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Evanescent Mustang Rescue

LEGAL UPDATE 🚨: We gave the BLM a chance, now we’re suing.

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The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:

Last month, we sent a legal petition to the Department of the Interior, giving it until June 30, 2021 to shut down the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) failed Adoption Incentive Program (AIP). Unfortunately, Meredith, the Interior Department failed to respond to our petition.

So now, in collaboration with several of our partners — Skydog Sanctuary, Evanescent Mustang Rescue, and photographer Carol Walker — we have filed suit against the BLM to put an end to the AIP. 

We have provided the Interior Department with clear evidence that the BLM violated several federal laws when creating the AIP, and that the program has resulted in a significant uptick in the number of wild horses and burros entering the slaughter pipeline. But so far the response is just an internal “review” with no halting of the program — meaning that BLM horses and burros continue to be sent to kill pens through the AIP. 

Even if just one more wild horse ends up at a kill pen as a result of this program, that is still one too many. Will you make a $25 donation to our Legal Fund today to help us have the resources for this legal battle?

DONATE

Since uncovering this slaughter pipeline, which led to a New York Times exposé earlier this year, we’ve been working nonstop to put an end to this disastrous program. We’ve worked with Senator Dianne Feinstein and 30+ other members of Congress urging the Interior Department to suspend the program and conduct a thorough investigation.

The lives of hundreds of wild horses and burros are at stake, Meredith. The Interior Department has failed to appropriately respond to our requests to end this program. So with no signs of stopping from the BLM — we’ve now taken legal action to ensure that the AIP program is terminated. 

Can you make a donation to our Legal Fund today to help us take on the Interior Department’s BLM in court and terminate their Adoption Incentive Program?

DONATE

Thank you for your support,

Suzanne Roy
Executive Director
American Wild Horse Campaign

ICYMI: Over 30 members of Congress have called on the BLM to suspend its’ AIP!

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The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:

We wanted to make sure you heard about this exciting update:

Over the last week, 30+ members of Congress have called on the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to suspend an adoption program that’s sending wild horses and burros to slaughter. 

SIGN ON NOW TO DEMAND THE BLM HALT THE AIP >>

The recent groundbreaking New York Times report — prompted by an AWHC investigation of the BLM’s Adoption Incentive Program (AIP) — has led to national awareness about the plight of wild horses and burros, and has received significant attention from legislators on Capitol Hill.

Late last week, in a letter directed to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (CA) called on the Interior Department to immediately suspend the BLM’s AIP and conduct a thorough investigation into the program that’s become a pipeline to slaughter for untold numbers of federally-protected wild horses and burros.

On Wednesday, U.S. Reps. Earl Blumenauer, Dina Titus, Steve Cohen, Jan Schakowsky, and Mike Quigley along with 25 of their House colleagues sent a similar letter to Secretary Haaland, asking that the AIP be suspended and calling for the passage of the Save America’s Forgotten Equines (SAFE) Act to protect all American horses from slaughter.

Thanks to your support and the buzz surrounding the New York Times article, significant action is being taken to protect America’s wild horses and burros! But Erica, we can’t stop now. Can you sign our petition and join Congress in demanding that the BLM halt the Adoption Incentive Program that’s sending wild horses and burros to slaughter?

SIGN THE PETITION

 
In coordination with our rescue partners, Evanescent Mustang Rescue, Skydog Sanctuary, and Black Hills Sanctuary, AWHC spent significant time searching for and accumulating tangible evidence to document the connection between the BLM’s AIP and the uptick in cherished wild horses and burros in slaughter auctions across the country — all leading to the New York Times exposé. 
We’re working with Senator Feinstein, Reps. Titus and Cohen, and many other members of Congress to put a halt to the AIP, pass federal legislation to help keep wild horses in the wild, and we’re fighting back against a dangerous bill that would strip away federal protections for wild horses and burros by allowing the BLM to trade away their habitats to states.

Erica, we’re doing everything we can to preserve and protect wild horse and burro herds across the U.S. Can you join us in our efforts by signing our petition and demanding that the BLM put an end to its disastrous Adoption Incentive Program?

SIGN THE PETITION

 
Thank you,
AWHC Team

BREAKING: We worked with the New York Times to investigate the BLM’s Adoption Incentive Program

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The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:

We have breaking news.

Over the last several months, the American Wild Horse Campaign — with assistance from Evanescent Mustang Rescue, Skydog Ranch and Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary — has been conducting an investigation into the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Adoption Incentive Program (AIP), leading to today’s New York Times report exposing this federal program as a subsidized pipeline to slaughter for federally-protected wild horses and burros.

The BLM’s AIP pays individuals $1,000 to adopt a wild, unhandled horse or burro. As AWHC predicted when the program was implemented in 2019, the initiative has been a disaster for these animals. It is now clear that the BLM is laundering horses to slaughter through the AIP and evading the long-standing Congressional slaughter ban. 

This program is a predictable result of the BLM’s inhumane and costly mass roundup program and the agency’s efforts to empty holding pens to make room for the tens of thousands of horses and burros targeted for removal over the next five years.

Our investigation, as affirmed by the New York Times, has documented:

  • Wild horses and burros are being sent to slaughter through the AIP.
  • Adopters are collecting the payments then sending horses to livestock auctions known as “kill pens” where they are purchased by kill buyers and shipped across the border for slaughter.
  • Adopters are routinely violating their BLM adoption contracts, which they sign under penalty of perjury, prohibiting the sale of these animals directly or indirectly to slaughter.
  • Groups of related individuals are evading the four-horse adoption limit by adopting multiple horses each using the same location on their applications, then collecting as much as $30,000 in AIP payments and sales of the horses at kill pens.
  • The AIP additionally has resulted in severe neglect and abuse of horses and burros by adopters unqualified or uninterested in providing adequate care.

 

  • The AIP should not be allowed to continue. The BLM must stop rounding up wild horses and burros and start managing them humanely in the wild. Thousands of America’s iconic wild horses and burros are at risk and need your voice.

    Please take these three actions to make change for them right now:

    1. Sign our petition demanding an end to the AIP and to mass roundups that send too many wild horses and burros into the slaughter pipeline.
    2. Share the New York Times article on social media.
    3. Call & write Congress to demand the AIP program be terminated. You can leave a message over the weekend.

    Thank you for speaking up for our wild horses and burros at this critical time!

    AWHC Team