Opinion Piece From the Denver Post
By Carol J. Walker
The agency entrusted for a half-century to protect our wild equines — the Bureau of Land Management — has completed three large-scale helicopter roundups of Colorado mustangs since last summer, removing 2,000 wild horses from their rangelands and separating highly social animals from their bonded, familial herds, forever.
The largest roundup ended Aug. 1 and set a record when agents removed 864 wild horses belonging to the Piceance-East Douglas herd of Rio Blanco County, named for the white river that flows through this far western part of the state.
Under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, our land managers are supposed to protect wild horses and burros — an integral part of our public lands — from capture, harassment, or death.
While Colorado BLM agents continually assure us of their commitment to “humane handling and treatment of wild horses and burros” in the wild and off the range, the spectacle of these chaotic exercises in “management” and documented results tell another story.
Observers have photographed and reported mustangs suffering broken legs and dying from broken necks; one horse flipped upside down, landing on barbed wire. Most recently, observers saw a pregnant mare and young foals being chased down for miles in sweltering heat. I observed foals struggling to keep up as helicopter pilots at Sand Wash Basin last summer pushed the herd too fast in 95-degree heat.
There is nothing humane about a roundup.
Also Appearing in Boulder Daily Camera Here: https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/08/14/guest-opinion-carol-walker-keep-wild-horses-wild-stop-cruel-roundups/
