Gov't Autopsy Reveals: BLM Ran Foal with Birth Defect to His Death - Colt's Final Moments Filled with Terror

BLM Captures More Than 299 Wild Horses in First Week of Calico Roundup Scheduled To Last Two Months

Winnemucca , Nevada - A government autopsy on a young foal run to death in a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) helicopter stampede of wild horses living in the Calico Mountain Complex in northwestern Nevada sheds more light on the trauma befalling these iconic animals at the hands of the Obama Administration.

The necropsy (animal autopsy) report states that the little foal collapsed twice while being chased for at least a half-mile by a government-contracted helicopter. Ten minutes after the second collapse, BLM wranglers found the colt dead.

“This six-month old, dark bay/brown foal’s final moments were filled with terror trying to escape the tax-payer-funded helicopters, which are chasing the Calico horses at speeds of 20-30 mph for three to five miles, and up to 10 miles,” said Suzanne Roy, program director of In Defense of Animals (IDA), which filed a federal lawsuit to stop the roundup.

“The little colt could not keep up with his family. Separated from his mother, he fell behind and died,” continued Roy . “The fact that this colt had a heart defect in no way justifies the trauma the Obama Administration’s senseless wild horse policies inflicted on this innocent young horse and his family.”

The necropsy report is posted at http://www.idablog.org/category/horse-campaign. One other fatality has been reported in the Calico Roundup: a mare “euthanized” by rifle by the BLM, orphaning her young foal. In addition, a stallion dubbed “Freedom” made a spectacular escape from the BLM trap pens on January 2 by scaling six-foot fence and crashing through barbed wire. Read about his dramatic escape at http://www.idablog.org/featured/calico-roundup-week-1-freedom-escapes/ .

The  roundup continues despite a December 2009 federal court ruling that the BLM’s plan to stockpile the horses in Midwestern holding facilities is likely illegal.

“We are disappointed that the Obama Administration has failed to heed the court’s recommendation that this controversial roundup be postponed,” said William J. Spriggs, of Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney, which filed a pro bono lawsuit to stop the Calico roundup on behalf of IDA, Nevada ecologist Craig Downer and noted children’s author Terri Farley. “We are on strong ground in charging that the BLM’s policy of stockpiling tens of thousands of horses in the Midwest , off their rightful Western ranges, is contrary to law, the intent of Congress and the will of the American people.”

As of January 4, the BLM had captured 299 Calico horses. The capture operation has now moved from private land in Paiute Meadows Ranch to private land in Soldier Meadows where they will remain for the next two weeks. Public access to observe the roundup is being strictly limited and controlled by the BLM.

Under the Bush administration the numbers of wild horses removed by the BLM from their Western ranges tripled. Despite promising change, the Obama administration has accelerated the pace of removals, with plans to capture 12,000 wild horses in 2010. The majority of those horses will be sent to long-term holding facilities in the Midwest , where they will join 35,000 wild horses and burros already stockpiled by the BLM. Under the Salazar/Obama plan the government will warehouse in the Midwest nearly double the number of horses allowed to live freely on public lands in the West.

Wild horses comprise a minute fraction (0.5 percent) of grazing animals on public lands, where they are outnumbered by cattle at least 200 to 1. Currently the BLM manages more than 256 million acres of public lands of which cattle grazing is allowed on 160 million acres; wild horses are only allowed on 26.6 million acres this land, which must be shared with cattle.

Contact: Suzanne Roy, In Defense of Animals, 919-697-9389; sroy@idausa.org