The major corporations behind the wild horses and burros crisis
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
Recently, AWHC Communications Director Grace Kuhn was on a television segment for TBS’ Full Frontal with Samantha Bee to talk about how billion-dollar corporations are major players in public lands livestock grazing …all at the expense of the American taxpayer and wild horses.
That’s right: Giant corporations actually represent the 20 largest grazing permit holders on public lands. This industry is consistently lobbying to round up and stockpile wild horses and burros so more of their livestock can graze at below market rates, thanks to tax subsidies.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t stop at ranching either. Simplot Livestock, which operates the taxpayer-funded Bruneau wild horse holding corrals in Idaho, is operated by J.R. Simplot Company, the extended family of J.R. Simplot, who until his death in 2008 was one of Forbes’ four hundred richest Americans.
It’s outrageous, and we’re grateful to Sam and her whole team for having us on to talk about this important issue. This would not have been possible without you! Will you make a contribution so we can double down on our efforts and continue getting our message out to as many folks as possible?
| DONATE → |
In order to create public education campaigns and continue our essential work in the field, we rely almost entirely on contributions from folks like you who know the importance of protecting our wild horses and burros.
With who we’re going up against — the powerful livestock lobby — your support is always needed!
Our investigations team is continuing to dig into this program and its players, and we hope to bring to light how wild horses and burros are being eradicated from Western public lands all in the name of profit.
But we’ll need you along with us to do this! Will you contribute now to fuel our efforts?
| DONATE → |
Thank you for your support!
The AWHC Investigations Team
Tell your senators to protect wild horses before the FY23 deadline!!
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
Until the end of the month, the Senate Subcommittee on Appropriations is accepting requests from fellow senators on language they would like to see included in the Senate’s Fiscal Year 2023 spending bill.
And at a time when the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is looking to expand its fertility control measures, securing funding dedicated to humane, in-the-wild management of our wild herds is more critical than ever:
TELL YOUR SENATORS: PROTECT WILD HORSES
The BLM knows it needs to expand its fertility control efforts — and for the first time ever, the implementation of a robust fertility control vaccine program is being mandated by Congress. But instead of using humane fertility control vaccines to keep horses in the wild where they belong, the BLM continues to prioritize brutal — and often deadly — helicopter roundups instead.
History was made when Congress passed its FY22 omnibus spending bill that required the BLM to spend up to $11 million to implement a robust fertility control vaccine program as a humane alternative to cruel helicopter roundups. Now, we’re calling for the same language to be included in the FY23 spending bill to increase pressure on the BLM to shift toward this humane alternative to roundups!
We need your help. Will you contact your senators right now calling for humane management in the FY23 spending bill?
| TAKE ACTION → |
Thanks for your help, Meredith!
— AWHC Team
The BLM has set its sights on the Wyoming Checkerboard Wild Horses
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) just finalized plans to eliminate more than one million acres of habitat and most of the federally-protected wild horses in the Wyoming Checkerboard.
This would be the largest eradication of these iconic animals from western public lands ever. The plan calls for the removal of every single horse from the Salt Wells Creek and Great Divide Basin Herd Management Areas (HMAs) and the drastic reduction of the Adobe Town HMA mustang population.
| DONATE → |
As a precursor to the eradication plan, the BLM conducted the largest wild horse roundup in agency history in the Wyoming Checkerboard, capturing over 4,000 wild horses and permanently removing 3,502 from their habitat.
The BLM says that 37 wild horses were killed as a result of the roundup, but records we obtained through the Freedom of Information Act indicate the death toll in the weeks and months after the roundup was actually higher.
Most of the horses who were lucky to survive have been crammed into the Wheatland Off-Range Corrals, a facility currently experiencing a large-scale outbreak of a highly contagious infectious disease known as strangles. The disease has killed 11 horses so far.
These wild horses do no harm where they belong — in the wild, but our government is placing them in harm’s way by subjecting them to brutal helicopter roundups and cramming them into crowded, dangerous holding facilities.
| DONATE → |
Thank you,
American Wild Horse Campaign
ACT NOW: BLM targets the ONLY designated wild burro range in the west!
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is seeking public input for a proposed roundup of the historic wild burros of the Marietta Wild Burro Range in Mineral County, Nevada.
The Marietta Wild Burro Range was publicly dedicated by the BLM Director in 1991 for the 20th anniversary of passage of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. Marietta is the BLM’s only wild burro range, and means that the area will be “principally” managed for the animals.
The Range is home to an estimated 400-500 burros. However, the agency set an unscientifically low appropriate management level (AML) of just 78-104 wild burros on the 68,000-acre range, threatening the genetic viability of the herd.
| BE THEIR VOICE → |
The agency’s current proposed action is to round up and remove most of the Marietta Range burros. This means that if the plan goes through, the BLM will put hundreds of these animals at risk of serious injury and death through its brutal and inhumane helicopter roundups.
Further, the BLM is ignoring recent scientific evidence that shows that wild burros dig wells in their environments, actually boosting the availability of water in desert landscapes across the American Southwest!
| TAKE ACTION → |
Thank you,
American Wild Horse Campaign
YOU can help end inhumane helicopter roundups. Here’s how.
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
Earlier this year, Congress took a historic step towards reforming the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro Program when it passed its Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 omnibus spending bill. This bill required the BLM to spend up to $11 million to implement a robust fertility control vaccine program as a humane alternative to cruel helicopter roundups.
Now, Congress’ FY23 appropriations process is in full swing. Right now, Senators are submitting their priorities for the federal appropriations language — and we need your help to ensure next year’s spending bill includes efforts to protect wild horses and burros.
Our Government Relations team here at AWHC is working hard on Capitol Hill to divert funding away from the BLM’s helicopter roundups and towards humane fertility control vaccines that keep wild horses on public lands. But we can’t do it alone. We need as many voices as possible to echo our message and urge Congress to enact a pro-horse and burro agenda for 2023.
| TAKE ACTION → |
We are incredibly proud that Congress’ FY22 spending bill included important language championed by AWHC and our allies in Washington like U.S. Representatives Steve Cohen (D-TN) and Dina Titus (D-NV), U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), and over 60 other members of Congress!
But Meredith, the BLM is still set on its mass removal plan using brutal helicopter roundups, and starting on July 1, roundup season for wild horses will begin again in full force. Captured horses and burros are suffering RIGHT NOW in BLM holding facilities across the West. In the BLM’s Cañon City corrals, at least 138 wild horses have died from Equine Influenza Virus in just over two weeks.
This is unacceptable. We cannot continue to round up wild horses and burros from their native habitats, cram them into holding pens, and expect a good outcome for the animals or the taxpayers who are stuck funding this broken system.
Our next steps are critical. To ensure the BLM puts a stop to roundups and shifts towards a humane solution, we MUST secure ongoing funding for fertility control vaccines. That’s why we need your help today. Will you call on your Senators to support $11 million in humane fertility control vaccine treatments in the FY23 spending bill?
| TAKE ACTION → |
Thank you,
American Wild Horse Campaign
UPDATE: More than 124 wild horses have now died at this BLM facility
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
Last week, we alerted you to a highly contagious and deadly infectious disease outbreak occurring in real time at the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Cañon City holding facility in Colorado. In just the last 11 days, at least 124 wild horses have died in these holding pens — making this possibly the deadliest disease outbreak in BLM history.
Nearly 2,500 wild horses are confined in this facility and remain at risk — please speak up for them now by calling on your members of Congress to demand an investigation into the BLM’s holding corrals.
Since we last emailed you, the BLM was able to identify the virus that has killed dozens of these cherished animals — Equine Influenza Virus (EIV) — a virus that the BLM is supposed to vaccinate wild horses and burros against once they are rounded up and removed from the wild.
The BLM reported that the 124 mustangs killed were either entirely unvaccinated or only partially-vaccinated against the deadly virus even though they had been at the facility for over 9 months.
At the same time, an active disease outbreak is occuring at the BLM’s off range holding corrals in Wheatland, Wyoming, where a highly contagious bacterial infection that causes strangles has so far infected half of the 2,750 horses confined there.
This developing situation raises serious concerns about the conditions in the BLM’s off-range holding system where 59,749 wild horses and 862 wild burros are being held — and we deserve answers.
| TAKE ACTION → |
Thanks for your help.
— AWHC Team
———- Forwarded message ———
From: ACTION ALERT! via AWHC <contact@americanwildhorsecampaign.org>
Date: Wed, Apr 27, 2022 at 6:26 PM
Subject: BREAKING: Wild horses are in danger at this BLM facility
To: <meredith@luckythreeranch.com>
Since Saturday, at least 67 wild horses have died in a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) holding facility in Colorado due to an unidentified, highly contagious, and deadly infectious disease.
More than 2,500 BLM-managed wild horses are confined to the Cañon City facility where this outbreak occurred and are at risk. You could help us speak up for them by contacting your members of Congress calling for an investigation into the BLM’s off-range corrals.
| TAKE ACTION → |
This is the second government holding facility to close in recent weeks due to disease outbreaks related to the intense confinement of these wild animals.
RIGHT NOW → almost 60,000 wild horses and 862 wild burros are confined in BLM off-range holding facilities. And with plans to remove 19,000 more wild horses and burros from public lands this year, the BLM is putting thousands of these innocent animals at risk.
And — wild horses and burros aren’t just dying from disease in these facilities. Records show that hundreds of mustangs are dying from traumatic injuries like broken necks, skull fractures, broken legs, and even evisceration from castration surgeries following capture at government facilities across the country.
These wild horses do no harm where they belong — in the wild, but our government is placing them in harm’s way by cramming them into crowded holding facilities.
We must protect the thousands of federally-protected wild horses and burros in captivity today, but Meredith, we need your voice to help them.
| TAKE ACTION → |
Thanks for taking action — we’re grateful for your support.
AWHC Team
Help us make Burro Awareness Month a National Holiday!
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
It’s the first day of May – and you know what that means – the first day of Burro Awareness Month!
We started Burro Awareness Month back in 2012 to highlight the beauty of one of our favorite equine species, the majestic wild burros of the American Southwest, and to educate the public about the unique struggles they face.
While wild mustangs often get the spotlight, burros tend to get left out of the conversation. So we dedicate this month every year to raising awareness about all things pertaining to our beloved burros – and , it’s about time we make it a national holiday!
| SIGN THE PETITION → |
Burros were first introduced to the Southwest desert by the Spaniards in the 1500s and served as a reliable companion to explorers and pioneers on their treks throughout the West in the centuries thereafter. Originally from Africa, these pack animals were prized for their hardiness in arid environments!
They worked tirelessly to carry supplies and machinery to mining camps and became indispensable to the workers of the West. At the end of the mining boom, many burros escaped or were turned loose, and with their innate ability to survive under the harshest conditions — wild herds eventually formed and flourished.
They’re not just rugged work animals though…wild burros are also some of the most adorable and cuddly creatures you’ll ever see! They have long ears, a short mane, and vary in color from black to brown to gray and even to pinto!
We’re sure that if more people learned about these beautiful creatures, burros would get the credit and attention they deserve! So this May, we are once again asking for your help to spread the word about our beloved wild burros. Will you sign on to our petition today to help make Burro Awareness Month a nationally-recognized holiday?
| SIGN THE PETITION → |
Thanks!
AWHC Team
TAKE ACTION: Two wild horse herds are at risk (!!) in Oregon
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has announced plans that put two of Oregon’s iconic wild horse herds at serious risk (!!)
The BLM is accepting comments for a disastrous 10-year plan that would drastically reduce the populations of the wild horses who call both the Three Fingers and Jackies Butte Herd Management Areas (HMAs) home.
YOU can be their voice. Will you speak up for the Three Fingers and Jackies Butte wild horses right now by submitting comments to the BLM in strong opposition to this devastating plan?
| SPEAK UP FOR OREGON’S WILD HORSES → |
The BLM’s proposed plan would utilize brutal mass helicopter roundups and removals, and several methods of controversial contraceptives like the untested GonaCon vaccine and IUDs.
The BLM’s ultimate goal? They want to reduce the populations for both of these HMAs to a devastating total of just 75 wild horses on 63,000 acres and 65,000 acres of land respectively.
That’s one horse for every 800+ acres of land in these HMAs. Meanwhile, the agency will continue to permit thousands of privately-owned cows to graze on these public lands.
If you want to see Oregon’s wild horse populations protected, will you speak up for them right now? Please submit your comments to the BLM now telling them that you strongly oppose this disastrous roundup.
| TAKE ACTION → |
Thanks for all you do to protect America’s wild herds.
American Wild Horse Campaign
Show wild burros some love as we finish out our Help A Horse Day festivities!
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
So far this week we’ve shared stories with you that highlight just how critical our PZP Program and our Legal Funds are to protecting the freedom and the lives of America’s wild horses. Today, as we close out our National Help A Horse Day festivities, we wanted to show our cherished wild burros some love, too!
Over the next several months, approximately 2,500 wild burros will be targeted for removal by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Around 2,300 of these innocent animals will be sent to holding facilities, where many could be funneled into the slaughter pipeline via the BLM’s disastrous Adoption Incentive Program (AIP).
Meredith: Our Rescue Fund has helped us save over 100 wild horses and burros from the slaughter pipeline including the Oklahoma 12:
Last year, our investigative team documented these 12 burros sitting in an Oklahoma kill pen ready to ship to slaughter at any minute. We used our Rescue Fund to assist our rescue partner Evanescent Mustang Rescue and Sanctuary to pay the bail for each of these 12 burros so they could quickly get out of this kill pen and into foster care.
After these animals were safe, we obtained their title paperwork. And Meredith, as we guessed — all 12 burros were adopted through the BLM’s AIP. Even worse, they were all adopted by one family who as soon as they got their incentive payments, flipped the 12 burros to slaughter.
Even though the Oklahoma 12 are now safe and in loving care, the BLM’s unprecedented attack on burro populations means an increasing number of BLM burros will be moving through the AIP and are at risk of entering the slaughter pipeline.
| FUEL OUR RESCUE FUND → |
Thanks,
— AWHC Team
What Cirrus inspired:
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
Happy National Help a Horse Day! 
It’s hard to put into words just how important holidays like today are to our team at the American Wild Horse Campaign. To celebrate a national holiday specifically dedicated to protecting the animals we hold so close to our hearts means so much to our team who day in and day out carry on the fight to protect the lives and freedom of our wild herds.
So today, as we celebrate a holiday meant to inspire the masses about the plight of our dearest equines, we wanted to tell you about Cirrus — a mare whose story continues to inspire each and every one of us at AWHC.
In 2018, an AWHC field representative was on-site to report on the ongoing helicopter roundup and removal operations happening at the Warm Springs Herd Management Area in Oregon. There he saw the most extraordinary mare:
Cirrus had the likeness of a horse imprinted on her neck. As she ran, chased by helicopters, the horse moved with her. To see something so beautiful in the most devastating of circumstances… was surreal, in a way that perfectly embodied the beauty of these innocent animals and the tragedy they are plagued by.
We managed to keep track of Cirrus while she was in holding, hoping to find her a forever home. However, we found that she was slated, along with a dozen other mares, to be a test subject for a surgical sterilization study — an unproven and brutal procedure with a high mortality rate.
When we found this out, we knew we had to continue fighting against these studies. So we joined forces with two of our partner organizations and filed a lawsuit to stop the barbaric surgeries from proceeding. And , we won.
Thanks to donations made to our Legal Fund and our amazing legal team, we were able to make this court win a reality. Saved from an uncertain fate, Cirrus is living out the rest of her days at AWHC’s Board President Ellie Phipps Price’s 2,000-acre sanctuary, Montgomery Creek Ranch — the next best thing to being wild and free.
| FUEL OUR LEGAL FUND → |
Thanks for your continued dedication to our wild horses and burros.
Suzanne Roy
Executive Director
American Wild Horse Campaign
The countdown to National Help a Horse Day starts NOW!
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
Tomorrow, April 26, marks National Help A Horse Day — a day dedicated to bringing horse advocates like yourself together to protect America’s beloved equines and to spread awareness about the threats many of these cherished animals face. Help us celebrate with a donation today! >>
Here at the American Wild Horse Campaign, we’re kicking off this important day early, because there is just so much to cover when it comes to protecting America’s wild herds! We never stop fighting to preserve the freedom of mustangs and burros, so this week we wanted to share exactly how we are protecting these innocent animals and highlight some heartwarming stories from along the way!
Allow us to introduce you to Saddle Shoe.
| HELP MORE HORSES LIKE SADDLE SHOE |
Saddle Shoe is a 10-year-old pinto mare that lives on Nevada’s Virginia Range, a 300,000-acre habitat in the greater Reno area where we operate the world’s largest wild horse fertility control program! Through our documentation of the wild horses who call this area home, we have discovered that Saddle Shoe is the mother of at least 4 other mustangs who live wild and free!
The lands surrounding the Virginia Range are slowly being swallowed up by encroaching urbanization as commercial companies build offices and housing throughout their habitat. We started our PZP program on Nevada’s Virginia Range because we wanted to ensure horses like Saddle Shoe and her babies maintain their freedom on the lands they’ve called home for centuries.
Our work on the Virginia Range provides scientific evidence to the public and lawmakers that there is a humane way to manage wild horses that doesn’t require mass roundups, crowded holding pens, or dangerous sterilization surgeries.
One of the biggest wins from this groundbreaking program? The wild horses of the Virginia Range, like Saddle Shoe, get to stay together with their families, and in the wild just like they’re meant to be!
| FUEL OUR PZP PROGRAM → |
Thanks for your support,
– American Wild Horse Campaign
FWD: One final Earth Day ask of you
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
Thank you so much for standing alongside us in the fight to protect America’s wild horses and burros this Earth Day and every day.
While we take some special time to celebrate today’s important holiday, I want you to know just how grateful the entire AWHC team really is for your continued dedication to protecting our beloved equines year-round.
I also wanted to make one final ask of you this Earth Day. As part of this special holiday, we’ve set a goal to recruit 50 new monthly donors to fuel our fight for America’s wild herds.
Allow me to explain — as you well know by now, preserving the freedom of our cherished wild herds is an ongoing battle. One that isn’t won overnight. So, recurring monthly donations help to keep us in the fight for our wild horses and burros throughout the entire year. Monthly gifts, no matter the amount, are critical to continuing our work on the Hill, in the courts, and in the field.
| BECOME A MONTHLY DONOR |
Thanks, Meredith.
— Suzanne
———- Forwarded message ———
From: American Wild Horse Campaign <contact@americanwildhorsecampaign.org>
Date: Fri, Apr 22, 2022 at 12:34 PM
Subject: 3 ways you can celebrate Day AND protect wild horses and burros >>
To: <meredith@luckythreeranch.com>
Happy Earth Day!
More than 50 years ago, Earth Day was created as a day to put all other issues aside and focus on the protection of our beautiful planet and all of the amazing creatures who call it home.
Every single day, our team sees firsthand the threats that wild horses and burros face — whether that be the dangerous adoption incentive program, brutal helicopter roundups, or the interests of the cattle industry superseding the needs of these innocent equines.
So this Earth Day, we can think of no better way to celebrate than by lifting up our voices together to protect wild horses and burros and the public lands these cherished animals call home! TAKE ACTION FOR WILD HORSES AND BURROS AND MAKE OUR VOICES HEARD →
Over the next 5 years, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is planning to conduct mass roundups and removals of over 100,000 wild horses and burros from across the West – more of these animals than even exist today!
What has been framed as a plan for “necessary” population management, is no more than a thinly veiled attempt to appease the special interests of the livestock industry — an industry that has been lobbying Congress for decades so that ranchers may graze their personal animals on public lands for cheap.
This is not a path forward, it’s a path toward ecological destruction.
So, as we celebrate Earth Day today, we can think of no better way to commemorate this special holiday than by doubling down on our commitment to ensure that our cherished wild horses and burros remain free, in the wild on the public lands they call home. Here are 3 ways you can take action to support our wild herds today:
- Call on your members of Congress to support wild horse-friendly language in the FY23 Appropriations bill.Congress already took historic steps this year when it passed the FY22 spending bill to ensure the BLM utilizes up to $11 million to implement a fertility control vaccine program. Now, we’re calling for this historic move once again in the FY23 bill! Take action now to ensure humane management of our wild herds →
2. Watch & share on social AWHC team members’ national interview with Samantha Bee from her political satire show, Full Frontal. Get ready to laugh and learn more about the plight of our wild herds.
3. Purchase a KT Merry wild horse print. As part of an Earth Day special, KT is donating 30% of all print sales to AWHC to keep wild horses in the wild where they belong! Promo ends on 4/23.
While we may celebrate this important holiday just once a year, our fight to preserve the freedom of wild horses and burros never stops.
Thanks for continuing to stand by our side, Meredith, and happy Earth Day!
American Wild Horse Campaign
3 ways you can celebrate 🌎 Day AND protect wild horses and burros >>
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
Happy Earth Day! 
More than 50 years ago, Earth Day was created as a day to put all other issues aside and focus on the protection of our beautiful planet and all of the amazing creatures who call it home.
Every single day, our team sees firsthand the threats that wild horses and burros face — whether that be the dangerous adoption incentive program, brutal helicopter roundups, or the interests of the cattle industry superseding the needs of these innocent equines.
So this Earth Day, we can think of no better way to celebrate than by lifting up our voices together to protect wild horses and burros and the public lands these cherished animals call home! TAKE ACTION FOR WILD HORSES AND BURROS AND MAKE OUR VOICES HEARD →
Over the next 5 years, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is planning to conduct mass roundups and removals of over 100,000 wild horses and burros from across the West – more of these animals than even exist today!
What has been framed as a plan for “necessary” population management is no more than a thinly veiled attempt to appease the special interests of the livestock industry — an industry that has been lobbying Congress for decades so that ranchers may graze their personal animals on public lands for cheap.
This is not a path forward, it’s a path toward ecological destruction.
So, as we celebrate Earth Day today, we can think of no better way to commemorate this special holiday than by doubling down on our commitment to ensure that our cherished wild horses and burros remain free, in the wild on the public lands they call home. Here are 3 ways you can take action to support our wild herds today:
1. Call on your members of Congress to support wild horse-friendly language in the FY23 Appropriations bill. Congress already took historic steps this year when it passed the FY22 spending bill to ensure the BLM utilizes up to $11 million to implement a fertility control vaccine program. Now, we’re calling for this historic move once again in the FY23 bill! Take action now to ensure humane management of our wild herds →
2. Watch & share on social AWHC team members’ national interview with Samantha Bee from her political satire show, Full Frontal. Get ready to laugh and learn more about the plight of our wild herds.
3. Purchase a KT Merry wild horse print. As part of an Earth Day special, KT is donating 30% of all print sales to AWHC to keep wild horses in the wild where they belong! Promo ends on 4/23.
While we may celebrate this important holiday just once a year, our fight to preserve the freedom of wild horses and burros never stops.
Thanks for continuing to stand by our side, and happy Earth Day!
American Wild Horse Campaign
THANK YOU to our volunteers!
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
Today marks the first day of National Volunteer Week. To honor this important week, we wanted to spotlight our fantastic volunteers who define AWHC — Animal-loving, Wonderful, Helpful, and Committed.
Our dedicated volunteers are the backbone of so much of our work, from implementing the world’s largest fertility control program for wild horses to playing an integral role in our investigation into the Bureau of Land Management’s Adoption Incentive Program. We could not be more grateful, so we wanted to share their stories as fearless defenders of our wild horses and burros, and then ask you to sign a thank you card for our volunteers!
Without their commitment and support, our work would not be possible!
SIGN THE CARD TO THANK OUR VOLUNTEERS
Once again, we want to give a big AWHC thank you to all of our amazing volunteers! If you want to find out how you can join our team, click here.
AWHC Team
Burro roundups are almost here, help us fight back!
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.
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
help us stop helicopter roundups >>
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
On April 26, 2022, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will hold a legally-mandated meeting on the use of helicopters and other motorized vehicles in wild horse and burro management. These meetings provide an important opportunity for public input into the BLM’s inhumane and costly wild horse and burro management program.
Just yesterday, the BLM released its 2022 wild horse and burro population numbers showing a mere 4,000-animal reduction in the on-range population despite the agency’s removal and stockpiling of more than 13,000 wild horses and burros from the wild in 2021.
Why? Because roundups are not only inhumane, they also don’t work.
We’ve been saying it all along: the BLM must listen to the National Academy of Sciences, which clearly stated that the BLM’s helicopter management approach is “facilitating high rates of population growth on the range.” For 50 years, the agency has used this cruel and unsustainable method that has resulted in mass deaths and injuries during the operations, the highest number of wild horses in history in off-range holding facilities, and a price tag approaching $1 billion just since 2018.
The meeting will be held virtually on April 26, 2022, from 3 to 5 p.m. MT using Zoom video conferencing and live-streamed at BLM.gov/live. You will also have the ability to provide comments during the virtual public hearing, though you must register in advance by April 25.
Thank you for speaking up for our wild herds,
The AWHC Team
This week’s eNews: Thousands of wild horses at risk of disease in BLM WY facility
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
We wanted to share some recent updates around roundups and holding, the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 proposed budget for managing wild horses and burros, and a distinguished award won by a member of the AWHC herd! Read on to learn more and help us to protect these cherished animals. >>
Tell Congress Protect Wild Horses and Burros in the FY23 Spending Bill
The Biden Administration recently released its proposed FY2023 budget for the U.S. Department of the Interior and called for $153.1 million to fund the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro Program. While this is still a $16 million increase from the FY22 spending bill passed last month, the increase in spending is noticeably smaller than in previous years. Now it’s up to Congress to determine how much money will be appropriated to this mismanaged federal program.
Last month, Congress took a historic step toward reforming the Wild Horse and Burro Program when it passed its Fiscal Year 2022 omnibus spending bill that required the BLM to spend up to $11 million to implement a robust fertility control vaccine program as a step away from cruel roundups. Now Congress is working on FY23 appropriations and we need your help to protect wild horses and burros! Take action now by asking your elected officials to include similar measures to protect wild horses and burros in the FY23 spending bill.
Take Action for North Dakota’s Wild Horses
The wild horses that call the Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota home have roamed the badlands for centuries, and many believe they are descendants of Sitting Bull’s horses and related to the rare Nokota breed. Although the wild horses are not protected under the 1971 Wild Horses and Burros Act, they are a significant part of the historical and natural heritage of the park and the state. Equally important, they’re a huge tourism draw for North Dakota.
Right now, the National Park Service is considering many management options for this herd, including slashing their populations or eliminating them entirely. Please take action TODAY!
“Strangles” Outbreak in Crowded BLM Wyoming Holding Corral
The BLM recently canceled an adoption event scheduled for April 1 at its Wheatland Off-Range Corral holding facility due to a “strangles” outbreak — a highly contagious upper respiratory disease with an up to 40% mortality rate. AWHC is calling for an immediate moratorium on all Wyoming roundups pending inquiry into the disease outbreak, as well as dozens of deaths of horses from other causes in the state’s holding facilities.
The Wheatland facility is one of the BLM’s newest and largest holding facilities, with a holding capacity of 3,500 wild horses. Learn more about our call for an investigation into the outbreak and a halt on all roundups in the meantime here:
AWHC Board Member Wins Top Nature Prize
Photo by Scott Wilson
AWHC Board Member and wildlife photographer, Scott Wilson won the coveted Natural World and Wildlife Award in the 2022 Sony World Photography Awards for his photo of a Colorado mustang, titled, “Anger Management” (above). Scott’s photo was chosen for the top prize out of 170,000 entries!
The photo was taken just months before the devastating roundup of the Sand Wash Basin wild horses of Colorado, where 684 wild horses were captured. Scott’s photo is bringing international attention to the plight of America’s wild mustangs. Scott is a strong advocate for the preservation of wild horses, and we are proud to have him as a member of the AWHC herd!
Thanks for all you continue to do to protect wild horses and burros!
— AWHC Team
BREAKING: The Biden Administration just released their proposed FY23 budget >>
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
The Biden Administration just released its proposed Fiscal Year 2023 budget for the U.S. Department of the Interior and called for $153.1 million to fund the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro Program. Meredith, that’s an increase of $16 million from the BLM’s approved FY22 program budget enacted earlier this month.
We’re disappointed to see the Biden Administration increase spending towards the BLM’s mismanaged programs, but compared to previous years, this increase is noticeably smaller — we’re hopeful that this marks a departure from the current mass round up and removal plan that would remove 100,000 wild horses and burros from public lands over the next five years.
So, we’re taking action. It’s time we start advocating for wild horse-friendly spending in the FY23 Appropriations bill to ensure the Biden Administration and our leaders in Congress enact a pro-horse agenda for the next year.
Congress already took historic steps this year when it passed the FY22 omnibus spending bill to ensure the BLM utilizes up to $11 million to implement a robust fertility control vaccine program for the remaining months of this year.
We know these vaccines are the best alternative way to manage horses in the wild, and that’s why we’re advocating for the same historic funding to be allocated in the FY23 spending bill. Will you call on your members of Congress and join us in this fight today?
| TAKE ACTION |
While there were aspects of Congress’ omnibus that were disappointing, the $11 million secured this year was the first time that Congress had directed the BLM to utilize scientifically-proven fertility control. And, that is a victory worth celebrating!
Meaningful implementation of a robust fertility control vaccine program means the BLM can’t afford to ignore the science. Our federal officials and BLM leadership will see once and for all that in-the-wild management works and means fewer removals for our wild herds.
But to ensure fertility control is prioritized, we must secure ongoing funding, which is why we need your help today. Will you call on your members of Congress to support $11 million in humane fertility control vaccine treatments in the FY23 spending bill?
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Thank you,
Suzanne Roy
Executive Director
American Wild Horse Campaign
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