Red Desert Complex Wild Horse Roundup Reports

Welcome to our roundup reporting page for the Red Desert Complex in southwestern Wyoming. Here you’ll find eyewitness reports, photos, videos and daily updates as the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) carries out a helicopter roundup.

The operation began on or after October 15, 2026. The BLM plans to capture about 1,035 horses from the Stewart Creek and Green Mountain Herd Management Areas (HMAs) this fall. That’s part of about 1,800 horses the agency plans to capture and remove from their homeland across the Red Desert Complex. The complex covers nearly 752,694 acres of mostly public land and includes the Antelope Hills, Crooks Mountain, Green Mountain, Lost Creek and Stewart Creek HMAs. The BLM has set the Appropriate Management Level (AML) for the whole complex at just 480 to 720 horses.

The BLM plans to treat some captured mares with fertility control and return them to the range. Horses that are removed will go to the Wheatland off-range holding facility in Wyoming for veterinary evaluation before entering the BLM’s adoption and sales programs. The roundup will break up established family bands. Because it is only the first phase of a larger removal across the complex, more captures are expected.

AWHC has an observer on the ground for this roundup. They will watch the helicopter drives, monitor how the horses are treated and document conditions on the range. We will post daily capture, removal, release and death totals here, along with photos, videos and firsthand accounts. We hope these reports bring transparency to the roundup and support humane, science-based management that keeps herds viable on our public lands.

Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026

Animals Gathered: 0
Animals Shipped: 87 (0 Stallions, 58 Mares, and 29 Foals)
Animals Released: 0
Deaths: 2
- Sudden / Acute: 0
- Pre-existing / Chronic: 2

Foal pinto filly humanely euthanized due to pre-existing condition - limb deformity, unable to maintain or improve.
4-year-old pinto stallion humanely euthanized due to pre-existing condition - club foot.

Observers met BLM and traveled to the observation site. They waited about an hour and then were told they had decided they could not fly today due to high winds that were expected to get worse. Two more horses from Friday’s operations were euthanized for a total of three.

Friday, October 16, 2026

Animals Gathered: 133 (44 Stallions, 58 Mares, and 31 Foals)
Animals Shipped: 0
Animals Released: 0
Deaths: 1
- Sudden / Acute: 0
- Pre-existing / Chronic: 1
Pinto stallion humanely euthanized due to pre-existing condition - limb deformity, unable to maintain or improve.

AWHC has an observer on the ground. Observers had visibility of the wings of the trap, but not the trap itself. There were 8 runs today.

“As the helicopter was bringing in the first group, there was a small band grazing peacefully near the entrance of the wings. As the Prada horse was walked out, the stallion from the band ran toward the Prada horse out of curiosity and snorted at him a few times before running back to join his band. They were later brought in the with the first group.”

Observers were given a rare opportunity to walk, one at a time, right up to the temporary holding pens to take photos. The horses were calm, had food and water and appeared to be in good condition. One horse was noted to have a cut above its eye, however no further injuries were noted or reported. However, one euthanasia was reported by BLM.