After three weeks of roundup and removal operations, we received the email stating that operations for the North Lander Complex were completed - finally - the email most of us had been hoping and praying over the two days that the Wild Horse Specialist spent flying over the complex!

I spent 10 days out of 21 active removal days observing during this thing, using up vacation days from my office job, getting up as early as 2:20am on some mornings and driving 64 miles in the dark to make it to the meeting location, fueling up my rig along the way, following the caravan of BLM rigs for another several miles to the actual observation spot, and then driving home again after a day sitting in the hot sun watching horses be taken and then waiting to visit temp holding on days that we had questions, bearing witness for the wild horses.

And I would do it over and over again... because the horses deserve nothing less.

2,577 wild horses were removed from the HMAs of the North Lander Complex along with one mule hinny that someone had turned out into the wild.

Conant Creek HMA: 573 wild horses were taken away.

Dishpan Butte HMA: 250 wild horses were taken away.

Rock Creek HMA: 180 wild horses were taken away.

Muskrat Basin HMA: 1522 wild horses were taken away.

Off HMA: 52 wild horses were taken away.

16 wild horses died during roundup operations: 6 wild horses had pre-existing conditions and 10 died as a direct result of the removal operations.

* Pre-existing injuries included 2 young horses diagnosed 'wobbler syndrome', a spinal deformity, a previous head injury, a previously broken and badly healed pastern, and a broken penis.

These wild horses died as a result of the removal:

* 10yr old grey mare kicked in the head by another horse and died

* 3yr old sorrel stallion suffered a broken neck

* 2yr old sorrel mare suffered a broken neck

* 15yr old bay mare suffered a brain aneurysm

* 4yr old bay mare suffered a broken neck

* bay filly suffered head and neck injuries

* bay filly died from 'capture myopathy'

* bay filly died from 'capture myopathy'

* bay colt died from 'capture myopathy'

* white colt suffered a broken leg in holding

I feel each of the wild horses that lost their life deserve recognition individually.... they each were a soul that brought light and joy to this earth, and they are a warning that things could have been done better for them during this thing.

Especially those young babies that died as a direct result of being brought in.... we are well aware that things happen in the wild, that babies and adults die as a result of injuries or other things - but that is the risk of living wild and free and the horses accept those risks as part of their wild life.

To be very clear, while I of course believe there is always something that can be done to make it better for the horses, the death of these young foals falls on the heads of those in the national BLM offices more than it does on those running the operations at this gather - it is national BLM policy to allow roundup and removal operations in summer when foals are still being born and are not big enough or strong enough to withstand the stress and crowding that is going to happen no matter how careful BLM staff and contractors attempt to be.

This needs to be addressed at the national level - old and out-dated policies need to be examined and rewritten to better serve the horses.

Observation was both good and not so good during operations.... I observed from several different trap sites, one was unbelievably (1.6mi) far away, one we could not see the jute or trap at all, others were quite a bit closer with the ability to see the entirety of the trap - from the point the horses came through the upper end of jute all the way in to where they were loaded.

It would be ideal to be able to see the horses being brought in without any obstruction, as they enter the jute and into the trap, as well as the trap itself - as we need to be able to assess how tired or sweaty they may be (or may not be), to clearly see how many there are, and to see if there are young foals with them.

But without setting us up really close to the trap itself it is not generally something that is feasible, and in the terrain we were in during the majority of the removal even more challenging, I am appreciative of the days we were given decent observation of the full trap itself, and how the horses were handled once in the trap.

At the last day the reports show a single foal gathered, when asked the Wild Horse Specialist told me that this was a foal someone had spotted alone in Muskrat Basin but BLM was not told about it directly, and when BLM did learn about this foal they took the time to go back out to find it and bring it in, it was taken to a vet to be assessed, and then was taken to the local prison mustang training center Honor Farm, where it will be cared for, gentled, and then will be offered for adoption later.

It is an unfortunate fact that when rounding up by helicopter mares and foals are separated, a thing we all detest, in this roundup we observed several foals that lagged behind coming into the trap, some were brought in by wranglers, one struggled and refused to go in with its mother staying behind with it, those two were allowed to stay together in the wild that day.

The helicopter pilot in this operation also made sure to tell the Wild Horse Specialist and contractor when a foal was left behind, including one we observers had not seen and were unaware of until they drove past us to get the young foal and bring it in to be with its mother.

A big frustration during this roundup and removal was the viewing of temporary holding at the end of the day. I have now been participating in observation of roundups for over 10yrs, and visiting the temp holding at the end of the day is customary, it allows for observers to see how the horses are doing, that they have been settled in, that they have ample feed and water, that the corrals are meeting at least the minimum of safety standards per CAWP, to ask BLM staff questions about the days operations, and in many cases it allows those of us who may know these horses to see our favorites one last time before they are taken away.

And for every time but one roundup I have been to these temp corrals have been on private property... we have sometimes have had to sign wavers in order to be on the private property, we are always accompanied by BLM staff and Rangers, and sometimes the contractors are also present as they will sometimes listen to our feedback.

But this particular roundup we were treated as the invasive unwanted thing at temp holding, we were able to speak freely with the Wild Horse Specialist (I very much appreciated his openness and willingness to speak with us as often as he did during the entirety of the roundup), but when it came to walking around the corrals we were kept moving with barely a second to snap a few images of the horses, and there was no time to assess how any of the horses were doing in the corrals.

We were told this was because the rancher did not want us on his property and the BLM had to really push to get us the few minutes we got - so why did they just not put the corrals on BLM land!?! I was offered various reasons, and they may be valid, but I think there were other bigger reasons they chose to have the temp corrals in the ranchers back yard - and if explained maybe it could have helped us accept what happened, but as it is we were left with no good feeling about how it was handled, and no real assessment of how the horses were doing in those corrals.

And the reason I show up for observation of roundup and removal operations is for the wild horses, they need someone there that is an independent voice of those who may well care for the horses, but are also required to do the job of removing them from the land - it is our job as the observing public to see that the thing is done in the best possible way for the horses.

Roundup and removal operations are complete.... what is next?

Well yes, the removal part is complete, but there is still the fertility control treatments and then there will be some wild horses returned to these HMAs.

I asked the Wild Horse Specialist if he could share how many horses he found while flying the last two days of operations and was told that information, along with how many would be returned, would be added to the official report page within the next week or two:

https://www.blm.gov/programs/wild-horse-and-burro/herd-management/gathers-and-removals/wyoming/2024-north-lander

I will be anxiously watching for this information and I plan on being there when they bring back those that will be returned to their wild lands.... it is always a bitter sweet day, we celebrate those returned, and we grieve for those that will never again feel the breeze of their native land whisper through untouched manes.