I'll never forget
the first time
that I saw a wild horse.
It was right
at the edge of dawn,
when the sky was
in that special
shade between blue and purple.
And I thought,
in that moment,
they looked like ghosts
of the desert.
It was a journey
none of us expected to go on.
Encountering
such extraordinary beauty...
and traversing
the vast Western US.
We were searching
for the answer to one question.
Why are wild horses
disappearing?
At first, what we discovered
sounded like a conspiracy...
until we realized it was.
Anyone who says magic is gone
from the world
hasn't been in the wild
with horses.
There's a famous quote
that I'd love
for you to think about,
as we take you
through this journey.
"We need
the tonic of wildness.
We require that all things
be mysterious and unexplorable.
That the land and the sea
be indefinitely wild.
Unfathomed by us,
because they are unfathomable.
We can never have enough
of nature."
Most people don't know...
that wild horses even exist
in our country.
Representing purity,
and power, and freedom.
We originally began
this project
as a love letter
to wild horses.
And to gather footage
for a film
that I was directing
at the time.
A modern-day retelling
of Black Beauty.
It's little known
that Anna C. Wells' classic
wasn't necessarily written
as a children's book.
It was an animal welfare plea,
to protect
the horses of her time.
Like most people,
we had no idea
that wild horses were being
rounded up in mass numbers,
taken away from their homes
and their families...
put into government
holding facilities,
never to gallop again.
So, after the credits rolled
on Black Beauty,
we decided to keep going.
But little did we know,
beyond the extraordinary beauty
of wild horses,
they had an enemy.
One that was well-funded
and full of lies,
deceit, and corruption.
We had no idea
we were about to enter a w*r.
We just got to Delta.
We're not allowed
to view the holding facility,
even though
it's a BLM holding facility.
There's Kai,
we've got officers,
I'm not sure
what we're about to encounter.
The famous Onaqui Horses
were just rounded up,
and they said that
we couldn't come observe.
So, we came anyway.
The horses are just being
unloaded from the trucks.
This is...
...this is really hard to see.
I think one of the worst things
in doing all of this...
...was watching their freedom
get taken away.
- Gosh, that sound is--
- I know, it's terrible.
And we've been listening to it
for hours now,
for two hours, it's horrible.
And our question was...
why?
Why is this happening
to wild horses?
Aren't they living symbols
of America?
Aren't they supposed to be
federally protected?
And if wild horses
live on public land,
which they do...
...don't the people have a say?
Stop the choppers!
Isn't this our land?
Stop the choppers!
Stop the choppers!
But before we go forward,
let's go back.
To understand where
wild horses really came from,
and why they,
like other species,
such as wolves, coyotes,
trout and sage-grouse,
are being scapegoated
and knowingly eradicated
from our public lands.
Because unless
we do something...
wild horses will disappear...
forever.
My name is
Dr. Yvette Running Horse Collin
and I'm an Oglala Lakota
researcher and scientist.
And I'm an administrator
for the He'Sapa Unity Alliance
Council of Elders.
So, Western science
and academia now agrees
that the horse originated
in North America.
However, they say
that all the horses died out
in North and South America
during the last Ice Age,
which is around 13,000
to 11,000 years ago,
until Columbus
reintroduced them
in the late 1400s.
Many, many, many species
survived the Ice Age.
For example,
the elk, the antelope,
of course, we had the wolf,
the bear, the bison.
So, I find it
very interesting,
why they would focus
on the horse.
Contrary to what Western
academia has put forward,
our people say,
we always had the horse.
History is often told
by the conqueror.
There were many accounts
in the Spanish chronicles
of multiple quadrupeds, right,
four-legged animals
everywhere,
all over the place.
There were also accounts
where Native peoples and horses
were reported
as living together
in a domestic-type situation.
There is a great deal
of fossil evidence
to prove that the horses
did not go extinct
in the Americas
and that they indeed
had a relationship
with different Native peoples.
This issue has not been properly
scientifically researched.
What would happen...
if it's understood
and widely accepted
that the horse
survived the Ice Age?
And, in fact, some of that blood
is still in the wild horses
that roam these lands today.
If the United States
follows its own laws,
they would then be protected
by the Endangered Species Act.
Not only
would they be protected,
it also protects the lands
that they call home.
They wouldn't be available
for extraction, uh, for mining.
They would have to be kept pure
and allowed
to live in balance.
The wild horse w*r
has been going on
for a long time.
In 1971, President Nixon
stepped in to help.
The president had been moved
by the plight
of wild horses and burros
after he received
thousands of letters
sent in by children,
a campaign organized
by Velma Johnson,
better known
as "Wild Horse Annie."
The president opened
his remarks on the bill
by quoting
Henry David Thoreau.
"We need the tonic
of wildness," he began.
Congress unanimously passed
the Wild and
Free-Roaming Horses
and Burros Act of 1971.
Which stated
that they should be protected
from capture, branding,
harassment, and death.
It became
starkly black and white to us
how much
that law was being violated,
and how little had changed.
We did not embark on this
to become
investigative reporters.
But we also refused
to stand idly by,
after witnessing
such antiquated cruelty
still happening today.
We very calmly asked
and we said it is our right...
-Yep. Yeah.
-...as journalists,
as public observers,
to go over there
and point our camera--
And-- and we feel that
for the safety of everybody,
and the coordination
of this group,
we want to keep you here,
so that's what we're gonna do.
A minute ago,
it was for our safety,
now you're saying
it's 'cause we're emotional.
Well, emotion runs into that.
If people are getting emotional,
how do you control people?
Today,
wild horses are under attack,
perhaps more
than ever before.
The law
President Nixon championed
is being ignored.
And even worse,
the Bureau of Land Management
is currently trying to reduce
wild horse populations down
to what President Nixon
considered to be...
extinction level.
The president's policy
contained one fatal flaw.
The Wild Horse
and Burro Act grants
the Bureau of Land Management
sole authority
to determine
the amount of wild horses
that can roam free
on public land.
Since 1971,
the BLM has set
the appropriate amount to zero
in nearly 50%
of herd management areas
initially protected
at a federal level.
But to get
to the bottom of all of this,
we felt like we needed
to start with the horses.
We needed to go out
into the wild.
Our journey began in Utah,
with the famous Onaqui horses.
You come
to a place like this
and the horses
are right off the road.
And that's probably why
they're arguably
the most famous horses
in the country.
The more time
we spent with them...
we began to learn about
their families.
There were the curious foals,
the watchful mothers...
the playful adolescents,
and the bachelors.
There were stallions
that battled
for mares and dominance...
And the more
quirky personalities.
It was clear
how much they were
just like us.
We got to know
the rhythm of their lives
and how
they had been given names,
like Stargazer
and Moon Drinker.
The cremello
and his best friend, the black.
The powerful bay roan
who is very protective
over his mares,
the perlino sisters.
There was one stallion
with piercing blue eyes,
that someone called Norman,
and the name stuck.
Norman was part
of what's called bachelor band,
which means
a group of young stallions
who hang out together.
His two best friends
were Rowan and Rudy.
Our favorite family
didn't have any names,
so we called
the stallion, Wind Knot,
and his chestnut foal,
Suncatcher.
When we first saw them,
there were over 500 horses,
but the most famous
proved elusive.
He was a legendary
white stallion called Old Man.
The Gandalf of the mountains.
This place
was like a fairytale.
And it was right here
for all of us.
But only two months
after we first visited them,
we found out the Onaqui were
going to be rounded up, too.
We realized at that point,
as filmmakers,
we had a duty to protect them.
Not only the Onaqui,
but all wild horses.
But this issue
has been going on
for over 100 years.
How were we gonna
make a difference?
As they usually did,
the horses guided us.
Right to the good people
that could help.
Hi, I'm Kimerlee Curyl,
and I am a wild horse
photographer and advocate
for keeping our wild horses
on our public lands.
My name is Erik Molvar,
I'm a wildlife biologist,
and I'm also
the Executive Director
of Western Watersheds Project,
a conservation group
dedicated to protecting
and restoring wildlife
and watersheds
throughout the American West.
So, I've been coming out
to the Onaqui Range
since 2000-- 2009.
But my first visit out here,
of course,
was beyond magical
and life-changing.
To drive out here,
I did not expect to be immersed
in such a large herd of horses.
To walk amongst them,
feel like I became part
of the herd that week.
And unfortunately, that fall,
there was an "emergency roundup"
and they stripped
these horses down to--
the last I read,
was somewhere between 50 and 75,
and that was in 2009.
Here we are in the--
in the middle of the Red Desert,
and it's one of the largest
unfenced tracts of public land
anywhere remaining
in North America.
The Red Desert is one
of the real biological hot spots
in the American West.
One of the places where
the ecosystems are healthiest,
where the biodiversity
is greatest.
And this is an area
that used to have
thousands and thousands
of wild horses,
but has been subjected
to heavy roundups
by the Bureau
of Land Management,
and now,
they're getting quite rare.
In the Western United States,
there are less
than 100,000 wild horses.
There are two million cattle
that are set loose
on Western Public Lands
every year,
and who knows
how many million sheep.
The Bureau of Land Management
recently did an analysis
and determined
that pretty much
all of the wild horse areas
in the Red Desert
are meeting the thriving
natural ecological balance
that's required by federal law.
And yet,
the agency wants to take away
thousands of these horses,
even though the land
is in great shape.
It's also frustrating that
if you were to look at a graph
of the, what is it,
245 million acres
of public lands that we have
and you look at how much
is allotted for cattle,
and then you look at the very
small fraction for horses,
you just got to
do the math on that.
Wild horses forage
a lot more like bison.
Horses can forage ten,
20 miles away from water.
So, they have
a lighter impact
on the overall health
of the vegetation.
Whereas cattle will forage
right next to water sources.
And these
are the biodiversity hot spots,
the oases
out here in the arid lands.
So, if you have
really heavy overgrazing,
close to water,
you're wiping out
the biodiversity
not just of the vegetation,
but of all the animals,
the insects, the birds,
that depend on that.
Wild horses have always been
an easy scapegoat
for the livestock industry,
because
they don't want to admit
that their cattle and sheep,
and the huge numbers of them,
that are overgrazing
chronically, year after year,
are the problem with land health
in the American West.
This is a-- a simple case
of the federal government
doing the bidding
of a handful of privileged
livestock permitees
that want the horses gone.
They're pointing
to basically an innocent victim
in all of this.
Perhaps the biggest issue
facing Bureau of Land Management
is the agency's
incompetence itself.
We left the Red Desert
with two new allies.
And in 2019, we experienced
our first roundup.
Which was a massive removal
of over 800 horses
in the Triple B area
of Nevada.
But before we get
into the darker stuff,
I think it's probably time
to introduce our team.
Uh,
Wyoming cell service
isn't the best cell service
in the world.
That's why we're
listening to Alanis Morissette.
The driver is my husband, Ed.
He's my partner
in all things.
That's a lot of sand.
The sarcastic one
is my younger brother, Richard.
There's Kai,
our brilliant cinematographer,
and our two first ACs,
who rotated
during different trips,
Brianna and Rocio.
There was our set
photographer, Marcello,
and our puppy, Whiskey,
who grew up along the journey.
This ferocious
snarling hell hound right here.
As for me,
I was usually editing
from the front seat,
or running off
to find the horses.
A film crew
is like a family,
and we are fortunate to have
such a passionate
team of people
who endured long hours
and sometimes
questionable motel rooms
to tell this story.
We drove through the night
to get to Ely,
and braced ourselves for what
was to come the next day.
We say goodbye
to the...
historic Hotel Nevada
and Gambling Hall
and Denny's today.
Now we are officially
in the middle
of absolutely nowhere.
I want to know
who even found these horses
and decided
they need to be rounded--
- Exactly.
- Look around.
Like,
you can't even see them.
But, guys,
look how overpopulated it is.
The Triple B HMA
is over 1.2 million acres.
An HMA means
Herd Management Area,
basically the amount of land
wild horses
are allowed to be free.
The BLM justified
this roundup,
where they planned
to take up to 800 horses
away from their homes,
by citing unnecessary
degradation to the land
and wanting to restore
a thriving,
natural ecological balance
for multi-use.
There were an estimated
3,000 horses
across all of this land.
But the BLM wanted to
reduce them down
to as low as 474.
To give you an idea,
that's one horse
per roughly 2,500 acres
or 1,900 football fields.
This is what's called an
Appropriate Management Level,
or AML.
Essentially,
the amount of wild horses
the Bureau of Land Management
states the land can sustain.
But in 2013,
the National Academy
of Sciences,
a group of independent
bipartisan scientists,
stated that the AMLs
were not supported
by scientific information,
but the BLM
is still using them
to round up thousands
of wild horses every year.
Also stating that they're
starving and overpopulated,
a repetitive narrative
that we kept hearing
in the media,
which was also supported
by some of the ranchers
in the area.
It's going to get bumpy.
Now,
if you dig a little deeper,
wild horses shared that land
with livestock,
with up to 7,300
privately owned cattle
and 36,000 sheep,
which are authorized to graze
in the wild horse complex
every year.
Now, you might assume
it's just
mom and pop ranchers,
who get to graze
their livestock
cheaply on public lands,
but they're not.
A large number of them
are millionaires, billionaires,
and billionaire corporations
on Forbes Rich List.
Okay.
Way over there.
We've got
ten minutes to be set up.
We just brought
about 400 pounds of gear.
Oh, God.
Quarter mile.
- They are far away.
- Oh, my God.
Do you think they see us?
- Yeah. We're on.
- Okay.
We were placed
on top of a mountain,
miles away from where
the helicopters began.
If we didn't have
a massive zoom lens,
we wouldn't have been able
to see anything.
We also weren't allowed
to put up umbrellas,
even though
the heat was over 100 degrees,
because they said
it would scare the horses.
The horses were run
for miles.
As they got closer,
we saw their coats
glistening with sweat,
and babies
at the point of exhaustion.
The helicopters then drove them
into the trap site,
which was purposefully
blocked from view.
This is often
where the injuries happen.
Where horses break their legs
or their necks,
trying to escape,
or get back to their families.
We wondered where
that many horses would go,
and why the BLM had
a publicist.
Um, so,
that historical part,
you know, obviously, they--
they weren't just here.
Mm-hmm.
Something kind of came along
after the Ice Age.
Yeah, right.
To replenish--
You know,
being able to survive
in a natural
ecological balance.
Green as this looks, you know,
they're not gonna eat the sage,
they're not gonna eat--
'cause there's not sufficient
foraged water for them.
It was the same
narrative again.
And with all due respect
to Jenny,
I'm a horse person,
and the horses that we saw
getting rounded up
were fat and healthy.
This was just the beginning
of the string of lies
that would be purported
by Bureau of Land Management
publicists.
But then,
all of a sudden,
they asked us
to swing our camera around
and point it
in the opposite direction.
They said
horses were coming in.
It wasn't true.
Where we were looking,
we noticed
that a foal had collapsed
and a lone Wrangler
was riding out toward it.
What happened next
is heartbreaking to see.
But it's important to show
the blatant disregard
for life,
and the cruelty with which
these horses are treated.
That baby
was maybe a month old.
Five foals died
due to the roundup.
One was reported by the BLM
to have sustained injuries
during transport.
Possibly meaning
the baby was trampled to death
in the trailer.
Another died due to
water toxicity in holding,
which can medically indicate
fatal dehydration
and muscle fatigue
from being run so hard.
The outrage we felt
was indescribable.
And how expansive is that,
that the helicopters
just appear for that long
and then they're racing
these horses...
- Yeah. Yeah.
- ...for miles.
Driving them at a gallop
for miles?
I-- I mentioned the family
dynamics at the Onaqui herd.
And she basically stopped
at me and said...
Yeah,
"A wild animal's a wild animal."
Yeah, they just mate
with each other and--
Some people
are animal lovers,
but they don't respect how
intelligent they actually are.
Yeah. They just can't.
That's just-- that's just--
that's ignorance,
that's willful ignorance.
Look,
how could-- could those trucks
filled with horses,
come all the way here...
- And then come back.
- ...then come back that fast?
That's some conspiracy--
conspiracy shit.
Just keep rolling
the whole time, okay?
Yep. Yep.
They want to feed
and water these horses
and let them settle before
we have a bunch of bodies again.
Yeah.
We do not have that on
horses.
We had to wait
for several hours
before we got to see
the horses up close.
When we were finally allowed
to go in,
we were only allowed to set
the camera down a few times.
A ranger with a g*n
had been with us all day,
and several other
BLM employees were armed.
It seemed a little excessive
for a couple of filmmakers
and a handful
of wild horse advocates.
In the short time
that we had,
we managed to capture
some very upsetting images
of the horses of Triple B
who had lost their freedom.
Once they got to holding,
the Bureau of Land Management
euthanized multiple horses,
including those
they deemed blind,
even though they had survived
just fine in the wild.
Euthanasia in this situation
usually isn't done
with a humane injection.
That's one of the reasons
the employees carry g*ns.
They often sh**t the horses
to put them down at holding.
And we wondered
if this was one of the reasons
we had to wait several hours
before we got to see them.
Sixteen horses lost their lives
in the roundup of Triple B.
Very few would ever see
their families again.
It was heartbreaking to think
that this was going to happen
to our beloved Onaqui herd,
and that their families
would suffer the same fate.
It also started to make us
ask deeper questions.
Who are we to look down
on animals
like they're lesser
or secondary?
After all,
humans are social animals,
just like horses.
And there are plenty
of other indisputable
similarities between us.
To say wild horses don't have
feelings or families
seemed like a form
of human exceptionalism,
self-delusion, arrogance,
especially given
we're the only species
willfully destroying
our own planet.
So, perhaps, that makes
animals superior to us.
In rare places
in the United States
that actually maintain
a thriving,
natural ecological balance,
such as Yellowstone,
or Glacier National Park,
the animals
and habitat flourish.
These are places
where predators,
like wolves
and mountain lions,
aren't k*lled
to make way for livestock.
But balanced places like this
are few and fast-disappearing,
just like wild horses.
If we want to have a chance
at living in harmony,
doesn't that mean protecting
and re-wilding our world
instead of destroying it?
All of these larger questions
started with the Onaqui.
The protection of this herd
began to represent
something greater.
We decided to ask
for support.
From not only the community
fighting hard to protect them,
but from children.
And something
miraculous happened.
We began receiving
thousands of letters
from people all over the world,
who joined us
in standing with wild horses.
Perhaps there is hope
for the Onaqui yet.
Our journey took us
over 20,000 miles
across 13 different states
and diverse landscapes.
The Red Desert turned
into lush forest.
And there were a few places
that struck us most of all.
They were the horses of Heber,
living in the Sitgreaves
National Forest.
And in the woodlands
of Oregon,
these horses
had rare bloodlines
thought to have died out
many years ago,
until the Kiger were found.
We also wanted to speak
with ranchers
to get their side
of the story.
Surely not every rancher
wanted wild horses gone.
I'm Stacey Davies, Manager
of Roaring Springs Ranches
in French Glen, Oregon.
We have, on those ranches,
three Herd Management Areas,
South Steens, Beatys Butte,
and the Kigers.
I am Kathy Gibson Boatman.
I was born here
in Arizona.
Um, I'm an eighth--
seventh generation
involved in cattle ranching
in Arizona.
I love horses.
I-- I mean, I'm a rancher
because I love horses.
And the wild horses
are such an icon.
They keep the trails open,
they utilize foraging areas
the cows won't go.
And we feel like they're part
of the multiple use
that should happen
on that range land.
The government gave homesteads,
encouraging people
to come and settle
the wild western frontier
because it was a wild,
wild western place,
you know,
still had Indians doing battle,
and the Historic Preservation
Act of 1966 requires
that they consider
how their decisions impact
our historic resources
and our cultural traditions.
The Kiger HMA would be
somewhere around 30,000 acres.
They generally keep it
right around 100 head of horses.
How-- how do you count
every single horse
on a single given day?
I've heard there's anywhere
from 1,000 to 2,500.
It all depends on what area
you're counting those horses in.
7,000 that they know of.
When they set these herds up,
it was recognized
that any one herd below 300
would not mean
enough genetic diversity
to maintain
a healthy population.
There was a big argument
that we should not have herds
of less than 300.
So, people,
especially advocates,
are currently asking
for a look at AML.
And that many of these
AMLs are too low,
and that too much forage
was allocated to livestock
and not enough to horses.
And-- and I'm asking
rather than have
that s-- small debate,
that we have
a much bigger national debate.
Let's look at the whole program
at the top and come down,
and how many horses is enough
for the US government to own?
I think it's wrong to-- to say
that every one of these HMAs
should have
300 to 500 head,
so you have enough
genetic diversity,
because I don't think
the BLM needs
200,000 horses
on the range.
I think 20,000's
probably enough.
And that wasn't really
the intention
of the Wild Horse
and Burro Act.
The intention of the Horse--
the Wild Horse and Burro Act
was not to just set up
some creatures
as though they were unicorns
for people to look at,
who just magically appeared.
There was just
an overpopulation.
Therein lies the horse herd
that we are dealing with now.
Ha-- have they tested
them genetically
to show their lineage?
There's talk of that,
but they say it's not--
not feasible, not viable,
not a viable option.
Congress has allocated
every dollar
for the Wild Horse
and Burro program
that BLM's ever asked for.
So, you--
if you ask BLM that question,
they'll say,
"We don't have enough money."
BLM is not creative.
They are bureaucratic,
they don't think
outside the box,
they are not innovative,
and I think they should be.
The ranchers
are part of the solution.
All of the good ground
is private land,
all intermingled
with public land.
So, if you take my public
grazing permit away from me
and I fence off
my private land,
I screw up
the HMA completely,
'cause those horses
can no longer move
throughout 40 acres
with a reservoir in the middle.
We fence off the 40,
the horses die.
So, what do we own?
We own all the water.
So, there's an interdependence
between public and private land.
I hope that we can have
continued discussions
about what wild horse-friendly
ranching looks like
and it can include the BLM.
We can have
that programmatic review.
And if Congress really
wants to work on this issue,
that's what they would do.
To date,
there have been
no legal roundups
of the Heber horses.
Though the Forest Service
is currently pushing for one.
However,
in the '80s and '90s,
the Forest Service
colluded with ranchers
to round up
dozens of Heber horses
and sell them at auction.
These places can often lead
to the slaughter pipeline.
Death is an interesting topic.
So, humans, and especially
North American humans,
don't deal with death
very well.
To me, there's just
this total disconnect
between what's humane
and not humane.
Now, is the trader right
inhumane,
or are they handled poorly
in the corral?
We can have
a discussion around that.
But the actual death?
There's no better way
than to go with a stun g*n.
Done.
But in Mexico,
some of those deaths
in those slaughter plants
are just-- I--
So, let's do it in the US,
where we can control it.
Horse meat's great meat.
There was great uses
for it before.
So, let's do it
in the US,
where we can control
the manner in which it's done.
We can have humane
handling of the animals,
right up until their death.
Far more humane
than what they're going through
on the range.
I've had people tell me,
"Well, the ranchers should get
their own private land,
or go back to--
go to Texas."
Well, I've been to Texas,
and they're selling off
private ranches there.
And they're selling them
to be game preserves, you know?
I don't know
how you feel about it,
but I don't really
want to eat zebra.
By this stage,
we had gotten familiar
with the slaughter pipeline.
And we had gotten to know
some of the players
that run k*ll pens.
Basically feedlots
or auctions,
where k*ll buyers
purchase horses and burros
to send to slaughter.
In the United States,
slaughtering horses
to sell their meat
for human consumption
is not legal.
However, it's not illegal
to send them across the border
to Canada and Mexico.
We wanted to get down to Texas
to take a look for ourselves.
Of course, we couldn't bring
regular film cameras
into places like these,
so we had to be covert.
- Which button is it?
- Top one.
Oh, my God,
that is a freaking--
- Yup.
- That's--
Do you see
the screen here, though?
Where?
Right here in my hand?
I can't move it too far.
My husband, Ed,
was in the middle
of producing
another movie,
so my dad joined
my brother and I on this trip
for an added
layer of protection.
I was just
thinking of buying a horse.
All right.
It was nerve-wracking,
going into a place like this.
My little camera
wasn't as covert as we thought,
but Richard's button cam,
which we sewed into his shirt,
was nearly undetectable.
So, most of our footage
lives here.
Man, busy day.
Rick.
They've got a zebra in here.
It's a baby.
Excuse me, sir.
Where are the wild horses?
They're over the hill.
Oh, got you.
There are probably 30, 40...
Oh, my gosh.
What are those?
It's like a zebra
and a horse combined.
Oh, my God.
You can tell
they got the same blue eye.
Yeah.
You see her down there?
On our very first day,
we got a glimpse into
the auction world of Texas.
But the loose horses
that my dad was asking about,
the wild horses,
had already left
early in the morning.
We'd be there
the next day to see them.
This was part of the auction
not on the schedule.
I want to go
one or two more down.
- Yeah.
- Down here?
Yeah, let's get
a little closer, maybe.
- We got good seats.
- Yeah.
So, 2,550 down here?
It was all we could do
to keep from crying out.
Especially when the mothers
and their terrified babies
came through.
I was also nervous
when I recognized
a known k*ll buyer
in the audience.
Thankfully, he didn't know
what I looked like.
We were told that if the horses
were bought in big numbers,
they were probably
being shipped
to slaughter in Mexico.
Where'd they--
Where'd they capture all those?
- In the-- out in the range?
- Yeah.
We were also curious
where the zebra
was from earlier.
I think that's him
in the red, in the-- yeah.
It was surreal seeing
zebras in a place like this.
We couldn't imagine
where they might end up next.
Especially given
there are no limits on
exotic animal hunting in Texas.
We also noticed
on social media,
almost immediately after
the donkeys were purchased,
they popped up
on a k*ll pen website...
listed for sale
or slaughter.
We ended up speaking to someone
in the know at the auction,
who offered
to do an interview.
If it's in somebody's budget,
they go across the border,
and once
they go across the border,
they more than likely
don't come back.
But when our camera showed up,
he disappeared and stopped
responding to calls,
text messages,
and voicemails.
He did do a brief call
with me on the phone.
We were here
earlier this morning,
and with the little donkeys
and with some
of those wild horses,
we did notice certain numbers
were bidding on a lot of them.
Are they bidding on them
to send them down to Mexico?
Oh, more than likely.
If you-- if you--
if you're there
and you're paying attention
in the ring
and the number of buyers,
if there's a guy there
that buys over,
you know, ten head,
he's buying for the K*llers,
is what they--
they call them the K*llers--
or sometimes
they're not K*llers,
but he's buying for Mexico.
Like, 90% of those donkeys,
they probably all got bought,
and they'll probably
go to Mexico
and then on the horse side,
yes, if you pay attention to it
and you listen
and you see one number
and he's buying,
you know, over ten horses
and he's not paying
over $1,000 a piece for them,
then, yes, ma'am, he's--
he's putting together a load
and he's gonna send them
to Mexico.
They'll send
anything down there.
It's-- Whatever
doesn't get bought,
a k*ller buyer will buy,
no matter how junky it is.
If it comes in there
with a broke leg,
it doesn't matter.
They'll give a price for it
and it'll sell.
There were low parts
in our journey,
but this was definitely
one of them.
Thousands of wild horses
and burros
had ended up
in the slaughter pipeline.
And as the New York Times
exposed,
the Bureau of Land Management's
own adoption incentive program
had led to duplicitous people
making thousands of dollars
by adopting
wild horses and burros
and then flipping them
at auctions,
like the one
we were just at.
The BLM's budget
for the Wild Horse
and Burro program
in 2021 alone,
was over
115 million dollars.
Where was all of that
being spent?
When we looked,
we saw that more
than half of it
was being spent on long-term
and short-term holding.
Basically incarcerating
wild horses
for the rest of their lives
at taxpayers' expense.
We'd visited these facilities
and it was awful.
The wild horses
were branded like cattle.
Tags were strapped
tightly around their necks.
Some were even spray painted.
And worst of all,
they were separated
from their families.
You could just see
the betrayal in their eyes.
Especially when they looked out
beyond the bars,
toward the mountains.
Many of these places
don't have shade...
or any shelter
from the elements.
All they can do is wait
and comfort each other.
Unsurprisingly,
as it turned out...
millions of dollars
were being spent
on contracts
for helicopter roundups...
and for livestock ranchers
to use their pastures
to warehouse wild horses.
Several of these contractors
such as Cattoor
Livestock Roundup Inc.,
better known
as the Cattoor family,
were among the BLM's
contractors of choice...
along with Shane F. Sampson
and Sun J Livestock.
Sampson had earned
over four million dollars.
Sun J Livestock
had been awarded
approximately ten million.
And the Cattoors had earned
over 30 million dollars
in contracts from
the United States Government.
Let's reiterate
that these are contractors,
awarded millions
by the American Government,
funded by our tax dollars,
to round up wild horses
which are supposed to be
federally protected.
But shockingly, in 1992,
along with several others,
Dave Cattoor was convicted
and pled guilty
to breaking a federal law.
For conspiring to use
his aircraft to
hunt wild horses
for the purposes
of capturing them,
k*lling them
and sending them to slaughter.
He was only fined $500.
And the BLM continues to hire
Cattoor Livestock Roundup Inc.
My name is Scott Beckstead.
I'm Director of Campaigns
for Animal Wellness Action
and the Center
for a Humane Economy.
And I'm also
an adjunct professor of law
at Willamette University.
There has been a push,
an aggressive push
by the Bureau of Land Management
to ramp up these roundups
and removals,
and it's being fueled
by the huge sums of money
appropriated to it by Congress.
Congress
has been successfully lobbied
by the beef industry
for the roundup and removal
of huge numbers
of wild horses and burros
to get the population down
to the low AMLs.
The BLM has constructed
this false narrative
about an overpopulation
of wild horses.
It's a clever ploy
because it diverts
the public's attention
away from the effects
of overgrazing by millions
of commercial livestock
that the BLM has allowed
to happen on our public lands.
What makes these roundups
so difficult to stop
is the huge amounts of money.
Congress has really enabled this
by appropriating 116 million
in 2021 alone
to fund these operations.
It pays
the helicopter contractors
millions of dollars
to do their work,
and then it also appropriates
millions more
to these private entities,
mostly corporations,
to build these off-range
holding facilities
where tens of thousands
of our wild horses
and burros will be kept.
Hi, I'm Marty Irby,
I'm the Executive Director
of Animal Wellness Action
in Washington DC.
I'm one of the nation's
top lobbyists in the country
and also the top lobbyist
on horse protection issues.
One thing that most people
don't realize that occurs
is that there are
lobbying dollars
in Washington DC
that we're up against.
It's a David and Goliath
situation
because there are
actual federal funds
called "USDA
Commodity Checkoff Programs."
Those commercials, you see,
like, "Got milk,"
"Beef,
it's what's for dinner,"
"Pork, the other white meat,"
and "The incredible edible egg,"
aren't really commercials
or ad campaigns,
they're USDA checkoff programs,
they're funded by dollars
paid in by producers
to sell these products.
These entities
are quasi-governmental entities,
and they're utilizing the funds
to illegally lobby for policies
that we don't support,
policies that put
small farmers out of business,
policies that harm animals,
policies that are pro-slaughter,
total of $850 million a year
for all of
the checkoffs combined.
Basically, the National
Cattlemen's Beef Association,
NCBA,
which is the beef checkoff,
uses their money illegally
to lobby for horse slaughter.
These horses
are going to become food
for someone
in China, Japan or Europe.
I think
one of the most glaring examples
of this corrupt system
is with J. R. Simplot,
uh, which is an Idaho-based
food company
that grazes
tens of thousands of cattle
at a taxpayer-subsidized rate
of a dollar 35
per animal unit month
on grazing allotments
across five western states.
So, it's enriching itself
by grazing its livestock
at taxpayer expense
on the front end,
and on the back end
it's being paid millions
by the BLM to hold onto
large numbers of wild horses
that have been removed
from our public lands
to clear the way for more
commercial livestock grazing.
And it should terrify
every single American
who cares about
wild horses and burros
that a food company
is being paid
to hold onto large numbers
of these wild horses and burros
that have been removed
from our public lands.
When you think about it,
you can barely buy
a single can of cat or dog food
for a dollar 35.
But big food corporations
were getting
these massive tax subsidies
to graze their cattle
on our public land
for a little over
a dollar a month,
when private ranchers
had to pay over 20
using their own land.
That didn't seem fair.
And wild horses were being
rounded up because of it.
In 2021,
we were about to experience
this corruption for ourselves.
The iconic horses
of Sand Wash Basin in Colorado
are known for the legendary
paint stallion, Picasso.
This place, just like Onaqui,
had its own magic.
It was interesting to watch
the wild horse hierarchy...
as each family
waited their turn for water.
Often, the stallions would
scope it out first for safety.
And in some bands,
a lieutenant stallion
can be an extra set of eyes
over the family...
until the band stallion
returns.
At Sand Wash Basin,
there were watering holes
that were filled naturally
by the elements.
And there were also
manmade troughs,
which local advocates
helped to maintain.
Right at sunset...
hundreds of horses
appeared before our eyes.
And then, almost as quickly
as they came...
they were gone.
It takes a lot of effort
and understanding
and decades of data
to understand
what the range condition
is like.
Just don't go out there
looking for
the beautiful horses,
which they are very beautiful,
and understand
what's in the.
Okay, but could you just
tell us the reasoning
behind the roundup at Sand Wash?
So, the way we manage horses
to be in harmony
with their habitat,
so the habitat
and the horses are healthy,
is by managing the numbers.
Um, you know,
unlike other large grazers,
they're just kind of
more or less there all year.
Um, and so that means
that the numbers of animals,
the numbers of mouths
need to be appropriate
for what the landscape
is capable of producing.
So that's--
Let me jump in there and say,
"But why do we do it?"
We do it because
we're required by law...
Mm-hmm.
...to manage for a thriving
ecological balance.
How do you guys
feel about the fact
that the Governor has called
for a moratorium on this roundup
to be evaluated
through more of a fact
and science-based lens?
Uh, we appreciate
their interest,
and we're going to continue
to work with Colorado
to find creative solutions
to manage these horses
in a healthy way
and also resulting
in a healthy landscape.
That's-- that's what we are
going to do moving forward.
How do you feel about
the Governor's position?
Again,
we appreciate their position,
we appreciate them
wanting to work with us,
and we want to work with them.
And so we need to
by mandate, by law,
manage healthy horses
on healthy range lots.
Did they consult?
Because I know
the National Academy of Sciences
in 2013, I believe,
stated that the AMLs
were not based
on fact or science.
So, they're saying--
they're saying there was a--
a considerable, uh,
production data collected
all across Sand Wash
in the '90s,
and that went into setting,
uh, you know, for Sand Wash.
But from the '90s,
into the year--
into 2011, 2013, 2015,
obviously, there's a lot
going on with climate change
and why would data
that's that old--
The-- these rangelands change,
but they change very slowly.
You don't wait till
the range land has collapsed,
and then you find
poor body condition,
you don't wait for that.
So-- so,
you're rounding them up pro--
before they can reach a point
of poor body condition?
The BLM's role legally,
statutorily,
is to manage the habitat.
That, you know, the-- the state,
uh, you know,
they manage the animals.
Um, except
for the horses, you know,
uh, like, say the horse
is the only thing BLM manages
that has a heartbeat.
Every-- every other critter
out here is either the state
or if it's listed,
it's Fish and Wildlife Service.
The BLM had announced
an emergency roundup
to permanently remove
nearly 90% of the wild horses
of Sand Wash Basin.
This emergency status
allowed them to move forward
with the roundup quickly
and didn't require the BLM
to assemble public comments.
They originally said
the roundup
was due to poor body conditions
of the horses and drought,
even though
the water holes were full.
But then the BLM's narrative
suddenly changed.
The BLM then said
they were removing the horses
because of negative impacts
to sage-grouse habitat
and for future starvation.
They also ignored the requests
of Colorado Governor
Jared Polis,
Western Watersheds project,
and the Sierra Club
to halt the unnecessary roundup
of Sand Wash Basin.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
We are direct right in the--
- in line of the wings.
- Sure.
So, we need to go--
Just over
the other side of this, right?
-Yeah, I don't know.
-Okay.
I'm just gonna go down here
and see if I can find a hole
-to get to.
-All right, absolutely.
So, yeah, we'll just move
the vehicles down
a little farther.
Uh, you could leave
your equipment here
if you'd like,
just right off this area.
It's actually safer
to be near a tree,
if the wild horses come near us.
Usually,.
- It's safer.
- I'm not arguing with you.
We'll comply,
but I'm just letting you know
that God forbid
a wild herd ga--
gallops over this mountain,
you're gonna want to scream
to everybody
to stand under this tree.
And I just-- I don't care
whose side of the issue
you're on.
This-- this is safer.
What Cattoor wants is for us
to not get a clear line of sight
as to what's about to happen.
So, here we are
at Sand Wash Basin.
We were asked to move
from that tree to here.
So, that the horses apparently
can see us.
And apparently we're hiding
behind this mountain.
However, we cannot see
the helicopter operation
at this point.
From our vantage point
behind the hill,
we could barely see anything
the helicopter was doing...
until the horses were driven
into the trap site.
It was the first time
we had been this close to one.
And it was horrifying to see.
Numerous horses
had sustained injuries.
Actually,
they're putting up--
Hovering on the area
where the foals were running,
which indicates that,
in fact,
the foals were
not in a good position earlier.
The paneling does--
the plastic fence,
it will prevent
the foals from--
and the horses from wanting
to run through the panel.
So, because they didn't have
that up earlier,
those three yearlings
were running around
and starting to test the pen.
So, the fact that
they're putting up now indicates
that they weren't doing it
correctly earlier.
Interesting,
and that's when,
apparently, that one--
that one yearling got hurt,
and his shoulder was bloody
or her shoulder was bloody.
Uh,
it seems to be, yeah.
The Bureau of Land Management
made us wait
for almost two hours
before we were allowed
to approach the corrals.
Their reasoning was,
"People near the corrals
would upset the horses."
Apparently those rules
didn't apply
to roundup personnel.
It was cold,
and it was raining,
and it was almost like
they were trying to
wait us out.
Ah,
there's horse locations--
When we were finally
allowed closer
to the trap site...
that's when we saw
the injuries.
- ?
- Yep.
So, when do you think...
But as hard
as all this was to see
people kept on coming
to support the horses
and to hold the Bureau
of Land Management accountable.
We found it
exceedingly bizarre...
that Dave and Sue Cattoor
showed up to watch
as the horses of
Sand Wash Basin
lost their freedom.
I'm Steve Leonard,
I'm the Wild Horse and Burro
Lead for the state of Colorado.
Roughly we're at 896 horses
between inside the HMA
and outside the HMA.
And we're trying to reduce
that population down
to the low AML of 163.
So, this is an emergency gather.
Um, we're conducting this
because of the lack of forage
and water for these horses.
Um, and so our objective here
is to reduce the herd to,
um, the appropriate
national levels.
The reasoning
seems to have changed
from an emergency roundup
due to drought,
and because
they were in poor body condition
to identifying that
they're not going to have
enough winter forage,
and there's something to do
with sage-grouse now,
that was-- didn't seem like
it was part of the conversation
until recently.
Well, um, so we always
take into consideration
the needs of all the users
on public lands when we're--
when we're managing
wild horses and burros,
so that includes wildlife.
Um, so the sage-grouse
were always gonna be
part of this decision
to manage this herd.
Didn't the range land
specialist just state
that the Bureau
of Land Management
only manages wild horses?
That every other critter
falls outside of their purview?
Why were they suddenly
trying to scapegoat wild horses
for negative effects
to sage-grouse?
I'm Megan Crawford,
I'm part of the SWAT team
here in the Sand Wash,
and I worked for the BLM
the season of 2016
doing, uh, sage-grouse surveys
and with the emergency gather,
it's honestly kind of a cop-out.
They don't have to do
an environmental assessment,
they don't have to, uh,
have a public scoping
comment period,
they-- they basically
can say we are doing this,
these are the numbers
we're gonna take,
this is the amount of horses
we're gonna leave,
and it kind of takes
all of the accountability
out of the system
because it's sort of
just a standing order,
and we're all just
supposed to bend to it.
And how they can say
it's solely the wild horses
that are the reason
that the sage-grouse
are not rebounding
seems a little bit absurd to me.
I'm not sure the exact number
of sheep that are out here,
but having
that many sheep compared
to the amount of horses, I--
I think it's a cop-out to say
that it's the wild horses
that are degrading the land.
Did any of your beliefs change
in how things were conducted?
Honestly,
I was a little surprised
about the brashness
of the BLM side.
I don't think
that they really care
for the horses out here.
You know,
even what they would say,
the advocates were,
which they kind of used
as a bad word around there.
One of the advocates
on the ground pointed out
that there were babies
only a day old
being chased
by the low flying helicopters.
Though the BLM
continues to define
helicopter roundups as humane.
Something else
we found suspicious that day
was the Cattoor helicopter.
Our camera operator,
Jerry, was also a pilot
and he pointed out that
while there was
a United Flight,
30,000 feet above us,
we could not track
the Cattoor helicopter.
The potential accusation
was that they had blocked
their ADS-B,
which the FAA said a contractor
can do upon request
but can be dangerous given
other aircrafts in the area.
That, or the signal
simply wasn't
being picked up on
because of the terrain.
What we found suspicious
was that the BLM
repeatedly refused
to answer any of our questions
about why the helicopter
had vanished.
So, there was ultimately
no way for us to track
how many grueling miles
they were running these horses.
Uh, the total contract cost
for this
is just under 300,000.
That doesn't include
holding, no.
With the target
of 733 horses to capture
the approximate cost
to taxpayers
to warehouse
all of those horses
for the rest of their lives
was over $36 million.
Thankfully,
due to an intervention
by Governor Jared Polis
and Congressman Joe Neguse,
the roundup ended early
and the total captured was 479.
This is how narrow
this stuff is.
These horses are in this.
They were sent
to a holding facility
at Canyon City Federal Prison
where only months later,
when 145 horses
mysteriously died.
Only two months
after the wild horses
of Sand Wash Basin
were almost
completely eradicated,
thousands of sheep
were spotted in the basin.
Stop the choppers.
Stop the choppers.
Stop the choppers.
Stop the choppers.
Stop the choppers.
Stop the choppers,
stop the cho--
Yesterday,
the Bureau of Land Management
issued a media statement
that said
this roundup is gonna happen.
It was a--
an absolute disregard
of the thousands of people
across the country
and across the world
who have called the BLM
and said,
"Please,
please stop this roundup."
My name is Erik Molvar,
and I'm the Executive Director
of Western Watersheds Project.
My name is Deniz Bolbol,
I'm with the Cloud Foundation,
I'm the Advocacy Director.
Hello, everyone,
I'm Marty Irby here,
Executive Director
of Animal Wellness Action
and chief lobbyist
in Washington DC.
I really appreciate
everyone turning out today
to support the Onaqui horses,
my name is Ashley Avis,
I'm a filmmaker.
Now I've been out to Onaqui.
And the BLM says
that 474 wild horses
are too many for the range.
Livestock industry
coined a term for that.
Bullshit.
Now,
the Bureau of Land Management
has authorized almost
20,000 animal unit months
of cattle and sheep
grazing on Onaqui.
On a wild horse
Herd Management Area
where they have
a congressional responsibility
- to conserve the wild horses.
- Exactly. Exactly.
This kind of injustice
is happening
all around the country.
It's not about a thriving,
natural ecological balance.
The BLM is creating a problem
with cattle and sheep
degrading the range.
And then, instead of addressing
the cause of the problem,
they're blaming
the convenient scapegoat,
the wild horse.
So they can keep on overgrazing
with as many cattle
and sheep as they always have
without
the American public noticing.
Well, guess what, the public
is starting to notice.
Yes!
Earlier this year,
we sent a letter,
I think it was 70 or so groups,
to Secretary Deb Haaland
asking her to put a moratorium
on the grazing permits
for these cattle and sheep
that they're bringing in.
We didn't get a response.
We're asking you,
Mr. President,
please stop the roundups.
Everyone here
has an opportunity
to let the president know
how you feel.
Call 202-456-1111,
202-456-1111.
And let's light up
the White House switchboard.
Let's light it up.
It's time to call the President.
This has to stop.
This is a government agency
that is broken.
It's not just sickened,
in need of reform,
it is broken,
in need of a complete overhaul.
We do need
leadership from above.
We need adult supervision
for the agency bureaucrats
who have been making
the same mistakes,
year after year after year.
I think it's so important
that not only
the people standing here
but the children
in our country
stand up
and raise their voices
because they too
can make a change.
I'd like to read two letters
from two ten-year-olds,
part of a Girl Scout troop.
Dear President Biden.
Dear Interior Secretary
Deb Haaland.
And dear honorable members
of Congress.
"I'm writing
to ask you to make laws
to help protect
the wild Mustang herds."
"If you were a horse
and you were rounded up
in a tiny pen and slaughtered,
how would that make you feel?
Scared.
That is how these horses feel,
and that is sad and wrong."
"Roundups of herds
like the Onaqui must be stopped.
The facts have shown
that these horses just end up
in k*ll pens
bound for a life of pain
and suffering."
"These majestic creatures
are caught in the system
of ranching monopolies,
encouraged
by government enablement
and distortion of the truth."
"President Biden,
please stop
the wild Onaqui roundups.
There are babies
and elderly horses
out on the range who will
not survive the helicopters.
You are the voice
that can stop this."
"Please help the Onaqui
stay where they belong."
"These horses
represent the story of America."
"What will you do
for the generations to come?"
"Have the courage
to see beyond profit,
and take a serious look
at America's long term values."
I'm Jocelyn, I'm ten years old,
and I stand with wild horses.
I stand with wild horses.
I stand with wild horses.
Hopeful and determined,
Jocelyn.
After the rally
to save the Onaqui...
going out to the range
was cleansing.
All of our favorite families
were there.
The chestnut foal
Sun Catcher.
The powerful Stargazer.
The bay roan.
Norman and the three amigos.
It was as if they were
putting on a show for us.
Never had we been so close.
Stargazer was in full form,
battling
several of the stallions
right before our eyes.
A young stallion
sailed before us...
as he courted the affections
of his very first mare.
It was a harmony
only nature could know.
And we were given this
quiet glimpse into all of it.
And then...
the one horse
we'd hoped to see for years...
the legendary Old Man...
seemed to materialize
out of the mountains.
He walked beside us...
and stayed with us
until sunset...
when he was called home.
And that night, we were given
the spectacular gift...
of hundreds of Onaqui horses
galloping to water...
like ghosts of the desert.
Well, uh, thank you everybody
for being here,
my name is Gus Warr,
I'm the BLM Wild Horse and Burro
Program Manager for Utah,
and I'll be the incident
commander on this gather.
Um, been a lot of publicity,
a lot of things associated
with-- with this gather.
Uh, we did have a litigation
case we were working through,
and we wanted
to allow Judge Moss
to make his ruling
without overstepping our bounds
and not doing something
we shouldn't,
and we did get a ruling
which gave us the green light
to be out here today.
This is Lisa Reid,
she's our lead
public affairs person out here
on this gather and, uh,
you're gonna hear her, uh,
what I call barking orders.
She's in charge of all of you.
I'm in charge
of everything out here,
meaning we got
an operations person over here,
we've got
a law enforcement branch,
we've got a public affairs
and so I'm trying
to keep it all in check,
but she's-- she's kind of trying
to corral the people.
You'll see us around,
we're gonna be scattered
throughout the operation,
and, uh, we're here for safety,
and we're gonna hope to prevent
any interference
with the operation.
Because if we start interfering
with gather operations,
then unfortunately,
we have to move further back,
further away or-- or, you know,
if worse comes to worse,
we may have to ask somebody
that's not cooperating
for law enforcement
to escort them out of the site.
It's a hike
but it's-- it's the best--
It's the best viewing
you're gonna get.
We were no longer shocked
that the Onaqui roundup
was justified
much like the rest.
When an organization
called "Friends of Animals"
filed a lawsuit to stop it,
the BLM field manager
for Utah testified under oath
that the horses
were in poor body condition
due to being overpopulated
and needed to be rounded up
for their own good
to prevent future starvation.
This ended up being false,
even by the BLM's
own admission.
And three days
into the roundup,
the agency announced
that most of the horses
were in good shape after all.
But instead of pulling back
or releasing
the healthy horses...
they simply changed
the justification
for the roundup to drought.
We, along with
tens of thousands of people
and advocacy groups
across the world...
tried everything we could
to stop the roundup of Onaqui.
The night before it happened,
as they walked away...
it was like a funeral march.
It was as if they knew.
On the first day,
the helicopter kept a distance,
and only 14 horses
were captured.
None of the families
that we knew
lived in this remote area.
So, we were shocked
to see Old Man there
as if he were bearing witness.
The Associated Press showed up
along with advocates
and other media.
But we were surprised
at how few people turned out.
I think the BLM was too,
because in the days
that followed,
the roundup became
significantly more aggressive.
Sweetheart, run.
So, the question was,
"Why can't we see the traps?"
They're over here,
we looked at the viewing area,
and all you could see
is the corrals.
You couldn't see
the gather area out here.
Can we go up
on that ridge,
like we did yesterday?
We were able to climb
the mountain to look down--
No, we-- we've
selected a viewing site,
we've alerted the contractor,
we've alerted
the helicopter pilot,
it's going to be
right out here.
That's where
we're going to be viewing from.
Unfortunately, we cannot
see the trap site today,
and there's plenty of space
to allow us
a clear line of sight,
but there are a lot more horses
that are being rounded up,
so that can lead to a lot more
injury in that area.
It's just--
it's really disappointing
that our observation rights
are being denied.
But I'm not surprised.
What was heartbreaking
about that morning
was when we arrived,
dozens of Onaqui horses
were grazing
right near the trap site.
Stargazer sounded the alarm
before it even happened
and tried to move his family
over the mountain
before taking the lead
to try to guide them to safety.
But he was too late.
The horses were driven
back and forth
as the helicopter looped.
It was horrifying to see.
Oh, my gosh.
It's going in really fast.
The helicopter flew
so low to the horses
we were terrified
there would be a collision.
Oh, my God.
Guys,
you've got to be kidding me.
This was the worst
roundup we had ever been to.
And it was personal...
as we watched
our families stampeded.
The young foal
we called Sun Catcher...
The bay roans, perlino mares
and even Stargazer
and his family...
were among those
caught in the melee.
We felt like
we were being held c*ptive,
stuck on top of the mountain...
unable to help them...
as the Onaqui disappeared
into a cloud of dust.
We felt like
we had failed them.
The bay roan
managed to escape.
But he didn't run away.
He went back for his family
and circled the trap site
crying for them.
No,
he's going in, he's going in.
As journalists,
it is our constitutional right
to observe.
But the BLM did not allow us
to see what they were doing
behind the mountain.
Unlike Sand Wash Basin,
we had no vantage point
to document
any of the injuries
or potential deaths
of these horses.
Were any horses
injured yesterday?
None.
And who is the organization
-down there right now?
-Wild Horses of America.
And so why would you give
preferential treatment
- to an organization?
- There is no
preferential treatment,
only the fact
that they are part
of our dart team program.
That's clearly
preferential treatment,
when we want to document
what is going on down there,
and you're denying us
our right to observe.
There is nothing--
there is nothing obstructive
about us putting our camera
on a ridge just like yesterday
when there were
far fewer horses.
We're not--
we're not obstructing anything.
And we had looked
at other locations,
in fact, we were over
a mile and a half
to where we can get
straight on,
but we felt like this was closer
and you could see more
and get better identification
of the horses.
Can we go see
the holding facility
or the, uh, the corrals now?
We'd like to go
up on that ridge,
it's a similar distance
that we hiked yesterday.
So, we already talked about
you could go over here and look,
you can't see
the holding facility,
and no, you can't go
down there because--
We don't need to go down there,
we've got 1000 millimeter lens,
we could go over to that ridge,
which is actually
kind of shorter
than we hiked yesterday
and we're allowed to do.
We'd like to get a clear shot.
I think you should go over here
and look and--
because you don't believe us,
go over here--
I don't know
where the individual
that went over there.
I mean,
you've scouted this area,
you mentioned that this morning.
Can we get a clear shot
of the trap-- from--
-of the trap site from there?
-You can't,
you can't,
that's why I'm saying--
So, why would you
send us over there?
Because
that's where you asked to go.
I asked to go
on this ridge
to go see the trap site.
Yeah, you're not going to
be able to see that down there,
and, you know, we have to keep
people controlled.
We can see it down there.
What if I get you
part way down there
and all of a sudden
the helicopter takes off and--
I assume
that you're in communication
-with the helicopter.
-We are.
You're denying
our right to observe,
you're denying
our constitutional rights.
What did you mean by
you need to control the people?
We need to-- we need to
make sure people are safe.
- That's what I mean--
- There's no safety
unless you've got
some rogue helicopter pilot
who's going to take off,
and then you really hired
the wrong person,
it is perfectly safe for us.
We got the best helicopter pilot
in the business.
Wonderful. Great.
I thought he did--
I thought he kept a very
reasonable distance yesterday.
- What about today?
- I thought,
well, he got pretty
darn close today.
I would like to go over there,
so if you've got
the best helicopter pilot
in the distance,
he's not going to
take off on me.
...people are getting
a little bit, uh, emotional,
and, you know, we're going to
keep people here--
A minute ago,
it was for our safety,
now you're saying
it's because we're emotional.
Well, emotion runs into that.
If people are getting emotional,
how do you control people?
We weren't
emotional a minute ago.
No, we very calmly asked,
and we said it is our right
as journalists,
as public observers
to go over there
and point our camera
at the trap site.
...of everybody
and the coordination
of this group,
we want to keep you here.
So, that's what we're gonna do.
Can I go?
I'm not emotional.
We're gonna keep you here.
Yeah, no.
So, um, we made such a stink
and made some-- made some
pretty damn good points,
and they are now allowing us,
after a fight,
to go over
to a certain point
where we're allowed
to observe.
Are you filming this?
So, holy cow.
Wow.
This is nuts.
This is nuts.
There is a child that just
got out of the helicopter.
Why is a--
why is a kid riding around?
How is that
not a liability issue?
Well, that's because
it's daddy's helicopter.
Yeah,
but for a government roundup
of wild horses,
you've got a chi--
- you've got a child?
- Yeah.
That's not even a teenager.
That's a little girl.
No reason
that we couldn't--
Yeah, there's no--
this is absurd, yeah.
We can go low,
we can have the camera low,
we can have-- we could crouch
below those rocks.
- Absolutely.
- Zero issue.
We could sit right up here.
We could see the helicopter
operations from there.
All the way
around the mountain,
and then we could see
the trap site.
We could actually see the horses
running in, like this.
So, they run them
in from there.
And then
they're forced through here.
Can you imagine
if you were a horse
and you run?
Can you tell me
about the child
that was in the chopper
yesterday?
I have no idea
what you're talking about.
There was a little girl
that got out of the chopper,
we've got it on film.
Why is a child riding around?
-Is that legal?
-Couldn't tell you.
But after
the roundup is done
and the chopper is grounded,
why can't we go over to
the other side of the mountain
if we're half a mile away
on 1000 millimeter lens?
We discussed this yesterday.
Yeah, and I'd like to know why
what you said is changing again.
So, you're not gonna let
the Associated Press
over there either?
Yeah, come in.
We were told we couldn't go
near the trap site
because it was a safety issue.
But a little girl not only rode
around in the helicopter,
but sat on the back
of a water truck
as the horses
were hosed down.
This is just so unfair.
I can hear them crying.
This is just
really heartbreaking.
We're not allowed
to view the holding facility,
even though
it's a BLM holding facility.
There's Kai,
we've got officers.
I'm not sure
what we're about to encounter.
- That sound is--
- I know, it's terrible.
We've been listening to it
for hours now,
for two hours, it's horrible.
I'm so sorry.
Three months later,
we went back to Delta.
Almost all of the families
we've gotten to know...
had been captured
and separated.
The beautiful perlino sisters
strode through
pools of water and mud.
And their brave stallion
who escaped
but gallantly
went back for them
was captured too.
The father
of the chestnut foal.
Even the powerful Stargazer...
who had been so resplendent
in the wild...
had been reduced to this.
A number of the horses
from roundups...
found safe landings
at sanctuaries.
The cremello
and the black from Onaqui
landed at Great Escape
Mustang Sanctuary in Colorado.
The Black
has joined the herd.
Though the cremello
wanders alone.
Norman remained
free on the range.
Though
one of the three amigos, Rowan,
was reported to be k*lled
by the BLM
only days before the roundup
for supposedly
having a pre-existing injury.
We never did find
the chestnut foal.
Although Stargazer's story
ended in a different way.
After the BLM auctioned off
the surviving Onaqui horses,
he and his favorite mare
were adopted together.
Although
they will never again be free.
Old Man was left wild...
though we never saw him again.
The fate of nearly 60,000
wild horses and burros
stuck in holding facilities
across the United States...
will never fully be known.
This film
is in honor of them...
and for all of their
mysterious...
unfathomable wild beauty
that they've brought
to the world.
Unbridled and unbroken,
these symbols
of our nation's merits
embody the tonic of wildness
that Henry David Thoreau
so eloquently phrased
in his reflective piece,
Walden.
Wild horses and burros
have a place on these lands,
epitomizing
the tenacity and grit
this nation strives for.
Wild Beauty: Mustang Spirit of the West (2022)
Moderator: Maskath3