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Herd Management Areas

BREAKING: House Committee Takes Important Step for Wild Horses and Burros!!

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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

Burro roundups are almost here, help us fight back!

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The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:

Wild horse foaling season is underway, so from April to July, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has paused its wild horse roundups. Instead, it has set its sights on wild burros. The BLM is planning to roundup record numbers of burros starting on April 30th – one day before the start of Burro Awareness Month.

Over the next few months, the BLM aims to round up over 2,500 wild burros from five Herd Management Areas (HMAs) and permanently remove over 2,300. The largest operation will take place in the most genetically diverse burro herd, located in the Black Mountain HMA in Arizona where 1,120 wild burros will be permanently removed.

Even worse, the agency intends to use helicopters to chase these beloved animals into traps. This is a notable departure from primarily relying on bait trapping to capture burros.

AWHC field representatives will be on site at these burro roundups to hold the BLM accountable and our team will be working nonstop — on the Hill, in the courtroom, and on the range – to help save wild horses AND burros from inhumane helicopter roundups. But we need your help. 

Can you make a donation to ensure our team has the necessary resources to continue fighting back against the cruel roundup of wild burros?

HELP SAVE WILD BURROS

Unlike wild horses, who generally stay together during helicopter roundups and follow other horses into a trap site, wild burros are stoic animals and often stand their ground in the face of the helicopters, or scatter in an attempt to avoid capture. As a result, helicopter roundups can be even more brutal for burros. 

We are fighting for the West’s few remaining wild burros and we need your help. Please make a donation of $10, $25, or whatever you can afford to give today to help us continue our fight to save wild burros.

DONATE TODAY

Thank you,

– American Wild Horse Campaign

BREAKING: The BLM has declared emergency roundups >> Take action now!

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The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) just announced a series of “emergency roundups” that will remove 6,000 wild horses and burros before the end of September.

This means that when the BLM’s Fiscal Year 2021 ends on September 30, nearly 117,000 wild horses and burros will have been rounded up and put in off-range holding facilities.

Act now to protect wild horses and burros >>

There are already over 50,000 wild horses and burros that have been stockpiled in government holding at the expense of taxpayers — now this number will skyrocket to at least 60,000. Erica, that is the highest number of wild horses and burros ever maintained in the BLM’s off-range holding facilities.

The BLM is rounding up these innocent animals under the guise of brutal weather conditions across the West — and while we agree that some areas of the range are experiencing water and forage shortages or fire emergencies, the BLM’s use of emergency roundups is at best a bandaid on a larger problem, and at worst an abuse of the public process. 

By designating these roundups as “emergency,” the BLM can avoid the standard requirements for analysis and public commentary on a scheduled roundup AND they can also reduce populations below the already-low imposed population limits.

There’s no denying that the West is suffering from some extreme weather conditions right now, but livestock like cattle and sheep have grazed these lands for months, decimating the resources for all wildlife on the range.

We’re demanding that the BLM remove all livestock from the Herd Management Areas (HMAs) where a drought emergency has been declared before any wild horses or burros are removed. Will you join us in fighting to protect wild horses and burros?

TAKE ACTION

The BLM has already started the emergency roundups — beginning with the Antelope Complex in northeastern Nevada, where 2,200 wild horses are being removed. AWHC has tasked a field representative with documenting the roundups and providing updates to our team.

The Antelope Complex is one area where livestock heavily outnumbers the wild horse populations in the area. But yet again, the BLM has placed the burden of range degradation on mustangs and is ignoring the massive effect that livestock grazing has on our public lands!

The BLM must be held accountable. If range conditions are really so poor that the BLM feels the need to conduct emergency roundups of wild horses, then the agency should remove the livestock that utilize the same habitat. Take action now: Tell the BLM to prioritize the removal of livestock and protect wild horses and burros. >>

TAKE ACTION

— AWHC Team