Heartbreaking final act of love for wild horse who got stuck in mud pit with her foal before both met horrific end

Devastating footage captured the tragic final moments of two wild horses after they got stuck in a mud pit while desperately searching for drinking water.

Animal advocates were checking on the horses in central Utah's Muddy Creek Herd Management Area on Tuesday when they found the struggling horses.

Video shows an exhausted mare and two foals by the cracked earth looking for water to drink.

The mare and one of the foals fell through the scorched crust and the young horse nuzzled the neck of its mother before they were put down by the Bureau of Land Management.

'It's heart-wrenching. You can tell that one of those foals is just saying, "Mama, help us, get up mom,"' Janelle Ghiorso, vice president of Oregon Wild Horse Organization, told ABC4.

The mare and one of the foals fell through the scorched crust and the young horse nuzzled the neck of its mother before they were put down

The Bureau of Land Management said the trapped mare and foal both had to be put down because of dehydration.  

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'Unfortunately we did have to euthanize that mare out of humane purposes right there on the spot,' Gus Warr, manager of the Bureau of Land Management’s Utah wild horse and burro program, told the local news station.

Crews rescued the trapped foal but after a veterinarian examination decided to put the horse down due to extreme dehydration.

Wild horse advocates are outraged the Bureau of Land Management is not doing more to help the animals access safe drinking water.

'I was witnessing a tragedy unfold right before my eyes and desperately sought help,' said Jennifer Howe who filmed the incident.

'When I asked if emergency water could be hauled, the agency official responded with a firm, "Absolutely not."'

The Wild Beauty Foundation said the bureau allows ranchers to graze cattle in the protected area which uses up the water for the horses.

The horses got stuck in a mud pit while desperately searching for drinking water in central Utah 's Muddy Creek Herd Management Area

The Bureau of Land Management said the trapped mare and foal both had to be put down because of dehydration

'It is unconscionable for the agency to allow more federally protected animals to suffer such an agonizing fate,' said Ashley Avis, founder of the Wild Beauty Foundation.

'Treating them as disposable nuisances, rather than the highly intelligent, emotional beings they are, speaks to the deeply troubling mindset of the agency. This is a senseless tragedy that could have been avoided.'

Warr said the agency will sometimes bring in water for wild horses but is hesitant to do so because they do not want the horses to become dependent.

'We need to manage the animals, but we don’t need to make pets out of them,' he said. 'They are wild animals, and we really need to treat them as such.'