A gather, conducted by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), of horses belonging to the state of Wyoming drew fire from wild horse advocates, who say the animals were too quickly sold to a Canadian horse processing firm.

Sarah Beckwith, public affairs officer for the BLM office in Worland, Wyo., said the BLM gathered 41 estray horses that had wandered onto federal land north of Graybull, Wyo., on March 18 and 19. Estray horses are those which were owned at one time by private individuals, but which were turned out and abandoned, Beckwith said. The BLM gathered the horses because the state of Wyoming does not gather estray animals, and because the animals had wandered onto federal lands, she said.

“A brand inspector from the Wyoming Livestock Board was present at the trap site, and took possession of the animals,” Beckwith said.

Wyoming Livestock Commissioner Lee Romsa said that the agency did not participate in the gather, but that the inspector at that site saw that the horses had no identifying marks or tattoos