Menu

Devil’s Garden Wild Horse Territory

ACTION ALERT: Stop this California Roundup!!

, , , , 0

The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:

The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) is planning a helicopter roundup operation to capture up to 1,000 wild horses in the Devil’s Garden Wild Horse Territory in northeastern California. (Act now to stop this roundup. >>)

The USFS has an ugly history within the Devil’s Garden Wild Horse Territory. Between 2018 and 2021, they removed 2,443 wild horses from this habitat — all so giant ranching interests could graze their livestock on public lands at the expense of taxpayers like you, Meredith. These helicopter roundups have had devastating consequences: in the 2021 operation, 5 innocent wild horses lost their lives.

Troubling news of continued injury and death followed, with 2 colts from this same roundup found dead in the USFS’ care after a mountain lion attack and 4 additional colts euthanized due to complications from gelding. One mare was found dead for no known reason, and a stallion broke his neck.

This upcoming roundup must be stopped. The USFS must invest in more humane methods and stop the cruel roundup and stockpiling of wild horses. Further, the agency currently has no formal vetting process for adopters nor for conducting compliance inspections following an adoption. With the USFS practically giving the Devil’s Garden horses away for just $25, we must ensure these measures are in place before any more horses are removed from the range.

You can act now by sending a message to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Chief of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service demanding an immediate halt to this newest attack on these iconic animals and for measures to be put in place to ensure their safety. >>

ACT NOW

— AWHC Team

P.S. This Wednesday, July 13, at 4 p.m. PST, the Forest Service will be hosting a virtual public meeting about this operation. We hope you can attend. Details can be found here.

This Week’s eNews: TAKE ACTION to protect global burro populations!

, , , , , , 0

The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:

We wanted to share some recent updates about roundups, happy endings for rescued burros, and two actions you can take to help protect both wild horses and burros and global burro populations!

Help Ensure Congress’ Final Spending Bill Includes Funding for Fertility Control!

Recently, the Senate Appropriations Committee joined the House in allocating $11 million of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)’s Wild Horse and Burro Program budget towards a comprehensive fertility control vaccine program for wild horses.

This was a huge victory, but our work is not over! Congress must now negotiate a final Fiscal Year 2022 spending bill, and we need your help to ensure that it includes this $11 million of dedicated funding for fertility control vaccines. This is a critical step toward curtailing the brutal helicopter roundups that are so costly to American taxpayers and the wild horses and burros we love.

TAKE ACTION

Help Stop the Donkey Skin Trade!

Each year, millions of donkeys are brutally slaughtered for the production of ejiao (eh-gee-yow), medicinal gelatin that is made from boiling the skins of these animals. The U.S. is the third largest importer of ejiao in the world. The donkey skin trade is now decimating global populations as well as harming the impoverished global communities that rely on them for survival.

Luckily, the Ejiao Act was recently introduced in Congress to ban the knowing sale or transportation of ejiao in all interstate or foreign trade. We need to speak up for all donkeys — including our federally protected wild burros! Please take a moment to ask your Representative to co-sponsor the Ejiao Act!

TAKE ACTION

Devil’s Garden Roundup Wrap-Up

The U.S. Forest Service ended its controversial roundup of wild horses from the Devil’s Garden Wild Horse Territory in California’s Modoc National Forest in October, resulting in the permanent removal of 506 horses. During the month-long operation, five horses died — a tragic fact that was unknown to the public until AWHC persisted in getting the information from the Forest Service.

In our most recent blog, AWHC looks at this disturbing situation and the Forest Service’s continued lack of transparency and intransigence in refusing to implement humane fertility control. Read the in-depth piece below.

READ MORE

 

Two Burros and Their Forever Home


Photo by Carol Lollis for the Daily Hampshire Gazette

Recently, AWHC’s Program Specialist Mary Koncel welcomed two adorable rescued burros, Huck and Puck, to her home in Massachusetts! Huck and Puck had a long journey, from the deserts of Nevada, to being adopted through the BLM’s Adoption Incentive Program, to a kill pen in Oklahoma, to finally getting the happy ending they deserve in Massachusetts! Read their story below.

READ MORE

Thanks for taking action!

— AWHC Team

 

Wild Horses in NV, WY, CO and CA need YOUR help!

, , , , , , , , , , , , 0

The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:

This week there are four important Action Alert deadlines for comments on mass roundup plans targeting wild horses and burros in Nevada, Wyoming, Colorado and California!

So, please take a moment to weigh in for meaningful change for wild horses and burros by taking the actions below:

Lake Mead Burros
Comments due Friday, 4/30!

Burros are incredible animals and evolving science is documenting the important role they play in the desert ecosystem. But a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plan for wild burros in the Lake Mead Complex outside Las Vegas would zero out wild burros from two of three habitat areas, and leave behind a minuscule number of burros in the third. For good measure, the BLM also wants to capture and remove every wild horse living in the area. Take action to oppose this by Friday.

TAKE ACTION

The Sand Wash Basin Wild Horses of Colorado
Comments due Saturday, 5/1!


Photo credit: Kimerlee Curyl Photography

The BLM is targeting the famed Sand Wash Basin wild horses in Colorado for mass roundup and removals. The HMA covers roughly 157,700 acres of public land and is currently home to an estimated 935 wild horses. The BLM’s proposed plan calls for the removal of 772 wild horses, leaving a mere 163 horses in this HMA!

The Sand Wash Advocate Team (SWAT) has worked tirelessly to implement a PZP program in this HMA, yet these horses are still targeted for mass removal. The BLM’s current plan calls for continued use of PZP, but would also allow for the use of unstudied IUDs as an alternative form of population control. Submit your comments by Saturday and oppose the BLM’s plan!

TAKE ACTION

Devil’s Garden Wild Horses
Comments due Friday, 4/30!

The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) wants taxpayers to spend as much as $18 million to fund 6-8 years of wild horse helicopter roundups in the Devil’s Garden Wild Horse Territory in the northeast corner of California. The USFS wants to reduce the wild horse population to a fraction of its current size in order to maximize commercial livestock grazing on public lands where the horses live.

Worse, even though they’re asking you to pay for it, the Forest Service doesn’t want your comments on the plan! However, as one of a handful of designated “stakeholders,” AWHC is committed to making your voice heard in this process. Sign our petition by Friday.

TAKE ACTION

Wyoming Checkerboard Wild Horses
Comments due Friday, 4/30!


Photo by Living Images Carol Walker

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is again targeting the wild horses of the Wyoming Checkerboard for a massive helicopter roundup that will remove a shocking 3,500 wild horses — or 40% of the state’s wild horse population — from 3.5 million acres of habitat in the southern part of the state.

The plan calls for drastically reducing the population to just 1,550 wild horses roaming free. Under this proposal, the BLM plans to treat and release 290 mares with PZP and use unproven IUDs. The BLM is also considering an alternative plan that calls for the surgical sterilization of 100 mares, the castratation of 100 stallions, and would skew the sex ratio of the population to 60% stallions and 40% mares. Submit your comments by Friday to oppose the BLM’s plan!

TAKE ACTION

Thank you for your support,

—The AWHC Team

We need to pick up the pace

, , , , , , , 0

The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:

News & Alerts

Earlier this month, the Congress gave the green light to accelerate roundups in the West, which could result in as many as 20,000 wild horses being removed from public lands in 2020.

This comes at a time when the Acting Director of the Bureau of Land Management is describing mustangs and burros as an ‘existential threat’ to the survival of public lands…. Even though wild horses aren’t even on 88% of those lands! We know what this scapegoating of wild horses will mean if we don’t stop it.

Many of you have reached out and asked why don’t we sue to stop this? Well, the answer is we are!

90% of the suits our legal team files we win — and our ongoing litigation is one of the most important ways we’re fighting back and setting legal precedents to defend America’s wild horses and burros.

California: AWHC successfully prevented the U.S. Forest Service from significantly reducing the size of the Devil’s Garden Wild Horse Territory in California — One of the largest in the state.

Nevada: AWHC filed suit to challenge the BLM’s decision to permanently remove all wild horses from the Caliente Herd Area in Nevada without considering any reductions to domestic livestock in the area.

Oregon: AWHC sued the BLM in order to stop proposed cruel sterilization surgeries on wild mares. The court granted our request for an injunction, causing the BLM to cancel the experiments.

Utah: AWHC successfully defended wild horses in Utah from a rancher lawsuit that sought the removal of thousands of wild horses from public lands.

Wyoming: AWHC successfully intervened and successfully petitioned the court to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the State of Wyoming on behalf of in-state ranchers seeking the forcible removal of thousands of wild horses.

And these are just a handful of examples.

Make sure our legal team has the resources it needs to score more victories for wild horses and burros in 2020 by donating toward our crucial $100,000 End of Year goal (with the deadline to unlock the match approaching at midnight!).

Thank you,

American Wild Horse Campaign

What you need to know about the Devil’s Garden roundup →

, , , , , 0

The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:

News & Alerts

We wanted to make sure you had the chance to read this before getting too wrapped up in your weekend Meredith.

The roundup in the Devil’s Garden Wild Horse Territory in California ended this week, resulting in the permanent removal of 499 wild horses from their federally protected habitat. Already three of them have died at the U.S. Forest Service’s Double Devil Wild Horse Corrals.

This latest roundup followed the removal of 932 wild horses last fall from Devil’s Garden. The USFS announced last year that the captured wild horses could be sold without limitations on slaughter (we’re suing to stop them).

Take a moment to read our breakdown of The Devil’s Garden roundup in numbers, and if you can, please make a donation to support our team as we wage two separate lawsuits on behalf of these wild horses.

Our team is working around the clock to protect the Devil’s Garden mustangs from more roundups and slaughter – Every donation, no matter the size, helps power our fight.

If you’ve already donated or cannot at this time, please consider sharing this with a couple of your close friends. Our wild horses and burros don’t have a voice – So we have to use ours.

Thank you for your continued support,

Your friends at The American Wild Horse Campaign

Ranchers call for a roundup of wild horses on our public lands. Don’t let the cattle industry win

, , , , , , , , 0

The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:

Earlier this week, a federal court judge in California issued an order granting us the right to intervene in a lawsuit, filed by public lands ranchers, seeking the immediate round up and removal of 2,000 wild horses from the Devil’s Garden Wild Horse Territory in the Modoc National Forest.

At the same time, our attorney is in San Francisco today, participating in court-ordered negotiations with the U.S. Forest Service on a separate lawsuit, filed by AWHC and the Animal Legal Defense Fund, to stop the agency from selling Devil’s Garden horses for slaughter.

Please, support our ongoing legal efforts to protect the Devil’s Garden wild horses in California from special interests that seek their mass removal and slaughter.

The Devil’s Garden Territory is home to one of California’s largest remaining wild horse populations. Yet under pressure from local ranching interests, the Forest Service seeks to reduce the wild horse population to 200 – 402 horses, while allowing over 3,700 cows and 2,900 sheep to graze the public lands there.

The situation that has been unfolding in Devil’s Garden — from the roundups to the proposal to sell the mustangs without limitation on slaughter — represents one of the more serious attacks on wild horses by the public lands ranching industry.

Enough is enough. We’re waging two separate legal battles to defend Devil’s Garden mustangs from this existential threat.

Please help us fund this crucial fight today. Your donation will be earmarked for the legal efforts to protect the right of the Devil’s Garden wild horses to live wild and free on our public lands.

As always, we are the last line of defense for America’s wild horses and we must keep fighting until their safety is assured.

—AWHC Team

Join our Virtual Sit-In TODAY!

, , , , , , 0

The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:

Today, we’re organizing a rally at the U.S. Forest Service Region 5 headquarters in Vallejo, California to protest the roundup of wild horses from the Devils Garden Wild Horse Territory and the pending sale of captured horses for slaughter. Even if you can’t make it in person, we need your help to raise awareness for the issue online during our rally.

Support our protest against the sale of wild horses without limitation on slaughter by joining our virtual sit-in today.

We could be working toward humane and sustainable wild horse management – instead, we’re working around the clock to make sure these horses are not sold by the truckload for a $1 a piece. Supporters across the country have come forward to voice their support for saving these horses. We need that energy today.

Make your voice heard TODAY! Here’s how you can help:

Leave a message on the Forest Service FB Page

Leave a message on the Modoc National Forest FB Page

Tweet at Forest Service Region 5 

Tweet at Forest Service National

Tweet at the Modoc National Forest

Share and RT posts from our account @FreeWildHorses

Here’s a sample message to share:

“Save wild horses from slaughter! I oppose the U.S. Forest Service rounding up wild horses in California and selling them without limitation – where they could be sold by the truckload for $1 a piece to be butchered for horsemeat. #ProtectWildHorses

While we’re protesting at the Forest Service in Vallejo today, we’ll be counting on you to raise awareness of this issue online and across the country. If we all raise our voices, the Forest Service will have no choice but to change their plan of mass roundups, sale and slaughter.

Message, tweet, and share your support of America’s Wild Horses with the hashtag #ProtectWildHorses, and let’s tell the Forest Service we won’t stand for this government-sponsored cruelty.

Thanks!

Grace Kuhn, Communications Director

The plan for wild horses

, , , , , , 0

The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:

Before the U.S. Forest Service announced its plan to sell captured Devil’s Garden wild horses without limitation on slaughter, AWHC was working with the agency on a plan to introduce a humane, scientific pilot program for sustainable population management.

In fact, we were (and remain) ready to implement a PZP birth control pilot program in the Garden, and to work with ranching permittees to explore compensation for retirement or reduced use of livestock grazing permits on the public lands in the Devil’s Garden Wild Horse Territory.

It’s disappointing that the U.S. Forest Service has prioritized mass removal and sale for slaughter instead of taking a step toward humane and sustainable wild horse management. This is particularly true since their plan violates both the intent of Congress and the laws of California, which has banned the cruel practice of horse slaughter for two decades.

So now we have to fight back — and let them know that choosing slaughter over humane range management is unacceptable to the American public.

The response we’ve already received has been huge — can you chip in today to help us reach our new $50,000 goal and fuel our efforts to protect wild horses?

Here are the steps we’re taking to fight back against this cruel and illegal plan:

  • We’ve filed a lawsuit to block the sale of wild horses to kill buyers. Legal action is one of the most potent weapons in our arsenal — but it’s expensive. Chip in today to help us win this lawsuit.
  • We’re mobilizing our supporters from across California to attend our rally in Vallejo demanding that the Forest Service put a stop to this inhumane plan. Support our field efforts.
  • We’re working with allies in both the state legislature and the federal government — and we’ve already gotten huge support. State Senator Todd Gloria (D-San Diego) and 23 of his colleagues in the California Legislature have joined the fight, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein has made her voice heard. Help us keep lobbying our leaders for action.

We believe that we can win this fight — but only with your help. Thanks for standing with us.

– American Wild Horse Campaign