After 3+ months of traps being in place, seven weeks of that capturing and removing wild horses from the McCullough Peaks, on March 9th it was announced via the Wyoming BLM facebook page that the bait trap removal was ended.
90 wild horses trapped, 50 removed with 10 of those being returned to their wild home in the Peaks, leaving 40 horses permanently removed from the wild, one of which was the young mare Kat Ballou who died while she was in the care of BLM staff.
They removed 22 stallions and 18 mares, ranging in age from 4 months to 15 years old - despite having promised the public to not remove any over the age of 5yrs old.
Zero of the returned mares were reported to be treated with any fertility control.
Road barricade on Whistle Creek during removal operations in the Peaks
This removal should have never occurred, it was unnecessary, and to this day the Cody BLM office has failed to provide a complete data analysis from the last 10 years showing that the wild horses have consistently caused the kind of degradation or damage to the range that would require a removal or reduction of the herd, that should have been provided when planning the trap and removal of these wild horses, as per the BLM's own written policy.
Instead, what I received - after being forced to file a FOIA request by the Cody office - was page after page of hand-written field notes, a precipitation report that appears to have been created recently, and photographs of the range taken at various locations in the field.
At this time it appears the BLM Cody office has not completed the process with the gathered data, there is no aggregate of data and no analysis provided, no report clearly stating that wild horses caused range degradation in the McCullough Peaks.
BLM continues to fail to prove there was a need to remove the 40 wild horses taken from the range... they continue to dismiss and ignore their written policy.
BLM Handbook Excerpt
The Cody office also ignored their 2015 RMP [Resource Management Plan] that is currently in place, that seasonal restrictions be applied for peak foaling season, which is stated as being February 1st thru July 31st for the Peaks, and that gathers should be avoided 6 weeks before or 6 weeks after peak foaling season, and that preferably a gather would be conducted in the fall after the peak foaling season.
Instead, this trap and removal operation was scheduled to occur from mid-November and into mid-March - a newborn foal was reported as the trapping and removal activity increased, in the specific area where the most horses were trapped and removed being from the pasture where the new foal was known to be.
Cody RMP document link: https://eplanning.blm.gov/public_projects/lup/9506/63298/68540/CYFO_Final_ARMP.pdf
Not only did the Cody office fail to provide any report or analysis showing range degradation by the horses, but they forced a reduction in a wild herd that has an aging population.... and those older horses have been steadily leaving to be spirits of the wind for the last year, with others not for this earth much longer, the herd was and is naturally shrinking of its own natural accord!
There is an argument offered that the mares are living longer as they are no longer being bred and having new foals every single year, leaving them healthier and living longer lives. There is truth in that argument.... but - these are still wild horses, things still happen and they are not provided care and medical aid when injured or struck with illness, and they normally have to work much harder to find forage in winter. The last four plus months of near constant alfalfa hay and other 'goodies' used to lure them in the trap during winter months is not something normally enjoyed by a wild horse.
These horses do not have a never-ending life, they are not immortal, and the older generation is steadily moving into the spirit realm and leaving this wild place to the younger generation. It was documented during the summer of 2023 that six McCullough Peaks horses died.... after the bait trap removal operation began in November there were six more wild horses reported to have died, and another five wild horses missing and presumed to be dead in the Peaks.
That is 17 horses gone in less than a year, with many other elder horses that will also soon cross over to the spirit realm, leaving the herd smaller yet.
The following is from what I know to have been reported:
*Annual count for 2023 was 181 adult wild horses.
*12 wild horses are confirmed to have died with 5 more missing and presumed dead = *17 total wild horses dead in less than one year.
*40 wild horses removed permanently from the range by BLM.
181 horses - 17 deaths - 40 removed = 124 adult horses currently left on range.
And we will continue to see more losses as the older horses leave this earth.
And now let us again consider the absurd statement from the Cody office Field Manager Cade Powell, made during operations in front of several people after removing San Jose and Black Beauty from the trap into the BLM trailer, 'that if they did not do this removal there would be 500 horses on the range in 2yrs time'.
That statement really calls into question the management - or lack of planning and management - by the current staff in the Cody office, as under the previous Wild Horse & Burro specialist the herd did not reach that kind of population, or even near those numbers, since the implementation of a PZP darting program that was put into place in at the time of the 2013 bait trap and removal of wild horses from the Peaks.
McCullough Peaks wild horse documented population growth 2009 thru 2023.
This odd prediction from the Field Manager also does not match up with what is written in the EA for this McCullough Peaks bait trap, removal, and management... below is a screen shot from the final published EA.
The current AML [Appropriate Management Level] for the McCullough Peaks is 70 - 140, which is absurd in and of itself as scientific studies continue to show that is not enough to ensure a genetically viable herd, something that needs to have more consideration for a herd that is a stand alone herd.
McCullough Peaks horses only have themselves to mix and make babies with, they are not a part of a large complex where horses are allowed to cross over, pass through, and mix together, there is no chance for them of naturally mixing with other herds to achieve a healthy, vibrant, and genetically viable herd.
McCullough Peaks mustangs taken away from the Peaks and to the Rodeo Grounds in Cody for temporary holding - their final destination is going to be the Rock Springs corrals.
There are so very many things that could and should be discussed regarding this particular trap and removal, a literal book could be written discussing the EA, the trap and removal, and so on... but this is only a blog, and one can only do so much in the amount of time and space given in this life.
The Cody office failed on so many levels, their lack of dedication to properly presenting a case to the public for trap and removal of any horses, their failure to follow BLM policy and protocol before and during the process, their horrid waffling of how many horses they would remove or not remove - including the unbelievably unreal decision to completely change the number to be removed in the last weeks of operations based on the idiotic theory that at the 1st of the year all foals born the year before were now counted as adults.
And their unwillingness to be open and transparent with the public... about anything!!
They could have done so many things differently in all of this - but instead chose to dismiss substantive public comments on the draft EA, to attempt to keep the public as uninformed as was humanly possible, closing down main roads without proper protocol, refusing to allow anyone to observe anything at short-term holding, attempting at every turn to prevent any observation of horses being removed once in the bait traps. They chose to make the relationship of a publicly funded agency yet more antagonistic with the public....
As many of you know, I try not to demonize BLM employees, most of them are simply doing a job, trying to make it in the world the same as everyone else, but the actions and behavior during this removal made it impossible for me to defend anyone in the Cody office, and sadly disillusioned about BLM staff in general.
West side trap with unpadded overhead bar and tposts.
I do want to note that there was one change I was very relieved to see towards the end - you may recall my frustration at the failure to follow CAWP practices, that at one of the bait traps there were unpadded and exposed overhead bars and sharp t-post parts.... at some point someone did decide to provide padding on those things, helping to prevent what could have been life threatening injuries to the horses in the process of them being trapped and removed.
To the person who did that - thank you!!
In the grand scheme of things it may seem minor to many, but having witnessed how wild horses can behave when trapped in corrals, I know that it is incredibly important to do all that is possible help prevent some really terrible things from happening, in what is already a very scary and traumatic experience for our wild horses.
Overhead bar padded and taped - bottom sharp edges of tposts padded and taped.
Here we are now.... it is done, there is no going back, there is no regaining freedom for those taken away, now in this moment there is only what do we do next, how do we best step forward to ensure the freedom for those still wild, and how do we help those taken away.
We are not done with the things written in the EA or the things that have been left out of it... we are not done asking questions and requesting information that they seem either unwilling or unable to provide, showing range damage and degradation done by the horses over the last 10 years, the kind of degradation that would warrant their removal.
But it is not the thing that needs most focused on in this moment by all of us.... in this moment we need to make sure those taken now find their way to good loving homes, that their future will find them with humans that will give them the grace, dignity, respect, partnership, or sanctuary that they need and deserve.
Wild horse of McCullough Peaks
This is what is next and requires our attention right now.
Mustangs taken away from their wild home of the Peaks will be offered for adoption to the public later this year, the BLM has stated there will be an online adoption where individuals will be able to bid on the mustang they hope to give a home to.
Yes, that does mean it could be really expensive, but that should not stop you from trying anyways if one of the Peaks horses really speaks to your heart - the universe has a way of working these things out!
And yes, we know that many wish to see many of these mustangs live out their life at a sanctuary, please know there are many who desire the same, and again we can only trust that the universe will help work that out too.
But also know that it is okay when some of these most amazing of mustangs are adopted by private individuals... know that these horses have their own ideas of what life they want, and the very best thing we can do is to ask the universe to help the horses be heard, that the destiny they see for themselves, be answered truly, and they be granted their desires.
And there are tangible things we can do as well showing intent and action.... the amazing Gina at For the Love of Aria is fundraising to help in any way necessary to ensure each and every Peaks horse taken from the range now finds a good home to live the rest of their lives. So, if you want to help you can donate to their fundraiser, or if you have questions please feel free to contact them for more information! https://www.facebook.com/fortheloveofaria
Do I think that everything will work out perfectly? I cannot stand here and promise you that without a doubt it will.... because humans are humans, and sometimes we really mess up what the universe is trying to do - but I do know that what I have witnessed over the past few months is unlike anything I have ever before felt during a removal, the energy of love and light is amazingly strong and if we stay steady in it I do believe good things will be found for these mustangs.
Stormrider and the herd on a warm summers morning.