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Kat Ballou in 2023 courtesy of Wild at Heart Images

The death of a young filly during the ongoing McCullough Peaks Herd Management Area (Wyo.) roundup has raised concerns about whether the Bureau of Land Management is following its own humane handling protocols.

A bait-and-trap roundup of the using livestock panels stocked with feed began in late November. On Jan. 22, the BLM captured 10 wild horses; it released six.

Two days later, one of the four remaining horses was found dead in a temporary holding pen dead from a head injury that a BLM spokesperson was likely caused by hitting a post.

The dead filly turned out to be Kat Ballou, born in December 2022.

Local photographers say that the other three unreleased horses were all still nursing, including two under six months old. They have since been shipped to the Rock Springs (Wyo.) Wild Horse Holding Facility, 775-horse capacity corrals with no shelter.

BLM says it is adhering to its Comprehensive Animal Welfare Protocol, or CAWP, which Congress made mandatory in 2020 after lobbying by RTF and others.

Those humane handling guidelines say that mares and dependent foals are not to be separated for more than four hours. They do not define “dependent foal,” however.

The BLM plans to remove about 35 wild horses at 120,000-acre McCullough Peaks in order to move within the agency-set “Appropriate Management Level” of 70-140 horses. Mares previously treated with fertility control are to receive a booster shot, then released.

RTF strongly opposed the removals as needless—especially given that McCullough Peaks has a successful fertility control program.

Darting mares with proven, safe and humane PZP reduced population growth to an average of 2% per year, according to the BLM, compared to the 15-20% typically seen in herds not managed with fertility control.