PETITION TARGET: Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
Wild horses are chased across rugged terrain by deafening helicopters and funneled into crowded traps, leaving them exhausted and panicked. Some horses die soon after capture, while others suffer broken bones, shredded legs, or suffer in a system of long-term confinement — the kind of brutality that leaves a lasting mark long after the helicopters are gone.
This is what federal land managers at the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) are preparing to do when they round up and remove more than 14,000 wild horses across the West this year, including at least 1,100 horses in Colorado alone. In Colorado, two of the planned removals will use helicopters — a method that has repeatedly terrorized, injured, and killed wild horses in past BLM roundups.
This is not humane management — it’s fear, stress, and trauma inflicted on family groups that have lived freely on public lands for generations. For 1,100 horses, this would also cost taxpayers some $53 million.
Lady Freethinker has documented the deadly consequences of these roundups before, including wild horses who died after being driven by helicopters in Wyoming and Nevada. Now, with more roundups planned in Colorado and throughout the West, the BLM must stop relying on outdated and cruel methods that put horses at risk and fail to offer a true long-term solution.
There are better alternatives. Fertility control and careful range management strategies can protect both horses and public lands. The BLM should immediately halt these helicopter roundups and adopt compassionate, science-based methods that keep wild horses where they belong — in the wild.
Sign our petition urging the Bureau of Land Management to end the 2026 wild horse helicopter roundups in Colorado and across the West, and to prioritize humane fertility control and nonlethal management methods instead.
