What's New: BLM

The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:

Last week, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) unveiled its schedule to continue the unscientific and inhumane helicopter roundups of our nation’s iconic, federally protected wild horse and burro herds.

The BLM announced that it’s planning to round up more than 7,000 wild horses and burros from our public lands beginning in July – permanently removing 5,857.

There are already over 60,000 wild horses and burros languishing in overburdened BLM holding centers as a result of the agency’s aggressive 2022 removal schedule. If the BLM follows through with its recently released plan, thousands more of these innocent animals will be subjected to brutal helicopter roundups and crammed into crowded facilities where they are in danger of deadly disease outbreaks and where many could be funneled into the slaughter pipeline via the BLM’s disastrous Adoption Incentive Program (AIP).

That’s why it’s critical we prepare NOW to ensure we’re ready to fight back for our wild herds – whether it’s in the field through our efforts to implement in-the-wild humane management across the West, in courts through our legal team, or on the Hill through our government relations work. With just one day left, we are nearly halfway to our $30,000 National Help a Horse Day goal. Will you make a contribution today to help us reach our goal before the deadline tomorrow and bolster our efforts to defend wild horses and burros in 2023?

In December, Congress included an important bipartisan provision in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 appropriations bill requiring the BLM to utilize up to $11 million for reversible fertility control to sustainably manage wild horses and burros – marking the second year we’ve managed to secure this critical pro-horse and burro language into the omnibus package, and the third year our work has led to Congress recognizing the importance of the expansion of humane fertility control programs. 

Despite this, the BLM plans to implement fertility control on just 1,575 wild horses and burros. This is nowhere near enough. The BLM must meaningfully shift course away from inhumane roundups and towards on-range conservation through the use of proven fertility control as a far more safe and cost-effective way of managing the West’s populations.

We’re using every resource at our disposal to ensure wild horses and burros stay where they are safest — in the wild, with their families. But we can’t do it without your support. Your contributions fuel our fight to protect our wild herds from the BLM’s inefficient “management strategy.” Before the deadline tomorrow night, can you make a donation to help us reach our $30,000 National Help a Horse Day goal and power our work as we prepare for the 2023 roundup season?

Thank you,

Suzanne Roy
Executive Director
American Wild Horse Campaign

The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:

In an unprecedented move, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) still has not announced any new roundups for Fiscal Year 2023. This is good news! At the same time, that doesn’t mean wild horses and burros are out of harm’s way — helicopter roundups still may be scheduled for this summer, and many of the animals who have already been removed are in danger.

Once these animals are captured, they become part of a government holding system where more than 60,000 wild horses and burros are confined — a system that’s at its breaking point. In 2022, the BLM conducted assessments of some of its facilities, and  the results were shocking. These assessments showed widespread animal welfare violations, including inadequate access to food and water, lack of basic care, and poorly maintained facilities that put animals at a higher risk for injury and disease.

AWHC is taking action to address this crisis and proactively ensure that wild horses and burros are treated humanely, both in holding and in the wild. But we cannot do it alone! Here are three actions you can take NOW to help support the safety and freedom of our cherished wild horses and burros in 2023.

1. Urge Congress to Support Wild Horse and Burro Protection
   Contact your member of Congress today and urge them to support humane, common-sense, and fiscally responsible reforms that would stop the endless cycle of removals and keep our magnificent mustangs and burros in the wild where they belong.

2. Call on Congress to Mandate Camera Installations at Wild Horse and Burro Capture Operations
   In order to ensure transparency and accountability during wild horse and burro roundups, we must urge legislators to mandate cameras on helicopters and at trap sites. Ensuring cameras are installed at roundup operations to record and document potential violations will provide a record of activities most Americans never see.

3. Tell DOI and BLM to Address Holding Facility Conditions
   The BLM’s holding system cannot safely hold the thousands of additional wild horses that the agency intends to capture over the next few years. We must demand change today. Please contact Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning and ask them to ensure the humane care of wild horses and burros in these facilities.

Thanks for taking action, team.

— AWHC Team