Today, and every day, we celebrate the values that make America what it is: liberty, honor, and pride. But as we spend time with our family and friends honoring the founding of our nation, it’s important that we remember those whose freedom is currently under threat.
Photo by Sandy Sisti // Wild at Heart Images
The American Wild Horse is a symbol of the core values that we honor today. Their resilience, strength, and untamed beauty embody the American spirit unlike any animal. But as we speak, wild horses across the West are losing their freedom due to brutal helicopter roundups conducted by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
The summer roundup season officially began this past Saturday, putting the lives of thousands of these majestic creatures in grave danger. These helicopter roundup operations are extremely stressful to wild horses and often result in them being severely traumatized, injured, or even killed.
We know it doesn’t have to be this way, Meredith. That’s why our team here at the American Wild Horse Campaign (AWHC) is dedicated to ending these cruel helicopter roundups for good and shifting federal management of wild horses to more humane alternatives, such as fertility control vaccines.
And today, on Independence Day, we pledge to keep up the fight for these horses and their uniquely American legacy.
time is running out, so I’ll try to keep this quick:
In just a few short hours, the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) helicopters will take flight, marking the start of the summer roundup season. By the end of October, approximately 5,900 wild horses across the West will have lost their freedom, families — and, for some, their lives.
Our magnificent wild horses and burros need you, Meredith. They need all of us to stand together and continue to strongly oppose the BLM’s deadly roundups.
Right now, we’re $9,612 away from reaching our $50,000 goal in preparation for another traumatic roundup season. Our team works day in and day out to uphold our promise to America’s wild horses and burros by ensuring their protection.
We are tackling this issue from all angles, from sending observers to document the cruel roundups, to launching strategic lawsuits, to alerting the media and the public to the inhumanity these animals face, and finally, working to reform government policy through our work on Capitol Hill. But we need your help to keep the momentum going.Will you rush a donation before midnight tonight to fuel our efforts and help us reach our $50,000 goal?
The funds we’ve raised will go far, but reaching our $50,000 goal ensures we have every resource necessary to fight back, document any tragedies, and save the lives of as many of these iconic wild animals as possible.
My name is Chance (that’s me at the front), and I’m really scared right now.
I’m a wild stallion living with my family within the 1.1 million acres that make up the Antelope Complex in Nevada. It’s my job to protect all of us from intruders and predators — but for the past few years, my herd has been targeted by “helicopters.” And now, they’re coming for us again this summer.
When the helicopters descended on my family in 2021, we ran as fast as we could away from its deafening roar. But after over an hour of running, we were exhausted — especially my foals — and that’s when I noticed: The helicopters were funneling us into a trap.
I had to do whatever I could to get us out, so I led my family up and over one of the jute barriers with the little strength I had left. I thought everyone was behind me, but when I looked back, half of my family had been captured.
That day, I lost two mares whom I had been with for years, and all three of my foals. I don’t even know if they’re alive — I later learned that during this government “roundup” on the habitat I call home, 11 wild horses, including four babies, died at the trap, not even making it into the holding pens.
I don’t understand why the government would do this to wild mustangs and our burro neighbors. Our friends at the AWHC say it’s because powerful ranching private interest groups have lobbied for roundup and removals in Washington for decades — they want to use more and more of the public land we live on to graze their privately-owned livestock since it’s subsidized by your tax dollars.
In addition to documenting the cruelty that wild horses and burros are subjected to during Bureau of Land Management (BLM) helicopter roundups, my teammates and I investigate what happens to these innocent animals after they’ve been captured.
Our Investigations Team files Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to obtain government documents that reveal the harsh reality wild horses and burros face after they are rounded up and funneled into the BLM’s overburdened holding system. Our findings consistently show that the inhumane treatment these animals suffer continues well after the helicopters are grounded.
Our FOIA work helps uncover indisputable evidence of the often unreported death toll of roundup operations, as well as the cruel impacts of the BLM’s holding system. For example, late last year, we filed FOIA requests that illuminated the deaths of over 30 burros at a Utah holding facility between August and September 2022.
The records we secured revealed that six burros died from hemorrhaging during gelding, and four were euthanized. These same records showed that the majority of the burros died from a preventable blood disease that they can get when they experience extreme stress.
Tragedies like this prove that the deaths don’t stop once the helicopters do. But if it weren’t for the work of our Investigations Team, the truth about what happened to these burros may have never been made public.
Just like our observers who document violations at roundups in the field, our investigations work has shed a light on some serious animal welfare concerns within the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program. In the past few years, FOIA has helped us to uncover:
The horrific slaughter pipeline resulting from the BLM’s disastrous Adoption Incentive Program (AIP) which has landed at least 1,100 wild horses and burros in kill pens since the start of our investigation;
The deaths of 16 horses at the U.S. Forest Service’s Double Devil Wild Horse Corrals and the BLM’s Bruneau Wild Horse Off-Range Corrals;
The BLM’s use of IUD’s in wild mares despite the lack of scientific research about the efficacy and safety of these devices in wild populations;
The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) summer roundup season begins this weekend. From July 1 to October 31, government helicopters will descend on America’s wild herds in six different states. This roundup season, the BLM plans to round up more than 7,000 wild horses and burros, permanently removing 80% of the captured animals.
The first herd in the BLM’s crosshairs is the Reveille Herd Management Area (HMA) in Nevada, where dozens of wild horses are scheduled to be removed beginning as early as this Saturday. And that’s just the start. The largest roundups planned this summer are set to take place on Nevada’s Antelope Complex where over 3,000 wild horses are slated to be removed. Thousands more of these innocent animals will also be subjected to inhumane helicopter roundups in Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, California, and Oregon.
AWHC is fighting hard to put an end to the cruel practice of helicopter roundups and prove there is a better way to manage America’s wild herds. But in the meantime, it’s vital that we hold the BLM accountable for the abuses wild horses and burros suffer during these operations. That’s why we’re preparing to send trained observers to as many of the planned helicopter roundups as possible to document the inhumane treatment of our wild herds – and we need your help to make it happen.
These helicopter roundups are a threat to the safety and wellbeing of all wild horses and burros. They are traumatizing, they rip families apart, and they often result in grave injuries or even deaths.
Your support will help us ensure that the often harsh reality of federal wild horse roundups is in full view of the American public, including members of Congress who have the power to make change.
We’ve got a lot to share with you in this week’s edition of eNews, including an opportunity for you to stand up for North Dakota’s iconic Theodore Roosvelt wild horse herd, a call to take action against the curel slaughter of wild horses for human consumption, and a tribute to a dedicated wild horse advocate.
The efforts to save North Dakota’s historic Theodore Roosevelt wild horse herd from eradication by the National Park Service is picking up speed! Join local organization, Chasing Horses and fellow advocates on July 12-13 in Medora, ND for a rally, film screening and field tour! Click here to learn more about the events and how you can attend!
In December, our community lost Nancy Killian, wild horse advocate extraordinaire, President of the Virginia Range Wildlife Protection Association (VRWPA), and longtime American Wild Horse Campaign (AWHC) volunteer. Nancy was a pioneer of AWHC’s groundbreaking fertility control darting program for the Virginia Range horses and was the first member of our “1K Club”, delivering over 1,000 treatments to wild mares to manage this population that is challenged by habitat loss due to development. AWHC is proud to have granted $5,000 towards the completion of a memorial garden for Nancy,which you can learn more about below!
Our Donor Feedback Survey closes tomorrow at midnight. Will you take a few moments before then to provide us with any feedback you may have and let us know how we are doing?
First, we want to extend our deepest gratitude for your ongoing support for our work here at the American Wild Horse Campaign. It is because of you that we are able to continue our policy, awareness and conservation programs.
As one of our most dedicated donors, we’re hoping to get to know you better through your answers to a few questions about our programs and how we, as the leading wild horse conservation organization, are doing.
This will help us understand how you came to AWHC, why you stay involved, and help us make sure that we’re sending updates that help you support our work and America’s wild horses in the best way possible.
One of the most important parts of our work here at the American Wild Horse Campaign (AWHC) is documenting the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) helicopter roundups of our cherished wild horses and burros.
To this end, we’ve assembled and trained a team of photographers and videographers to cover as many helicopter capture operations as possible. The reports they compile are then used to file complaints to BLM officials, provided to the media, are used in our advocacy efforts on Capitol Hill, and help us establish an irrefutable pattern of cruelty.
This is grueling work. Watching these beautiful and innocent wild animals lose their freedom and families, day in and day out, is emotionally draining. The days can be incredibly long, with start times as early as 4 AM and roundups going until dusk – sometimes amidst extreme heat or cold depending on the location of the operation.
On top of that, these operations often occur in some of the most remote corners of the West,making it challenging to even get there. The closest airports are usually between 1.5 to 5 hours away from roundup areas, and hotels aren’t always easy to find near them.
In fact, the first roundup scheduled this summer on Nevada’s 1.1 million acre Antelope Complex will be over 200 miles away from the nearest airport. And to make matters worse, there will likely be two roundups occurring in the Complex at the same time in both Elko and Ely, Nevada. That means we need to send out two sets of documenting teams to make sure we don’t miss any animal welfare violations.
Meredith, our observers play an integral role in our work to hold the BLM accountable. But the truth is, it is expensive to get them to these remote areas and keep them equipped and in the field with four wheel drive vehicles and places to stay after such exhausting days. Your support is what makes this critical work possible.
Please join our American Wild Horse Campaign (AWHC) team on Thursday, June 22, 2023, for an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at our fight to preserve and protect wild horses and burros in 2023.
This session will feature an exciting update on “Setting the Conservation Standard” for wild horses and burros with members of our Government Relations and Field teams. We’ll also have dedicated time for an open Q&A with AWHC leadership and staff.
Please RSVP to reserve your spot!
Hello!
This is a friendly reminder that our Private Donor Update is today at 4:00pm Pacific/7:00pm Eastern via ZOOM.
Please join our American Wild Horse Campaign (AWHC) team on Thursday, June 22, 2023, for an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at our fight to preserve and protect wild horses and burros in 2023.
This session will feature an exciting update on “Setting the Conservation Standard” for wild horses and burros with members of our Government Relations and Field teams. We’ll also have dedicated time for an open Q&A with AWHC leadership and staff.
Please RSVP to reserve your spot!
Hello!
We hope you can make it to AWHC’s Private Donor Update tomorrow, June 22nd, at 4pm PT/7pm ET.
This is just your friendly reminder to RSVP. If you can’t attend, we thank you for supporting our work and we hope to see you next time!
This citizen Advisory Board is supposed to represent broad stakeholder interests, but its membership, appointed by the BLM, is heavily weighted in favor of livestock interests and pro-slaughter advocates. One of the current board members is even on record as previously stating that wild horses could be a “protein source!” With individuals like this sitting on the Board, it’s vital that we raise our voices as loud as possible in support of protections for our wild herds.
Thankfully, the Advisory Board is currently accepting comments from the public, so we have an opportunity to speak out against the BLM’s flawed management approach and demand key reforms, including:
Ending the cash incentives as part of the BLM’s Adoption Incentive Program (AIP), which an investigation by AWHC and our rescue partners revealed as a pipeline to slaughter for untold numbers of mustangs and burros;
Investing in and increasing collaboration with wild horse nonprofits to implement humane fertility control programs in herds across the West;
Mandating cameras be installed on helicopters used during roundups to ensure transparency and accountability for the BLM’s contractors;
My name is Holly, and I’m AWHC’s Director of Government Relations. My team and I work day in and day out to enact lasting protections for wild horses and burros at the congressional level. Because the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Forest Service (USFS) are federal agencies, Congress is the only governing body that is able to provide oversight, force accountability, and reform these agencies, making our work in Washington, D.C. essential. And your work advocating for a better way by contacting your federal legislators is a key part of our efforts.
So earlier this week, our team asked for your help harnessing support for three critical bills that could save the lives of our cherished wild herds. First, I wanted to say thank you — when supporters like you send messages to your elected officials, they listen. And when our team goes to Capitol Hill or state legislatures across the West to educate lawmakers on the issues wild horses and burros are facing, your calls for action help make our effort successful.
Once we get to sit down with these officials, we show them that there is a better way to manage these federally protected icons, including a focus on implementing humane fertility control vaccines to stabilize populations. And after many long hours fighting in Washington, D.C. and across the West, we’ve achieved some pretty remarkable legislative victories for our wild herds!
For the last two years, we’ve secured $11 million in BLM funding during the annual appropriations process to explore humane fertility control vaccines as an alternative to helicopter roundups. Recently, we worked on a historic bill in Colorado to support fertility control programs for the state’s herds. We’ve also advocated for passage of legislation to protect California’s wild horses from slaughter. Not only that, but we’ve garnered congressional support to reform the BLM’s Adoption Incentive Program, we’ve worked with federal legislators to address practices at the U.S. Forest Service that endanger animal welfare, and we’re supporting bills such as the SAFE Act to ban horse slaughter and the Wild Horse Protection Act of 2023 to eliminate the use of helicopters.
Roundup season is just around the corner, so we’re fighting on all fronts to protect our cherished wild horses and burros – whether that’s in the field, in the courts, or on Capitol Hill.
Our Government Relations team has been working tirelessly to help advance pro-wild horse and burro legislation in Congress, and our efforts have been building momentum. But we need your help to keep up the pressure.
Here are three actions you can take NOW to help fight for the protection and conservation of our cherished wild mustangs and burros:
Each year, tens of thousands of American horses — both wild and domestic — are brutally slaughtered in Canada and Mexico for human consumption in foreign countries. That’s why we’re supporting the SAFE Act, legislation that would permanently ban the slaughter of equines for human consumption and ban the export of equines to foreign countries for slaughter.
Federal helicopter roundups terrorize wild horses and burros. Far too many of these innocent animals are injured, or even killed, as a result of this inhumane practice. That’s why we’re working to pass the Wild Horse and Burro Protection Act. This critical bill would prohibit costly and inhumane helicopter roundups of wild horses and burros.
Congress will soon begin consideration of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 spending bills, providing us a key opportunity to advocate for humane reforms to the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro Program. With the removal of more than 20,000 wild horses and burros from the wild last year, and thousands more to follow as roundup season begins next month, wild horses and burros need your voice more than ever!
First, we want to extend our deepest gratitude for your ongoing support for our work here at the American Wild Horse Campaign. It is because of you that we are able to continue our policy, awareness and conservation programs.
As one of our most dedicated donors, we’re hoping to get to know you better through your answers to a few questions about our programs and how we, as the leading wild horse conservation organization, are doing.
This will help us understand how you came to AWHC, why you stay involved, and help us make sure that we’re sending updates that help you support our work and America’s wild horses in the best way possible.
If there is anything our public awareness campaigns have taught us, it’s this: When Americans are made aware of the cruelty wild horses and burros face, they are upset, angry, and ready to take action.
These efforts are exactly why, despite the National Park Service’s proposal to eliminate the historic Teddy Roosevelt wild horses from the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, momentum has been growing in the grassroots movement to keep the herd where they are — in large part thanks to supporters like you. Even the media is taking notice:
We launched billboards in key areas to raise awareness about the Teddy Roosevelt horses;
More than 19,000 comments have been submitted to the park service — over 13,000 from AWHC supporters, with a resounding majority supporting keeping horses in the Park;
Governor Doug Burgum has signed into law a unanimous resolution urging the park service to keep the historic wild herd in the Park;
AND, hundreds of AWHC supporters like you have taken action to ask North Dakota legislators like Rep. Kelly Armstrong to support keeping the horses in the Park, where they have thrived for generations.
We are committed to doing everything we can to keep the Teddy Roosevelt wild horses on the lands they call home — and our awareness efforts are the first step.
Please join our American Wild Horse Campaign (AWHC) team on Thursday, June 22, 2023, for an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at our fight to preserve and protect wild horses and burros in 2023.
This session will feature an exciting update on “Setting the Conservation Standard” for wild horses and burros with members of our Government Relations and Field teams. We’ll also have dedicated time for an open Q&A with AWHC leadership and staff.
Please RSVP to reserve your spot!
Private Invite: Donor Update
Hosted by American Wild Horse Campaign
Please join our American Wild Horse Campaign (AWHC) team on Thursday, June 22, 2023, for an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at our fight to preserve and protect wild horses and burros in 2023.
This session will feature an exciting update on “Setting the Conservation Standard” for wild horses and burros with members of our Government Relations and Field teams. We’ll also have dedicated time for an open Q&A with AWHC leadership and staff.
We’ve got a lot to share with you in this week’s edition of eNews, including an opportunity for you to speak up on behalf of Idaho’s three wild herds, a video showing the heartwarming reuinion of a beloved mustang pair after they were separated during a helicopter roundup, and some useful tips on how you can advocate for wild horses and burros at the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) upcoming Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board meeting.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Owyhee Field Office is proposing a 10-year plan for the wild horse populations within the Black Mountain, Hardtrigger and Sands Basin Herd Management Areas (HMAs) in Idaho and we need your help.
The agency plans to reduce the wild horse populations drastically to a mere 30 for Black Mountain, 66 for Hard Trigger and just 33 for Sands Basin. According to leading equine geneticists, in order to ensure genetic viability, no population should be reduced below 150 animals. As if that isn’t bad enough, the agency is considering the use of GonaCon in these HMAs. Instead, the BLM should use the humane and scientifically proven fertility control vaccine PZP. Please take action today!
At the end of the month, the BLM’s national Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board will meet June 28-30 in Reno. This is a citizen-based advisory committee hand-picked by the BLM to offer recommendations to the agency on wild horse and burro management. The public is invited to attend both in person and virtually and each will have the option to provide public comment. Please take one moment to learn more and submit your comments today!
Beloved mustang pair, Stargazer and Nora, from the Onaqui Herd Management Area (HMA) are on the viral animal video platform, The Dodo! The new video shows their reunification after being separated during a helicopter roundup and the pair taking their first steps of freedom together. Click here to watch!
Your support for our Rescue Fund powers a variety of critically important work – from providing life saving medical care to foals on Nevada’s Virginia Range to even outbidding kill buyers at slaughter auctions to protect victims of the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) failed Adoption Incentive Program (AIP).
Back in January 2021, as part of our ongoing investigation into the AIP slaughter pipeline, AWHC staff were monitoring a slaughter auction in Texas when they discovered a young, red roan BLM-branded mustang, now named Fran, and her small domestic companion, Nellie.
Our team knew we had to act fast, so we quickly reached out to our partners at Montgomery Creek Ranch (MCR) to check to see if they had room for them in their sanctuary and adoption program. Once they confirmed they could take the pair in, we leapt into action and sprung them both from the kill pen and transported them to MCR. Shortly after they arrived to safety, we confirmed that Fran was in fact a victim of the AIP.
These two young horses arrived at the sanctuary scared and in poor condition from their long journey. But thanks to the kind and loving care from the MCR team, they have both grown up to be beautiful and healthy horses! In fact, Nellie has completed all of her pre-riding groundwork training and is actually available for adoption now!
Next, we’d like to introduce you to Elsa and Sven!
Almost one year ago, AWHC partnered with Skydog Sanctuary to help rescue Elsa and 15 other formerly-wild BLM mustangs from slaughter. Like Fran, and thousands of others, they too entered the slaughter pipeline through the AIP.
Upon rescue, two of the mares were discovered to be pregnant – including Elsa – so they were transported to the Colorado Sanctuary For the Love of Aria (FTLOA) to await the birth of their babies. After months of loving care at the sanctuary, Elsa gave birth to Sven who is now growing into a big, healthy colt!
Our Rescue Fund enables us to help support the direct rescues of mustangs like Elsa (and her unborn baby at the time!) AND fund the ongoing care of rescued equines at our partner sanctuaries – including supporting critical initiatives like gelding clinics or hay funds.
We’d like to apologize. Earlier today, we mistakenly sent you the email below without linking to the proper advocacy form for you to contact your representative about the SAFE Act. If you’d still like to take action in support of this critical legislation, you can click here. Thank you for standing up for our beloved wild herds.
We’ve got a lot to share with you in this week’s edition of eNews, including an opportunity for you to speak up in support of permanently banning the slaughter of equines, an article about an important new bill banning the use of helicopters in wild horse and burro roundups, and an adorable guest blog post from rescued burros “Huck” and “Puck”!
On Friday, May 19, 2023, U.S. Representatives Vern Buchanan (R-FL) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) reintroduced the Save America’s Forgotten Equines (SAFE) Act (H.R. 3475) to permanently ban the slaughter of equines for human consumption and to ban the export of equines to foreign countries for slaughter.Please urge your representatives to co-sponsor this bill today!
Huck and Puck, AWHC’s wild burro Ambassadors, were pulled from their range in Nevada in one of the Bureau of Land Management’s helicopter roundups, adopted through the Adoption Incentive Program, and flipped at an infamous kill pen in Oklahoma soon afterward. From there their luck changed, however, and they were saved by a rescue and fostered in Wyoming, before ending up with AWHC’s program specialist Mary and her husband, Dick. Be sure to read on for the “policies” Huck and Puck have adopted over the last 12 months or so.
THIS is the reality for over 60,000 formerly free-roaming wild horses and burros:
Tens of thousands of innocent animals crammed into corrals with no shade or room to run, vulnerable to deadly disease outbreaks and in danger of being funneled into the slaughter pipeline via the BLM’s disastrous Adoption Incentive Program (AIP) – all at a hefty cost of over $80 million to American taxpayers every year.
We know it doesn’t have to be like this. Through our fertility control program on Nevada’s Virginia Range, we’ve been proving for over four years that there IS a better way to manage our nation’s wild horses and burros, one that keeps them out of these overcrowded facilities and in the wild where they’re meant to be.