An investigation by animal welfare groups followed horses from auctions to holding facilities to slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico, where they were exported for human consumption
wild horses
Posted inColoradans
They had 120 days to tame a wild horse. A northwestern Colorado competition shows off the power of the mustang.
At the Meeker Mustang Makeover, wild horses that recently roamed free on the prairie walk through obstacle courses and show off ranching skills ahead of an auction.
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: The BLM’s plan for rounding up wild horses is very different from the reality
In The Colorado Sun’s Aug. 3 story, Jennifer Brown reports how the state’s largest wild horse roundup in history ended Aug. 1 with 864 captured animals, bringing the number of wild horses captured in the past year to about 2,000. The Bureau of Land Management helicopter roundup took place in the Piceance Basin and included […]
Posted inEnvironment, News
Colorado’s largest wild horse roundup in history ends with 864 captured animals, and plans for ongoing fertility control
The third large-scale helicopter roundup of Colorado mustangs within a year ended Tuesday in dusty sagebrush country on the far western edge of the state, part of a massive effort by federal land managers to thin the wild horse population across the West. Wranglers and a helicopter pilot herded and trapped 864 stallions, mares and […]
Posted inEnvironment, News, Politics and Government
More than 400 wild horses captured in first week of western Colorado helicopter roundup, despite objection from top state officials
It took federal land managers about a month to capture 18 wild horses by hiding in the sagebrush not far from a corral baited with food and fresh water. In a week, a helicopter buzzing across the rugged prairie of western Colorado has captured more than 400. The efficiency of a helicopter roundup is the […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics and Government
Helicopter roundup in western Colorado aims to capture 750 wild horses in the next month
A low-flying helicopter is set to begin rounding up wild horses on rugged, parched rangeland in western Colorado on Friday despite weeks of protest from national mustang groups as well as Gov. Jared Polis. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management intends to thin the Piceance East Douglas herd by 750 animals, leaving about 630 wild […]
Posted inEnvironment, News, Outdoors, Politics and Government
Federal officials ignore Colorado governor’s plea to stop capturing wild horses, plan Western Slope roundup this week
Federal officials will begin capturing hundreds of mustangs roaming in far northwestern Colorado this week, dismissing a request from Gov. Jared Polis to halt roundups while the state and U.S. Bureau of Land Management find a “more humane” option for managing wild horses. The federal agency’s announcement of its next roundup — in the Piceance-East […]
Posted inSunLit, SunLit Interviews
SunLit Interview: Kathryn Wilder started with essays. Slowly, they grew into a cohesive narrative.
Kathryn Wilder’s work has been cited in Best American Essays, nominated for the Pushcart Prize and other awards, and has appeared in several publications and anthologies. A graduate of the MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts, Wilder was a finalist for the 2016, 2019, and 2022 Ellen Meloy Fund Desert Writers Award; […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics and Government
Cañon City facility where 145 wild horses died is short-staffed, in violation of federal policies, report finds
The federal Bureau of Land Management failed to vaccinate wild horses captured from western Colorado because the Cañon City holding facility lacks enough workers and because the mustangs were “unusually high-strung,” according to a report released Thursday that offers the first clues about why 145 horses died from a typically preventable equine flu. A review […]
Posted inEnvironment, News
Gov. Jared Polis calls for delay in wild horse roundup after 142 die in federal facility in Cañon City
Gov. Jared Polis is asking federal officials to delay rounding up wild horses off Colorado’s rangelands and consider a “more cost effective and humane” plan after 142 horses have died from the equine flu while penned up in a federal facility in Cañon City. “The facilities and procedures are ill-equipped to take on the hundreds […]