UPDATE: A month of wild horse advocacy and activism
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
While February may be the shortest month of the year, we made the most of each and every day, organizing a handful of national efforts to protect America’s wild horses and burros.
The numbers speak for themselves:
A Show Of Force In Support Of Arizona’s Famed Salt River Horses
Five years ago, AWHC joined up with our local coalition partner the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group to prevent the mass roundup, removal, and slaughter of the famed Salt River wild horses in Arizona.
The year after, our groups worked successfully for the passage of a state law to protect these horses in their historic habitat. But now, the future of the Salt River wild horses is in jeopardy once more.
A new state bill, HB 2858, seeks to amend the Salt River horse protection bill. As currently written, the bill would block lifesaving interventions that are necessary to save horses and safeguard the herd.
The legislation is currently in the House Rules Committee after passing in the Land & Agriculture Committee. State legislators, such as the Land & Agriculture Committee chair Rep. Timothy Dunn, have acknowledged that the bill’s language must be updated to address our concerns before bringing it for a full vote. This week, the bill’s co-sponsor, Rep. Jay Lawrence, withdrew his support for HB 2858 after sponsor Rep. Kelly Townsend refused to amend it to ensure that humane management will continue to be allowed.
At the same time, momentum is building behind the petition launched by the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group and AWHC to the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in support of a wildlife overpass, which would help ensure the safety and well-being of the Salt River horses: It’s already exceeded our goal of gathering 20,000 signatures!
Joining Forces To Prevent A Dangerous New Precedent In Utah
Photo by Rob Hammer.
This month, the BLM outlined a ten-year plan that would dramatically reduce the wild horse population in the Swasey HMA in Utah, down to as few as 60 horses.
The scary part is, the BLM is hoping to use this plan to establish a new precedent for wild horse population management for years and Administrations to come: One that relies on cruel roundups as well as dangerous surgical sterilization procedures.
Some of these procedures have not even been developed yet, let alone safety tested. Others — such as the cruel ovariectomy via colpotomy procedure that the BLM has been pushing for years — have been criticized by the National Academy of Sciences and veterinarians as too dangerous to perform in wild horses.
The BLM is not considering reductions to the number of privately-owned livestock in the area, further demonstrating that the BLM is more invested in defending the interests of the livestock industry than those of our wild horses and burros.
AWHC joined forces with the Animal Welfare Institute and The Cloud Foundation to submit 33-pages of public comments opposing this plan, including 13,800 of your signatures in a major show of force.
Nearly 70% Of Wild Horses Removed From Nevada’s Eagle Complex
Beginning in mid-January, the BLM began a massive roundup in Nevada’s 743,000-acre Eagle Complex.
When the roundup concluded in late February, 1,716 of the Complex’s 2,484 wild horses were forcibly removed; including 24 reported fatalities. Of those, over 1,600, or roughly 70% of the wild horses in the Eagle Complex, were permanently removed.
The BLM has set the Appropriate Management Level (AML) for the Eagle Complex at 139-265 wild horses, a number not supported by science, as the BLM continues its practice of imposing absurdly low population limits for wild horses in order to continue to allocate the vast majority of forage in wild horse habitat to subsidized livestock.
Roundup Slashes Size of Reveille Wild Horse Herd In Half
Another roundup in Nevada concluded this month — The Reveille Roundup resulted in the removal of 113 wild horses from public lands, equating to more than half of the wild horse population in the Reveille HMA.
Often times, our field representatives are the only members of the public onsite to view the roundup operation and ensure the BLM is in compliance with federal law and abiding by animal welfare guidelines. Without them present, it would be incredibly difficult, if not downright impossible, to hold the BLM accountable and report wrongdoing.
As in other areas, the BLM is continually rounding up wild horses in the Reveille HMA so that the public lands there can be primarily used for commercial livestock grazing. In fact, the annual equivalent of 2,000 cow/calf pairs graze a 650,000-acre livestock allotment that overlaps a portion of this HMA, while horse numbers are held at just 82-138.
There is good news out of this HMA, however. The BLM Battle Mountain District has been utilizing fertility control periodically in this herd, and it appears to have reduced the population’s growth rate, which will, in turn, reduce the number of wild horses removed in the future.
Start The Weekend On A Positive Note
Operation Fish Springs Rescue is complete! Over 140,000 of you signed a petition to the BLM to bring Samson and his family home, after the agency trapped and removed them over Thanksgiving weekend last year. Subsequent to launching the petition, advocates learned that the BLM had taken three other bands of beloved Fish Springs horses – those belonging to the stallions Rusty and Rocky and one recently acquired by the famous blue roan stallion Shadow.
Unfortunately, the BLM would not return these horses to their home on our public lands in Nevada, but thanks to a team effort, all of these horses have found a safe landing where they will stay together in their bands.
AWHC was pleased to play a key role in the rescue by taking responsibility for Rocky’s band (Rocky, Copper, Elisa, Luna and Luna’s son Jimmy) and Rusty’s band (Amber, Cinnamon, Belle and Belle’s son Luke) and Shadow, whom BLM would only adopt to a sanctuary after he was deemed “dangerous” following a fight with Rocky in the holding pen.
We are so grateful to AWHC board member Alicia Goetz whose Freedom Reigns Equine Sanctuary is providing a lifetime home for these horses, and to our Board President Ellie Price, whose team at Montgomery Creek Ranch, her mustang refuge, purchased Rocky’s band in the BLM online auction. Ensuring that 11 horses were secured in the BLM’s auction was no easy feat, but working together we got the job done!
Thank you,
American Wild Horse Campaign
A better way
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
This past December, Congress authorized a 25% budgetary increase for the Bureau of Land Management’s badly broken Wild Horse and Burro program. Now the Administration is asking Congress to approve an additional 15% budget increase for the program two months later, as the BLM prepares to massively accelerate the roundup and removal of tens of thousands of wild horses.
What’s At Stake
As many of you know, the Acting Director of the BLM referred to wild horses and burros as an “existential threat” to public lands and is planning to use the Bureau’s funds to round up wild horses and burros in unprecedented numbers, with as many as 20,000 at risk of being removed this year alone.
We cannot stress this enough: We are talking about the greatest threat to wild horses in decades.
It is critical to remember that the BLM is not considering reducing the number of privately owned livestock in these areas. This despite the fact that these animals vastly outnumber horses and burros on public land and cost taxpayers as much as $500 million in subsidies for the below market grazing fees that public lands ranchers pay.
For reference, there are anywhere from 700,000 to 1,000,000 cow/calf pairs on public lands compared to the 88,000 federally-protected wild horses and burros (who share this land with the livestock).
Make no mistake about it, this isn’t a coincidence either — It’s the result of intense lobbying on behalf of the livestock industry.
Bad Policy And A Broken Program
The BLM continues to impose extreme limits on wild horse population numbers on public lands throughout the West that have no basis in science and their method of calculating these limits is not transparent to the public nor wildlife researchers and experts.
Additionally, the BLM is also championing the use of inhumane and ineffective population growth suppression methods that focus on the castration of wild stallions and the risky, cruel, and invasive surgical practice known as ovariectomy, whereby a mare’s ovaries are manually severed and removed in an invasive and outdated surgical procedure.
The National Academy of Sciences warned against BLM’s use of ovariectomies on wild mares due to risk of hemorrhage and infection. Castrating stallions would cause loss of testosterone which drives the natural behaviors necessary to maintain social organization and survive in the wild.
BLM is not only charging ahead with surgical sterilization, but the budget indicates that the agency intends to use the appropriations process to amend the Wild Horse and Burro Act to explicitly authorize these surgeries.
It’s also critically important to remember that the vast majority of Americans, of all political backgrounds, are opposed to mass roundups and these surgical procedures.
Another Way to Dump Horses?
While the President’s budget does recognize that the slaughter of America’s wild horses and burros is unacceptable to Congress and the public, we have grave concerns about the request for legislative language to expand the transfer authority of wild horses and burros to tribal entities.
AWHC sees this as another way for the agency to take steps to reduce numbers of wild horses through policies that make it easier to move horses out of holding, strip them of their federal-protection and send them to destinations where their welfare will be impossible to ensure.
A Better Way
Here at AWHC, we’re proving that there is a humane and cost-effective way to keep wild horses and burros on public lands and end the roundup and warehousing of these wild animals in holding pens.
On the Virginia Range in Nevada, our team is operating the world’s largest humane management program of wild horses and burros.
By utilizing a very affordable vaccine, known as PZP, our team has treated more mares in 10 months than the BLM did last year. And each vaccine costs as little as $30 per year.
The President’s budget request is just that: a request. This means we have the chance to work with leaders in Congress to oversee the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program, demand the BLM abandon the practices that are not supported by science or the American public, as well as promote effective and safe alternatives that our team has demonstrated work.
Over the last three years, working together, we’ve beat back multiple attempts to legalize the slaughter of wild horses and burros by convincing Congress that the American people will not stand for this lethal and brutally inhumane option. Together, we can meet this newest and most serious threat to the future of America’s wild herds.
Thank you,
Suzanne Roy
Executive Director
American Wild Horse Campaign
2020 Brings More Horses in Need
The following is from All About Equine Animal Rescue:
Meet our newest intake, Cody
Did you know you can SPONSOR a horse at AAE?
Learn more about Sponsoring a horse here
OTHER WAYS TO SPONSOR and SUPPORT AAE
We’ve Extended Our Hours!
Tuesday & Thursday 2p to 6p
530-363-6096
VOLUNTEER NEEDS
Please bring: Heavy work gloves (leather), Water/Drink for yourself, Hat, Boots and long pants
We will provide: T-Post pullers, wire cutters, hammers, screw drivers, and extra gloves.
Please RSVP via email to Jean if you can help.
You are welcome to bring a family member or friend to help as long as they are over 16 yrs of age. Please let Jean know so we can be sure we have enough tools.
Any questions, please ask Jean.
Employers Match Donations, Does Yours?
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Intel
provides a $10 grant to a nonprofit per every volunteer hour by an employee, and matches funds dollar for dollar up to $5,000 per employee or retiree.
-
Microsoft provides a $17 grant to a nonprofit per every hour volunteered by an employee.
-
Apple provides a $25 grant to a nonprofit per every volunteer hour by an employee, and matches funds dollar for dollar up to $10,000 per employee.
-
Verizon provides a $750 grant to a nonprofit when an employee volunteers for 50+ hours.
- State Farm provides a $500 grant nonprofit when an employee volunteers for+ 40 hours.
- Others top 20 matching gift and/or volunteer grant companies include
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- Starbucks
- CarMax
- Home Depot
- JP Morgan
- Chevron
- Soros Fund Management
- BP (British Petroleum)
- Gap Corporation
- State Street Corporation
- ExxonMobil
- Johnson & Johnson
- Boeing
- Disney
- Merck
- Aetna
- Dell
- Outerwall (CoinStar and RedBox)
- ConocoPhillips
- RealNetworks
- Time Warner and subsidiaries
- AllState
- and more
The war against Wyoming’s wild horses
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
For nearly an entire decade, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the livestock industry have worked in tandem in a non-stop offensive against Wyoming’s cherished wild horses.
Since 2011, AWHC, our coalition partner The Cloud Foundation, wildlife photographer Carol Walker, and tens of thousands of dedicated supporters such as yourself have stepped up to defend them.
But Wyoming’s famed wild horses now face their greatest threat yet. The new plan outlined by the BLM would remove nearly 40% of the state’s wild horses from public lands and convert more than 60% of the state’s federally-protected wild horse habitat into land for private grazing interests (roughly 2,500,000 acres).
Our legal team has been heavily involved in fighting back against the BLM’s war against these horses over the past nine years, establishing critical legal precedents, including one which prevents the BLM from removing wild horses from public lands solely because their populations exceed the agency’s imposed population limits (which are not grounded in science or data).
Another of our legal victories stopped the BLM from using a rancher request to remove federally protected wild horses from private lands as an excuse to eradicate them from the public lands as well. These are huge precedents that we’ll build upon as we continue to defend Wyoming wild horses in the fight for their lives this year!
That’s why we’re reaching out to you, as one of our most involved and engaged supporters, to humbly ask if we can count on your support to launch our 2020 AWHC Wyoming Legal Defense Fund.
Thank you,
American Wild Horse Campaign
P.S. — The response to our petition drive calling on this Administration to reverse their assault on Wyoming’s wild horses has been incredible. As of today, more than 51,082 of you from all across the United States have stepped up and given a voice to Wyoming’s precious icons.
Help us keep the pressure on and fueling our fight by making your first donation of the year so we can launch our 2020 Wyoming Legal Defense Fund.
BEAUTIFUL, OLDER, PMU MARE 48 HOURS AWAY FROM DEATH NEEDS US RIGHT NOW! WILL YOU HELP US BRING HER HOME & SAVE HER LIFE?
The following is from Chilly Pepper – Miracle Mustang:
In the middle of prepping for Baby Season, we have a DROP EVERYTHING RIGHT NOW!! – EMERGENCY SAVE!!!!
This beautiful, 20 + year old mare had 48 hours to be saved. This was a mare I had to commit to based solely on Faith!! My Faith that y’all would not let this mare down and help us get her home and get her the TLC she deserves.
This poor girl was a PMU mare. For those of you who don’t know what that is, she lived her life in a stall so narrow she could not turn around. For 20 hours a day, five months out of the year. She was bred continuously so her urine could be collected to make the hormone replacement PREMARIN.
We just received word that we CAN SAVE HER & bring her home to Chilly Pepper. We want to thank the rescue Central Oregon Equine for making sure she was safe until someone could be found to take her. We also want to send out a big thank you to WHOA, who will be receiving her tomorrow and getting the vetting done so we can bring her home.
As usual, we need to get her vetted, transported and home. We need to pay for her transport to WHOA tomorrow, and then get her home. She needs some groceries and to spend the rest of her life loved beyond measure.
PLEASE HELP US BRING HER HOME AND SAVE HER LIFE!
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO KEEP HELPING US SAVE MORE LIVES, YOU CAN GO TO:
-You can go to gofundme
You can go to Paypal
if you would like to help these horses.
You can donate via check at: (PLEASE NOTE NEW PO BOX #)
Chilly Pepper – Miracle Mustang,
PO Box # 233
Golconda, NV 89414
You can also donate via credit card by calling Palomino at 530-339-1458.
NO MATTER HOW BIG OR HOW SMALL – WE SAVE THEM ALL!
SAVING GOD’S CRITTERS – FOUR FEET AT A TIME
Chilly Pepper – Miracle Mustang, WIN Project – Rescue & Rehab
We are now part of the WIN Organization
WIN (WILD HORSES IN NEED) is a 501c3 IRS EIN 55-0882407_
If there are ever funds left over from the cost of the rescue itself, the monies are used to feed, vet, care for and provide shelter and proper fencing for the animals once they are saved
Thursday is the public comment deadline to help save the Swasey wild horse herd in Utah
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
News & Alerts
Last week, we reached out to you about the alarming Bureau of Land Management (BLM) decision to move forward with a ten-year plan that would dramatically reduce the wild horse population in the Swasey Herd Management Area (HMA) in Utah, down to as few as 60 horses.
As part of our national effort to combat this cruel plan, nearly 10,000 of you have signed onto our petition which will be an incredible show of force on AWHC’s public comments on the Environmental Assessment of the plan.
The deadline to leave a public comment and join our national petition drive is this Thursday, February 20. After that, the public comment period will be closed.
We noticed you haven’t signed onto our petition yet and wanted to personally reach out before Thursday’s deadline: Can Utah’s wild horses count on you to take just one moment to add your signature to our petition drive?
Thank you! And if you happened to miss our previous message we’re attaching it below.
American Wild Horse Campaign
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is preparing to move forward with a ten-year plan to reduce the wild horse population in the Swasey Herd Management Area (HMA) in Utah to just 60 horses.
In order to achieve this, the BLM would authorize mass roundups in the area and greenlight dangerous chemical and surgical sterilization procedures on mares who call these public lands home. One of these methods has been deemed to be dangerous and “inadvisable” for use in wild horses by the National Academy of Sciences, and other methods haven’t even been developed yet…. let alone safety-tested.
The BLM wants to reduce the Swasey mustang population to 60 horses on this 190-square-mile HMA to make room for the more than 7,000 privately-owned, taxpayer-subsidized sheep that annually graze the public lands there.
The truth is: there is more than enough room for wild horses on public lands. But those facts don’t fit the narrative being promoted by the BLM and the livestock industry.
Thank you for getting involved,
American Wild Horse Campaign
ORPHAN 911 – IT’S BABY TIME – EMERGENCY SUPPLIES NEEDED NOW – BABIES DROPPING – IT’S GO TIME
The following is from Chilly Pepper – Miracle Mustang:
It’s GO TIME AGAIN. 911 for baby supplies. We are already getting calls to be on stand by for the orphaned and new born foals.
As we never had a break all year, our baby supplies have dwindled and these are the lifesaving supplies we need. Thankfully Chilly Pepper has folks stepping up to help with the care of these orphaned babies, as well as pregnant mares, stallions and any other horses we can save from slaughter. CHILLY PEPPER is still incurring all expenses for our babies and horses.
OUR current emergency is being prepared for that phone call. These babies need IMMEDIATE care to have a chance at surviving in this harsh world. Many of these babies will come from Mares that have been shipped to slaughter. Others will be orphaned by deaths caused by vehicles and then there are the ones who are injured or too ill to survive alone.
Thankfully we have 3 other locations where folks will step up and help us do the actual care for these babies. TEAMWORK IS THE REASON FOR THE DREAM WORKING!
(The MOST BABIES we have gotten at once was (70 BABIES IN 2 DAYS). This was from ONE trapper in 2 days.) So we have to be ready at all locations.
WE NEED TO ORDER SUPPLIES ASAP.
Foal Lac Powder – 40# bags – $150 32 Bags (just a start) $ 4,800
▪ (This would supply milk needed for 16 babies for one month). It is a drop in the bucket, but a good start.) This is only for the milk.
▪ (This would supply milk needed for 16 babies for one month). It is a drop in the bucket, but a good start.) This is only for the milk.
Probios 4 – @ $47.99 (Valley Vet) Estimate w/o shipping $ 200
Foal Response 16 @ $12.49 Estimate w/o shipping $ 200
Equine Coli Endotox 16 @ $36.09 ” $ 578
New thermometers 4 @ $30 ” $ 120
IGG (Colostrum replacer) 20 bottles @ $105.95 $ 2,120
These are the absolute basics we use with every neonatal foal. We need more panels, shavings, meds, and the list goes on. The above is the bare minimum to be prepared for the normal neonatal babies we can expect at the beginning of the year.
These are the life saving supplies that we HAVE TO HAVE to provide the best possible chance for these babies to survive.
Please donate if you can. You can also purchase items directly and mail them to Chilly Pepper, 12965 Green Saddle Drive, # 233, Golconda, NV 89414.
We also need baby wipes, vaseline, Biosponge, vet wrap, gauze, scalpels, needles, syringes, baby blankets, gloves, and the list goes on. Saving these babies is not cheap, but it is the least we can do for them, especially the ones whose Mom’s have been shipped to slaughter.
PLEASE HELP US TODAY!
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO KEEP HELPING US SAVE MORE LIVES, YOU CAN GO TO:
You can go to gofundme
You can go to Paypal
if you would like to help these horses.
->You can donate via check at: (PLEASE NOTE NEW PO BOX #)
Chilly Pepper – Miracle Mustang,
PO Box # 233
Golconda, NV 89414
You can also donate via credit card by calling Palomino at 530-339-1458.
NO MATTER HOW BIG OR HOW SMALL – WE SAVE THEM ALL!
SAVING GOD’S CRITTERS – FOUR FEET AT A TIME
Chilly Pepper – Miracle Mustang, WIN Project – Rescue & Rehab
We are now part of the WIN Organization
WIN (WILD HORSES IN NEED) is a 501c3 IRS EIN 55-0882407_
If there are ever funds left over from the cost of the rescue itself, the monies are used to feed, vet, care for and provide shelter and proper fencing for the animals once they are saved.
This is a long read but it’s about the alarming budget the President just released
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
This past December, Congress authorized a 25% budgetary increase for the Bureau of Land Management’s badly broken Wild Horse and Burro program. Now the Administration is asking Congress to approve an additional 15% budget increase for the program two months later, as the BLM prepares to massively accelerate the roundup and removal of tens of thousands of wild horses.
What’s At Stake
As many of you know, the Acting Director of the BLM referred to wild horses and burros as an “existential threat” to public lands and is planning to use the Bureau’s funds to round up wild horses and burros in unprecedented numbers, with as many as 20,000 at risk of being removed this year alone.
We cannot stress this enough: We are talking about the greatest threat to wild horses in decades.
It is critical to remember that the BLM is not considering reducing the number of privately owned livestock in these areas. This despite the fact that these animals vastly outnumber horses and burros on public land and cost taxpayers as much as $500 million in subsidies for the below market grazing fees that public lands ranchers pay.
For reference, there are anywhere from 700,000 to 1,000,000 cow/calf pairs on public lands compared to the 88,000 federally-protected wild horses and burros (who share this land with the livestock).
Make no mistake about it, this isn’t a coincidence either — It’s the result of intense lobbying on behalf of the livestock industry.
Bad Policy And A Broken Program
The BLM continues to impose extreme limits on wild horse population numbers on public lands throughout the West that have no basis in science and their method of calculating these limits is not transparent to the public nor wildlife researchers and experts.
Additionally, the BLM is also championing the use of inhumane and ineffective population growth suppression methods that focus on the castration of wild stallions and the risky, cruel, and invasive surgical practice known as ovariectomy, whereby a mare’s ovaries are manually severed and removed in an invasive and outdated surgical procedure.
The National Academy of Sciences warned against BLM’s use of ovariectomies on wild mares due to risk of hemorrhage and infection. Castrating stallions would cause loss of testosterone which drives the natural behaviors necessary to maintain social organization and survive in the wild.
BLM is not only charging ahead with surgical sterilization, but the budget indicates that the agency intends to use the appropriations process to amend the Wild Horse and Burro Act to explicitly authorize these surgeries.
It’s also critically important to remember that the vast majority of Americans, of all political backgrounds, are opposed to mass roundups and these surgical procedures.
Another Way to Dump Horses?
While the President’s budget does recognize that the slaughter of America’s wild horses and burros is unacceptable to Congress and the public, we have grave concerns about the request for legislative language to expand the transfer authority of wild horses and burros to tribal entities.
AWHC sees this as another way for the agency to take steps to reduce numbers of wild horses through policies that make it easier to move horses out of holding, strip them of their federal-protection and send them to destinations where their welfare will be impossible to ensure.
A Better Way
Here at AWHC, we’re proving that there is a humane and cost-effective way to keep wild horses and burros on public lands and end the roundup and warehousing of these wild animals in holding pens.
On the Virginia Range in Nevada, our team is operating the world’s largest humane management program of wild horses and burros.
By utilizing a very affordable vaccine, known as PZP, our team has treated more mares in 10 months than the BLM did last year. And each vaccine costs as little as $30 per year.
The President’s budget request is just that: a request. This means we have the chance to work with leaders in Congress to oversee the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program, demand the BLM abandon the practices that are not supported by science or the American public, as well as promote effective and safe alternatives that our team has demonstrated work.
Over the last three years, working together, we’ve beat back multiple attempts to legalize the slaughter of wild horses and burros by convincing Congress that the American people will not stand for this lethal and brutally inhumane option. Together, we can meet this newest and most serious threat to the future of America’s wild herds.
Photo by Nancy Florence.
Thank you,
Suzanne Roy
Executive Director
American Wild Horse Campaign
Take just one minute to help us stop the BLM from sterilizing Utah’s wild horses (urgent)
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
News & Alerts
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is preparing to move forward with a ten-year plan to reduce the wild horse population in the Swasey Herd Management Area (HMA) in Utah to just 60 horses.
In order to achieve this, the BLM would authorize mass roundups in the area and greenlight dangerous chemical and surgical sterilization procedures on mares who call these public lands home. One of these methods has been deemed to be dangerous and “inadvisable” for use in wild horses by the National Academy of Sciences, and other methods haven’t even been developed yet…. let alone safety-tested.
The BLM wants to reduce the Swasey mustang population to 60 horses on this 190-square-mile HMA to make room for the more than 7,000 privately-owned, taxpayer-subsidized sheep that annually graze the public lands there.
The truth is: there is more than enough room for wild horses on public lands. But those facts don’t fit the narrative being promoted by the BLM and the livestock industry.
Thank you for getting involved,
American Wild Horse Campaign
Tell Your Senators to Co-Sponsor the PAST Act!
The following is from the American Horse Council:
American Horse Council Action Alert
Tell Your Senators to Push PAST Act Over the Finish Line!
Overwhelming passage of the PAST Act in the House of Representatives last year gives the bill unprecedented momentum for action in the Senate. Please help us gain a “super-majority” of cosponsors for the senate version of the PAST Act (S. 1007), championed by Sens. Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Mark Warner (D-VA). Write to your senators today and urge them to join the growing list of bi-partisan cosponsors of this important legislation.
A roundup in Nevada, a horse hero in California, and an update on our national effort to save Wyoming’s wild horses
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
It’s been a busy past couple of weeks here at AWHC. We’ve had some heartwarming developments and some developments that broke our hearts — Like the ongoing roundup occurring in Nevada’s Eagle Complex.
As we write this, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is conducting a huge roundup of wild horses in and around the Eagle Complex in Nevada.
This Complex, which spans the Nevada-Utah border, includes the Chokecherry, Eagle, and Mt. Elinor Herd Management Areas (HMAs). Just over 2,000 wild horses call this 750,000 acre — or 1200-square-mile public lands area — home, but the BLM wants to reduce their populations by 80%. When the helicopters leave, just over 400 horses, or one horse per 1,900 acres, will be left!
AWHC’s observer is in the field documenting the roundup in which 1,156 wild horses have so far lost their freedom, with 13 confirmed fatalities.
Last month, AWHC sent a legal letter to the BLM asking for them to postpone this roundup, citing a violation of the public’s First Amendment rights. The BLM failed to list this operation on their public schedule and only provided three days’ notice of its start date — A major shift in the agency’s own practices and one that makes it even more difficult to get observers onsite to document these capture operations. The BLM did not reply to our letter, but they did delay the start of the roundup by 3 days.
You can read our daily reports from the roundup here.
Earlier this week, AWHC began a petition drive to this Administration and the Department of the Interior to call on them to reverse the disastrous decision to round up over one-third of the wild horses in Wyoming.
To put things into perspective, the Wyoming Wild Horse Wipeout would eliminate federally protected wild horses from an expanse of land roughly the size of the State of Connecticut (the area in question is 2,000,000 acres!).
Nearly 4,000 wild horses could be round up, including the wild horses who live along the Pilot Butte Wild Horse Scenic Viewing Loop, a significant tourist attraction (and more importantly, historic home for these iconic horses).
Since launching our petition, more than 20,000 of you have signed on to our national call to action to reverse the Wyoming Wild Horse Wipeout. Help us get to 25,000 signatures before the weekend is over by signing here.
And if you would like to learn more about this plan, the private interests promoting it, and what’s at stake — You can read more here.
Something that’s important to keep in mind, however, is that there is hope — And there are generous people all throughout the country who are doing everything they can to save America’s beautiful wild horses and burros.
One of those individuals is Alicia Goetz, the founder of Freedom Reigns Equine Sanctuary and someone we are beyond proud to have as a member of AWHC’s Board of Directors.
Alicia currently runs and founded one of the largest horse sanctuaries in the entire United States. Over the past six years, Alicia has taken in unwanted horses and given them a home on a 4,000 acre property in San Benito County, California.
It wasn’t something she originally set out to do. Alicia got the idea after her daughter began horse riding and she learned about the unfortunate fate that befalls thousands of unwanted horses. So she decided to get involved and make a difference — And she has!
We wanted to thank Alicia for crossing a major milestone: She’s about to accept her 500th horse into Freedom Reigns!
Even better news: The horses coming to Alicia’s are Rocky and Rusty’s bands from the famed Fish Springs HMA in Nevada. Alicia is giving these horses a rare opportunity to stay together with their families and roam free on her beautiful 4,000-acre ranch.
Read more about Alicia and Freedom Reigns here.
Before you go, we also wanted to remind you that it’s not too late to snag one of our 2020 AWHC calendars! There are still eleven months in the year and these calendars make a great gift for the horse lover in your life.
And the best part? A portion of the proceeds go directly to supporting our work to keep America’s wild horses and burros wild as well as to power our efforts to rescue those who have lost their freedom.
Thank you,
American Wild Horse Campaign
RIP – DANDELION. – NOW ANOTHER WILD, PREGNANT, OLDER MARE IN THE KILL PEN. YOU ARE HER LAST CHANCE! WILL YOU HELP US SAVE HER?
The following is from Chilly Pepper – Miracle Mustang:
NOW WE KNOW WHO WE NEED TO SAVE!!!
Please help our beautiful SAGE stay alive to have her baby. She needs us to commit now.!
I am sharing these photos. (I just received them).
She really does exist lol). Let’s keep her in our world.
Another urgent 911 call. An older, WILD & PREGNANT MUSTANG is in the kill pen, and if we don’t get her, she has no other option. She and her unborn baby do not deserve to ship to slaughter.
Zimmerman Veterinary
1 775-623-0981 and let them know it is for “Palomino – Chilly Pepper – Miracle Mustang”.
Love that big booty. It belongs in a pasture, NOT on a plate.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO KEEP HELPING US SAVE MORE LIVES, YOU CAN GO TO:
You can go to gofundme
You can go to Paypal
if you would like to help these horses.
->You can donate via check at: (PLEASE NOTE NEW PO BOX #)
Chilly Pepper – Miracle Mustang,
PO Box # 233
Golconda, NV 89414
You can also donate via credit card by calling Palomino at 530-339-1458.
NO MATTER HOW BIG OR HOW SMALL – WE SAVE THEM ALL!
SAVING GOD’S CRITTERS – FOUR FEET AT A TIME
Chilly Pepper – Miracle Mustang, WIN Project – Rescue & Rehab
We are now part of the WIN Organization
WIN (WILD HORSES IN NEED) is a 501c3 IRS EIN 55-0882407_
If there are ever funds left over from the cost of the rescue itself, the monies are used to feed, vet, care for and provide shelter and proper fencing for the animals once they are saved.
Announcing the 2020 Save Your Ass Long Ear Rescue Cabin Fever Auction!
The following is from Save Your Ass Long Ear Rescue:
Dear friend of Save Your Ass Long Ear Rescue,
We’d like to begin by thanking you for your past donation to one of our online Cabin Fever auctions! The auction has become one of our most important and popular annual fundraising events, with the proceeds helping to cover the rehabilitation, medical, and nutritional needs of the mules and donkeys that are in our care.
With your support, we were able to find wonderful homes for many mules and donkeys in 2019, and to care for those who needed extensive health care and quarantine. We are off to a good start and hope to accomplish even more this year!
We are excited to announce that the 2020 Cabin Fever online auction is scheduled for the end of March, dates to be announced soon. Would you please consider again supporting the rescue with a donation of an item or service? We are hoping to offer a variety of items and want to make sure you are included! Items or services do not need to be donkey or animal related, and all add to the fun and excitement of the bidding. The value of your donation plus shipping costs is tax deductible, and we will send a receipt for your tax records.
If you are interested in donating an auction item or service this year – thank you! All you need to do is send us the following info (we need all of the seven items listed below in order to process your donation) by March 6, to: syaauction2020@gmail.com
If you have already contacted us regarding a donation– thank you also! And please make sure that we have your complete information and photo as well.
1. Item Name.
2. Item Description.
3. Image of your item for auction listing (photo, logo, business card, etc.)
4. Link to URL, if you’d like.
5. Value (include estimated shipping, please.)
6. Suggested Starting Price.
7. Contact information.
We ask that you be willing to ship your item to the winning bidder.
Your information can be sent as a reply to this email at
If you have any questions you can also call me at 413-559-8414.
Thank you so very much for your support of our auction and the SYA rescue!
Best wishes,
Joan Gemme
Save Your Ass Long Ear Rescue
RIP – DANDELION. – NOW ANOTHER WILD, PREGNANT, OLDER MARE IN THE KILL PEN. YOU ARE HER LAST CHANCE! WILL YOU HELP US SAVE HER?
The following is from Chilly Pepper – Miracle Mustang:
With a broken heart, we had to let Dandelion go. In the midst of trying to deal with so much loss, another emergency is upon us.
Another urgent 911 call. An older, WILD & PREGNANT MUSTANG is in the kill pen, and if we don’t get her, she has no other option. She and her unborn baby do not deserve to ship to slaughter.
We need to save her now! Her time has run out and we need to raise funds for vetting, transport, etc. so we can commit to saving her life.
If we do not step up, this girl has no where to go. At this point I have not seen her, but that is not important. God put her in front of us and we need to save both of their lives. Time is of the essence and her clock is running out.
_As usual, there is never time to grieve the loss of our beautiful babies. sadly, we found out that Dandelion was born with a deadly birth defect. _
Although our beautiful Dandelion was all healed up from her coyote attack and ready to head out to her “new Moms”, she had a birth defect that ultimately was a death sentence. Thankfully she did not die a horrible death out on the range, but was surrounded by those she loved and her “mama”.,
As always, the phone rings and we received another 911. This mare and her unborn baby now have a chance, and that is YOU!. We need a “happy”. PLEASE HELP US SAVE THIS MOM AND BABY NOW!
I am honestly exhausted and my heart is in a million pieces. But that does not give me an excuse to not step up and try and save this Mama and unborn Baby. I may still need to grieve my beloved Christmas & Dandelion, but we don’t need to add more heartbreak by letting this Mama and baby ship.
On another note, the Belgian “Texas Triumph” is hanging in there. I was warned that I may go out and find he has aspirated and gotten pneumonia, or I might find him “choking” as he has what appears to be permanent damage to his throat. Both vets have warned me about the low chances he has for a long life, but we will love him and care for him as long as we can.
So we had two cases from opposite ends of the spectrum, both involving a damaged esophagus. With neither one being a candidate for surgery, it means we pray hard and keep feeding Texas Triumph his mash. At this point aside from his string halt and eating issues, he is a wonderful and very happy boy!
Zimmerman Veterinary
1 775-623-0981 and let them know it is for “Palomino – Chilly Pepper – Miracle Mustang”.
PLEASE LET’S “GIT ‘ER DONE” ONCE MORE and save this Mama and her unborn baby. This baby does NOT deserve to be born on the floor of a filthy slaughter truck!
Below, “Texas Triumph”, the latest edition to our Sunshine & Smiles program, (as long as he is here with us).
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO KEEP HELPING US SAVE MORE LIVES, YOU CAN GO TO:
You can go to gofundme
You can go to Paypal
if you would like to help these horses.
->You can donate via check at: (PLEASE NOTE NEW PO BOX #)
Chilly Pepper – Miracle Mustang,
PO Box # 233
Golconda, NV 89414
You can also donate via credit card by calling Palomino at 530-339-1458.
NO MATTER HOW BIG OR HOW SMALL – WE SAVE THEM ALL!
SAVING GOD’S CRITTERS – FOUR FEET AT A TIME
Chilly Pepper – Miracle Mustang, WIN Project – Rescue & Rehab
We are now part of the WIN Organization
WIN (WILD HORSES IN NEED) is a 501c3 IRS EIN 55-0882407_
If there are ever funds left over from the cost of the rescue itself, the monies are used to feed, vet, care for and provide shelter and proper fencing for the animals once they are saved.
BREAKING: BLM moves to round up as many as 4,000 wild horses in Wyoming
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
News & Alerts
The Bureau of Land Management just unveiled a plan that would decimate Wyoming’s wild horse population, reducing the population there by more than one-third.
The Wyoming Wild Horse Wipeout would ERADICATE wild horses from the Salt Wells, Great Divide and White Mountain Herd Management Areas (HMAs) along the famed Wild Horse Scenic Loop. Additionally, the population in the remaining Adobe Town HMA would be slashed significantly.
It’s hard to overstate the irreversible damage this plan will inflict. By the numbers:
3,000+ — The number of wild horses the BLM will permanently remove from the state,
38% — The percentage of the state’s entire wild horse and burro population that would be removed under this plan,
2,500,000 — The number of acres that will be eliminated as wild horse habitat, meaning wild horses will be eradicated from this wide expanse of public land,
0 — The number of wild horses that will remain in the Great Divide Basin, White Mountain and Salt Wells Creek HMAs.
The Checkerboard wild horse population has long been a target of the powerful Rock Springs Grazing Association, whose members profit from steep taxpayer subsidies to support their privately owned cattle and sheep herds on public lands, including in these HMAs.
We cannot allow the BLM to sell out the interests of the American people and our country’s federally protected wild horses and burros to elevate the private profits of the livestock industry.
We set a goal of reaching 10,000 signatures before the end of the day: Join AWHC in calling on the BLM and this Administration to reverse this plan that could result in the removal of more than one-third of Wyoming’s wild horses.
AWHC has been involved in litigation to defend Wyoming’s wild horses since 2011. We’ve achieved a number of victories in the courts, including at the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.
You can learn more about the Wyoming Wild Horse Wipeout and the areas affected here.
We will continue to do all we can to protect Wyoming’s cherished icons.
Thank you for getting involved,
American Wild Horse Campaign
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