EMERY, Utah — The Utah Bureau of Land Management claims no wild horses have been seen over the past few days in the area where two horses got stuck in a dry pond, forcing them to be put down earlier this week.
In a post to social media, BLM officials said staff members situated at McKay Flat within the Muddy Creek Horse Herd Management Area had not seen horses over the last three days.
The area near Emery was being monitored after a mare got stuck in a drying pond Monday. Officials described the dry pond as having "essentially turned into a mud hole," and the horse was humanely euthanized.
Horses put down after being stuck in dry pond while looking for water:
On the same day, a foal was also rescued from the same pond, but was put down due to dehydration and not properly recovering from the incident after being cared for overnight at a wild horse facility.
BLM faced criticism from groups who claimed the agency wasn't doing enough to protect the horses searching for water during the dry summer months.
Video below shows horses stuck in Muddy Creek area
(Warning: the images may be disturbing to some):
While BLM said it would truck in water if necessary, it would prefer not to involve itself in the natural migration patterns of the horses and other wildlife.
"We feel that if we started hauling water like on the Muddy Creek, then those animals may never go to some of those other more remote water sources, which actually has better forage," explained Gus Warr, BLM's Wild Horse and Burro Program Manager. "And we'd like to keep that natural migration, natural habitat instinct in the animals, instead of creating more or less a zoo.”
As of Thursday, BLM reported no horses had been seen in distress in the McKay Flat area, although about two dozen horses were spotted close to Muddy Creek, "which is flowing with water and has good forage available," the agency reported.
BLM said it will continue to observe the area throughout the weekend and investigate should reports claim horses are in trouble.
"The BLM is committed to the health and well-being of the wild horse population. As wild animals, it's vital that human interference is limited so the horses retain their natural instinct to migrate to the best areas of natural forage and water sources for long-term sustainability."
