Photo TCF – Little Book Cliffs roundup 2024

The Cloud Foundation (TCF) executive director Kerry Ferguson recently attended the first half of the helicopter roundup in the Little Book Cliffs (LBC) Herd Management Area (HMA) in Colorado. (Read Kerry’s roundup summary below.)

TCF friend, supporter, and wild horse advocate, Nalinka-Marion Fernandez, also attended the roundup. On the last day, she captured devastating video footage of the helicopter chasing a frightened mare and foal, causing the mare to run into a ditch and break her leg. (WARNING: Viewer discretion advised. Footage contains graphic/disturbing content. © Nalinka-Marion Fernandez)

While this tragic event was captured on video, these horrific events ending in injury and/or death occur at every roundup. The government hides these occurrences from the public by refusing to put cameras on helicopters, at traps, and in holding pens, which is why TCF is suing the Bureau of Land Management to get cameras at all roundups.

This video is exactly why we fight so hard for America’s wild horses and burros and reminds us of the importance of winning our lawsuit.

We cannot do this alone.

Please support TCF’s lawsuit to hold BLM accountable and, in addition to in-person observation, force them to put cameras on helicopters, at trap sites, and in holding pens — making all footage available UNEDITED to the public. Lawsuits are expensive and we need your support to see this through.

Little Book Clips Roundup Summary
Kerry Ferguson, TCF Executive Director

The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) goal was to round up 130 horses and return 30 after administering the PZP birth control. Though we support using safe and reversible fertility control, we of course do not support the removal of all these wild horses from their homes and families on the range.

DAYS 1-3: The roundup began on September 11. For the first three days, observers were taken up to the Low Gap area of the range to observe operations taking place over on the Monument Rocks area of the range — about 2 miles away, across a canyon. Even with a powerful zoom lens, the helicopter appeared tiny, and only a cloud of dust told us that horses had been driven into the all-but-invisible trap. Meaningful observation… No.

NOTE: The Monument Rocks area is considered remote and difficult to get to. For our safety, we were placed about 2 miles away in the Low Gap Area of the HMA on an outcrop of boulders on the edge of a steep drop off where we would “watch” the operations taking place across the valley….

Click here to read the entire report.

The Cloud Foundation
www.thecloudfoundation.org