Red Birds Trust

07/12/2026

Update 7/13pm 9500 acres zero containment

Update 7/13am fire is up to 6500 acres and moving northeast

Update: 4,000 acres now burned as of 7:00pm zero containment

Unfortunately there has been a human caused wildfire burning on the east mountains of the Onaqui HMA for the past few days and as of this morning it's up to 2,800 acres with zero containment.

The north and south herds are both safe as the fire hasn't entered the flat areas of the HMA. It's been reported that the east Onaqui herd has been able to leave the area where the fire is burning and find access to water elsewhere. Two of the prominent east herd stallions (Charger and Paco) are from the north herd and well versed and savvy at traveling both in the east and north which lends comfort that they will be able to guide their families and others further out of the east if needed.

The Lookout pass entrance has been closed because of fire danger and personnel and hopefully visitors postpone trips to the range for the time being to give the horses some peace during this stressful time.

All hooves are crossed they manage to get this fire under control sooner rather than later.

06/28/2026

Cleopatra’s Final Homecoming

It’s hard to know where to even start with this particular rescue. It has been the most time consuming, frustrating, and expensive rescue we’ve had to execute to date for a variety of reasons, but pretty Ms. Cleopatra definitely deserves every ounce of peace she finally arrived home to.

Cleopatra is a name given by a former adopter which we think seems very fitting, she didn’t have a nickname while living in the wild with the north Onaqui herd, but was known for traveling with band stallion Oreo and his family. Cleopatra was found emaciated, wearing both scars from old wounds and current open lacerations on her right hock and back from what looked like a whip on April 22nd. We quickly bailed her out of the kill pen with deadline looming to be sent to Mexico and from there she was transported to a quarantine facility also in Texas.

While in QT we were able to find out a lot more about her history and it’s a troublesome one and full of upheaval. After being rounded up on 7/16/21 she was then adopted from the Internet Auction and transported to a BLM facility in TX January 2022. That September BLM took her back and in March of 2023 she was taken by a person wanting to use her to compete in a 100 day TIP challenge. While there, it was shared that she ran through a barbed wire fence (hence the old scars) and was then reassigned in July of 2023. She remained in that home for 2 years until personal circumstances changed and she was sold to someone else to finish her under saddle. Almost a year later to the day she found herself dumped in the kill pen looking like she’d been through more than any horse probably should.

Our goal with any rescue we assist with is to determine what’s in the best interest of the horse. In this case several options were considered and rabbit holes explored, but in the end it became very clear that the safest place for her because of her past, would be a sanctuary setting. We almost immediately began trying to reunite her with 3 mares previously rescued from another kill pen in ’24 who she had traveled with under Oreo’s watchful eye in the wild. This project, however, became exceptionally complicated when right before the pickup date we learned the chute where the mares are currently living wasn’t safe for unhandled horses.

The local veterinarian then offered to dart the three mares in order to draw their blood for out-of-state travels, but after speaking to him directly and learning he had no experience with darting horses to sedate them I said absolutely not. It’s too dangerous between a misplaced shot rendering a horse lame or worse or too much/too little sedative administered.

I contacted numerous mustang savvy people in the area including an incredibly kind and well-versed rescue and training facility and a tentative plan was put into place to pick the mares up, transport them here for drawing their coggins (blood work) and then either sending them to QT to wait for the hauler (now delayed by 3 weeks after learning the original chute wasn’t mustang safe) or return to them their current home location.

All of this got VERY expensive. And what started out as just paying Cleopatra’s kill pen bail now morphed into a nearly $12,000 bill to reunite all 4 mares between quarantine, which we have been continuing to cover in Texas, transportation from two different states to the final destination, a hauler to come get the 3 mares and transport to a separate facility, vet bills for a call out to take their blood to be able to leave their state, etc. And as much as we tried to raise the funds we simply didn’t come anywhere close.

What we were able to raise the needed funds for is to get Cleopatra on her final ride to live out her life in luxury in California at Return to Freedom. She is being paired up with a gelding they just took in and the two of them will then be released together into the San Louis Obispo location to run free over the hillsides and eat all the grass they can. Never will she be moved again, nor will she be whipped or run through fences.

She just gets to be a horse.

Finally.

As for the other three mares, the door is still open for them to join Cleopatra for a family reunion at Return to Freedom if the funds end up being raised to cover the costs for getting the other three mares to a facility where they can be vetted and hauled cross country to get to California. Best guess from quotes we received is minimum of $7,000 to cover all that which is no small feat, especially in times like these.

Thank you to everyone who came through for our beautiful Onaqui queen and helped her to finally get to her forever safe space where she can enjoy living out her days in peace with one heck of a view. And thanks to Neda and Return to Freedom for opening up their doors and hearts to another horses who really needed it.

06/26/2026

Cleopatra Update

At VERY long last our beautiful Cleopatra who we saved from the Kaufman kill pen on April 23rd with the help of donor support is headed to her final home.

She is scheduled to arrive tomorrow later in the day and we'll be making another post detailing all that's happened over the past 2 months.

When Cleo was pulled from the kill pen she had deep lacerations on her hock and back which have now healed and with a lot of TLC from Elizabeth Page while staying with her for QT, she's put on a lot of weight and no longer has ribs and shoulders showing, but is back to her beautiful self. Steve Egner is transporting her for this last long journey. He's hauled several of our precious rescued Onaqui cargo and she couldn't be in better hands.

Thank you so much to everyone who's jumped in to help this pretty lady and there will be much more to talk about in the coming days.

06/23/2026

FIRE DANGER WARNING

This was the view of the Iron Fire (currently 31,000+ acres) which is burning along the town of Eureka. The town has been evacuated for 2 days and there is another fire called the Hastings fire (20,000 acres) burning near the Cedar Mountains. Both are human caused. Neither are expected to reach the Onaqui HMA.

A warning has been issued for "critical fire weather" through Saturday with strong winds, dry thunderstorms and wind gusts up to 50mph for the Dugway/ Onaqui HMA areas. The warning goes on to say "any new fire starts or existing fires may spread rapidly."

All visitors should use extreme caution when traveling the roadways, choosing where to park and vigilantly keep a lookout for new fires starting in nearby brush or mountains. If smoke is seen:

- call 911
- be prepared to give your GPS coordinates which can be found via iphone easily by taking a still image, then swiping up and tapping the area icon
- give the 911 operator any nearby landmarks to help fire crews have a better idea of where you are and where the fire is
- carry a fire extinguisher in your car and be versed on its use

These are scary times right now and will likely continue in the coming months. Hopefully everyone will do their part to try to keep the lands and the wildlife that call them home safe from harm. Now more than ever it's so important not to drive off road or park your vehicle in dried grasses. All it takes is one spark to ignite and the beautiful world in the west desert we all love so much will be no more.

05/14/2026

A quick update on this pretty little Onaqui lady that we rescued from Kaufman K*ll pen at the end of April before she was shipped to a horrific fate in Mexico. She's still in quarantine in Texas as is standard procedure to make sure that they have a chance to unwind and show any signs of serious illness or respiratory distress from their time being shuffled through less than desirable situations in these auctions and direct ship lots.

Initially an individual posted publicly this was her mare, along with information regarding training level and a name. As it turns out that was a incorrect ID and one of her actual owners came forward and provided us with a lot of information, photos and training videos during part of her past life. Her adopted name is Cleopatra and she'll be keeping that - it fits her. And she's been through an awful lot in a very short amount of time.

She was adopted from the Internet Adoption back in '21, then shipped on BLM transport to TX and picked up in January of '22. Then in September of '22 BLM took her back (details unclear as to why) and she was subsequently taken along with a couple others to be used in a 100 day TIP challenge in March of '23. During that time she was so scared she ran through a barbed wire fence and still has scars to show for it.

She didn't end up competing in the event, however was reassigned from the TIP trainer to a private adopter in July of '23. Then when family dynamics changed due to no fault of her own she was sold in spring of '25 and found almost exactly a year later in the k*ll pen.

Never will she be bounced around like that again. She showed up at the k*ll pen with new slash marks on her legs and hips, but those have now healed, however mentally there's no doubt she has a lot to unpack with all the transitions in her short time out of the wild.

We still need to raise about $3,600 to cover the transport costs to get Miss Cleopatra to her final forever horse heaven landing where she'll be reunited with 3 other Onaqui mares who were also dumped in a TX k*ll pen back in '24 after being adopted by a private TX Game Farm located in Waco, TX.

The fundraiser in Gabriel's honor to reunite these three lovely ladies is pinned to our Red Birds Trust page and any amount or share would be very greatly appreciated. We have 2 more weeks to gather the funds to make sure these 4 Onaqui never have to worry about anything aside from what blade of grass is greener ever again.

Cleopatra has already gained noticeable weight since arriving at her quarantine location and we can't wait to see what the months ahead have in store for her.

Direct donations can be made to:
PayPal: [email protected]
Venmo:
Mailing Address: 772 Main Street #273, Tooele UT 84074

05/07/2026

Gabriel (aka Peanut)

A week ago today the Onaqui lost one of the best. I've struggled to even find words that will do any sort of justice to describe the depth of character that this stallion displayed. I have taken countless images of him over the years and despite how strong and fiercely protective he could be of family, he was still just so kind.

He was only 11. And he shouldn't have died. And he did because of humans. That's the bottom line and that's what makes all of it even more not okay. Gabriel suffered deep lacerations to the area of his coronet/fetlock of his front foot (in laymen's terms directly over the back of his hoof). Slices don't come from fighting, they come from contact from something very sharp like metal, fencing, beer bottles, etc. All of which have been removed from the area where he died both recently and consistently over the years.

What made it worse is that he was observed standing out there, alone, separated from the herd calling for them and unable to move, by multiple photographers who said nothing aside from to me in passing after the fact. Two days went by before BLM received a video by a concerned onlooker and hurried out to assess his condition. At that time it was decided to give him a couple more days to see if he would be able to recover, but after going to check on him early the following morning I found him in dire condition on the side of the road. Again while watching multiple vehicles drive right by him and do nothing.

No animal deserves that. And especially not this one.

At one point while he was atleast still standing I, along with clients, observed a photographer very familiar with the herd walking in the middle of the herd, right up in front of countless horses to get "the shot" before sitting on the ground and taking selfies with Gabriel's family band while he stood out there by himself slowly dying. This is NOT okay.

Gabriel gained his wings shortly after I found him on the side of the road that morning and tried to think of what you can possibly say to such a pure soul who is now no longer able to help itself. It was absolutely awful. He had traveled with band stallion Sunstar for years and was a tremendous help in making sure the mares and babies were protected and safe. Now Sunstar is having to fight his own battles and although he has one Lieutenant left in stallion Orion, the dynamics definitely aren't the same and Sunstar's strength and perserverence are already being tested daily.

This is a huge loss to the herd and to those of us who have enjoyed watching and learning about them over the years. I don't know what it's going to take for people to simply do better. Pick up trash, respect the WILDlife and stop harassing them and encroaching on their lives. Gabriel certainly didn't deserve that ending and his family didn't deserve to serve as props for selfies or photos to be posted on social media while all of this was occuring.

I found some favorite images of Gabriel over the years and hope his memory lives on for a very long time.

If you see an animal in distress in the Onaqui HMA you can contact the BLM wild horse and b***o specialist at (801) 419-4552 or Tooele County Sheriff (435) 882-5600 to make a report. Be prepared with your GPS location and/or the GPS location of the horse.

05/06/2026

We have had some incredibly hard losses on the range lately, but last night the north herd gained a brand new member as "Harit" became a first time mother 1 week shy of her second birthday.

It was scary for a while as the little one had the umbilical cord wrapped around it's back legs for a while keeping it from standing, but finally it managed to get untangled and by sunset was up figuring out how to use it's feet and taking much needed time for it's first milk and colostrum from momma Harit who had gotten her milk in 2 days ago.

She was surrounded by family and protected by band stallion Skywalker, stallion Bolt and bachelors Ziggy and Lokum. Ziggy has been protecting Harit for the past 2 months as she was heavily pregnant and often fell behind her family. It was Ziggy who never left her and would push her back to join her family and he continued to try to protect them last night during the labor and afterwards.

I have a ton of images I need to edit, but here is a video taken from the car of shortly after water broke to some time later when the little one finally got up.

1 week shy of her second birthday, the Onaqui's north herd mare "Harit" gives birth to her first baby surrounded by her mother, grandmother, great grandmother and aunt.