2021 Onaqui HMA Wild Horse Gather
Purpose of Gather:
The Wild-Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 gives BLM the direction for protecting and overseeing wild horses and burros on public lands. In managing these animals, the BLM works to maintain a thriving ecological balance that supports healthy horses on healthy rangelands. Heavy to severe wild horse grazing (especially during drought conditions) jeopardizes the health of rangelands, wetlands, wildlife habitats, and ultimately animal health and body condition.
The Appropriate Management Level – the number of horses the range can sustainably support in conjunction with other animals and resource uses – for the Onaqui Herd Management Area is 121-210 horses and the current population is over 475 (not including the current years foals).
Details of Gather:
Helicopter drive-trapping operations began on July 13 and concluded on July 18, 2021. Approximately 296 excess wild horses will be removed. The gather is necessary to address several issues in the HMA. The HMA is currently experiencing exceptional drought conditions. Due to these drought conditions the horses have declined in body condition over the last year due to a lack of forage. This gather will allow BLM to aggressively implement population growth suppression (which is already occurring on the HMA through remote darting) to slow population growth, maintain population size within AML, and to reduce the number of excess wild horses that need to be removed from this HMA in the long term.
Most of the adoptable horses will be shipped to the Delta, Utah Wild Horse & Burro Facility. Most of those horses that are to be released back to the HMA will be shipped to Sutherland, Utah Off-Range Contract Facility. The Delta facility is currently closed to the public. Once the horses have settled down and had time to acclimate, the Delta facility will be opened to the public for viewing, adoption and/or sale. The Sutherland facility is not an open public facility; thus, no public observation will be authorized at that location.
Public Observation:
Gather operations concluded on July 18, 2021.
Adoption Information:
The Onaqui Mountain wild horses will be available for adoption through the BLM Online Corral Adoption on October 12-19, 2021. It takes approximately one week for animals to be awarded and scheduled for pickup. It may be late-October before the horses are available at the Delta facility on a first come, first served basis.
For more information about adopting online, visit the How To Adopt Or Purchase A Wild Horse on our website. Prospective adopters or purchasers should follow the steps to complete an application and submit it online.
To find out more about the release of certain horses back to the range and the pending adoption event in mid-October, first check our Social Media sites. Go to our Facebook or Twitter pages—you do not need to have an account on these sites to view the content. You may also call the Utah Wild Horse & Burro hotline at 801-539-4050 or email at [email protected].
The supporting planning documents for the Onaqui HMA gather are available on the BLM’s ePlanning web site.
Background:
Early settlers and the cavalry brought wild horses to the area in the late 1800s. Wild horses are usually gregarious and have few natural predators other than the occasional to mountain lions. Mares and stallions within the Onaqui Mountain Herd Management Area (HMA) have a slight to moderate build and average around 800 to 1000 pounds. The dominant colors within the herd area are brown and bay. In the early 1990s, BLM introduced wild horses from the Rock Springs, Wyoming area which increased the colors to include: sorrel, roan, buckskin, black, palomino, and gray. Currently, pintos, grays, palominos, and roans have begun to increase in numbers.
After a BLM gather in 2005, the herd was augmented with approximately 10 stallions and 10-15 mares from other HMAs of various origins. This was done to help with genetic diversity, to increase size of the individuals and adoptability of the Onaqui Mountain HMA wild horses. Every 3-4 years since then, another 3-5 horses have been released. These horses came from HMAs in Utah, Idaho, California, and Nevada.
- Daily Gather Reports
Sunday, July 18
Summary: Mild temps between 78° - 85°
Animals Gathered: 91 (35 stallions, 44 mares, 12 foals)
Animals Shipped: 91 (35 stallions, 44 mares, 12 foals)
Deaths: 0
- Sudden / Acute: 0
- Pre-existing / Chronic: 0
Saturday, July 17
Summary: Mild temps between 75° - 85°
Animals Gathered: 108 (60 stallions, 39 mares, 9 foals)
Animals Shipped: 108 (60 stallions, 39 mares, 9 foals)
Deaths: 0
- Sudden / Acute: 0
- Pre-existing / Chronic: 0
Friday, July 16
Summary: Mild temps between 75° - 85°
Animals Gathered: 128 (47 stallions, 64 mares, 16 foals, and 1 domestic gelding)
Animals Shipped: 128 (46 stallions, 64 mares, 16 foals, and 1 domestic gelding)
Deaths: 1
- Sudden / Acute: 1
- Pre-existing / Chronic: 0
4-year-old bay mare with a BCS 4, fracture to front left pastern, was humanely euthanized in accordance with IM 2015-070. The mare had a low prognosis for recovery.
Thursday, July 15
Summary: Mild temps between 75° - 85°
Animals Gathered: 94 (42 stallions, 46 mares, 6 foals)
Animals Shipped: 93 (42 stallions, 45 mares, and 6 foals)
Animals Released: 1 (0 stallions, 1 mare, and 0 foals)
Deaths: 0
- Sudden / Acute: 0
- Pre-existing / Chronic: 0
Wednesday, July 14
Summary: Mild temps between 75° - 85°
Animals Gathered: 14 (1 stallion, 9 mares, 4 foals)
Animals Shipped: 14 (1 stallion, 9 mares, 4 foals)
Deaths: 0
- Sudden / Acute: 0
- Pre-existing / Chronic: 0
Gather Status
This gather was completed on July 18, 2021.
Animals Gathered: 435
435 Wild Horses (185 Stallions, 202 Mares, 47 Foals, and 1 Domestic Gelding)
Animals Shipped: 434
434 Wild Horses (185 Stallions, 202 Mares, 47 Foals, and 1 Domestic Gelding)
Animals Released:
123 Wild Horses (0 Stallions, 0 Mares, and 0 Foals)
Deaths: 1
-Sudden / Acute: 1
-Pre-existing / Chronic: 0
Scroll to the bottom of this gather page for detailed “Daily Gather Reports"