BLM’s recent roundup in Nevada’s Callaghan Complex illustrates this entrenched cycle. Low-flying helicopters gathered over 2,000 wild horses from 1.1 million acres in July, causing eleven deaths, including several foals. Surviving horses face indefinite holding, adoption, or sale channels that carry risk of slaughter. Without on-range fertility management, herd populations will quickly recover, triggering another gather in just a few short years. The Callaghan roundup alone cost taxpayers $765,000, paid to a private contractor BLM has relied on since 1975. The federal government maintains over $100 million in open contracts with this single company – a relationship that incentivizes roundups...