Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge, NV, June 2006 – Your Tax-Dollars at Work
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)

Note: despite FWS staffers’ claims to the contrary, all pictures on this page are from the June 2006 Sheldon round-up, except for the last picture, which is from Sheldon’s August 2005 round-up. All pictures © 2006 F. Steffan, except as otherwise indicated.

Despite a public outcry and pleas by humane groups to at least postpone this round-up, FWS proceeded in the summer heat, at the height of foaling season. Even the BLM doesn’t conduct helicopter round-ups during foaling season.

This days-old foal is struggling to keep up with the herd.
More about him here

FWS would not allow the public within a two-mile range of the round-up site. Despite the secrecy, our investigators were able to document the process up close.

“This is not foaling season.”
– Brian Day, Refuge Manager

To defend their plan, FWS tried to claim that somehow June is not the height of foaling season on Sheldon. Yet, a 2002 report by a Sheldon Refuge biologist states that horse population samplings on Sheldon are done no sooner than the end of July, to wait until most of the mares have foaled.

This foal, drenched in sweat, looks just a few days old.

Several foals were injured, orphans separated from their mothers in the chaos. Some mares reportedly aborted their fetuses under the stress of the round-up.

This foal was trampled by the herd. Later rescued by a couple of good Samaritans, he did not make it after all; he died of internal injuries after about a week of intensive care. More pictures of this foal here

"If the gather does not go as planned,
I will suspend our operation.”
– Paul Steblein, Project Leader

Some foals, exhausted by the chase and unable to follow the herd, were left hog-tied in the desert heat for wranglers to pick up later.

Rope-burns on young foal

More about this foal here

Others were just lost in the chaos, left behind to fend for themselves. Wranglers reportedly managed to locate eight of these orphan foals on Friday (the round-up had started on Monday). Five of them were already dead. The three survivors were taken by a good Samaritan to a veterinarian for emergency care.

It is unknown how many others, too young to survive on their own, died on the range. Mares could be seen in the holding pens showing signs of recently giving birth but with their newborns unaccounted for.

Dead foals were found, hiking distance from the Refuge camping grounds.

FWS got nervous and became more secretive as the process unfolded. However, a vet report by Dr. Krebs, who treated the three survivors, confirms that these foals were left for days alone on the range.

One of three retrieved from the range, barely four weeks old, clinging to life in the vet's office.

“Condition consistent with the reported history of 3-4 days as orphans on the range.” - Wendy Krebs, DVM - Bend Equine Medical Center

Injured foal from Sheldon’s August 2005 round-up © 2005 S. Huey

All along, FWS had been assuring the public that no foals had ever been injured during one of their round-ups. Yet another lie, as evidenced by this picture from last year's round-up.

Update: On July 19, 2006, US Representative Nick Rahall wrote FWS Director Dale Hall requesting that FWS cease and desist from any further wild horse removals at the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge. Read his letter here. Read a follow-up letter addressing the reported neglect of Sheldon horses subsequently seized from their adopters by the Canadian police. As Canada is a horse-slaughter hub, the mere fact that these horses were allowed to be sent across the border in the first place is cause for grave concern.

In May 2007, FWS issued a draft Environmental Assessment (EA) in preparation for another round-up. For an extensive analysis of the EA and, more generally, of the issues associated with the survival of the Sheldon herd, click here.

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