Innocent baby foals do not deserve to be treated this way
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
Over the holiday weekend, one of our roundup observers witnessed firsthand the devastating and inhumane treatment by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and its contractors of an innocent baby wild horse.
During the ongoing Buffalo Hills Herd Management Area (HMA) roundup, our observer caught on video BLM contractors violently slamming the young foal to the ground. We have the footage if you’d like to see for yourself & then take action.
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Reportedly, these contractors then hogtied the baby and threw the young foal to the ground once more before putting him into the back of an Off Highway Vehicle. These actions are deeply disturbing and unfortunately we know that this small foal is not — nor will he be — the only one to suffer this roundup season. During the hot summer months, vulnerable young foals are chased by low-flying helicopters and often sustain broken bones, injuries, and in some cases, die.
Meredith, our beloved foals don’t deserve this treatment. No animal does. We’re calling for an immediate halt to helicopter roundups and an investigation into the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program. If you want to see these atrocities stop, please join us.
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This will not be the only foal mistreated at the hands of the BLM contractors this roundup season. During last year’s roundups, many foals were seriously injured or died due to inhumane practices and helicopter chases.
We will not stand by while the BLM actively puts foals in harm’s way. Foaling season should NOT be helicopter season. Take action now for these innocent young animals by calling for an immediate halt to roundups and an investigation into the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program.
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Thank you for your help.
Suzanne Roy
Executive Director
American Wild Horse Campaign
BREAKING: House Committee Takes Important Step for Wild Horses and Burros!!
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
We’ve got BIG news.
Thanks to your support, the House Appropriations Committee just adopted language championed by AWHC calling for on-range management strategies of America’s cherished wild horses and burros. The Committee allocated $11 million in funding for humane, reversible fertility control vaccines as part of the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 budget.
Additionally, the Committee called for several other key provisions that would help keep wild horses and burros on public lands where they belong and better safeguard the welfare of animals that are sold or adopted by federal agencies. These include:
- Evaluating options for relocating wild horses and burros to different Herd Management Areas (HMAs) as an alternative to sending them to government holding facilities.
- Reviewing the BLM’s Adoption Incentive Program (AIP) for any weaknesses that jeopardize the welfare of wild horses and burros placed into private care.
- Partnering with veterans and wild horse organizations to assist in the implementation of a robust fertility control program.
- Requiring the BLM to provide quarterly reports to Congress regarding how funds are spent and performance metrics.
The Committee also addressed concerns about wild horses and burros under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) by emphasizing the importance of implementing adequate screening procedures for adopters and purchasers of these animals. The USFS currently lacks safeguards to protect wild horses and burros it rounds up and removes from their habitats on USFS lands. This, paired with sale prices as low as $25 a horse, raises serious concerns that USFS wild horses could end up in the slaughter pipeline or face other inhumane outcomes.
We are incredibly grateful for the concrete steps Congress has taken toward reforming the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program over the past two years. This is a result of your unrelenting advocacy, and it marks important progress in the fight to protect these iconic animals.
At the same time, the bill proposes increased overall funding for the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program — although $6 million less than what the Committee proposed last year. We must continue to press the BLM to use any additional funding to improve its program by reducing inhumane removals and addressing shortcomings in its holding system, where 60,000 wild horses and burros are confined and where disease outbreaks have claimed the lives of 159 wild horses so far this year.
This isn’t the last step in the congressional appropriations process, so stay tuned for more updates!
— The AWHC Team
From the field ➡️ to Congress and the court
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
We’ll be the first to admit that protecting America’s wild horses and burros is no easy feat.
The weather conditions at roundup observation sites can be particularly harsh, the time spent preparing for legal battles can go into the late hours of the night, and sometimes we feel like broken records combatting the misinformation spread by the cattle industry to Congress.
But we know — how we feel in these uncomfortable moments, pales in comparison to the pain our cherished wild horses and burros feel when they are chased into traps, breaking family bands apart and costing them their freedom forever.
We’re on a mission to preserve the freedom of wild horses and burros on the public lands they call home. And that starts with oversight.
From the reporting done by our observers in the field, to sharing these findings with Congress, to enacting life changing legislation for our wild herds, and taking the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to court — we’re leading the charge for oversight and reform of the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program.
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The movement to protect these cherished animals has not happened overnight. Our team has taken a calculated approach to fight for the protection of our wild herds in the field, in the courts, and on the Hill. We will not stop until wild horses and burros have true freedom on the public lands they call home.
Between video footage taken at roundups and documentation from our observation team, we are creating progress and enacting historic change. Right now, legislation has been introduced in Congress that would effectively ban the use of helicopter roundups as a population management tactic by the BLM.
Every court battle won and every victory in Congress brings us one step closer to preserving the freedom of these innocent animals.
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Thank you,
American Wild Horse Campaign
The BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program needs oversight
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) may have grounded its helicopters for the 2022 wild horse foaling season, but thousands of burros are still stuck in the crosshairs starting next month.
We send humane observers to bear witness to these devastating roundups, and , they are reporting some recurring and upsetting themes; a significant lack of transparency from the BLM and its contractors during the operations and a concerning number of injuries and deaths.
Today is the first email in a series where we’ll be sharing the costs and consequences of the BLM’s roundup program. Over the next few days, you’ll be hearing from us with observations from the field that highlight just why the BLM’s program urgently needs reform.
We’re using the documentation our team has accumulated to hold the BLM accountable. Will join us by calling for a Congressional oversight hearing on the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program?
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The massive roundup that ended earlier this year in Wyoming’s Checkerboard region resulted in the removal of an astounding 4,161 wild horses, making this the largest wild horse roundup in history. The toll was steep: 37 of these cherished animals lost their lives as a result of the helicopter roundup itself, while dozens more died in the holding pens in the month after the operation ended.
Our investigations, based on information obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, have revealed that the BLM is dramatically under-reporting the mortality rate of helicopter roundups by excluding the deaths that occur in the holding pens days and weeks after the roundups end.
This is unacceptable. Wild horses are being chased to pure exhaustion in a run for their freedom and their lives. Far too many die after sustaining traumatic injuries such as broken limbs and necks.
Enough is enough. Congress must be presented with the reality of these roundups that we, the taxpayers, are paying for. Will you join us in calling on Congress to hold an oversight hearing on the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program? Reform of this disastrous program is needed now more than ever.
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Thanks for fighting alongside us,
Suzanne Roy
Executive Director
American Wild Horse Campaign
Tell Congress: Hold an oversight hearing on the Wild Horse and Burro Program >>
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
Thank you so much to everyone who renewed their support over the last month to help us protect America’s wild horses and burros in 2022 and the years to come. We’re grateful for your generosity and dedication to protecting our wild herds.
Right now, the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro Program badly needs critical reforms.
Every single year, thousands of America’s wild horses and burros are brutally chased by low-flying helicopters and cruelly captured. These cherished animals that once freely roamed our public lands are sent to holding facilities across the country, costing them their families, their freedom, and for some of them — their lives. Far too many are ending up in the slaughter pipeline through a BLM program that pays individuals $1,000 per animal to adopt up to four untamed wild horses or burros per year.
What happens during these roundups is equally as upsetting — wild horses and foals run for their lives, chased to pure exhaustion. Foals are left abandoned and hungry without their mothers, and panicked horses break their limbs, backs, or necks during the chase or in the trap pens.
The continuation of helicopter roundups as the primary method of population management is fiscally reckless, unscientific, and grossly inhumane. The BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program needs reform and it needs it now.
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If we don’t speak up for America’s wild horses and burros, thousands more will be mistreated at the hands of the BLM and their contractors. Just this month, the BLM finished the largest roundup in U.S. history in the Wyoming Checkerboard, throwing nearly 4,000 formerly free-roaming wild horses into feedlot pens and leaving behind a trail of animal welfare violations. Action must be taken to drastically reform this mismanaged program.
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— AWHC Team
Help us save the wild horses – before it’s too late!
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
This summer is going to be a hard one for our cherished wild herds. Their freedom, families, and even their lives are going to be on the line.
Right now, helicopter roundups are paused until July 1 for foaling season. But shortly thereafter, one of the most beloved herds in the country will again be targeted for removal: the wild horses of the Onaqui Mountains in Utah. We have a plan in place to attempt to stop the operation from proceeding and we need your support.
In August, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is planning to conduct brutal surgical sterilization procedures on captive wild mares from the Confusion HMA in Utah. We have already filed suit to stop them and will need the resources to continue what could be a long, drawn-out battle.
Congress has already begun its annual Appropriations process, considering funding for the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program. Will it continue to throw money at the mass roundup and removal of wild horses and burros, or will it require the agency to shift focus to humane, on the range management of mustangs? The outcome depends on us. We need your assistance to help keep our team on Capitol Hill.
While there is much at stake for our wild horses and burros, there are also big opportunities to create meaningful change with a new administration, Interior Secretary, and BLM Director. But time is of the essence — we must act now.
Thank you,
Suzanne Roy
Executive Director
American Wild Horse Campaign
We are the last line of defense for America’s wild horses
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
Earlier this month, we set an ambitious fundraising goal of $50,000 to document the BLM’s roundup season, which began in Nevada’s Triple B Complex. That was before this week’s Senate hearing on the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program – a one-sided affair for cattle industry lobbyists, and not a single advocate for preserving America’s wild horses in the wild.
Thanks to you, we hit our $50,000 goal this week. The response from supporters like you has been an incredible boost during the hardest time of the year for wild horses. But to fight back against the stacked proceedings in the Senate – at the same time as the BLM’s terrifying and cruel roundups continue in the West – we’re now raising our goal to make sure everyone, from the American people to their elected leaders on Capitol Hill, sees how inhumane and unnecessary the BLM roundups really are.
Thanks to your support, we’ve been out at the Triple B roundup in Nevada these past few weeks — with heartbreaking photo and video evidence that will long outlast this roundup. Just over 800 horses lost their freedom at Triple B this month; 16 of them lost their lives. These include five tiny foals, one of whom was too weak to stand after withstanding a miles-long helicopter stampede and another who died of water toxicity, likely a result of the BLM’s failure to give the vulnerable baby electrolytes after an arduous run in summer heat left him stressed and dehydrated.
We’ll use this evidence for the battles ahead. This week’s Senate hearing wasn’t just about laying the groundwork for more roundups. The cattle industry lobbyists and BLM want money to surgically sterilize wild horses who remain in the wild, by castrating stallions and ripping out the ovaries of wild mares in dangerous and painful surgeries.
The cattle industry’s path forward leads to one place — mass destruction… of wild, free-roaming horses in the wild, and of those in captivity whose days will be numbered when the government funding to care for them runs out.
Thank you for everything you’re doing during this critical time for wild horses and burros. We could not do this work without you.
Thank you,
Suzanne
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