Horses’ deaths in BLM custody spark renewed outrage over roundups

Nearly 1 in 20 wild horses sent to a federally contracted holding facility in Fallon after being rounded up from Bureau of Land Management rangelands died last year, according to agency data.

Of the 267 horses that died last year at the Indian Lakes Off-Range Wild Horse and Burro Corral, 106 were found dead in their pens for unknown reasons. This was by far the most commonly listed reason in a 2023 mortality report for the facility, first obtained by the American Wild Horse Conservation advocacy group.

The next most-given reasons were sudden or previously suffered neck and back fractures (30 deaths), cryptorchidism (30 deaths), and gelding complications (28 deaths). Cryptorchidism is when one or both testes in a male horse fail to descend and remain in the abdomen or groin. Gelding is the castration of males.

All males are castrated before the BLM offers them for private sale or adoption.

Indian Lakes is the largest off-range corral in the BLM system. According to bureau records, it had an average monthly horse population last year of 3,004 and has capacity for 7,600 animals. Horses are processed at such corrals after being gathered and before being auctioned or sold.

Data show that horses at the Fallon corral also died after suffering from broken legs, dental problems, eye abnormalities and blindness, club foot, lameness, other deformities and injuries, complications while giving birth, and cancer. Read More…

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