We delivered a 100 Day agenda for wild horses and burros
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
It’s been a wild first two weeks of 2021, but we’re standing strong at AWHC for our wild horses and burros. We’re a few days away from a new Administration and our team has been pushing forward with our plan of action to protect America’s wild free-roaming horses and burros from mass roundups and slaughter.
First 100 Days Wild Horse Agenda for the Biden Administration
Just this week, AWHC submitted its First 100 Days Wild Horse Agenda to the Biden Administration with an urgent plea to reform the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) wild horse and burro management program, which is careening toward fiscal and animal welfare disaster.
Urgent action is necessary in light of the BLM’s plan to round up 90,000 wild horses and burros from public lands over the next five years, a move that would triple the number of horses maintained in off-range holding facilities while decimating wild herds at a cost to taxpayers of nearly $1 billion.
This agenda can set the stage for progress and reform of BLM’s inhumane practices.
We’re hopeful that the new administration will take significant steps to rein in the BLM and its mistreatment of our nation’s wild horses and burros. By following our First 100 Days Agenda, the Biden Administration can take necessary first steps to finally granting these iconic animals the protection and humane management they deserve.
Public Lands Rancher Appointed to Represent Public on Wild Horse & Burro Advisory Board
The last four years have been marked by an all-out assault on our public lands by the Interior Department under Secretary David Bernhardt and the illegally-serving BLM Director William Perry Pendley. America’s wild horses and burros have not escaped the destruction. Scapegoated for massive environmental damage to public lands caused by the livestock industry, these iconic animals face virtual extinction under the Bernhardt/Pendley Plan to cull wild herds by 70 percent.
And now, in a parting shot, the outgoing Secretary has appointed a public lands rancher who views wild horses as a “protein source” to represent the public interest on the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board. Read more about this corrupt appointment and AWHC’s vow to fight it here.
AWHC Responds to One-Sided Sacramento Bee Article
Last month, the Sacramento Bee published a one-sided story on the Devil’s Garden wild horse herd, which gave a megaphone to ranchers who want the land where the horses roam for their cattle. The article dismissed wild horse advocates as having a romanticized view of wild horses, who the author believes are better off captured and fed in pens than living free in the wild. On Saturday, the newspaper published AWHC’s response in an OpEd entitled, “How to fix federal mismanagement of California’s wild horse population.” Read the article here.
AWHC continues to fight the mismanagement of the Devil’s Garden wild horses by the U.S. Forest Service, which recently announced that it was selling all wild horses captured in a fall 2020 roundup for $25 a piece. Previous sales of captured Devil’s Garden wild horses have resulted in many disasters, including the escape of two untamed mustangs who are still at large in Pennsylvania, the deaths of 9 horses from salmonella poisoning after being shipped to Florida, and 18 horses delivered to a remote Colorado property that can be inaccessible during the winter months.
Meanwhile, the Forest Service continues to charge ahead with roundups as its main management tool and declined AWHC’s previous offer to fund a pilot fertility control program for this herd, which is California’s largest and most significant wild horse population.
Roundup Report from Eagle Complex
Another massive wild horse roundup is underway, this one in the BLM’s Eagle Complex in eastern Nevada. AWHC’s observer is on site to document this capture operation that aims to remove over 1,000 wild horses and reduce the population to just 139-265 in this 743,000-acre habitat area — that equates to as little as one horse per every 5,345 acres! The BLM is clearing the land of wild horses so that thousands of cattle and sheep can continue to graze this public lands area.
As with any roundup, the scenes we’re witnessing are truly heartbreaking. As of Jan. 15, 412 wild horses have lost their freedom in the Eagle Complex roundup and five have lost their lives.
Below Are Photos Our Observer Took During Eagle Complex Roundup:
Watch a clip from BLM’s first roundup of 2021:
We are working hard to change this — in Congress, in the courts and in the field by showing that humane management works. We need YOU more than ever to keep showing up, speaking up, and supporting our work. Together, we will do everything in our power to protect America’s wild horses.
Thank you for your support, Meredith. Our wild horses — and their continued freedom — depends on all of us.
— The whole team at AWHC
An update
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
Great news: our end of year fundraising totals are in, and thanks to your incredible support, we were able to reach our $125,000 goal and UNLOCK our donor match! Your support will make an enormous difference for wild horses and burros as we launch our ambitious 2021 agenda.
We have a lot of work ahead of us, but we know we can always count on you to lobby your elected officials, support our critical legal work, and raise awareness across the country about the plight of America’s magnificent wild horses and burros. This is a tough fight, but this movement has stood up to the challenge over and over again and we’ll do it again in 2021. Please read on for a recap of the 2020 accomplishments that we’ll build on and a preview of what your generosity will allow us to do this year!
Strengthened Political Support & Made History
We teamed up with our coalition partners and worked with members of Congress to introduce the first pro-wild horse legislation in over a decade. Passed by the House of Representatives, the bipartisan wild horse protection amendment would require the BLM to implement PZP fertility control to manage wild herds humanely on public lands. Although the final spending bill did not include the House-passed amendment, it did include strong fertility control language as well as other pro-horse provisions — a sign that Congress is well aware of our growing grassroots strength and increasing support on Capitol Hill for our cause. We have an incredible opportunity this year to make real change with the nomination of Debra Haaland as Secretary of the Interior and the continued leadership of Rep. Raul Grijalva as Chair of the Natural Resources Committee. Both are wild horse and burro champions who are committed to protecting these beloved animals and reforming the broken federal wild horse and burro management program.
Filed Suit to Protect Wild Mares
The day after the roundup ended in Utah’s Confusion Herd Management Area, our legal team filed suit to stop the BLM from conducting barbaric sterilization surgeries on many of the just-captured wild mares. This is our third legal action against the BLM for plans to conduct the risky and invasive “ovariectomy via colpotomy” procedure, and we’ve successfully held the agency off since 2016! Joining us as a plaintiff in the latest lawsuit is Utahn Rob Hammer, who has extensive knowledge of the Confusion wild horses and the public land area where they live. In 2021, we’ll continue to drive this case in the courts while we also work with Congress and the administration to eliminate this brutal surgery as an option for the management of our wild horses and burros, once and for all.
Created Accountability for BLM Roundup Abuse
While the COVID-19 pandemic made traveling much more difficult in 2020, we continued to address roundup abuse by sending humane observers to nearly every one of the many helicopter roundups conducted by the BLM and the Forest Service last year. This year we took a step beyond documenting roundups by launching an initiative to create a mechanism for enforcing the BLM’s Comprehensive Animal Welfare Program standards, which the agency routinely violates. We’ve teamed up with the Animal Law & Policy Program at Harvard University Law School to develop a rulemaking petition to strengthen the BLM’s animal welfare guidelines and turn them into legally-enforceable regulations. The petition will be ready for submission to the new Administration this year. If it is not acted upon, we will have the option of litigating, so please stay tuned!
Proved Humane Management is Possible
Our in-the-wild management program reached new heights in 2020. Not only were we able to grant funds to boots-on-the-ground organizations in Arizona and Colorado to support their fertility control programs, we also achieved an unprecedented milestone in our own fertility control program in Nevada’s Virginia Range. Last month, our volunteers and staff surpassed 3,000 treatments administered to mares in less than two years, making this the largest free-roaming horse fertility control program in the world, according to the Science and Conservation Center! Just last week, the Deseret News — Utah’s second-largest newspaper — published a feature highlighting the success of our program. In 2021, we will continue to support local groups managing their herds, expand our fertility control program in the greater Reno area, and we’re working to expand our fertility control efforts to new herds in the West!
Launched Habitat Acquisition Project
We officially launched the pilot project for the American Wild Horse Conservancy, our new land trust, in 2020. The inaugural effort focuses on securing habitat for the famed Fish Springs Wild Horses who live on BLM and private land in the Gardnerville, Nevada area. The Conservancy overall will focus on critical land acquisition to secure key habitat for wild horses, grazing lease buyouts and compensation for reduced or non-use of grazing permits, and range improvements to improve the quality and quantity of habitat available for wild horses. We can’t wait to expand this innovative program in the coming year!
We have a lot of work to do, but together, we’ll make real progress for our cherished wild horses and burros in 2021. So stay ready, stay safe, and stay tuned!
With Gratitude,
Suzanne Roy, Executive Director
New Beginnings in 2021
The following is from All About Equine Animal Rescue:
Thank you from the bottoms of our hearts for the love and support you’ve shown All About Equine (AAE) in 2020. It takes everyone from our volunteers, families, friends, donors, fosters, adopters, followers, and everyone in between to do what we do. Without any one of you, we would not be. Wishing you all good health and happiness in 2021.
New Year’s Day marks a new beginning, and “new beginning” has many meanings. A new year, a new season, a new life, a new start to name a few. Most importantly, new beginnings are second chances for horses-in-need to have a better life. We are looking forward to what this year has in store, and the stories we will be able to tell come December. We have a special story of new beginnings coming soon, stay tuned.
REMEMBER, SAVE A LIFE, ADOPT ONE IF YOU CAN!
AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION
For more information, click on the name to visit the horse’s or donkey’s webpage, and submit an Adoption Inquiry if you’d like to explore adoption.
Thank you for your support helping horses each and every day!
Your donations, volunteering, adopting, and social media shares & likes
allow us to make this work possible!
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
SPONSOR A HORSE
Give the gift that keeps on giving by sponsoring a horse on behalf of a horse-loving friend or family member!
As a sponsor, your annual or monthly contribution helps support the costs of care for a specific horse.
You can sponsor at any level or any amount you choose. You will receive an electronic “gift letter” with a photo of an AAE horse, acknowledging your gift on behalf of your recipient.
Choose a horse to sponsor today!
Patriotic Mustang T-Shirts
Horse fans will love this shirt!
The Patriotic US Flag/Mustang image on front and Mustang is My Favorite Breed (or Rescue is My Favorite Breed) in white on back. Available in Black, Ash Gray, Navy, and Brown.
Orders may be picked up at the AAE Used Tack Store in Shingle Springs or
shipped for an additional cost.
Stop by the AAE Used Tack Store to find the perfect gift for the horse lover in your life! Don’t know what they need? We have gift cards, too!
Here are more ways you can help!
Doing any winter cleaning? Donate your gently used tack to AAE’s Used Tack Store in Shingle Springs. We very much appreciate tack donations delivered to the store in sale ready condition (e.g. clean, conditioned, oiled). Please email tack@allaboutequine.org for information about donating or to schedule a delivery.
Proceeds from used tack sales help pay for feed, veterinary expenses, and other operational needs.
Have you considered adopting a rescue horse?
If you are interested in adopting one of our beautiful animals, please take time to complete AAE’s
Interested in Volunteering at AAE?
We have a variety of opportunities and needs from daily care of the horses to our used tack store and everything in between.
AAE Volunteers are
the heartbeat of our organization.
Strong, Resilient & Fierce
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
As I watch the clock wind down on this tumultuous and difficult year, I’m reflecting on the gratitude I feel for our amazing community of supporters, and the generous spirit and compassion of each one of you.
The American Wild Horse symbolizes strength and resilience, the qualities our country needs right now. We enter the New Year united in our love for wild horses and burros and committed to our fight to save them.
Just today, 20 more wild horses were rounded up by helicopter from their home on our public lands in Nevada. The thought of them alone – separated from their families, trapped and terrified breaks my heart and makes me even more resolute in our work to stop this cruelty from happening.
The 90,000 wild horses and burros who remain free are counting on me, they’re counting on you, and they’re counting on us as a community to keep fighting for them.
We have only a few hours left to meet our goal. We can do this!
On behalf of our whole team, we wish you and your families a peaceful and healthy New Year.
Gratefully,
Suzanne
These faces. It’s why we do it.
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
These heartbreaking photos taken by our photographer yesterday at the Fish Creek HMA roundup in Nevada illustrate why our work to protect mustangs and burros is so important.
As I write this, our observer is in the field documenting yet another roundup of innocent wild horses who were living free with their families just days before Christmas. Now, they cling together in temporary pens awaiting shipment to a BLM holding facility and an uncertain future.
With your help today, we’re working to MAKE ROUNDUPS A THING OF THE PAST.
- In the field, we’re showing that humane management of wild horses with birth control is possible.
- In court, we’re defending wild horses from livestock industry demands for mass removals from public lands, and we’re fighting to stop brutal sterilization surgeries on wild mares.
- In Congress, we’re gaining more and more allies committed to protecting wild horses and burros and reforming the BLM’s outdated and inhumane management practices.
We know we’re asking for a lot during this last week of the year. It’s because the stakes are so high.
At this very moment, our wild horses and burros face an existential threat: the BLM’s plan to decimate wild herds by removing 90,000 of these magnificent animals from our public lands over the next five years.
hank you for your generosity, compassion and support. Together, we can keep America’s majestic wild horses and burros wild!
Suzanne
UPDATE: One day left
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
UPDATE — We’re nearly 25% of the way to our $125,000 End of Year goal we have to hit in order for all donations to be matched. We only have 24 hours before our EOY match goal deadline, and before you lose this amazing opportunity to more than double your donation impact.
Before we ask — for one of the very last times this year — for you to make a donation to our largest match opportunity EVER, we wanted to give you a glimpse of one way your donation will be used.
AWHC operates the world’s largest humane management program for wild horses and burros. The cornerstone of this highly successful program is the remote darting of wild mares with the scientifically proven fertility vaccine known as ‘PZP’. No need for roundups, expensive and crowded holding corrals, or risky sterilization surgeries. And do you know how much it costs for a single mare’s annual PZP vaccine?
$30
$30 today — on the 30th of December, one day before our LAST fundraising deadline of the year — is all it takes to keep a wild horse wild and show that brutal roundups and invasive surgical sterilization are not necessary to humanely manage wild herds.
Compare that to the $48,000 the Bureau of Land Management spends on the roundup, removal and long-term holding of a single horse. PZP is worth every dollar saved to keep wild horses living free with their families.
Thank you!
—AWHC
It truly takes a village. We’re grateful for our “herd.”
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
Here at AWHC, we’re feeling the holiday spirit and that’s because of you.
Our incredible AWHC community is the greatest gift of all this season, and with it we have accomplished some of the most historic and unprecedented achievements in wild horse advocacy ever. Together, with our growing community of more than 700,000 wild horses defenders, we are showing that nothing is impossible when we speak as one.
We’ve talked a lot about our progress on the range, in Congress and in the courts, but today we want to share the stories of some of the precious lives we’ve helped to save by working together this year.
Our community is made up of everyday people coming together from all walks of life united to protect wild horses and burros. Time and again, you’ve shown up to help wild horses and burros. You’re always there when they need a helping hand.
We have a lot of work ahead of us — both to hit our fundraising targets before our EOY deadline this year, and to prepare for the challenges of the year ahead. However, we wanted to take a moment right now to celebrate our “herd” — YOU are the reason for the success of our work.
For the lives you’ve helped us save this year, thank you. There’s nothing we can’t achieve when we come together.
American Wild Horse Campaign
Let’s end this year on a high note!
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
News & Alerts
We have a truly game changing opportunity before us in these last few days of the year, but we’re going to need your help to make it happen:
The Opportunity: A generous donor has just pledged to match every single donation made up to $125,000 before the end of the year. This represents the largest matching gift in AWHC history — and we can put it toward sprinting right into next year’s important work, if we can meet this one condition before midnight on the 31st.
The Condition: Together, we need to raise $125,000 in grassroots donations to unlock this generous matching gift. Our wild horses are counting on us.
We have a chance to exceed 2019’s end-of-year fundraising total and gallop past our $75,000 Giving Tuesday goal, but in order for that to happen, we need everyone to pitch in and work together to take full advantage of this amazing generosity.
If you have saved your payment information with FastAction, your contribution will go through immediately on clicking a link.
Together, we’ve made tremendous progress this year. We made history with the first wild horse protection legislation introduced in Congress in more than a decade. We obtained the support of over five dozen members of Congress in the fight against brutal surgeries for wild mares. We have broken all records with our groundbreaking fertility control program for mustangs in Nevada, which is setting a worldwide standard. And perhaps most importantly, the momentum you created with HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of phone calls, emails, and letter-writing has grown our scrappy horse-loving grassroots movement into the powerhouse it is today.
We also have significant challenges to overcome in 2021: with 90,000 wild horses and burros in the crosshairs for removal within the next 5 years if we don’t keep up this work. We need to pull out all the stops, Meredith.
Let’s end the year with our best fundraising effort EVER!
Thank you for your support,
American Wild Horse Campaign
It’s Giving Tuesday… can you help?
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
As we kick off #GivingTuesday, I have a personal request.
Today is our most critical fundraising day of the entire year. We’ll rely on funds raised today to fuel our programs, staff, field equipment, lobbying and legal work into next year when the stakes could not be higher.
What we raise today, determines the strength of our work tomorrow, Meredith. So — for the love of our wild horses and burros — I’m asking personally if you’ll make a gift of any amount right now to ensure your donation has more impact than ever before.
Your donation today will be put to work, immediately — we have no time to lose. 2021 is gearing up to be a pivotal year for our wild horses and burros and we cannot afford to take our foot off the gas for even one day.
When you make a donation to support AWHC, here’s where your money is going in 2021:
- Education and Advocacy — Often, we’re the only observers onsite at federal wild horse and burro roundups. We’re showing the world what our government is doing to these national icons, and we’re building the grassroots army necessary to finally win the battle for their protection.
- In The Wild Management — Our humane fertility control program for Nevada’s Virginia Range mustangs continues to break all records as the largest humane wild horse management program in the world. Our team in Nevada is showing that humane management works and is leading the charge to make roundups and slaughter a relic of the past.
- Legislation — We’re developing increasing numbers of champions from both sides of the aisle in Congress to speak up for wild horses and burros. Thanks to our work, dozens of Senators and Congresspeople have spoken out against cruel surgical sterilization and in favor of humane management, and the House passed a historic amendment to require funding for fertility control as an alternative to cruel and costly roundups.
- Litigation — AWHC and the coalitions of animal welfare groups we’ve formed have won over 90% of the cases we file. We’ve filed multiple lawsuits and successfully brought about a federal injunction to halt the surgical sterilization of mares in Oregon, and we’re prepared to take legal action again to protect wild mares in Utah from this same cruel plan.
Thank you,
Suzanne
Suzanne Roy
Executive Director
American Wild Horse Campaign
This is HUGE! ALL donations will be matched through tomorrow
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
We know these are challenging times and for many of us the holidays are not the same this year.
But now, more than ever, we’re reminded that we’re all in this together. We can’t think of a better, more passionate, or more generous community to be in this with; that’s why we’re SO excited to share this amazing news with you:
Right now — on the eve of Giving Tuesday — a generous donor has stepped up in a huge way and pledged to match ALL AWHC donations up to $50,000 made between now and midnight tomorrow.
THIS is the most impactful donation you can make to jumpstart our work going into 2021, and power the fight to preserve and protect America’s magnificent wild horses and burros. Make a $35 gift today and horses get DOUBLE your donation! Help unlock this incredible gift and reach our critical #GivingTuesday fundraising goal! →
We won’t sugarcoat it: wild horses and burros are facing unprecedented threats to their very existence on our western public lands. But at the same time, we are truly making unprecedented progress. In Congress, we’re gaining increasing support from both sides of the aisle speaking up for wild horse and burro protection. In the field, we’re proving without a shadow of a doubt that humane wild horse management works. And every single day, new supporters just like yourself are joining the cause and growing our voice.
Now we must carry this work into 2021!
Our wild horses and burros don’t have corporate lobbyists and PACs to advocate on their behalf. They have us: Together, we give them a voice and we give them a fighting chance.
We will never stop fighting. Your donation helps us lobby for legislation to prevent the slaughter of horses, and powers our legal team to make roundups a thing of the past. It gives our team the resources and tools it needs to document roundups and our volunteers the equipment necessary to dart horses with fertility control to prove there is an ethical, cost-effective way to manage wild horses that doesn’t include inhumane roundups and slaughter.
With deep gratitude,
American Wild Horse Campaign
Here’s a way to shop on #CyberMonday AND save wild horses! (see how) Inbox
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
If you’re anything like us, you’re checking out great #CyberMonday deals and getting a jump-start on your holiday shopping.
Did you know that whether you’re shopping for holiday gifts or regular items on Amazon, you can help keep wild horses wild, Erica? By using our nonprofit link (here!), a portion of your purchases will go toward our work to ensure wild horses and burros Stay Wild.
This small and quick action will really make an impact! As of November 2020, AmazonSmile has distributed over $200 million to charities across the United States. So, be sure to choose AWHC on AmazonSmile and shop away!
And if you haven’t checked it out yet, you can find everything from calendars to coffee, clothing and prints to make the perfect gift for the animal lover in your life (or, just treat yourself!). Go wild with your gift-giving this year and a portion of the proceeds will go toward the fight to keep wild horses and burros wild!
Thank you,
American Wild Horse Campaign
Wear your wild
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
Go wild with your gift-giving this holiday season!
This Black Friday, use your shopping dollars to protect wild horses and burros! When you purchase any of our special 2020 items below, a portion of the proceeds go directly toward the fight to keep wild horses wild!
Galloping towards a major deadline
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
News & Alerts
It’s that time again: The holiday season is just around the corner which means we’re just ONE WEEK from #GivingTuesday, one of the single most important days for charitable giving in the United States, and for us at AWHC.
I won’t lie, our ability to hit our annual fundraising goal — and successfully execute the programs, lawsuits and lobbying our wild horses and burros rely on each year — depends on a successful, and impactful, #GivingTuesday this year.
But I’m not asking you for a donation today. I will next week and I REALLY hope you can chip in when it’s time. Today, I’m asking you to use your powerful voice. Will you speak up for wild horses in need before the holiday giving season is upon us, and we lose the attention of those in charge of managing our national icons?
Here Are Two Actions You Can Take in Under 5 Minutes, Right Now:
1. Co-Sign This Bi-Partisan Anti-Surgical Sterilization Letter to the BLM:
A veterinarian manually reaching into a mare’s abdominal cavity via the vaginal canal, blindly locating the ovaries, severing them with a rod and chain device, and pulling them out is NOT the answer.
Even the National Academy of Sciences advised that this BLM-favored procedure is “inadvisable for field application” due to the possibility of bleeding and infection. That’s why we’ve filed multiple lawsuits — and secured a federal injunction — to STOP the BLM from galloping ahead with this inhumane surgery on wild mares.
2. Let your Senators Know: There’s a Better Way
After celebrating the historic passage of an amendment in the House of Representatives that would require the BLM to spend $11 million implementing humane PZP fertility control programs, we hoped the Senate would follow suit. Instead, its draft funding bill not only does not earmark funds for humane fertility control, it actually increases funding by $14.2 million for the roundup and warehousing of wild horses and burros in mass feedlot-like holding facilities.
We know there’s a better way, but we have to speak up and demand it from our leaders in Congress. Already this week hundreds of us have been making calls, sending emails, and forwarding these actions to our friends and family. Let’s keep up the pressure:
1. Email your Senators and Congressperson right now at this link,
…forward this email to your friends, AND
2. Call the Capitol Hill Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask to be connected to your two Senators and one Representative. You will likely be asked to leave a message. Simply say,
We have big fights ahead that will not come easy, or cheap.
Next week we will be announcing an exciting, ambitious #GivingTuesday goal to match the ambition of our fights ahead in 2021. I very much look forward to telling you about it, and am grateful for your voice today and every day
Together, we are unstoppable,
Suzanne Roy
American Wild Horse Campaign
Congress takes fight to BLM
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
BREAKING: Wild Horse champions in Congress are speaking up and we urgently need you to join them!
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is pushing full steam ahead — for the fifth time — with a cruel, dangerous and invasive plan to surgically sterilize wild horses. They propose using a risky and outdated procedure the National Academy of Sciences called “inadvisable for field application” and veterinarians call “barbaric.” But here’s the good news: 58 wild horse champions in Congress are fighting back and so can you.
This week, these 58 Congress members, led by Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Representative Dina Titus (D-NV), submitted a bipartisan letter to Interior Secretary David Bernhardt opposing this terrible plan.
The surgical sterilization procedure at issue is known as “ovariectomy via colpotomy.” It involves a veterinarian manually reaching into a mare’s abdominal cavity via the vaginal canal, then blindly locating the ovaries, severing them with a rod and chain device known as an ecraseur, and pulling them out. When infrequently performed In domestic mares, the procedure requires extensive pain relief and aftercare that simply cannot be provided to wild, untamed horses.
Because it is so risky, the National Academy of Sciences advised that the procedure is “inadvisable for field application” due to the possibility of bleeding and infection. But the BLM intends to gallop ahead with the inhumane surgery anyway.
With our coalition partners, we’ve filed multiple lawsuits and secured a federal injunction that previously stopped the BLM from surgically sterilizing wild mares in Oregon, and we’re ready to stop this cruelty again.
This support from Congress comes on the heels of the historic House amendment to direct $11 million of the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program budget to implement humane PZP fertility control as an alternative to traumatic roundups and surgical sterilization. We are building momentum toward real change!
Thank YOU for helping to keep that momentum going!
Thank you,
American Wild Horse Campaign
TAKE ACTION: Get the Senate back on track
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
News & Alerts
You’ll remember the joy we felt just months ago when — after months of lobbying, thousands of calls and emails and ads — the U.S. House of Representatives passed a game-changing amendment requiring the BLM to spend $11 million to implement humane PZP fertility control programs as a step toward ending cruel and costly wild horse roundups.
We had high hopes that the Senate would follow suit, but it’s currently headed in the wrong direction and we need to urge an immediate course correction. The draft funding bill released by the Senate Appropriations Committee not only does not earmark funds for humane fertility control, it actually increases funding by $14.2 million for the roundup and warehousing of wild horses and burros in massive feedlot-like holding facilities.
We still have time to get things back on track: The Senate can still fund fertility control in its final bill and House leadership can negotiate in committee to keep its bipartisan wild horse protection amendment in the final bill. None of this will happen unless you reach out to your Senators and Congressperson today!
Urgent: Contact Congress TODAY
Please Contact Your Two Senators and One Representative Today:
- Call the Capitol Hill Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask to be connected to your two Senators and one Representative. You will likely be asked to leave a message. Simply say,
“I’m [Name] from [City/Town] and as Congress works on a final FY21 spending bill, I’m calling to ask that you please do all you can to ensure that $11 million in funding to implement PZP fertility control is retained in the final spending package. PZP is a humane way for BLM to manage wild horses and an alternative to cruel roundups. Thank you.”
We know that there’s a better, more scientific, and more humane way to manage wild horse populations. We’ve proven it time and time again. Now we need to reach out to our federal legislators TODAY and urge them to do everything they can to ensure the humane management of our wild horses.
This bipartisan measure would represent a powerful step toward ending the current costly and cruel practice of rounding these animals up with helicopters and incarcerating them in holding pens for life. Will you speak up today?
We are on the cusp of a giant breakthrough in the fight to protect our nation’s wild horses and burros. Now let’s keep the momentum going.
Thank you for taking action!
Suzanne Roy
Executive Director
American Wild Horse Campaign
Wild horses > this horse race
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
The ongoing political horse race has the entire country on edge, but regardless of the outcome of this election, you can count on our commitment to protecting the horses that matter:
Our majestic wild horses and burros will always embody the true, enduring spirit of America. They remind us every day of all that’s wild, free and beautiful about our country… and that’s worth holding on to.
No matter the administration or final composition of legislatures, we’ve got our work cut out for us: The past year has seen a terrifying onslaught of BLM- and Big Ag- backed measures that place our wild horses in peril. From the unprecedented roundup numbers and the continued plan to use barbaric surgical sterilization procedures on wild mares, to selling horses off for $1 in California — our wild horses need our help.
Our wild horses and burros can count on us to show up and fight for their protection and freedom regardless of who is in the White House, the Senate or any other position of leadership. We will continue to work with whomever it takes to make that a reality.
And we can’t do that without you.
The next days, weeks and months are sure to be chaotic and politically charged, but regardless of what happens, we must keep our eyes on the horizon and keep our work in the courts, on Capitol Hill and in the field focused on our mission: Doing everything in our collective power to keep our wild horses and burros safe, wild and free.
Right now — as we make plans and gear up for a new year, what may be a new Administration, and new opportunities to work to protect our wild horses and burros, we rely heavily on our ability to budget and forecast into the future. Recurring monthly gifts — from as little as $5 a month — are one of the most helpful and important ways we keep our programs sustainable and strong. Will you become a monthly donor today?
Thank you and stay strong during this unsettling time.
With hope and determination,
American Wild Horse Campaign
My view from the field
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
You’ve seen and heard a lot about this year’s brutal wild horse and burro roundups from us — but have you ever wondered what it would be like to observe one for yourself?
I used to, and that’s why I headed out to Utah to the Sulphur HMA. I wanted to observe for myself, but more importantly, I wanted to share the experience with you to give the full picture of exactly what we’re fighting to end — and why.
Watching this video isn’t easy. But it’s important to understand what’s at stake — and why we’re calling for a moratorium on roundups and an investigation into the BLM’s rampant animal welfare violations and failure to implement fertility control as a humane alternative to brutal roundups. I’m personally asking that, after you watch the video, you consider chipping in $15 to our Roundup Fund so we can put an end to these brutal practices as quickly as possible.
Please note: this video contains upsetting images of violence against wild horses.
AWHC’s roundup program — observing, documenting, reporting and holding BLM accountable — is a top priority for us. Often, we’re the ONLY ones in the field speaking up for those who cannot.
The freedoms, lives, health and well-being of the iconic wild horse and burro herds we love so dearly depend on our continued vigilance and effort, and we won’t let them down. Are you with me?
Watch our video first to see what a day at a roundup entails, and then please chip in to help us keep up this important work.
Thank you,
Brieanah Schwartz
We’ve NEVER seen a roundup like this
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
News & Alerts
The Red Desert Complex roundup is set to break all the wrong records.
The majestic wild horses and burros who call 705,500 acres of public land in the Red Desert Area of southern Wyoming home are firmly in the BLM’s crosshairs, now running in fear instead of free.
Five herds — and more than 2,400 wild horses – are, as of this week, being brutally chased down, separated, terrorized and rounded up in the largest wild horse helicopter roundup in the program’s history.
We must speak up, show up, and take action, Meredith. Will you sign and then share our emergency petition — now at 13,000 individual voices — demanding an immediate moratorium on roundups and a Congressional investigation into the BLM’s rampant animal welfare violations and failure to heed Congress’ directives to implement fertility control as a humane alternative to brutal roundups?
Photos by Lynn Hanson for AWHC
We’re doing EVERYTHING in our power to intervene when and where we can to protect our wild horses. In the field, in the courts, on Capitol Hill and online with emails like this and the launch of nationwide petitions and ads shared and seen by tens of thousands of people.
We’re also demanding that Secretary of Interior David Bernhardt retract the wild horse policy decisions made during the unlawful tenure of William Perry Pendley as head of the BLM. These include a shocking plan to round up 90,000 wild horses and burros over the next five years — virtually every one of these animals living free today — and efforts to codify the agency’s ability to subject wild horses to dangerous and invasive sterilization surgeries and sell them without limitation on slaughter.
Progress cannot come soon enough for our imperiled wild horses and burros but it IS being made, every day, by people like you. By all of us.
The BLM’s plan to roundup approximately 2,400 wild horses from the Antelope Hills, Crooks Mountain, Green Mountain, Lost Creek, and Stewart Creek Herd Management Areas (HMAs) is a stark reminder of who this public agency is working for. It’s not the American people, who overwhelmingly support wild horse protection. It’s the livestock industry: At the same time as BLM helicopters bear down on the wild horses in these five iconic Wyoming herds that have called the Red Desert Complex home for CENTURIES, the agency is permitting 20,995 privately-owned sheep and 9,753 cows to graze in this same public lands habitat.
The BLM plans to reduce the wild horse population to the “Appropriate” Management Level (AML) of just 480-724 within the complex, leaving just 1 horse per every 1,500+ acres. Three of the HMAs will have just 65 or fewer horses remaining when the roundup is over.
On the heels of the most aggressive roundup season we’ve ever seen, we can’t let this continue.
For the love of wild horses —
The whole team at AWHC
URGENT: Save mares from surgical sterilization
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
News & Alerts
We recently learned some truly shocking news, and we’re emailing you now so together we can take swift, collective action to protect Utah’s wild mares before it’s too late.
Against public and congressional opinion, common sense, science, and multiple lawsuits and federal injunctions, the BLM is planning to move ahead with implementing the barbaric surgical procedure, ovariectomy via colpotomy, on wild mares, this time targeting the federally-protected wild horse herds of Utah’s Confusion Herd Management Area (HMA), 90 miles northwest of Delta.
This marks the FOURTH time the agency has tried to get this cruel procedure off the ground, at the urging of the livestock industry. We’ve been fighting this tooth and nail from day one – with legal efforts, congressional pressure and modeling safer, more scientific alternatives for sterilization. We cannot give up now.
It’s unacceptable for the BLM to once again attempt to proceed with this gruesome sterilization procedure that involves a veterinarian cutting into a mare’s vaginal wall, placing a hand and arm through the vagina in the abdominal cavity, manually (and blindly) locating the ovaries before severing and removing them with a rod-like chain tool called an ecraseur. It’s not only cruel and inhumane, it’s also an unnecessary waste of our taxpayer dollars, particularly when a more cost-effective and humane control alternative exists with the PZP birth control vaccine. In fact it’s ready RIGHT NOW to deploy on the range.
We already have champions in Congress speaking up against this abuse. Last summer, Senator Cory Booker spearheaded a sign-on letter to Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, expressing concerns over the proposed surgical sterilization experiments planned by the agency. Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) quickly followed suit in the House and sent a bipartisan letter to the Secretary signed by 30 members.
AWHC — backed by tens of thousands of supporters like you — worked with Congress and partners this year to win a historic legislative victory in the House of Representative with the passage of an amendment that would direct at least $11 million of its annual operating budget for its Wild Horse and Burro Program to implementation of the humane and proven PZP vaccine. We have momentum on our side and we know we can stop this — we’ve done it before — but it’s going to take all of us speaking up right now.
Will you join us?
Grace Kuhn
Communications Director
American Wild Horses Campaign
sitio en español
site en français
