BLM KILLS CLOUD’S GRANDSON ECHO!
Ginger Kathrens & The Cloud Foundation received shocking news yesterday, April 29th, 2025: the Billings BLM Field Office shot and killed Echo, Cloud’s lookalike grandson and the son of Bolder.
WHY:
BLM’s reasoning for this tragic action was that Echo appeared to be “in rough shape and lethargic”—and he didn’t run away when approached. But Ginger, who has documented the Pryor Mountain wild horses for over 30 years, knows poor body condition and conserving energy is normal for wild horses in early spring.
Yet, under a 2021 BLM policy directive—PIM 2021-007 Euthanasia of Wild Horses and Burros Related to Acts of Mercy, Health or Safety— BLM granted itself the authority to kill wild horses deemed unfit and is now using it unilaterally. In the past, decisions regarding euthanasia in the Pryor herd have been made in consultations between BLM, The Cloud Foundation, and the Pryor Mountain Mustang Center. Not this time. Killing Echo was done without any input from these public groups, without any understanding of how wild horses survive from year to year. Nor was it done with the input of a knowledgeable vet—one experienced in wild equine health and behavior.
With approval from the Billings office, a range specialist new to wild horse management made the call.
His bullet ended Echo’s life.
Killing Echo, the grandson of Cloud—the most famous wild horse in the world—is a desecration of the American West and the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act (WFRHBA/The Act).
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
