Smith

The agency targeted hundreds of burros for removal from the HMA this year in an attempt to reduce the population to an arbitrary Appropriate Management Level (AML) of just 478 burros. While the BLM did not meet its target, many burros were captured and removed from their homes, and one burro was even euthanized for a pre-existing condition.

This herd was also targeted in a particularly brutal roundup in 2022. AWHC had observers on the ground to document the operation, but it wasn’t until after the roundup had concluded that it was uncovered that the BLM granted its contractors permission to use electric cattle prods on several animals while loading them onto trailers. 

According to the agency’s own Comprehensive Animal Welfare Program Assessment, BLM contractor’s staff treated burros in an abusive and inhumane manner, including “aggressively hitting and jabbing the paddle into the sides and sensitive areas of burros.” 

The contractor faced little to no repercussions for their actions, and without this report, the mistreatment of these burros would remain unknown. But Meredith, if there were cameras on helicopters and at trap sites, the public could hold the BLM accountable for the the cruelty inflicted upon these animals.

AWHC is fighting hard to put an end to helicopter roundups through our work on Capitol Hill, in the courts, and in the field. But until we can stop them for good, there is only one way to guarantee that no BLM abuse goes undocumented. Will you call on the BLM to mandate camera installations on all helicopters and at trap sites used for roundups?

ACT NOW

Thank you,

Team AWHC