Three wild horses found shot dead in Utah, land management officials say. ‘Senseless’
Federal officials are on the hunt for those responsible after a trio of wild mustangs were found shot dead in southwestern Utah.
Someone from the public found the bodies and reported the killings to the Beaver County Sheriff’s Office on Jan. 4, the state’s Bureau of Land Management said on Facebook.
The horses were shot on BLM-managed land in the mountains northwest of the Minersville Reservoir in Beaver County, officials said.
Unspecified evidence led authorities to believe the shooting happened several days before they discovered the carcasses, officials said.
The bureau is investigating and requests any information the public may have. Tipsters can call the BLM law enforcement tip line at 800-722-3998 or email BLM_UT_WHB@blm.gov.
“A $5,000 reward is being offered by BLM for info that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) who may have caused these senseless deaths,” the agency said.
Several people who follow the plight of wild mustangs in Utah and across the west shared memories of the horses in the comments.
“I have been watching this herd since 2018 when they were just a group of three high up in the mountains,” someone said, adding that they enjoyed seeing the little herd when the horses descended onto the hillside. “It is so sad to hear we have someone in our local area that would do this to them. They were not hurting anything by being there. I hope who ever did this gets caught and charged to the fullest.”
Someone suggested setting up trail cameras to monitor the agency’s Herd Management Areas (HMAs), specific territories where certain herds typically roam. But these horses weren’t killed within an HMA — in fact, they likely descend from a herd that escaped a BLM round-up near the Minersville Fair Grounds in the late 1980’s and have lived among the rough terrain in the Mineral Range Mountains ever since, despite the agency’s multiple attempts to capture them, officials said.
Someone brought up previous mustang killings, including two stallions from the Onaqui herd in 2023 and another beloved stallion from the same herd that was found shot dead in November, McClatchy News previously reported.
“With the three stallions shot and killed at Onaqui and now these mustangs, at this point the reward isn’t working,” they said. “...This will just keep on going and many more innocent wild mustangs will be murdered.”
Wild free-roaming horses are federally protected under the Horses and Burros Act of 1971.
Minersville is about a 220-mile drive southwest from Salt Lake City.
This story was originally published January 7, 2025 at 2:01 PM with the headline "Three wild horses found shot dead in Utah, land management officials say. ‘Senseless’."
