The Calls Keep Coming – Can You Help?
The following is from All About Equine Animal Rescue:
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Kyle Davidson
Posts by Kyle Davidson:
Celebrating the woman who changed the fate of America’s wild horses
The following is from the American Wild Horse Conservation:
More than 70 years ago, a woman in Nevada witnessed something she could not ignore.
Velma “Wild Horse Annie” Johnston was driving along a highway when she noticed blood dripping from a passing livestock truck. When she discovered it came from captured wild horses being hauled away for slaughter, she made a decision that would change history.
Velma wasn’t a politician or a lobbyist — she was an administrative assistant. She believed Americans would care if they knew what was happening to wild horses on our public lands — and she was right.
She organized a grassroots movement that spread across the country. Schoolchildren joined what became known as the “Pencil War,” flooding Congress with handwritten letters demanding protection for wild horses. And, Meredith, their voices worked.
In 1971, Congress passed the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, recognizing wild horses as “living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West” and placing them under federal protection.
It remains one of the most powerful wildlife protection laws ever passed in the United States.
But today, the promise of that law is being steadily weakened.
Across the West, wild horses are being removed from their homes through aggressive helicopter roundups and placed into government holding facilities by the tens of thousands. At the same time, wild horse habitat continues to shrink while commercial livestock grazing on public lands continues largely unchanged. In fact, on many of the same landscapes where wild horses are blamed for land degradation, there are roughly 30 cattle authorized for every single wild horse.
The result is a troubling reality: Wild horses — the very animals Congress once moved to protect — are increasingly treated as obstacles rather than icons.
Wild Horse Annie showed the world that ordinary people can shape the future of these animals. Today, we must do the same.
As part of our Month of Action, will you act now to help hold the line for America’s wild horses? →
| TAKE ACTION |
Velma Johnston proved that one person speaking up can spark a movement. Together, we can ensure her legacy continues.
Thank you for standing with the wild ones,
AWHC Team
Chilly Pepper – Urgent help needed!
The following is from Chilly Pepper – Miracle Mustang:
Hi Y’all,
I am reaching out with an urgent plea for help. I need $800 for the truck repair, $1500 for hay this week, $1500 for the current vet bill and the incoming meds for Grandma Gracie. Funds are at a record low and I need to get Doc paid, purchase the new meds, get hay asap and buy more grain. I appreciate your help and know we can “git ‘er done’.
The GOOD news is that All of the new kids are doing a little bit better each day so far. None of them are “Out of the woods yet, but heading in the right direction.
We had to take Grandma Gracie in for bloodwork and an emergency checkup. She was crashing pretty badly.
| Destiny’s eye was coming apart and she was getting a bad infection in spite of her meds. She also needed an urgent appointment. At one point Doc thought we needed to put her down but thankfully came up with another chance for her. |
| Benny’s sheath was hugely swollen and ended up needing a little procedure to remove a huge “bean”. This was inside his private parts and preventing him from urinating. Normally they are pretty small, like maybe marble size?. His was the 2nd largest Doc had ever seen. Kind of similar size to a lime. It had to be so painful and was obviously in there for a very long time. |
So we had lots of emergency type visits in the last week or so. Thank you to everyone who donated so far for the vet bill. I believe it is now down around $1350 or so. This does not include the new meds that are coming for Grandma Gracie and those are another $200.
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I need to get a load of hay in the next couple days. I am looking at about $1500 for a smaller load and that will get us by for a bit. We are down to a couple big bales and we are caring for about 20 kids right now. So I need to get the hay asap, as well as grain and the rest of the supplements these kids need.
Grain for all of them averages around $30 a bag, and we are going through a lot, lol.
The truck needs some repairs and general maintenance to the tune of around $800. That is the best case scenario.
Please help and share far and wide.
Thank you as always for being there for Chilly Pepper and all the critters you helped save!
| THANK YOU, MY CHILLY PEPPER FAMILY, FOR ALWAYS BEING THERE! YOU ROCK!!! |
| You can donate to Goldendale Veterinary – 509-773-0369 You can donate to Zimmerman Vet – 775-623-0981 |
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Antelope HMA: 344 horses removed — here’s what happened next →
The following is from the American Wild Horse Conservation:
The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) “emergency” roundup outside the Antelope Herd Management Area has now concluded. Below are the final outcomes that our team of observers witnessed:
- 344 wild horses were captured: 131 stallions, 147 mares, 66 foals
- Three deaths occurred during the course of these removals — including a yearling who suffered a fatal neck fracture at the trap site.
However, and equally disturbing story has begun now that this roundup has concluded.
In the days following this removal, our Investigations Team documented a dramatic expansion of listings on the BLM’s Sale Authority website — growing from roughly 40 pages to nearly 70, many featuring horses under five years old.
Under federal law, horses can enter the Sale Authority if they are over 10 years old or have been offered unsuccessfully for adoption three times. But when emergency roundups rapidly increase the number of horses entering the system, more animals are pushed through this pipeline faster — reducing transparency and increasing the long-term risk to these federally protected horses.
At the same time, federal officials continue advancing a goal of placing 20,000 horses per year into adoption or sale channels, while rapidly scaling the online corral system to move animals faster.
That raises a serious question: Has the government demonstrated that humane placement capacity exists before accelerating removals? Meredith, precedent tells us the answer is no.
When removals outpace real demand, the risks to these horses grow. And as more animals are funneled into Sale Authority, federal safeguards fall away.
This is not sustainable management. It is a slaughter pipeline.
We will not stay silent as “emergency” roundups feed a system that cannot responsibly sustain the volume being removed.
This is exactly why we launched our Hold the Line campaign — to push back when “emergency” becomes a shortcut and to ensure wild horses are protected by law, not processed by quota. Stand with us, Meredith. Demand transparency, accountability, and real checks before more horses are taken.
| POWER OUR WORK |
Thank you,
AWHC Team