Please Comment to Stop BLM’s Wild Mare Sterilization Research
August 18, 2022
A Gift
January 9, 2023Wild Horses at BLM’s Wheatland WY Facility Have No Chance to Be Seen or Adopted
9/29/2022 By Carol J. Walker
The October 1 and October 7 adoption events for the wild horses at the Wheatland, WY private facility have been cancelled. I sent an email two days ago to the relevant staff in the WY Bureau of Land Management:
I am writing to request access to the Wheatland, WY holding facility for wild horses. I was planning to attend the adoption on October 1 and see it has been removed from the website and the October 7 adoption has been cancelled.
I have been attempting to attend an adoption at this facility since the first one scheduled in March of this year. After many calls finally there was an announcement of strangles at the facility however there has been no update since then.
I would like to know how many horses have died, how many are sick, and the condition of the horses at the facility. Have any been shipped out? Are you planning to put more horses at the facility this year?
It has been almost a year since some of these horses have been there since being rounded up last fall and winter, and as far as I know no members of the public have been allowed to adopt or even view the over 2700 horses at this facility.
People care about these horses. People want to adopt these horses. These horses do not deserve to languish and be subject to illness and death there. This is completely unacceptable.
Yes I understand that this is a private facility which I was told was understaffed. But these are not privately owned horses. They belong to the American public. I am requesting a tour of the facility where I can see and assess the condition of the horses for myself along with photographing them so that I can let people who care about these horses what their condition is. I live three hours from the facility and can get there with short notice.
Please respond.
This is the response I received:
“Thank you for contacting the Wild Horse & Burro Program.
Please visit our site at https://www.blm.gov/programs/wild-horse-and-burro/adoptions-and-sales/adoption-centers/wheatland-off-range-corral for information pertaining to the Wheatland Off-Range Corral.
Thank you again for contacting the WHB Program.”
I am very upset. These horses who were rounded up and removed from their homes in the roundup last year in Salt Wells Creek, Great Divide Basin, White Mountain, Adobe Town and Little Colorado do not deserve this treatment. We are not going to forget about them or let them slip through the cracks.
Please contact the following BLM officials who seem to forget that they work for us, the American people, and that these are our horses. They do not belong to the private Wheatland facility or to the BLM. Demand an update on the condition of the horses, and demand that the public be allowed to see and adopt them.
June Wendlandt, Wild Horse and Burro Lead
jwendlan@blm.gov Phone: 307-775-6097
Andrew Archuleta, WY State Director
Phone: 307-775-6001 blm_wy_state_office_wymail@blm.gov
Brad Purdy, Deputy Director Communications Phone: 307-775-6328 bpurdy@blm.gov
UPDATE 9/30/2022
Here is an UPDATE on the Wheatland BLM facility wild horse adoption event cancellations. I had sent an email to the WY and National BLM about the over 2700 wild horses being held at the private corrals in Wheatland WY because all of the adoption events have been cancelled and it has been almost a year since the roundups and since the horses have been seen by the public. This is the response I received yesterday afternoon from June Wendlandt:
“The Director asked me to respond on her behalf;
BLM understands that many of the horses that came to Wheatland from last fall’s gathers are popular, and the public would like to see them firsthand. However, the welfare of the animals remains our top priority and horses at the Wheatland facility continue to show moderate symptoms of strangles.
BLM will not open the facility to the public, offer any type of tour of the corrals, or ship or receive horses at the Wheatland Corrals until the facility veterinarian determines that it is safe to do so. This decision is based on prioritizing the health of the animals at the Wheatland facility and preventing transmission outside the facility to privately-owned horses. Since the strangles infection was detected at the facility in March, 18 horses have died due to the disease.
BLM is working with the private landowner at the Wheatland Corrals to safely reopen the facility as soon as possible. It should also be noted that the October 1 adoption event was last year’s date, this year’s October 7 adoption event was cancelled due to strangles still being present at the corrals.
BLM will provide notification when the facility is reopened and adoptions at the facility will resume. Until then, we will continue to use the Wheatland Off-Range Corral website to provide updates.”
I still have many questions and if you will email and call please request that a veterinarian report on the health and status of the horses at the facility be made available to the public. Seven months is a very long time for Strangles to still be active at the facility. What measures are being taken to separate sick horses from healthy? What bio security measures are the staff taking? How many of the horses have been vaccinated? How many of the stallions have been gelded? How many new foals are at the facility? If the October 21 adoption event that is on the schedule is also cancelled will there be an adoption event or tour scheduled before the end of the year?
Here are the phone numbers, and thank you for caring.
June Wendlandt, Acting Branch Chief – Renewable Resources, Wild Horse and Burro Lead
jwendlan@blm.gov Phone: 307-775-6097
Andrew Archuleta, WY State Director
Phone: 307-775-6001 blm_wy_state_office_wymail@blm.gov
Brad Purdy, Deputy Director Communications Phone: 307-775-6328 bpurdy@blm.gov
12 Comments
Shameless and inexcusable
Totally unacceptable. These horses beling to us not you at BLM and certainly not the Dept. Of Interior.
Transparency must be be put in place.
We, the people, demand the condition of our horses and how many have died.
This is America folks! If we don’t have wild horses and allow big ag to round up our free America who are we???? Stop the round ups! Americans don’t want this!!!
Thank you Carol. We must put a complete end to the nonsense that is the BLM; their lack of transparency and co-operation with their employer, that is, the American Public; their fraudulent round ups; their disregard for maintaining our public lands; and the deep corruption starting from the top of the DOI and state board members.
This is all unexcusable. I don’t believe a word you say and I don’t believable you care about the horses except for the money you can get
There must be a report on the health of these wild horses made known now. Also how many have died ? How have sick ones been treated by a veterinarian ?
As transparent as a mud puddle. So tired of the hiding and lies. How do you get this many people to cover up, not care and lie for you? Seriously BLM and FS employees are heartless how do you find that many people who feel the same way?
This is so irresponsible. This is why large holding facilities are unsafe and inhumane. The plan is a failure! How many more have to die before this abusive program ends?
You are Amazing Persistent and So Well Spoken!! Thank You
Doesn’t the facility need to clear all pasture/areas that contained horses infected with strangles for a period of 3 months to make it safe for use by other horses so they do not get infected?
Unless they are moving the horses for 3 months, this could be a reason why horses are still not recovering.
The reason 85% of the horses at the facility have strangles is that they did not separate sick horses from healthy horses. That is why it has lingered since March.
Hard to believe that they didn’t separate sick horses from the healthy ones. Seems like such an elementary move. New leadership may be in order to improve the situation.