The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is currently conducting a roundup at the Desatoya Mountain Herd Management Area located approximately 77 miles east of Fallon, Nevada.
The BLM plans on permanently removing 431 wild horses from the area with the intention of leaving just 127 in the herd (leaving one horse per 1,273 acres of public land). Our field representative was on the ground and joined local advocates in warning the BLM to properly flag ALL barbed wire fencing to prevent scared wild horses from colliding with it.
Our warnings were not heeded and terrified wild horses fleeing helicopters crashed through multiple barbed wire fences as a result.
This is just further proof that these roundups are unnecessarily cruel (and entirely unnecessary)!
AWHC’s field representatives are sometimes the only eyes, ears, and oversight on the site of roundups throughout the West. But AWHC does more than just document these roundups, our legal counsel just filed a complaint with the BLM over this recurrent problem and we intend to hold the agency accountable.
We’re also working to make roundups a thing of the past by demonstrating that there are safer, far more humane and cost-effective ways to manage wild horse populations (in fact, we’re implementing the world’s largest humane management program for wild horses right here in Nevada).
We know these photos are heartbreaking and the news of these roundups can be disheartening. But we can’t lose hope — When we lose hope, our wild horses lose their voice and their chance to live in peace in the wild.
With a heavy heart, we have sad news to share with you.
The Bureau of Land Management set up a trap outside the Fish Springs Herd Area near Gardnerville, Nevada to remove wild horses over the Thanksgiving holiday. Unfortunately, an entire family of wild horses lost their freedom as a result. Two treasured stallion brothers and four generations gone in a flash.
This is Samson.
Samson is a beautiful and respected stallion, known and loved by the local community — And known internationally among the tens of thousands of people who keep up with him and his fellow Fish Springs horses on Facebook.
After being caught in the trap, Samson and his family were loaded onto trailers and shipped to BLM holding pens near Reno. Soon the family could be separated by the BLM and sold off to the highest bidder.
We know Samson and his family belong together and deserve to be free. That’s why we’re organizing a national petition drive to keep them together and return them to the wild.
Samson’s family includes his brother Jet, and his mares Old Momma, her daughter Apple, Apple’s daughter Dumplin’ and Dumplin’s baby little Sam (pictured together below). Old Momma has been on the Fish Springs Range for more than 20 years and wants to go home.
They lost their freedom because one resident called the BLM to formally complain about these wild horses on his property.
The local community pressure was enormous, calling on the resident to remove the trap, which he finally did.
The very person who called in the complaint with the BLM regrets doing so and wants Samson and his family to stay together on their home range in Fish Springs.
P.S. — The BLM’s removal of Samson and his family shows, once again, the heartlessness of this agency’s wild horse and burro management policies. Please consider supporting our work to fight these policies and keep wild horses and burros in the wild by making a donation (every dollar makes a difference in this critical fight!)
AAE is so thankful for you! Your support and generosity on #GivingTuesday is so appeciated!
Without you, we would not be able to continue our mission to Rescue, Rehabilitate and Rehome.
Thank you for all you do!
Did you know that giving isn’t limited to a single day? Let #givingtuesday be the start of your giving campaign!
There are more giving opportunities in the month of December as we continue to help horses! Your support means the world to horses in need! We can’t do it without you!
Thank you from the all of us at AAE.
It’s been a busy year and you’ve made this world a better place for some lucky horses this year.
Join us as we share 31 stories that show how you helped horses in 2019.
We hope you enjoy these stories as we count down to 2020!
Your support this month will help us prepare for another year of helping horses by
Texas, Big & Rich came to AAE in January 2019 after abandonment on a large (400-acre) property in Placer County eight years ago. Sadly, these guys have a long history of failures after once roaming free.
Our understanding these mustangs came to a rescue in California in 2009 after removal from a neglect situation at another rescue in Nebraska. These are three-strike mustangs; they had three failed adoption attempts while at BLM. Long story short, in 2011, they were part of a group of 10 placed on a beautiful 400-acre foster property. The foster was asked to remove the horses after failing to provide the promised care. When they returned to remove the group of 10, they were unable to load these three and left them behind, never to return for them. Texas, Big & Rich lived on the foster property for years, until it was recently sold. Sadly, these boys lost eight years of prime time, and according to their brands, they are all 16 years old. Little is known about prior handling/training, but these guys were feral; none of the three were halterable at the time we picked them up.
Fortunately, picking up was straight forward. The fosters had set-up a round pen, and fed the horses in the roundpen to get them used to coming in. We setup a long loading chute from the roundpen to the trailer. The pick up was anything but difficult; actually, the hardest part was managing the panels with only one truck/trailer.
The loading was the easy part….literally seconds from the time the roundpen was opened until the horses were in the trailer. Think about the intake process and the hidden costs that most people don’t consider when thinking about the costs associated with rescuing horses: one trip to visit/evaluate the horses (three hours volunteer time), one trip to deliver and setup the panels (three hours onsite plus time hitching up, loading panels, fueling vehicle, ranch help unloading and setting up), one trip to load/pick-up the horses (three hours plus time for hitch-up, ranch help, an hour waiting on roadside for road service while truck was stuck in 4WD, return/unload, intake), and another trip to pickup the panels (three hours times two plus unloading). Add the gas and wear and tear on the truck and trailer. This was only the beginning of the journey with three feral mustangs that have already had failed placements a multitude of times. Consider prepping for hoof, dental, and vet care after eight years of none. Volunteer hours upon hours.
Fortunately, these boys were in relatively good health, except for Tex, who had foundered. There was much work yet to do!
Tex responded well to re-learning about human touch and haltering, and we were able to get radiographs and a farrier on his hooves. Thankfully, after several rounds of trimming, shoes, and ongoing hoof care, he’s done very well.
Tex and Rich were quite bonded. Well, Rich was extremely timid, fearful, and reactive. He found his confidence in Tex. Tex, on the other hand, had a sweet blend of curious with a bit o’ confidence. Where you found one, you found the other. It was hard on Rich when Tex was away for farrier care or other work. Unlike most mustangs, Rich was irrationally reactive, explosive, over the top. With the slightest of pressure, he would lose his mind. How I wish we knew what this lil’ guy had experienced; well, maybe not :( Rich did much better when he and Tex joined the herd in our “pasture” (10-acre dry lot). He interacted with the other horses and found solace with a couple of the girls. Sadly, his separation anxiety was so extreme, he tried to challenged a farm gate during feeding time to get to one of his girls, and he injured himself. Fortunately, we had made some progress with haltering, we were able to halter and sedate him for veterinary treatment (thanks to the team at Loomis Basin Equine Medical Center), and his wounds healed with barely a scar.
It was very apparent the human world was simply way too much for Rich. His fear and reactivity far outweighed a safe existence for him and his human friends at AAE. We were very fortunate to find a sanctuary home for Rich and his BFF, Tex.
That leaves Big. While Tex and Rich were winding down their stay at AAE, Big graduated and took a little vacay to enhance his learning as a project horse for a student at the Monty Roberts International Learning Center . Big was a favorite. (Consider the transport time and costs, as well as the student and instructor time, care costs, plus).
Big is a very willing and has a very kind soul. That being said, he is reactive and a long way to go in becoming a confident, trusting partner, but charming he is!
Big needs his own person that is very experienced with mustangs. He gives nicely to pressure, and he accepts touching around his neck, chest and withers more readily than his face, but he will tolerate facial and forehead rubs. At AAE, his human time is divided among the many horses here. He really needs his very own dedicated person to give him daily, consistent handling to continue his progress. Big has an adorable “dork” factor with his charming eyes, head tilts, and generally goofy expressions. You can’t help but fall in love with this guy. At 16, he’s probably best suited as a fun companion for lots of liberty work. He’s not going to be “easy” to develop into a trustworthy riding partner, but never say never. The right person is just what he needs. Someone calm, quiet, and confident, that knows how to develop trust and confidence and continue progress.
Big is available for adoption. He is current with hoof and dental care, as well as vaccines and deworming. He has a microchip in place. He is NOT suitable for a beginner or anyone without significant experience gentling mustangs.
As you can see, the time, effort, and dedication it takes to rescue is much more than a quick pick up and rehome. It takes hours upon hours of volunteer time and a lot of equipment and financial resources to accomplish just one rescue like Texas, Big and Rich. Your support makes it possible for horses like these three to have another chance for a happy, healthy life. Thank you!
If you’d rather mail a check, please make check payable to
“All About Equine Animal Rescue, Inc.” and send to
2201 Francisco Dr. #140-174
El Dorado Hills, CA 95762
We’ve Extended Our Hours!
Check out our facebook page for pop-up hours and specials!
Proceeds from the store support AAE operations.
If you’d like to donate tack or join the volunteer team at the store, please send us an email.
New Volunteer Needs
As many of you know, we’ve been trying to expand store hours.
TACK STORE SUPPORT:
We need a second person (no experience necessary) to help staff the store on Tuesday, Wednesday, and/or Thursday afternoons, 2p-6p, can you help?
If you’re interested in helping with tack store activities (e.g. cleaning donated tack, researching/pricing, organizing, helping customers, sharing AAE info, admin support, and more), we need you.
Current store hours are Fri-Mon 12-4p, and recently added Thurs hours 2-6p.
We can always use help during any of the current hours, too.
Please email us if you are interested/available Tues, Wed, or Thurs afternoons, 2-6p.
ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT:
If you are available to help with administrative activities, we are creating admin hours in the office at the store.
We have a variety of administrative tasks we need help getting done.
Please email us if you are interested/available Tues, Wed, or Thurs afternoons, 2p-6p.
BOOTS & BLING 2020
We have kicked off our Boots & Bling planning for 2020.
The event has included a catered BBQ Dinner, DJ Music and Dancing, Live/Silent/Dessert auctions,
a special fundraiser, and line dancing with instruction.
We need help in most areas for planning for this event to make sure its a huge success for AAE and our horses.
Please email us if you are interested in helping with Boots & Bling.
We meet once a month until the event.
SPECIAL PROJECTS AROUND THE BARN
Maybe you’d like to help around the barn, but don’t want to work directly with the horses, or you don’t like to muck?
We could use some help cleaning and organizing, whether it’s the feed room, the meds room, the office, the tools, groundskeeping, painting shelters, monitoring the fencelines, tree trimming, coordinating vehicle maintenance, or a zillion other things.
There’s so much that needs to be done, and
we could use some extra hands to help keep things looking nicer and more clean.
Please email us if you are interested/available during regular barn shifts,
Mon-Sat 8a-noon, Sun 9a-1p or afternoons 3p-6p.
Daily Horse Care, especially pm shifts needed now
(Daily 8a-12p or 3p-6p)
Used Tack Store Support, all areas
(Fri – Mon, 12-4p)
Barn/Facility Maintenance
Foster Homes, Long-Term Foster/Sanctuary Homes
Capital Campaign Support
Board Members
Fundraising/Events
Grants – Writing and Research
Volunteer, Project, and Activity Coordinators
Outreach Activities
Youth Programs
Therapy Programs
Veteran Programs
Special Projects
Admin Support
Marketing
Graphics
Social Media
Bloggers
Photographers
Media and/or Photo Librarian
More, more, more
Interested in volunteering or volunteering in other areas?
AWHC has an incredible team of staff, specialists and volunteers across the country working to keep America’s wild horses and burros wild.
The Bureau of Land Management is trying to convince Congress that mass roundups and surgical sterilization of wild horses are the only solutions to managing America’s wild horse and burro population. With the capitulation of the ASPCA, HSUS and Return to Freedom to the livestock industry agenda, we’re the last ones standing fighting for the future of wild herds.
Make no mistake: the scale of the removals proposed — a staggering 130,000 wild horses and burros over the next ten years — will result in both the destruction of wild horses and burro populations in the wild and the mass slaughter of those held in captivity.
AWHC is fighting back hard, in Congress, in the courts and in the field where we’re implementing humane management programs to prove that wild horses and burros can be managed without harming them.
We’re officially one week away from #GivingTuesday, which is one of the largest days for charitable giving in the United States for the entire year. Our ability to hit our annual fundraising goal at the end of the year depends on having a successful #GivingTuesday.
Here’s Why We Need Your Help: Over the past weeks, we’ve been sharing the news with you. The BLM outlined a $5 billion plan that could result in the removal and potential wholesale slaughter of America’s wild horse population in our lifetimes.
The Congress is currently considering giving the BLM more money to accelerate roundups and begin implementation of the plan. This is the biggest threat to mustangs and wild burros in generations and it could begin early next year — Which means we’re in a fight for their lives in 2020.
Our 2020 budget and the extent to which we can fight back (and expand our work in critical areas!) depends on reaching our end of year fundraising goal. And the only way we can achieve that is if we can bring on 5,000 individual donations on #GivingTuesday.
This is an ambitious goal, we know. But the stakes have never been higher and with your help, we will rise to the occasion.
Together, we are unstoppable,
American Wild Horse Campaign
P.S. — If you can’t donate, we completely understand. But there’s a way you can help us out without giving a cent. Share this email with three friends to help us spread the word and recruit more friends of America’s wild horses and burros!
“Zero wild horses.” That is the Appropriate Management Level the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) set for the Seaman and White River Herd Areas (HAs) in Nevada.
As a result, the BLM rounded up and removed 294 wild horses from these HAs this month with 9 dead. AWHC asked the BLM to delay any action until the court ruled in our Caliente Complex lawsuit about the legality of such a decision.
The BLM proceeded, until they halted the roundup because most of the horses were at higher elevations in the juniper forests where the helicopters couldn’t get them. The BLM says it will resume in January when the temperatures drop and the horses come down to lower ground. The BLM did allow public observation during this month’s roundup and most days, our observer was the only member of the public onsite to document and monitor the operation.
We are the eyes and ears on the ground. If it weren’t for that lone AWHC field representative, the public wouldn’t have insight, nor the BLM accountability, regarding this roundup — and many others.
Below Are Photos Our Observer Took During The Seaman and White River Roundup:
These photos are heartbreaking. Wild horses deserve to be free and live in the wild. That’s why it is critical we continue to observe, document and report on the atrocities the BLM is committing, while continuing to fight in the courts, in Congress and in the field to stop the roundups and implement humane management.
Four months. It’s been nearly four months since the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) passed the deadline to submit a report to Congress regarding the future of the Wild Horse and Burro Program.
Despite that, the Acting Director of the BLM has made time to serve the interests of his former clients and piece together a propaganda campaign in support of a $5 billion plan that will likely end with the slaughter of America’s wild horses.
This comes at a time when Congress is considering allocating more money to the Wild Horse and Burro Program without even seeing the BLM’s critical report!
We’re not the only ones fed up with this. Seven members of Congress are teaming up to demand the BLM issue this report ASAP since they missed the latest deadline.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced its decision to round up and permanently remove ALL wild horses from the Caliente Herd Area (HA) Complex in Nevada.
It should come as no surprise that the BLM did not consider reductions to domestic livestock in the same area before announcing its intention to eradicate the Caliente Complex mustangs. This comes as the Acting Director of the BLM has repeatedly sided with private livestock owners over the lives of wild horses.
But this decision is different from authorizing a standalone roundup — The BLM decision would eradicate mustangs in eight of the nine Herd Management Areas (HMAs) in the Caliente Complex.
That’s why AWHC joined with The Cloud Foundation (TCF) and Western Watersheds Project (WWP) to sue the BLM and stop them.
Under federal law, mustangs are one of two animals in our country specifically protected by an Act of Congress. The bald eagle is the other. As part of the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, wild horse populations must be managed to maintain “a thriving natural ecological balance.”
1 ) By refusing to protect wild horses or give full consideration to the long term impacts of this wild horse wipeout plan, the BLM deprived the American people of the opportunity to assess and respond to the rationale underlying this major decision.
2 ) Additionally, the BLM must consider reasonable alternatives short of the outright elimination of wild horses in these HMAs. By refusing to consider a reduction in livestock grazing, the BLM is violating the National Environmental Policy Act , its mandate to protect wild horses under the 1971 Wild Horse Act.
3 ) Remember — more than 500% more BLM land is authorized for livestock than for wild horses and burros in the West, and many of these private livestock owners benefit from as much as half a billion dollars annually in taxpayer subsidies. The claims of wild horse “overpopulation” by the BLM are false, further evidenced by the fact that wild horses are not found on 88% of BLM lands.
That’s why AWHC’s legal team is suing. Our suit regarding the Caliente Complex was just fully briefed on summary judgment, meaning it is officially moving forward at a time when the threat of slaughter is once again looming large.
The Bureau of Land Management is moving fast — This past week alone the BLM concluded a roundup in the Challis Herd Management Area (HMA) in central Idaho and announced that the agency will be moving forward with a plan to reduce the size of the wild horse and burro population in the Twin Peaks HMA in northeast California by 80% over the next 10 years.
Challis Roundup: 295 Wild Horses Captured
The BLM forcibly removed 295 wild horses from the Challis HMA between Nov. 5 and Nov. 11 as part of the Idaho roundup. This week the agency is expected to complete a census flight to determine how many wild horses will be returned to the 169,000-acre area.
The vast majority of the wild horses removed from these public lands will not be returned to the wild. Many will spend their lives in the BLM’s holding facilities, or worse, face being killed or sold for slaughter if Congress pulls the plug on funding for their long-term care.
We can expect the roundups to be greatly accelerated if the Senate approves the $5 billion plan, pushed by the livestock industry and BLM’s Acting Director, which would reduce wild horse populations in the West to near extinction levels.
You can read more about the Challis Roundup in this article from the Idaho Statesman here.
Twin Peaks HMA: BLM Officially Moves to Reduce Herd Size
The BLM recently released its management plan for the wild horses and burros of the Twin Peaks HMA — Including future helicopter roundups and fertility control over the next ten years.
According to the Sierra Sun Times: “This plan calls for several approaches, including using helicopter drive trapping, bait-and-water trapping and fertility control to reduce the herd … over ten years.”
While AWHC supports using fertility control, we do not support the drastic reduction in herd sizes for wild horses and burros in this HMA.
Nearly 90% of the existing wild burro population will be removed over ten years, leaving just 72 animals on the range and destroying the genetic health of this herd.
For the Twin Peaks wild horses the plan is almost as bad: reduce the herd by 80% and release castrated stallions (geldings) onto the range, a move that will take the wild out of these wild horses by destroying their natural behaviors. AWHC has a pending case at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that will determine whether or not the BLM can release geldings onto the range before its research into the impacts of the procedure on wild horses is completed.
Acting BLM Director William Perry Pendley’s recent declaration of wild horses as the top existential threat to public lands (even though wild horses aren’t on 88% of BLM land!) and his claim that it will cost $5 billion to “solve” the wild horse “problem” is the culmination of a years-long propaganda war against mustangs and burros.
The war is being waged by the commercial livestock industry, which seeks virtual eradication of these cherished animals in order to maximize taxpayer-subsidized grazing of privately-owned cattle and sheep on public lands.
This anti-mustang propaganda war was boosted recently with the capitulation of the Humane Society of the U.S., ASPCA and Return to Freedom to the cattlemen’s mass mustang roundup agenda.
With that in mind, your team at AWHC has been fighting back hard — from the battleground of Nevada to the seat of power in Washington DC — and we want to share some of our most recent work with you today.
Fighting Back at Ground Zero in the Wild Horse War: Nevada
On October 23, we organized a high-profile press conference with Nevada business leaders and a leading conservationist to counter the anti-wild horse messaging at a screening later that evening of the propaganda film “Horse Rich Dirt Poor.”
Well known real estate developer and Storey County Commissioner Lance Gilman and Erik Molvar, Executive Director of the Western Watersheds Campaign, struck back forcefully against the scapegoating of wild horses and in favor of protecting these iconic animals on public lands in the West. Read more about this highly successful event here.
Defending Wild Horses & Burros in Washington, DC
AWHC teamed up with our colleagues at Animal Wellness Action and The Cloud Foundation to hold a briefing on Capitol Hill for Congressional staff to discuss the mass roundup plan and its true cost to American taxpayers and the wild horses and burros we cherish. In one of the most successful Hill briefings ever, 35 staffers showed up to learn more about this issue that is obviously of concern to so many of their constituents. You can read more about this event here.
At the same time and a few miles away, the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board was meeting — with AWHC staff in attendance to ensure that your voices were represented and heard.
Throughout the meeting, BLM officials and most advisory board members expressed their utter disdain for public opinion, which they dismissed as being “emotional” and “uneducated.” It’s clear where the public stands on the mass roundup and surgical sterilization plan, as our most recent polling documents. At the meeting, we made sure that the voice of the people was not ignored.
While we’re battling on the national front, AWHC is investing significant resources to protect locally cherished herds and support humane management programs.
From the Virginia Range — where our darters have delivered more fertility control treatments to wild horses in six months than the entire BLM did last year — to the Onaqui Mountains in Utah, where we’re helping the BLM and the Wild Horses of America Foundation expand an existing fertility control program, to the Salt River in Arizona where we work closely with the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group, we’re working every day to keep wild horses wild and prove that humane management work.
You won’t want to miss our latest updates from the field here.
William Perry Pendley, the Acting Director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced this week that it would cost the taxpayers $5,000,000,000.00 to clear public lands of wild horses.
Pendley knows exactly what he’s doing. By putting an outrageously high price tag on humane management of wild horses and burros, he’s laying the groundwork to make the case that non-lethal management of wild horses is too expensive and that slaughter is the only option.
Just last week, Pendley labeled wild horses an “existential threat” to public lands in America, even though wild horses aren’t even present on 88% of BLM lands.
Pendley’s goal is to divert attention away from the commercial industries, including livestock grazing, that are the true “existential” threats to public lands, while simultaneously securing funding from Congress for unprecedented mass wild horse and burro roundups.
Pendley is executing a sophisticated propaganda campaign against wild horses. Phase 1 was to establish a fake crisis of wild horse overpopulation. That has largely been achieved with the HSUS, ASPCA and Return to Freedom capitulation to the livestock industry agenda of reducing wild horse and burro populations to near extinction levels.
Phase 2, to convince Congress that non-lethal management of wild horses is too expensive, is now underway.
This represents the greatest threat to the survival of wild horses and could result in their extinction. We need to organize and fight back like never before.
As we speak, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is forcibly reducing the population of wild horses in Wyoming’s Fifteenmile Herd Management Area (HMA) by 86% through a helicopter stampede.
So far, they’ve removed 558 wild horses from the area — With the goal of capturing nearly 700 wild horses before the end of the month.
This week, our observer was in Wyoming’s Fifteenmile HMA, where the BLM is currently rounding up the entirety of the wild horse population there from our public lands. At least 8 horses have died in the week since the roundup began, including:
One horse succumbed to a neck injury during the helicopter stampede while two others were euthanized;
Another died as a result of a strike to the head by another wild horse on the way to the trap;
One mare had a major cut and was taken to Rock Springs for treatment;
Despite BLM reports that wild horses are “starving” to justify these roundups, the wild horses being removed are in good body condition and sound health.
After the BLM breaks apart their families, only 100 wild horses will be returned to the area, threatening the long term survival of the herd itself.
This is not an isolated incident, either. If Congress authorizes the new BLM ten-year plan, we will witness roundups of this scale all throughout the West — Putting wild horses and burros squarely on the path to extinction.
Over the next two weeks, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will attempt to forcibly rip away nearly 700 wild horses in Wyoming from the Fifteenmile Herd Management Area (HMA), returning just 100 back into the wild.
For reference, that amounts to removing a staggering 86% of the entire wild horse population in the HMA.
We want to make this abundantly clear and transparent: Your support allows us to document these cruel operations so the public is informed, challenge the roundups when possible before they happen in Congress and in the courts, as well as fund our field programs where we PROVE that there is a better, more humane way to manage wild horses and burros.
The BLM wants to complete the Fifteenmile Roundup before the end of October if possible.
By the time the helicopters have cleared the area, as few as 100 wild horses could remain in the Fifteenmile HMA, which spans more than 70,000 acres. That is below the number of wild horses needed to maintain genetic viability.
Simply put, the Fifteenmile Roundup threatens to end the wild horse population in this area once and for all. And this is just the beginning of what is to come if Congress approves the BLM plan which would remove tens of thousands of wild horses throughout the West over the next ten years.
The Acting Bureau of Land Management Director, William Perry Pendley, just went on record to single out wild horses as the biggest “existential threat” to public lands.
No, we’re not joking:
The irony of his comments is not lost on us. Almost 90 percent of BLM land has NO wild horses on it, and mustangs have nowhere near as large an environmental footprint as commercial livestock grazing. Pendley himself championed the cause of selling off our public lands into private ownership, for profit. That position is the real, existential threat to public lands.
But there’s a reason Pendley is peddling this fiction as fact: He’s trying to make the public case for a plan that would put wild horses on the pathway to extinction.
P.S. — It’s difficult to overstate how significant it is for the Acting Director of the BLM to label wild horses and burros “an existential threat” in an official capacity. We have to set the record straight and expose his lies — Every donation helps us do that and defend our wild horses and burros.
It’s difficult to overstate the threat to wild horses and burros posed by the Cattlemen’s Association/HSUS/ASPCA, et. al., and their mass mustang roundup plan. If it goes into effect, up to 20,000 horses and burros each year for the next three years will be rounded up and removed from public lands.
Over the next ten years, the total number removed from the range could be as high as 130,000 wild horses and burros.
But thanks to dedicated supporters like you who have spoken out, signed petitions, and donated, this dangerous plan is drawing national attention and backlash:
Momentum is building, but we’re facing a major deadline to stop one cruel method that the plan allows — a brutal and outdated surgical procedure that BLM intends to use to remove the ovaries of wild mares. Many veterinarians have spoken out, but more are needed to convince Interior Secretary David Bernhardt to pull the plug on this inhumane surgery.
Mass Roundups & Surgical Sterilization Are Not The Answer
These wild herds are at risk of being destroyed forever. And this isn’t hyperbole — mass roundups would reduce wild horse populations to near-extinction levels. Surgical sterilization would destroy the mustangs’ natural behaviors, which make them truly wild and help them survive in the rugged West.
There are much better and far safer management options to maintain viable and healthy herds of wild free-roaming horses and burros on our public lands.
The National Academies of Sciences, in its 2013 Report to the BLM, made it crystal clear that roundups don’t work:
We’re Showing There Is A Better Way
Every single day, our darters are proving that humane management of wild horses in the wild is possible. And our PZP birth control programs are getting results.
In the span of five and a half months, our team of 14 volunteer darters in the Virginia Range in Nevada delivered more fertility control treatments to wild mares than the entire BLM, with its $80-million-a-year-budget, did in all of 2018.
Just last week in the Onaqui Mountains in Utah, AWHC’s darter worked with the BLM and the Wild Horses of American Foundation to dart 81 horses.
The fact is, PZP programs are getting results. We stand ready to work with the BLM to expand these programs so that wild horses and burros can live as nature intended — Wild and Free.
I have devastating news. The Humane Society of the United States, ASPCA, and Return to Freedom, who made promises to protect horses, just betrayed America’s mustangs and burros.
Today, at the behest of those organizations and the livestock industry lobbyists they allied with, the Senate Appropriations Committee funded a $35 million increase for the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program. The appropriation is part of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 Interior Department spending bill unveiled today.
The funds are targeted for implementation of the unprecedented mass roundup, removal, and radical population suppression plan that the groups, along with the cattlemen, support.
There are no restrictions on how the BLM can spend the new money. With this nearly 50% increase in the program budget, it’s clear what the BLM will do. Thousands more wild horses will be rounded up with helicopters, ripping them from their families and homes on our public lands. Those who remain free will be subjected to brutal sterilization surgeries that will destroy their wild behaviors and threaten their very lives. The future of America’s wild free-roaming herds will be in jeopardy when populations are reduced to genetically non-viable levels.
Don’t be fooled by the deceptive promotion of the plan as “non-lethal.” The bill language prohibits slaughter for a year, but the plan makes that horrific outcome more likely as holding pens swell with tens of thousands more horses and no guarantee of funding for their safety or long-term care.
There’s a long process ahead before this becomes law – if it ever does. Congress may choose to fund the government in FY 20 by passing a Continuing Resolution instead of a spending bill. And the BLM will have many hurdles to cross before accelerating the roundups and implementing inhumane management tools.
With your continued support, we will fight those who betray our wild horses and burros. We’ll fight them in court. We’ll fight them in Congress. We’ll expose the backroom deal that sold out our mustangs. We won’t rest. With your continued support, we won’t stop until our mustangs are safe.
The BLM is accepting public comments on a Draft Resource Management Plan (RMP) that will affect a small herd of wild horses living in the Four Mile Herd Management Area in southwestern Idaho, near the Oregon border for the next 10-20 years. Among the management options under consideration for wild horses in the Four Mile mustangs are surgical removal of ovaries in mares and castration of stallions, vasectomy, PZP, GonaCon, skewed sex ratios, and the creation of non-reproducing herds. Now is the time to weigh in for humane and proven management options like PZP fertility control, and rejection of dangerous methods, like surgical sterilization and sex-ratio skewing, that will destroy the horses’ wild free roaming behaviors and social organization. Please take one moment to take action below.
The BLM is well into its summer/fall roundup season, aiming to remove 3,565 federally-protected wild horses from public lands through the fall. This month has seen three roundups conducted simultaneously in three different states — including one targeting the nation’s most high profile wild horse herd. AWHC has been onsite at all three roundups and you can read our reports from the field by clicking below.
Thanks to all the members of our herd who galloped to action last week to let the Senate know that the so-called Path Forward for wild horses — being pushed by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, ASPCA, HSUS and Return to Freedom — will be a giant step back for these cherished national icons. Together we made our position known, loud and clear. Read more about the successful mini campaign below!
Today marks the end of our Summer Roundup Campaign. Thanks to your support, we were able to exceed our fundraising goal – we’ll have what it takes to document fall and winter roundups and keep fighting to protect wild horses across the West.
Over the last few days, our field representative at the Pine Nut roundup has witnessed helicopters stampeding small numbers of horses for hours at a time to no avail. By the end of the roundup, which concluded yesterday, only 36 horses were captured in total. One beautiful black mare broke her leg and was killed as a result.
The few remaining Pine Nut wild horse families have evaded the trap, despite 90+ degree temperatures and days of relentless chasing. We’re sickened at this cruelty. We’re angry that these actions are taken at taxpayers’ expense.
Because of your generosity during this campaign, we have the funding to continue the fight. And, in the spirit of the Pine Nut mustangs still living free, that’s just what we’ll do.
We started this fundraising campaign to fuel our government relations team in educating Congress about the BLM’s inhumane practices, to support our litigation fund for roundup-related lawsuits, and to broaden our education and advocacy programs documenting how taxpayer dollars are being used and wasted.
As summer roundups continue into fall and winter, we’ll be there to hold the BLM accountable and raise our voices to keep wild horses and burros protected from undue harm and danger.
The BLM is seeking public comments on a roundup and removal plan for the wild horses that live in the Range Creek HMA in Utah. The HMA includes 55,000 acres of public and private lands, on which the BLM has set a wild horse population limit (AML) of just 75-125 wild horses. The agency seeks to remove over 200 horses and reduce the population to the low AML of 75, a density of one horse per 733 acres! The BLM’s plan also includes the implementation of fertility control, including the use of unproven IUD’s, and the skewing of wild horse sex ratios to favor of males. Please weigh in today against yet another roundup and urge the BLM instead to implement proven humane and sustainable wild horse management tools.
A massive reorganization of the BLM that involves moving its headquarters to Grand Junction, CO and transferring most of its Washington, D.C. staff out west — combined with the Administration’s installment of a lawyer who advocates for the sell-off of federal lands in the top agency post — is raising concerns about the future of our public lands and the agency tasked with managing and conserving them. The developments forbode further dysfunction within the BLM, increased control by local and corporate interests over federal public lands policy, and a growing threat to the environment and wild horses and burros. Read more below.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Forest Service announced its plan to conduct another roundup of California wild horses from the Devil’s Garden Wild Horse Territory in the Modoc National Forest. At the same time, the agency released new census numbers showing far fewer mustangs actually live in the Forest than previously claimed by the ranching interests that have waged a propaganda campaign against the horses. The ultimate goal is the removal of most of these cherished California mustangs from the public lands that comprise the Modoc Forest. Read more below.
With the dust barely settled after the Triple B roundup last week, we’re headed to the Pine Nut wild horse roundup in Nevada on Monday.
As I write this, tens of thousands of wild horses stand in government holding facilities, and we wait with bated breath for the BLM’s decision on whether or not it will proceed with gruesome sterilization experiments on wild mares.
With tactical lawsuits, advocacy on the Hill, implementation of humane fertility control, and documentation in the wild, we continue with crucial actions to make roundups a thing of the past. That’s why, last week, we extended our fundraising goal to $100,000 to fight these cruel stampedes.
Here are some of the actions we take to end roundups:
With field representation and filmmakers on the ground at each roundup, we’re gathering footage for educational videos to share with the public and lawmakers.
On Capitol Hill, our legal team is educating key members of Congress to combat a dangerous plan to round up and remove up to 130,000 wild horses over the next 10 years. (That’s more than exist on the range today.)
With litigation funding, we’re building specific cases for roundup-related lawsuits — like our case to save wild horses near Caliente, Nevada where BLM is planning to remove 100% of the herds.
Donate today to take action with us. Your support is key as we continue asserting to stand as the last line of defense between our wild horses and burros and the corporate livestock industry that seeks their destruction.