ONE DAY (today) to contact Congress before it’s too late!
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
News & Alerts
Tomorrow, the House Appropriations Committee will vote on the FY 2021 Interior Appropriations bill. This bill will fund the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) Wild Horse and Burro Program and determine whether limits are placed on the agency’s mass roundup plan for America’s mustangs.
You are in a unique position to influence this legislation because your Representative and/or Senator is on the Appropriations Committee that will vote on this bill. We have one day — TODAY — to push Congress to add critical language to the bill before it’s too late.
Currently, this language is not in the bill, but it could be added via an amendment to the House bill during the full committee hearing Friday. Since the Senate bill is still pending, there’s still time to convince Senators to incorporate this language in its version of the Interior spending bill.
There’s a lot at stake — if Congress doesn’t put the brakes on the BLM, the agency will round up as many as 90,000 wild horses and burros from public lands over the next five years — that’s every horse and burro living free today and more!
So please call Congress today!
Trump’s BLM Director nomination could spell disaster for wild horses
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
News & Alerts
President Trump has nominated the fox to guard the henhouse.
Last Friday, Trump announced his plan to move forward with his nomination of Acting Director William Perry Pendley to Director of the Bureau of Land Management.
Let’s take a look at why this poses the greatest threat to our wild horses and burros in decades:
- Pendley has said that wild horses were the “biggest existential threat” to public lands, even though horses only live on approximately 12% of BLM lands.
- He has falsely claimed that managing wild horses non-lethally would require more than $5 billion.
- Pendley’s career to date has been spent fighting to sell off public lands to private industry. While at the BLM, Pendley has stepped up efforts to undermine environmental laws like the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act, which protects public lands from unrestricted oil and gas development, mining operations and livestock grazing.
- Recently, under Pendley, the BLM delivered to Congress a billion-dollar plan to cull federally protected wild horse and burro herds by 70% by rounding up 80,000 mustangs and burros from public lands over the next five years.
It’s pretty clear where Pendley’s interests are vested and it’s NOT with our public lands and wild horses:
Pendley knows exactly what he’s doing. By putting an outrageously high price tag on humane management of wild horses and burros, he’s laying the groundwork to make the case that non-lethal management of wild horses is too expensive and that slaughter is the only option. We can’t let this happen. Join us in telling Congress to say NO to confirming Pendley as Director of the BLM.
Thank you for taking action today to keep our wild horses safe and free.
American Wild Horse Campaign
PS — As William Pendley’s confirmation process rolls ahead, the agency he heads is charging ahead with its unprecedented summer assault against our beloved wild horses and burros. Beginning today, BLM helicopters will descend on remote regions of the West to stampede and capture 5,000 federally-protected wild horses and burros by September 30.
Our team is all hands on deck to fight back all summer long against this assault — with volunteers in the field, with lawsuits, with every advocacy tool at our disposal — but to do this, we need your help. Will you pitch in to our Roundup Fund today?
URGENT: Hours left to speak up for wild horses
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
News & Alerts
In case you missed Grace’s update yesterday, we wanted to remind you that RIGHT NOW is your last chance to make sure your voice is heard by the Bureau of Land Management Southern Nevada District Office before today’s comment period deadline.
This summer, the BLM plans to round up and remove more than 5,000 wild horses and burros from public lands beginning on July 1st and ending September of 2020. At the same time, they’re laying the groundwork for these roundups to continue into the fall and next year. One of the large roundups still in the planning stages is in the Nevada Wild Horse Range; a more than 1 million acre Herd Management Area that is on land used by the military for warfare testing and training.
TODAY is our last chance to submit comments to the BLM’s 10-year management plan that would see over half of the wild horses in the Nevada Wild Horse Range rounded up and removed. In addition, wild burros living in the area would be completely eradicated.
It is estimated that only 800 wild horses live within the more than 1.3 million acres of public land in this area. Our wild horses, burros — and their tiny vulnerable foals — are depending on us now more than ever… and we have only hours left to speak up for them.
America’s wild horses need your help today.
The AWHC Team
Read Our Previous Message Below:
Last Saturday marked the official first day of summer, and with it, the beginning of a season that places our iconic wild horses and burros in the cross-hairs of a particularly cruel and inhumane roundup by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
This weekend, I know so many of our hearts, heads and screens are saturated with grief, fear and worry. I want you to know, however, that it’s not all bad news on the wild horse front. In fact, there’s cause for hope as we rally together like never before to protect and preserve our beloved wild horses.
I want to share a couple of these hopeful stories with you, but first to ask that you join me in getting your comments in this weekend in opposition to the BLM’s plan to round up over 400 wild horses and burros from the Nevada Wild Horse Range – the nation’s first protected habitat area for mustangs.
This summer’s assault on wild horse and burro herds will be particularly cruel and inhumane — helicopter roundups in the sweltering desert heat will involve tiny, vulnerable foals who risk being literally run to death after miles-long helicopter chases. The BLM plans to round up and remove more than 5,000 federally-protected wild horses and burros from public lands beginning July 1 and ending September of 2020.
At the same time, the BLM is laying the groundwork for the roundups to continue into the fall and next year. One of the large roundups still in the planning stages is in the Nevada Wild Horse Range, a more than 1 million acre Herd Management Area that is on land used by the military for warfare testing and training.
We have only two days left to submit comments to the BLM’s 10-year management plan that would see over half of the wild horses in this range rounded up and removed. In addition, wild burros living in the area would be completely eradicated.
So far, more than 5,700 of you have submitted comments on the BLM’s plan. Now is the time to keep up the pressure, and turn up the volume.
Will you take three minutes now to do these three things? You can take these actions from the safety of your home right now:
- If you haven’t already, TAKE ACTION now to demand that the BLM change its unsustainable, inhumane management plan for the wild mustangs of the Nevada Wild Horse Range.
- Make sure your friends take action also! Nevada’s wild burros and horses need as many voices as possible to speak up before Monday.
Or, forward this email to a friend! - Donate to our Roundup Fund: Today’s donation will keep our team in the field during roundup season, and give us the resources necessary to ensure that our legal team can challenge any attempts to block public observation:
Your generous contributions to the AWHC Rescue Fund are making this work possible, so thank you.
Thanks to your support, we’ve been able to provide volunteers in the field with life-saving emergency foal kits (see above). We’ve instituted a “red tag” system that keeps the kits stocked with critical medicine and supplies. Foals can crash rapidly, so being fully equipped with Equine IgG Seramune Oral colostrum, saline, Foal Lac milk, antibiotics, Vetericyn wound treatment and enemas often means the difference between life and death on the range. Thank you for helping us support the work of Wild Horse Connection, Least Resistance Training Concepts, LBL Equine Rescue and other local organizations by providing supplies they need to save precious foals in need!!
We are thrilled to announce that thanks to your grassroots support, AWHC was able to present local Nevada group LBL Equine Rescue, with a matching grant that helped them to meet their fundraising goal for a new foal nursery! The nursery will be fully equipped to provide round-the-clock care for foals in critical condition, and will even include sleeping quarters for volunteers working overnight shifts (young foals need to be fed every two hours).
The Least Resistance Training Concepts Large Animal Rescue Team is the busiest in the country. They’re on call 24/7 for every type of emergency, from rescuing horses stuck in cattle guards and barbed wire to coming to the aid of orphaned foals.
We were pleased to make a grant to LRTC from our Rescue Fund that supported the retrofitting of a decommissioned ambulance donated by a kind fire department. Now modified, the ambulance serves as an anchor and transport vehicle for foal rescues, a water rescue unit, support unit for complex large animal rescues and much more. We’re proud to support LRTC with this one-of-a-kind project that is setting the standard for large animal rescue worldwide!
These initiatives — made possible by you and your generous support of the Rescue Fund — have enabled AWHC and our team of volunteers to make life-saving interventions for foals, wild horses and burros.
Finally, allow me to introduce you to some of the fuzzy, thankful faces you’ve helped save this foaling season:
Rustler, Leela, Sinclair, Carte, Stitch, Goliath and all of us here at AWHC want to say a huge THANK YOU, and wish you a safe and happy weekend.
Grace Kuhn,
Communications Director
American Wild Horse Campaign
AWHC NEWS ALERT: A particularly cruel summer
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
Last Saturday marked the official first day of summer, and with it, the beginning of a season that places our iconic wild horses and burros in the cross-hairs of a particularly cruel and inhumane roundup by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
This weekend, I know so many of our hearts, heads and screens are saturated with grief, fear and worry. I want you to know, however, that it’s not all bad news on the wild horse front. In fact, there’s cause for hope as we rally together like never before to protect and preserve our beloved wild horses.
I want to share a couple of these hopeful stories with you, but first to ask that you join me in getting your comments in this weekend in opposition to the BLM’s plan to round up over 400 wild horses and burros from the Nevada Wild Horse Range – the nation’s first protected habitat area for mustangs.
This summer’s assault on wild horse and burro herds will be particularly cruel and inhumane — helicopter roundups in the sweltering desert heat will involve tiny, vulnerable foals who risk being literally run to death after miles-long helicopter chases. The BLM plans to round up and remove more than 5,000 federally-protected wild horses and burros from public lands beginning July 1 and ending September of 2020.
At the same time, the BLM is laying the groundwork for the roundups to continue into the fall and next year. One of the large roundups still in the planning stages is in the Nevada Wild Horse Range, a more than 1 million acre Herd Management Area that is on land used by the military for warfare testing and training.
We have only two days left to submit comments to the BLM’s 10-year management plan that would see over half of the wild horses in this range rounded up and removed. In addition, wild burros living in the area would be completely eradicated.
So far, more than 5,700 of you have submitted comments on the BLM’s plan. Now is the time to keep up the pressure, and turn up the volume.
Will you take three minutes now to do these three things? You can take these actions from the safety of your home right now:
- If you haven’t already, TAKE ACTION now to demand that the BLM change its unsustainable, inhumane management plan for the wild mustangs of the Nevada Wild Horse Range.
- Make sure your friends take action also! Nevada’s wild burros and horses need as many voices as possible to speak up before Monday.
Or, forward this email to a friend! - Donate to our Roundup Fund: Today’s donation will keep our team in the field during roundup season, and give us the resources necessary to ensure that our legal team can challenge any attempts to block public observation:
Your generous contributions to the AWHC Rescue Fund are making this work possible, so thank you.
Thanks to your support, we’ve been able to provide volunteers in the field with life-saving emergency foal kits (see above). We’ve instituted a “red tag” system that keeps the kits stocked with critical medicine and supplies. Foals can crash rapidly, so being fully equipped with Equine IgG Seramune Oral colostrum, saline, Foal Lac milk, antibiotics, Vetericyn wound treatment and enemas often means the difference between life and death on the range. Thank you for helping us support the work of Wild Horse Connection, Least Resistance Training Concepts, LBL Equine Rescue and other local organizations by providing supplies they need to save precious foals in need!!
We are thrilled to announce that thanks to your grassroots support, AWHC was able to present local Nevada group LBL Equine Rescue, with a matching grant that helped them to meet their fundraising goal for a new foal nursery! The nursery will be fully equipped to provide round-the-clock care for foals in critical condition, and will even include sleeping quarters for volunteers working overnight shifts (young foals need to be fed every two hours).
The Least Resistance Training Concepts Large Animal Rescue Team is the busiest in the country. They’re on call 24/7 for every type of emergency, from rescuing horses stuck in cattle guards and barbed wire to coming to the aid of orphaned foals.
We were pleased to make a grant to LRTC from our Rescue Fund that supported the retrofitting of a decommissioned ambulance donated by a kind fire department. Now modified, the ambulance serves as an anchor and transport vehicle for foal rescues, a water rescue unit, support unit for complex large animal rescues and much more. We’re proud to support LRTC with this one-of-a-kind project that is setting the standard for large animal rescue worldwide!
These initiatives — made possible by you and your generous support of the Rescue Fund — have enabled AWHC and our team of volunteers to make life-saving interventions for foals, wild horses and burros.
Finally, allow me to introduce you to some of the fuzzy, thankful faces you’ve helped save this foaling season:
Rustler, Leela, Sinclair, Carte, Stitch, Goliath and all of us here at AWHC want to say a huge THANK YOU, and wish you a safe and happy weekend.
Grace Kuhn,
Communications Director
American Wild Horse Campaign
June 29 deadline for Nevada Wild Horse Range HMA!
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
News & Alerts
Management (BLM) Southern Nevada District Office to protect hundreds of wild horses and burros from roundups within the Nevada Wild Horse Range Herd Management Area. We must act now to demand that the BLM manage Nevada’s wild horses humanely!
Only 800 wild horses are estimated to live within the more than 1.3 million acres of public land in this area, which is part of the Nevada Test & Training Range used by the Air Force. Due to military restrictions, the BLM actively manages wild horses on 484,000 acres of the range. According to the agency’s proposed 10-year management plan, over half of the wild horses in this range would be rounded up and removed. In addition, wild burros living in the area would be completely eradicated.
The BLM is currently accepting public comments on the management proposal and its environmental consequences. Now is the time to weigh in against the agency’s plan to reduce the population to an unscientifically low population limit that will leave just one horse per 3,250 acres and eliminate wild burros from the area entirely!
Key aspects of the BLM’s destructive plan include:
- Removing all wild horses deemed “excess” over a 10 year period to achieve and maintain a population of just 300-400 horses;
- Removing all wild burros from the area;
- Applying untested IUDs for wild mares and other methods of fertility control after the low population limit of 300 horses is reached;
- Maintaining an unnatural population of 60% stallions, 40% mares; and
- Gelding a portion of the stallions, making them non-reproducing and destroying their natural behaviors.
The wild horses and burros of the Nevada Wild Horse Range HMA need you to speak up for them today! Thank you for taking the time to act in their defense.
The AWHC Team
The clock is ticking
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
Last year, Congress awarded the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program a $21 million budget increase – but specified that the funding would not become available until 60 days after the BLM submitted a report to Congress outlining its plans for the future management of America’s wild horses and burros.
That report was delivered five weeks ago, and it’s as bad as we feared: Roundup and removal of 18,000-20,000 wild horses and burros per year… tripling the number of wild horses and burros warehoused in off-range holding facilities… reducing wild herds by 70% to near extinction levels….use of dangerous and gruesome sterilization surgeries as a management tool.
And the kicker? A billion-dollar price tag just for the first five years!
We now have 30 days left to weigh in on this outrageous, inhumane and unsustainable plan.
Please join House Natural Resources Chairman Raúl Grijalva and several of his House and Senate colleagues in demanding that Congress step up to require the BLM to prioritize the use of humane, scientifically-recommended fertility control over cruel roundups and stockpiling wild horses and burros in holding facilities.
Thank you,
American Wild Horse Campaign
Summer roundups are beginning soon — here’s what you can do
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
In a little less than a month, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will unleash helicopters to begin its summer assault on wild horses and burros living on public lands in the West. In the BLM’s crosshairs: wild horse and burro herds in Utah, Colorado, and Nevada.
The largest roundup of the summer will take place in Nevada’s Shawave Mountains Herd Management Area (HMA), just 50 miles northeast of Reno. The HMA is part of the 1 million-acre Blue Wing Complex, where the BLM allows just 333 to 553 horses and 50 to 90 burros while authorizing 1,200 privately owned cattle and 2,700 sheep to graze year-round.
This is just the beginning. If the BLM has its way, as many as 18,000-20,000 wild horses and burros will lose their freedom each year… if Congress decides to fund the agency’s mass roundup plan.
Summer roundups are particularly inhumane due to sweltering desert temperatures and the presence of tiny, vulnerable foals, who are sometimes literally run to death in miles-long helicopter stampedes.
This summer, this cruelty could take place out of public view, as the BLM is already signaling that it may use COVID-19 restrictions to block the public from witnessing these brutal capture operations and documenting their terrible impacts on wild horses and burros.
AWHC is gearing up for these summer roundups, both to document them and to fight back if the BLM attempts to crack down on public observation.
At the same time, we’re working on Capitol Hill to shelve the BLM’s plan to massively scale up roundups and force the agency to prioritize humane fertility control to manage wild herds and keep them wild.
Your help is needed on all fronts! Here’s what you can do today:
-
- Donate to our Roundup FundToday’s donation will keep our team in the field during the roundup season and give us the resources necessary to ensure our legal team can challenge any attempts to block public observation.
- Contact Your Representative and Senators
Ask them to put the brakes on BLM’s mass removal plans, require the use of humane fertility control as an alternative to roundups, and prohibit the conducting of helicopter roundups in the absence of public observation.
—American Wild Horse Campaign
Meet Herbie and Papa Antonio: Two very special burros who want to meet you
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
This May is #BurroAwarenessMonth. Burros are amazing animals — intelligent, social and highly adapted to their often harsh and rugged desert habitats. Like wild horses, wild burros are protected under federal law as “living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West.”
AWHC created Burro Awareness Month to shine a spotlight on our nation’s wild burros, who don’t get the same level of attention as wild horses, but are just as incredible and historic.
As we close out the month, we wanted to share the stories of two very special burros: Herbie and Papa Antonio, one no longer wild and one still free, each touched by the same challenges facing all wild burros under the management of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
Meet Herbie and The Herd Many Of You Recently Defended
Photo Credit: PJ Kaszas
Herbie is a wild burro who calls the BLM’s Black Mountain Herd Management Area (HMA) in Arizona his home. Black Mountain is the largest HMA in the state, comprising more than 1 million acres of public lands, and it is also home to the largest and most genetically diverse burro population in the country.
PJ Kaszas is a wildlife and documentary photographer who co-founded the Wild Horse Photography Collective and Bonkers for Burros, two fast growing communities of photographers dedicated to advocating for wild horses and burros (and we’re proud to partner with many of them!).
PJ went to photograph the Black Mountain burros, who can be difficult to find, due to both the large expanse of desert and terrain they live in and because the burros blend so well in to this environment.
When interacting with wildlife, it’s important to respect their space and keep your distance. That’s what makes this encounter all the more unique: Herbie actually approached PJ, and while PJ kept a distance of 75 feet or so, Herbie wasn’t bothered by the camera and actually went on to guide PJ over the course of three days throughout the Black Mountain HMA.
Photo Credit: PJ Kaszas
Herbie greeted old friends, interacted with some rivals, and even showed PJ where he and other burros go to forage, grab a drink, and rest.
You can read more about PJ’s experiences with Herbie and see more photos here. Additionally, we wanted to thank you: Late March we launched an action alert about the Bureau of Land Management Plan to remove 75% of the burros, like Herbie, from this area.
Thousands of you stepped up to raise your voices and we had one of our largest showings of force in defense of burros in recent memory.
Rescuing Papa Antonio And Finding Him A Forever Home
One of the unfortunate realities of the federal mass roundup/removal program is that many captured wild burros and horses, especially those who are older or injured or have health complications, are at risk of ending up in kill pens or being dumped after being sold for $25 or less.
That was potentially going to happen to Papa Antonio, a 21-year old burro who caught the eye of our Nevada Field Rep., Deb Walker, who noticed him in the BLM’s online auction earlier this year. AWHC contacted our friends at the Center for Animal Protection & Education (CAPE) to see if they would take him to live with their herd of seven rescued burros and two rescued horses. CAPE said yes!
Last year, Papa Antonio was trapped and removed from the BLM’s Seven Troughs HMA, located 75 miles northeast of Reno. He was sent to the Carson City prison, where he spent eight months in a holding pen and was put up for auction in February.
AWHC was pleased to partner with CAPE to rescue him. Since March, when CAPE picked him up from the BLM holding facility in Nevada, Papa Antonio has become a very affectionate little burro, and is now fully integrated with CAPE’s rescue herd.
We’re working to ensure all wild burros can spend their golden years on public lands, but the next best place for a burro like Papa Antonio is with CAPE. Watch his transformation here.
We hope you enjoyed digitally meeting Herbie and Papa Antonio. Here at AWHC, we treat every month as if it were #BurroAwarenessMonth, because all of our treasured wild burros deserve to live on the wide open ranges with their families, safe from roundups and free from the grim fate of a crowded holding facility, or worse slaughter.
Thank you,
American Wild Horse Campaign
Quick Action Alert: A unique opportunity to score a major victory for wild horses
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) just submitted its report to Congress on the future of their Wild Horse and Burro program.
In this plan, the agency outlines the removal of as many as 20,000 wild horses from public lands per year and leaves the door open to permanent sterilization of mares through an inhumane surgical procedure.
Here is where we need your help: Congress has 60-days to weigh in on this plan. At the same time, members of the House and the Senate are working on the next appropriations bill to fund the government for Fiscal Year (FY) 2021, which begins on October 1, 2020.
The House Chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman, Raul Grijalva, and fellow wild horse champions in both chambers of Congress are advocating for the inclusion of language that would require the BLM to utilize humane, reversible fertility control with the money they appropriate to the agency.
The language would also prohibit surgical sterilization of wild horses and burros on the range.
We need your elected officials on Capitol Hill to support this request to protect wild horses and burros from mass roundups and brutal sterilization surgeries: Click here to send a message to your Representative and Senators to support wild horses and burros in the appropriations process.
Thank you,
American Wild Horse Campaign
Breaking: The BLM is setting the stage for the slaughter of America’s wild horses
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
The Bureau of Land Management just issued its long-overdue report to Congress on how the agency plans to proceed with managing America’s wild horse and burro population.
Before I go into more detail, I want to briefly summarize the most troubling aspects of this report and the failed approaches the BLM is advocating for:
- The BLM’s plan would authorize mass roundups to remove up to 20,000 wild horses per year; culling wild herds by 70%;
- For the first time, the permanent sterilization of mares through an ineffective and inhumane procedure would be utilized;
- Private contractors would be enriched by the BLM tripling the population of wild horses in crowded holding pens and pastures;
- This plan would carry a cost of $1 billion to taxpayers over the next five years and that’s only a portion of the cost expected for its two-decade timeframe.
There are three major takeaways I want to provide about this plan, and as grim as it sounds, I also want to remind everyone that this isn’t set in stone: We have time to stop it from happening but in order to do so we’re all going to need to get involved.
Takeaway #1: Continuing On A Path to Failure
The BLM’s new plan is based on two faulty premises: the need to reduce wild populations to the “Appropriate” Management Level (AML) of 27,000 animals on 27 million acres of land, and the reliance on mass roundups and removals to get there.
Both premises have been discredited by the nation’s top scientific body — the National Academy of Sciences — which concluded that these management levels are “not based in science” and that mass removals are not only ineffective but also counterproductive and unsustainable.
And that doesn’t even take into consideration the massive cost to taxpayers and the cruelty inflicted on these innocent wild horses and burros. Or the fact that this plan, with its astronomically high price tag, is setting the stage for the mass slaughter of these treasured icons.
Takeaway #2: Only Congress Can Require the BLM to Change Course
Last year, Congress appropriated a $21 million increase for the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program, but specified that the funds would not become available until the agency submitted a report to Congress detailing its plan for managing America’s wild herds.The 60-day clock is now ticking and during this time Congress has the opportunity to weigh in on the mass roundup and warehousing plan.
Additionally, the House and the Senate are currently working on the next appropriations bill to fund the government in Fiscal Year (FY) 2021, which begins on October 1, 2020.
The good news is that Rep. Raul Grijalva, Chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which has direct oversight over the BLM, has expressed his intent to hold the BLM accountable.
He and several other members of the House and Senate have requested that FY 2021 Appropriations legislation include language to require BLM to utilize humane, reversible fertility control instead of spending all of its funding to round up more wild horses and burros, and to prohibit the agency from cruelly sterilizing wild horses and burros via invasive and risky surgical procedures.
To convince Congress to include this legislative language, we will have to overcome opposition from the Big Ag lobby and Big Humane groups (Humane Society of the U.S., ASPCA as well as Return to Freedom, a wild horse sanctuary), which last year opposed similar language to require BLM to utilize humane fertility control and prohibit surgical sterilization. That means we all need to weigh in now!
Takeaway #3: We Can Do This!
Against insurmountable odds, the movement to protect America’s cherished icons has achieved incredible successes.
And it’s important to remember that the American public is very much on our side: Nearly 80% of Americans do not support mass roundups or the sterilization of wild mares, and believe that these icons deserve to stay on the public lands they call home.
Through mobilization, advocacy, and public education campaigns, we’ve saved wild horses from extinction and slaughter before. Now, we’re being called to work together to do so again.
Here are two ways you can get involved so we can make the most of this window of opportunity:
- Click here to ask your Representative and Senators on Capitol Hill to support appropriations language to require BLM to implement humane management.
- Thank Rep. Grijalva for being the top champion in Congress for America’s wild horses and burros. As Chair of the House Natural Resources Committee, he is a powerful ally!
- Send him a Tweet
- Post a comment on his Facebook page
- @ him in our latest post on Instagram and thank him for standing up to protect America’s wild horses!
Your support is making all the difference
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
Over the past couple of months, our nation has been tested, our spirits have been tried, and we’ve had to navigate what a new “normal” looks like.
During this difficult time, tens of thousands of you have continued to step up in a time of great uncertainty and peril to give a voice to the wild horses and burros who don’t have one.
This Tuesday was #GivingTuesdayNow, and truth be told, we didn’t know what to expect. We know that many of you aren’t in a position to give and that these are unprecedented times of struggle and heartache for so many.
But thousands of you shared our messages with friends and family and hundreds of you, from all across the country, chipped in what you could.
Not only did we reach our fundraising goal, which will allow us to replenish our foal rescue fund and support our work to save Wyoming’s horses (and so much more!), but you’ve also lifted our spirits.
Our staff and volunteers are incredibly grateful for your contributions to our work, especially now. You are the reason we can continue to do the work we do.
We wanted to share with you an important example of how your support is making a difference. This past month we had a powerful showing in defense of Wyoming’s wild horses during the Bureau of Land Management’s public comment period for their Wyoming Wild Horse Wipeout Plan.
Our policy counsel, Brieanah, was able to send off a jaw-dropping TWELVE-THOUSAND+ public comments from all across the nation in opposition to this cruel plan. Each of those names on every page, is a powerful testament to what we can accomplish when we stay committed, stay engaged, and work together.
From all of us here at AWHC, thank you for being a part of our herd. Stay healthy, stay safe, and stay hopeful. We will get through this together.
A hard-earned VICTORY for the Devil’s Garden Wild Horses
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
Many of us have more time on our hands these days and we wanted to give you some important news and provide some interactive materials about wild horses that you and your family can utilize while staying at home.
A Hard-Earned Victory for California’s Devil’s Garden Wild Horses
Back in 2018, AWHC joined forces with the Animal Legal Defense Fund and California local advocate Carla Bowers to file a lawsuit to stop the U.S. Forest Service from selling California wild horses for slaughter. The horses in question were captured in fall 2018 from the Devil’s Garden Wild Horse Territory in northeast California’s Modoc National Forest.
We’re pleased to report that this litigation blocked the Forest Service from selling the Devil’s Garden wild horses for slaughter, giving Congress time to act.
In December, after U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, 66 members of Congress, and 22 members of the California State Legislature joined the public in opposing the slaughter plan, Congress passed legislation to prohibit the Forest Service from destroying healthy horses and selling them without limitation on slaughter.
This is the same prohibition that Congress has long imposed on the Bureau of Land Management. We’re grateful to all the AWHC supporters who donated to support our litigation, which played a critical role in securing this prohibition on slaughter of wild horses and burros under U.S. Forest Service jurisdiction.
But, the Devil’s Garden Wild Horses Still Aren’t Safe Yet (Action Alert)
In fall of 2019, the Forest Service rounded up and removed 499 more wild horses from the Devil’s Garden Wild Horse Territory. The majority of the horses have been adopted or sold, some, disturbingly, for $1 a piece. Approximately 100 wild horses — including older horses, pregnant mares and foals — remain in corrals in the Modoc National Forest.
Unlike the BLM, which has halted sales and adoptions of horses and burros during the COVID-19 crisis, the Forest Service continues to dispose of these federally-protected animals for $1 a piece. Worse, a single buyer can purchase 24 horses at a time, and the government will transport them for free, including to states as far away as Arkansas and Florida!
The Forest Service has no adequate system for vetting potential buyers or following up after horses are purchased to ensure their welfare.
By selling horses in bulk for $1 a piece and shipping them for free across the country with no safeguards to protect them from abuse and slaughter, the Forest Service is creating an avenue to sidestep Congress’ slaughter ban.
Got Questions? We Want To Answer Them!
We’ll be the first to say it: It can be difficult to stay up to speed with the complex issues affecting our nation’s wild horses and burros. With so many federal agencies, acronyms and applicable laws, it’s easy to get confused.
That’s why we’re going to break it down for you on Thursday, April 16, with the launch of our ‘Wild Horses 101’ webinar series.
We want this to be an interactive experience! Which is why we’re encouraging you to submit questions so we can address them as we tackle some of the most important topics.
Our first segment will go over the history of wild horses and how we arrived at the place we are now. We hope you’ll tune in.
And Finally, A Fun Activity For The Kids At Home
We know that many of you are juggling a number of responsibilities at home, and for those with young kids, we’re offering a way to keep them entertained!
We took a bit of inspiration from Velma Johnston, aka “Wild Horse Annie,” who was the influential wild horse advocate responsible for some of the most important wild horse protections on the books. As part of her campaign to save America’s mustangs, she organized a wildly successful children’s writing brigade that generated national support for mustangs and led to the passage of the Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act.
AWHC hopes to harness that spirit again by getting kids involved in the fight to save our mustangs. A great place to start is with our official children’s activity book: it’s available completely for free and includes coloring pages, a word search, and writing prompts!
That’s our news for the week… our best wishes to you and your loved ones during this difficult time.
American Wild Horse Campaign
Take Action: Join the members of Congress fighting to protect wild horses
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
News & Alerts
We hope that this email finds you well and safe during these difficult times for our nation and our world.
We need to let you know that, despite the disruptions caused by COVID-19 on day-to-day life, our work to protect wild horses and burros continues.
In fact, Congress is working now on appropriations legislation to fund the government for the upcoming fiscal year (which begins on October 1). This presents both dangers that we must remain alert to, and the opportunity to make progress against the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) mass roundup and sterilization plan.
We’re pleased to report that several wild horse champions in Congress are stepping up to protect wild horses.
House Natural Resources Chair Raúl Grijalva (Arizona), Congresswomen Deb Haaland (New Mexico) and Dina Titus (Nevada), and Congressman Steve Cohen (Tennessee) are officially requesting that language be added to any appropriations measures that would:
- Require more than 10% of the budget of the Bureau of Land Management’s Wild Horse and Burro Program to be utilized to implement a humane fertility control program utilizing the proven birth control vaccine PZP;
- Encourage the BLM to form public/private partnerships with non-profits to expand these programs as alternatives to mass roundups; and
- BAN federal funds from being used for dangerous surgical sterilization procedures.
If adopted, this would represent a HUGE step forward toward actual reform of the BLM’s broken wild horse and burro roundup program, as well as a HUGE victory in our fight to protect these iconic animals across the West.
From the safety of your homes, and utilizing but a minute of your time, you can make a difference in ensuring that Appropriations Committee members include this critical language to protect our treasured horses and burros in Fiscal Year 2021 spending legislation.
Take Action: Contact your members of Congress and your Senators this weekend.
Thank you,
American Wild Horse Campaign
The public comment period to save the Black Mountain burros is almost over [take action]
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
News & Alerts
DEADLINE: Wednesday, April 1
The Bureau of Land Management is seeking public comments on a ten-year plan to round up and remove nearly 80% of the wild burros in the Black Mountain Herd Management Area in Arizona.
Your voice is needed today to speak up for one of the nation’s largest and significant remaining wild burro populations.
The wild burros of the Black Mountain Herd Management Area (HMA) in Arizona live in a 1.1 million-acre habitat that runs along the Colorado River, from the Hoover Dam to the north to the Needles Bridge in California to the south.
These amazing animals are highly adapted to the Mojave desert environment where they are an important part of the ecosystem — digging wells that make water available to other important wildlife species.
But now they’re being targeted for mass roundup and removal by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) under pressure from hunting and livestock interests that view wild burros as pests.
The BLM is now accepting public comments on a ten-year plan to remove 1,700 wild burros (nearly 80% of the herd in the HMA!) as well as skew the sex ratio of the wild population to achieve 6 males for every 4 females — a manipulation that could increase aggression and disrupt the natural behaviors and social organization of these highly intelligent animals.
Instead of mass roundups, the BLM needs to protect this unique burro population and humanely manage it by ending the eradication predators in the area and implementing fertility control if natural controls are not sufficient to regulate the burro population size.
Please weigh in NOW before the April 1 public comment period deadline: Join us in defending the incredible Black Mountain wild burros today →
Thank you,
American Wild Horse Campaign
P.S. — If you are not in a position to donate but would still like to support our work, please use AmazonSmile when you shop online and a portion of your purchase will go toward AWHC. Shop using AmazonSmile here.
A hard-earned victory for Oregon’s Warm Springs wild horse herd
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
Victory!
After years of fighting back in the courts and mounting public opposition, the Bureau of Land Management will not conduct cruel sterilization experiments on Oregon’s Warm Springs wild horses.
One of the most inhumane and cruel ways the Bureau of Land Management outlined as a way for “management” of wild horses is the ovariectomy via colpotomy procedure.
This procedure involves manually severing and removing a wild mare’s ovaries in an invasive and outdated surgical procedure that has been called “barbaric” by veterinarians and deemed by the National Academy of Sciences to be too dangerous for use in wild horses.
Not surprisingly, nearly 8 in 10 Americans oppose this procedure — and we’ve sued twice and successfully blocked the BLM from subjecting innocent wild mares to this cruel and risky surgery.
- In 2016, our lawsuit prompted the BLM to cancel its plan to perform ovariectomy via colpotomy on 225 wild mares — many of them pregnant – rounded up from the Warm Springs Herd Management Area in Oregon.
- In 2018, we sued again, when the BLM proposed to conduct the same experiments on the same group of mares, many of whom were now nursing dependent foals. This time, the court granted our motion for a federal injunction and the BLM again dropped the project.
- In 2019, the BLM resurrected the plan incredibly for the third time! We immediately brought the new proposal to the court’s attention, and just last week, the BLM informed the court that it would not proceed with the third proposal.
In each case, we built a coalition, marshalled resources and did what it took to stop these horrific experiments, which veterinarians confirmed would cause extreme pain, bleeding, infection, miscarriage and would interfere with the mares’ ability to nurse and care for their dependent foals.
But that doesn’t mean the BLM will stop trying to surgically sterilize mares. In fact, the agency right now is preparing a management plan for the Swasey HMA in Utah that includes ovariectomy via colpotomy as a management tool.
We must stay vigilant and ready to jump to action to continue to defend wild mares from this brutality. Our victories in Oregon prove that when we work together and fight back hard, we win.
Thank you,
American Wild Horse Campaign
P.S. — If you are not in a position to donate but would still like to support our work, please use AmazonSmile when you shop online and a portion of your purchase will go toward AWHC. Shop using AmazonSmile here.
One click can make all the difference
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
Online shopping is increasing in response to the COVID-19 crisis, and we wanted to remind you that you can continue to support our work while ordering supplies from Amazon and staying safe in the comfort of your home.
With a single click, you can keep powering the fight to save wild horses and burros.
And speaking of smiles (which everyone can use more of right now), we wanted to share this cute video of a foal that brought a smile to our faces. We hope it brings you as much joy as it did to us.
Thank you and take care – we will overcome this national crisis by staying strong and standing together.
American Wild Horse Campaign
Our work to defend America’s wild horses and burros continues
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
We hope that you and your loved ones are staying safe and well during this difficult time.
Like you, we are doing our best to stay up to date on the evolving COVID-19 pandemic and also wanted to take this opportunity to share with you a number of developments about our continued work during this time as we take necessary precautions in advocating for our nation’s wild horses and burros.
A Victory For The Salt River Wild Horses In Arizona
This past weekend, we reached out to you about the legislation introduced by AZ Rep. Kelly Townsend. HR 2858 threatened to block lifesaving humane management of the famed Salt River wild horses and was widely opposed not just in Arizona, but also by tens of thousands of Americans all across the country.
Due to concerns over COVID-19, the public was discouraged from attending committee hearings or providing public testimony on legislation. Townsend had publicly stated that her legislation was on hold, only to schedule the unpopular and controversial bill at the last minute for a Monday hearing when the public couldn’t attend.
More than 8,000 of you messaged Townsend and members of the committee to cancel this hearing in a tremendous, last-minute show of force in defense of the Salt River wild horses.
And … good news! The state legislature will only be addressing essential legislation before adjourning at the end of the week, meaning that this dangerous and controversial bill is effectively dead (but we will be carefully monitoring this until the session is officially over to be certain).
Our Work In Congress and On Capitol Hill Continues
As the country faces both a financial and public health crisis, imaginably, this past week was one of the most consequential in Washington, DC in many years.
Most federal agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management, have moved all but the most essential personnel to telework and Congress is doing the same.
This doesn’t, however, put a stop to the legislative work happening in Congress nor will it delay consideration for millions of dollars in additional funding to ramp up the roundup, removal, and potential sterilization of tens of thousands of wild horses in the West.
In fact, Congress’ biggest legislative vehicles, the Fiscal Year 2021 appropriation bills which fund federal agencies and their programs, are currently being drafted with the goal of concluding in the next four to five weeks. We’ve previously highlighted the President’s FY 2021 budget, which asks Congress to throw even more money at the BLM’s broken and inhumane wild horse and burro program (you can read more about it below).
Our fear is that the current appropriations bills will become “must-pass” legislation tied to addressing COVID-19 and the financial crisis, meaning that language and funding that threatens wild horses may slip through as the public focuses on other issues.
That’s why our team was on Capitol Hill last week meeting with Congressional staff in order to have early and influential input on this process in defense of wild horses and burros. Now that Congressional staff, as well as many of our own staff, are working remotely, we’re utilizing every technology available to stay in contact throughout the appropriations process.
The AWHC Legal Team Takes New Steps To Defend Wild Horses In Court
Just as our work in Congress continues, so too, does our work throughout the court system.
Last week, the government filed a motion in our lawsuit against the BLM to stop its proposed ovariectomy via colpotomy experiments on wild mares. Oral arguments are set for March 20th in Portland, Oregon, which has declared a state of emergency.
As a result we will be attending the hearing and providing oral arguments via telephone. This suit is critically important — We partnered with The Cloud Foundation and The Animal Welfare Institute on this suit which is responsible for the BLM decision to abandon its plans to conduct cruel sterilization experiments.
Five days later, on March 25th, our legal team was expected to appear in San Francisco for oral arguments before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in our lawsuit challenging the BLM’s plan to castrate wild-free roaming stallions in Nevada’s Triple B Complex.
We recently got word that the Courts will be canceling oral arguments for that week meaning that we will either have our hearing rescheduled or the case will be decided on the written briefs submitted previously.
Late last week, AWHC Government Relations and Policy Counsel filed a lawsuit over the BLM’s failure to respond to multiple requests under the Freedom of Information Act, seeking information on various aspects of BLM wild horse and burro policy.
We are seeking records related to a number of secretive meetings between Interior secretaries and BLM officials with livestock special interest groups that may have influenced federal wild horse and burro policy. By failing to provide these records, the BLM and Interior Department have violated the law — So we’re taking action.
Hard At Work: Service Is Uninterrupted At The World’s Largest Wild Horse Fertility Control Program
The great outdoors is, fortunately, one of the safest places to be during this pandemic. That means that our team’s incredible work running the world’s largest wild horse fertility control program on the Virginia Range in Nevada continues on.
Last year, with far fewer resources and staff, our volunteer team of darters outperformed the BLM in providing the birth control vaccine PZP to wild mares — shattering expectations and proving the naysayers wrong.
Each day, we’re proving that there is a better, humane, and far more cost effective way to manage wild horse populations. And each vaccine costs just $30.
Our work continues and we’re so grateful to have your support along the way. Please stay healthy, stay strong, stay safe and stay tuned. We’re all in this together!
American Wild Horse Campaign
Stand Up for Arizona Wild Horses!
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
Two populations of iconic wild horses in Arizona need you to speak up for them today!
The Salt River Wild Horses
In 2015, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) announced its intent to round up and remove all of the Salt River wild horses from the Tonto National Forest near Phoenix. The announcement was met with sustained public outcry and led to passage of a state law protecting these beloved wild horses in their historic habitat along the lower Salt River in the Tonto National Forest.
Now the horses are threatened again by a planning process and proposed management plans that could result in the removal of 350 Salt River horses from the lands they have occupied since the late 1800’s — before the Tonto National Forest even existed!
Please Weigh in by March 12 for the Salt River Horses
The Heber Wild Horses
The Heber wild horses reside in the Apache Sitgreaves National Forest near Heber-Overgaard, Arizona. These horses have been under siege over the past several years, with more than two dozen shot to death, including 15 — two entire families — who were gunned down this year alone. Pressure for the removal from the forest is coming from livestock operators who graze cattle on the public lands where the wild horses roam. Now the USFS is developing a Territory Management plan that could result in the removal of 300 or more wild horses from this National Forest.
Please Demand a Fair and Humane Management Plan for the Heber Wild Horses.
Thank you for standing up for Arizona wild horses. Your voice makes a difference everyday for our cherished wild horses and burros of the American West.
– The AWHC Team
Meet the woman who inspired a movement: Wild Horse Annie
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
We are forever grateful for the historic contributions and lifetime of advocacy of Velma B. Johnston. But many of you probably know her better as “Wild Horse Annie.”
During the 1950’s in Nevada, Wild Horse Annie witnessed firsthand the ruthless and indiscriminate manner in which wild horses were being rounded up from public lands. America’s wild horse population was in rapid decline with ranchers, hunters, and “mustangers” capturing them for commercial slaughter.
From that moment onward, Annie began organizing a grassroots campaign to stop the mistreatment, abuse, and eradication of wild horses, driving national attention to this issue. Her efforts were successful and resulted in the passage of the Wild Horse Annie Act of 1959.
The Wild Horse Annie Act, which prohibited the use of motorized vehicles to hunt wild horses and burros on all public lands, did not include her recommendations for federal protection and management of the wild horse population (meaning that the vast majority of wild horses in the West were still vulnerable and lacked basic protections).
So Annie and the tens of thousands of Americans she inspired continued to push for legislation that would establish those protections. She mobilized so many citizens, especially school children, that wild horse protection was the second most popular issue that constituents wrote to Congress about in 1971.
As a result, Congress unanimously passed the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, the most significant and influential piece of legislation affecting wild horses in the U.S..
On International Women’s Day, we wanted to express our deep gratitude to Wild Horse Annie and share with you the hard working and dedicated women who lead and work behind the scenes with the American Wild Horse Campaign.
And most importantly, we want to acknowledge all the women who make our work possible — the volunteers who brave all kinds of weather to dart and document horses in our fertility control program, the donors who fuel our efforts and the supporters who use their voices to speak up for wild horses and burros in their communities, states and on Capitol Hill. You are the backbone of our movement and the key to our success!
We wouldn’t be where we are without Annie and we couldn’t do what we do without the tireless contributions of the women who follow in her footsteps and spend each and every day working to keep America’s wild horses and burros free!
Through each and every one of us, the legacy of Wild Horse Annie lives on.
Thank you,
American Wild Horse Campaign
What your 2020 AWHC Membership accomplishes →
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
Yesterday was World Wildlife Day, a day for celebrating the diverse and incredible animals that inhabit our planet.
But unfortunately, World Wildlife Day also serves as a solemn reminder of the growing threats facing America’s wildlife: particularly our beloved wild horse and burro population.
In fact, they’re up against the greatest threat in generations as Congress considers funding the President’s budget that could result in the removal of as many as 20,000 wild horses and burros from public lands each year. Many of them will spend a lifetime of captivity in crowded holding corrals or sex-segregated pastures, while others could enter the sold-for-slaughter pipeline as bad faith buyers purchase these animals from the BLM and flip them for sale to kill buyers.
Generous supporters like you are the reason we can advocate on their behalf in the Courts (our legal team has a 90% record of success!), document roundups across the West, organize rescues for captured horses, implement the world’s largest humane fertility control management program for wild horses in the Virginia Range in Nevada, and SO much more!
↓ Activate your membership by donating today! ↓
Thank you,
American Wild Horse Campaign
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