Monday’s news that the Senate Appropriations Committee has maintained protections for wild horses against killing and slaughter was a major positive development in the fight to protect wild horses and burros from Interior Secretary Zinke’s plan to destroy tens of thousands of these iconic animals in holding and on the range. But the fight’s not over yet. Here’s what’s next and what you can do.
BLM Continues to Round Up Wild Horses as their Fate Hangs in Balance
As the BLM waits to hear whether Congress will grant its request to kill tens of thousands of wild horses and burros in holding facilities, the agency is moving ahead with a handful of roundups. In a new twist, captured horses are being taken directly to private holding facilities, where the public is unable to see them to identify captured horses or ascertain their condition. Read more about the roundup pending in Utah next week and the one just completed in Nevada by clicking below.
As the holidays approach, you can show your love to friends and family and protect wild horses by purchasing gifts that will benefit our work. Click here to find great holiday giving ideas, including our spectacular 2018 calendar, magnificent art by renowned photographer Kimerlee Curyl, and or very special (and delicious!) Wild Grounds Coffee by Thanksgiving Coffee Company. A great way to launch the holiday season!
The American Wild Horse Campaign is dedicated to preserving American wild horses and burros in viable free-roaming herds for generations to come, as part of our national heritage.
The American Wild Horse Campaign is a 501(c)3 non-profit. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to support our work.
Our team just got word after months of campaigning: the Senate has maintained protections for wild horses and burros in its version of the Interior Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2018.
Even better, the Senate directed the BLM to come up with “humane and politically viable” solutions to wild horse management. Clearly, our Senators realize that killing our cherished mustangs or selling them for slaughter is neither humane nor politically tenable.
This is a huge win! Your phone calls, emails, donations, protests, and petitions paid off. You were heard. Our strength was shown. Thank you.
But the fight isn’t over. Here’s what’s next: the Senate (which included protections) must now negotiate with the House (which didn’t). This “conference” will determine the fate of wild horses and burros in our country.
We’re actively tracking who will be in this conference and how we can impact the negotiations. We’ll be in touch as we know more.
You know the stakes: if protections are removed and slaughter or “euthanizing” begin, tens of thousands of wild horses will die. It would be an unprecedented mass slaughter. It would be tragic and defy the recommendations of scientists.
You have done an incredible job of making that case. We’ve won a major victory, but the battle is still on. Please keep it up.
Since 2013, our organization worked in concert with the Nevada Department of Agriculture (NDA) on a successful, community-based wild horse management program. It has been an incredible private-public partnership using zero taxpayer funds to humanely manage the Virginia Range horses using birth control (PZP).
In four short years, our program has effectively reduced the Virginia Range wild horse population (estimated at 3,000 horses) by 500 through humane birth control and rescue – without any horses going to the slaughter auction. We’ve spent over $400,000 to protect these cherished mustangs and our local coalition partners have contributed thousands of volunteer hours.
Last week, the NDA terminated this successful program. Out of the blue. And there’s no explanation other than politics. Without our program, more horses will be born, more horses will be removed from the range and horses will go to the slaughter auction.
Will help us fight back? We can’t let the forces that want to slaughter wild horses win!
Tell him: I’m calling to ask Governor Sandoval to restore the Virginia Range Horse Cooperative Agreements with the American Wild Horse Campaign. Governor Sandoval should not turn his back on this successful community partnership that’s bringing private dollars and volunteer resources to protect public safety and humanely manage these cherished mustangs. Nevada taxpayers and these historic mustangs deserve better.
Our local coalition partners and Nevada citizens have been calling. They’ll be visiting the Governors office and holding events. Will you stand with them by calling and signing the petition today?
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is taking aim at one of the most unique and popular wild horse populations in the nation. Visitors travel from all over the world to see and photograph the wild horses of the Onaqui Mountains in Utah, due to their accessibility (close to Salt Lake City), unique herd dynamics, and the sheer beauty of these colorful and historic mustangs. But now the BLM is proposing to roundup and remove nearly 75% of this herd — more than 325 horses — instead of fully implementing a humane birth control program to stabilize population growth rates. If Congress approves the BLM’s lethal budget request, every horse removed from the Onaqui range will be in danger of being killed or sold for slaughter. There’s not a moment to waste – please weigh in today for humane alternatives to this destructive roundup plan!
The Senate Appropriations hearings on the Fiscal Year 2018 Interior Appropriations bill have been delayed again, and are now tentatively scheduled for the week of October 30th. This gives us more time to keep the pressure on the Senate and fight back against the special interest lobbies that are pushing hard to destroy our iconic wild horses and burros. Click below for an update on our efforts and what you can do to make your voices heard in these last weeks before Congress must vote on legislation to keep the government running in 2018.
The BLM National Wild Horse Advisory Board met last week for the first time since making its outrageous recommendation last year to kill and sell for slaughter tens of thousands of wild horses and burros in holding facilities. At last week’s meeting, the stacked Advisory Board doubled down on its lethal recommendation, and added much more to the list. Click the link below to read our full report.
The Senate Appropriations votes have been delayed again — we believe now until next week. Despite the uncertainty regarding the schedule, one thing is for sure: we cannot let off the gas.
The appropriations votes will decide if we preserve protections for wild horses or allow them to be killed and sold for brutal slaughter.
We need you to keep up the pressure. Call, call, call. Email. Tweet.
1)Click here to look up your Senators’ phone numbers. You can tell them: I strongly urge you to maintain protections for Wild Horses and Burros — and oppose any effort that would allow for the euthanizing, killing or slaughter of America’s wild horses. I am part of the 80% who opposes slaughter.
If you only have Facebook, search for your Senators Facebook pages, and leave a comment in a recent post. Tell them: I am with the 80% of Americans who say #NoHorseSlaughter. Maintain protections from killing and slaughter for America’s wild horses.
We’ll keep you updated via email and on our Facebook page throughout the coming weeks.
Our opponents have been spreading lies: that there are too many horses on the range, that they’re starving, and that we have no choice but to round them up and kill them. Wrong. Wrong. And wrong.
Wild horses only roam on a small percentage of protected public land. They are not starving. There aren’t too many of them. To make sure it stays that way, the best long-term management strategy is humane birth control — a policy recommended by the National Academy of Sciences.
The U.S. Senate vote on this issue has been delayed again for at least another week. That gives us time to push out this video and keep up the pressure on Capitol Hill. It lays out the contrast in clear terms: horse slaughter is barbaric and costly. 80% of Americans oppose it.
Every lawmaker should watch this and oppose any killing of our healthy wild horses and burros. Help us make sure that they do.
While we press the U.S. Senate to reject BLM’s request for slaughter and sue the BLM for illegal roundups, we have a third fight on our hands:
Next week, the National BLM Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board meets for the first time since its outrageous vote last November to recommend that the BLM kill tens of thousands of innocent wild horses and burros.
Our team will be there. But we need you to submit public comments to this committee now — so they know the American people reject their sham recommendation.
Please keep your comments respectful, but make it clear where you stand. Consider these points:
80% of Americans oppose killing our wild horses and burros and support protecting them on our public lands.
The vote to slaughter mustangs is unconscionable and completely unjustified in light of the cost-effective, scientifically recommended PZP birth control vaccine, which can be used to humanely manage wild horse populations on the range.
This board is supposed to represent stakeholders that include the public, science, wild horse advocacy, environmental and wildlife concerns. It’s time for them to stop doing the bidding of the special interest livestock lobby, which is making tens of millions of dollars off the BLM’s mustang roundup program.
We need to be heard because the Advisory Board members certainly aren’t speaking out on our behalf. The board ignored the overwhelming will of the American people AND the recommendations of the nation’s premier scientific body — the National Academy of Sciences — by voting to slaughter our American wild horses and burros. Only one member of this Advisory Board – our friend and colleague Ginger Kathrens, Executive Director of The Cloud Foundation – voted no.
It’s time to let this board know that Americans will not stand for their disregard of the public will and the welfare of our iconic wild horses and burros.
Not only is BLM pushing Congress for permission to slaughter America’s mustangs, it’s blatantly violating the law rounding them up right now in Wyoming
We’re not backing down. Even as we push the U.S. Senate to stop slaughter, we’re fighting the feds’ illegal actions to destroy mustangs. Last week, we won two critical lawsuits to stop the Forest Service from shrinking wild horse habitat in California and the BLM from destroying an Idaho mustang herd by sterilizing every horse in it.
And, last Friday, we filed suit in U.S. District Court Wyoming to stop the BLM from illegally rounding up hundreds more wild horses than authorized by pretending young horses born this year don’t count.
We’re not going to let them get away with it, but we need your help.
We’re winning, but these lawsuits are expensive. They’re draining our funds and our staff resources.
As the BLM prepares for a possible pro-slaughter policy, the roundups are increasing and intensifying. Alarmingly, the agency is sending captured mustangs to private feedlots in Idaho and Utah where they may never be seen again. Our latest lawsuit challenges that too.
Our nation’s beautiful, majestic wild horses and burros deserve our protection, not helicopters rounding them up, shipping them out of public view to private holding pens, and putting every one of these innocent animals at risk of being brutally killed or slaughtered.
I wanted to let you know that the Senate action on whether to legalize wild horse and burro killing has been delayed another week. (Congress is on recess this week for Columbus Day.) The earliest that it will be considered is October 17.
This is great news, because it means we still have time to get those videos in to Congress! So please read Grace’s email below about our new video tool, which lets you easily record your own video on your phone or computer — and it will be automatically sent to your representatives and Senators. Please record now and tell Congress: no killing of America’s wild horses!
Thanks for standing up for our wild horses and burros.
-Suzanne
Today, we’re launching a new effort to convince Congress to maintain the longstanding prohibition on the destruction and slaughter of healthy wild horses and burros. We’ve called. We’ve emailed. Now, let’s send a personal video message about why we’re fighting to protect these national icons.
With our new video tool you can easily record a short video that will be sent directly to your members of Congress. I just recorded mine — watch it now and then record your own.
We know you’ll have plenty to say but a few points we hope you’ll include:
Congress must maintain the longstanding prohibition on destroying healthy wild horses and burros and oppose any effort that would open the door to slaughter.
80% of Americans oppose the slaughter of America’s wild horses.
The PZP birth control vaccine is a scientifically-proven, low-cost alternative that can used to humanely manage wild populations and maintain their wild free-romaning behaviors.
So record your own video now. It’s really easy. It’ll take just a few minutes of your time. And it will help us cut through the clutter in Washington and be heard on this critical issue.
Today, we’re launching a new effort to convince Congress to maintain the longstanding prohibition on the destruction and slaughter of healthy wild horses and burros. We’ve called. We’ve emailed. Now, let’s send a personal video message about why we’re fighting to protect these national icons.
With our new video tool you can easily record a short video that will be sent directly to your members of Congress. I just recorded mine — watch it now and then record your own.
We know you’ll have plenty to say but a few points we hope you’ll include:
Congress must maintain the longstanding prohibition on destroying healthy wild horses and burros and oppose any effort that would open the door to slaughter.
80% of Americans oppose the slaughter of America’s wild horses.
The PZP birth control vaccine is a scientifically-proven, low-cost alternative that can used to humanely manage wild populations and maintain their wild free-romaning behaviors.
So record your own video now. It’s really easy. It’ll take just a few minutes of your time. And it will help us cut through the clutter in Washington and be heard on this critical issue.
With our movement battling on so many fronts, I wanted to send around a quick update:
U.S. Senate Vote Coming Soon
The Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee is now expected to mark up its spending bill next week, with full committee consideration of the legislation the week after. Since the House passed a spending bill that lifts the longstanding prohibition on the destruction of healthy wild horses and burros, it’s critical that the Senate maintain these protections. These votes will likely determine what the final budget language is — and the lives of tens of thousands of wild horses literally hang in the balance.
If Congress fails to protect wild horses, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has said it would like to “dispose” of so-called excess wild horses and burros by killing them. So it’s no surprise the agency is already rounding up wild horses with renewed gusto. BLM-contracted helicopters have returned once again to the Wyoming Checkerboard, where 46 wild horses were captured and removed from their homes on the range yesterday. The roundup will continue until 1,500 wild horses lose their freedom and their families. Other roundups pending in Wyoming and Nevada will remove 10,000 more wild horses from the range.
Several weeks ago, we exposed what we dubbed the Salt Lake City Slaughter Summit. Pro-slaughter politicians, bureaucrats and lobbyists gathered in Salt Lake City, excluding members of the humane management community. Despite their spin claiming a scientific and humane approach, the truth came out this week: A survey released by summit organizers shows that 99 percent of participants support eating horses. Of the top six “highly-supported options” for how to address horse and burro issues, three involved eating horses, one involved killing horses, and two involved selling horses to be killed. Protecting wild horses didn’t make the cut. What a sham.
With key U.S. Senate votes coming soon, roundups increasing, and our opponents pulling out all the stops, our movement is activating on all fronts. We’ve gathered more than 300,000 petitions signatures, we’re holding meetings with key members in DC and in home offices, our latest round of billboards are live, and we’re planning new advertisements to be released soon.
Our opponents have a lot of power and a lot of money. But we have the opinion of the American people and an incredible movement behind us. Together, we can win this.
Last week, President Trump reached a deal with Congress to provide a short-term, 3-month budget extension.
Good or bad news for horses? The answer is neither. The final votes to allow or stop slaughter are now delayed until early-December.
This delay does NOT mean we can let up between now and then. The Administration is still pushing for a policy of mass slaughter of America’s wild horses. The appropriations debates in Congress are ongoing. Given the House bill’s inclusion of horse slaughter language, it is absolutely critical that the Senate produce a bill that protects horses from mass killing and slaughter. Then we’ll have a fighting chance of prevailing when the House and Senate negotiate final spending legislation.
The Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee could vote on the Interior spending bill as early as next week.So NOW is the time to contact your Senators to weigh in to protect wild horses and burros!
Tell them to OPPOSE any 2018 spending legislation that would allow for the killing or sale for slaughter of healthy wild horses and burros.
Let’s keep up the pressure. Our petition has more than 300,000 signatures, and today we’re delivering it to Senator Dean Heller’s office in Las Vegas. We’re placing stories in publications across the country, and our team is in Washington D.C. meeting with legislators. You can support us right now by following up your call with an email to your Senators.
Keep it up!
-Suzanne Roy
P.S. We’re now also facing the reality of a longer campaign. Our hope is to sustain the same size and intensity of our campaign through the December votes. Your donations are needed to help us do it. Please contribute now.
It’s the last week of the summer congressional recess. And it’s looking increasingly likely that the fate of America’s wild horses and burros will come down to the actions of the United States Senate.
That’s why NOW is the time to call both of your U.S. Senators.
Don’t know the phone number for your Senator? Call the switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask to be connected.
Tell them:
“I’m [name] and a constituent of Sen. xx. I urge him/her to vote to ensure that any 2018 Interior Department spending legislation maintains the prohibitions against killing healthy wild horses and burros or selling them for slaughter. 80% of Americans oppose killing these national icons, please stand with us by protecting these national icons from mass killing and slaughter.”
When you’re done, you can click here to follow-up with an email to both of your Senators.
All our hard work is paying off. Last week, we exposed the sham pro-slaughter summit in Utah, we hand delivered over 300,000 petition signatures to a key swing vote in Congress, and new, bipartisan legislation was introduced to maintain the ban on killing healthy horses.
When this summer began, things looked bleak. It appeared the White House and Congress were about to do the unthinkable — open the door to the killing of nearly 100,000 healthy horses and burros. We now have a real chance to stop this, and to protect America’s majestic icons of freedom.
We cannot let up. Call, call, call. Email, email, email. Keep up the great work. You’re making a real difference.
Thank you,
Grace Kuhn
P.S. If you are able, also please consider a donation. We’re pulling out all the stops right now and every dollar helps.
This week only…Get your limited edition #ImWithTheBand T-shirt…and support our work!
We are thrilled to announce the launch of our limited-edition #ImWithTheBand T-shirts inspired by a beautiful image of Wyoming wild horses by renowned photographer, Kimerlee Curyl! For the next six days, our friends at FLOAT will donate $8 for every shirt sold to the American Wild Horse Campaign.
Please visit www.float.org and SHOP today – there are lots of fun colors and styles to choose from! This is a great way to support our work to protect America’s wild horsesand look fabulous! Don’t miss this opportunity!
In the next two months, Congress will decide whether to allow horse slaughter factories to reopen in the United States and whether to give the Bureau of Land Management license to kill up to 92,000 wild horses in holding facilities and on the range. Last week, the House Appropriations Committee passed an Interior Department spending bill that removed the prohibition on killing healthy wild horses and burros. While this is a setback, we have a much better chance of stopping this lethal legislation in the Senate… but only if your Senators hear from you. Please don’t wait to give America’s horses a voice – call Congress today!
Our team just got bad news out of the U.S. House Appropriations markup: the committee just voted to add a pro-slaughter amendment, acceding to the barbaric request of the Interior Department to kill these majestic animals.
The members of this committee rejected the will of 80% of Americans who do not want slaughter; they rejected the science that shows these animals can be managed with humane birth control; and they rejected every major animal welfare organization who condemned the cruelty of this slaughter policy.
They should be ashamed. But this fight is not over!
We can still stop this horse slaughter provision before a vote by the full House of Representatives or in the U.S. Senate. We need your help.
The amendment, which passed on a voice vote, allows for the wholesale destruction of healthy wild horses and burros that the BLM deems “unadoptable” or “overpopulated.” The committee knew just how unpopular their stance was — that’s why they replaced “slaughter” with “destruction.” But it’s same barbaric policy with different words.
Over the past few days, we’ve launched an unprecedented campaign to try to save America’s wild horses, including a TV ad buy in four key markets and the release of new polling showing 80% of Americans favor continuing anti-slaughter protections for wild horses.
Why the urgent push? Tomorrow, the full House Appropriations Committee is expected to vote on the new Interior Department budget — and we are told our opponents will attempt to add language to authorize the mass slaughter of America’s wild horses.
The fate of America’s wild horses may come down to your Congressperson. Will you contact he/she right now?
1) Call Your Rep at202-225-3121 and say: side with 80% of Americans — #NoHorseSlaughter, no way!
2) Click the icons below and Tweet and/or Facebook to your Representative.
We’ll keep you updated as the votes unfold. This is one of the most critical weeks we have ever had in the fight to protect wild horses and prevent what could be one of the largest mass slaughter’s of wild animals in our history.
Thank you for being with us,
Suzanne Roy
American Wild Horse Campaign
P.S. Please also consider an emergency donation to help us continue our Virginia TV ad buy.
His house and all his belongings had just been destroyed by California’s Wall Fire, but his concern was for Dane, the donkey that a dying friend gave him seven years ago.
You know the special connection we have with our animal companions. Whether a dog or a cat, a horse or a donkey, they are our family.
And so Ricky was overjoyed when he learned that firemen and our partner, NVADG, had rescued Dane. The poor donkey has suffered severe burns and smoke inhalation and will need ongoing care for several months.
Our rescue team is still on the ground in Butte County helping the animal victims of the Wall Fire that has scorched more than 6,000 acres and destroyed dozens of homes.
We’ve helped rescue, shelter and care for more than 150 animals … from dogs and cats suffering from smoke inhalation, to injured goats, horses – and yes, even donkeys.
You can help! The animal victims still need you, and your gift today can help us continue to provide them with everything they need until they can reunite with their families and return home.
You’ll help the animal victims of this devastating fire and so many other animals that are suffering and need care.
I’m thrilled that we could help Ricky find Dane.
So many times, when disasters strike and people lose so much, the reunion with their animal companions is the first glimmer of hope they feel.
It heals their broken hearts and helps set them on the road to recovery.
You can help heal more hearts with your donation today.
NO HORSE LEFT BEHIND! – 49 Mustangs Saved from Slaughter!
Yes 49…. WE DID IT!!! Thanks to everyone who stepped up we were able to save the lives of ALL 49 mustangs we were called to help.After these mustangs are rounded up, we get a courtesy phone call and we are the only chance they have to avoid being shipped directly to slaughter.
Initially we were not supposed to bring any horses back to Chilly Pepper – Miracle Mustang. But how do you look deep into the eyes of the stallions and simply walk away. CPMM is one of the few places who can take on wild stallions, and no one else was going to step up. As they stood there patiently staring at me, the decision was made.
How can you walk away from horses you CAN save, and look in the mirror? Yes, it makes things extremely difficult at times, and is much more expensive as we incur the gelding costs before we can place them, not to mention stallions can be a lot of work. However, the only alternative was to look at them and say “nope – you are too much trouble – die a horrible death”, and it was not an option as we did have the capability of saving them.
So not one horse was left behind – this time…. Unfortunately I have already been warned the phone will be ringing again in a week or two.
But right now we need to concentrate on our orphans, and getting our boys gelded. We cannot place them without them being gelded which means none of the next group of stallions have any chance to be saved.
We now have 3 babies who are on Foal Lac Powder ($149 per bag if we drive 3 hours to pick it up.) They are also on Foal Lac Pellets, ($99 per bag) and we are supplementing with Baby Goat’s milk as it is less expensive and easy to digest and has lots of fat. Add to that their hay, grain and medical care and it eats up the budget quickly.
I am really praying hard that some of the monies that were “promised” for this last rescue come through. We had some folks pledge enough money to make this possible without total devastation to our entire budget.
Unfortunately those funds have not yet arrived, which means our budget is nearly depleted. So until these funds are replaced, we won’t be able to save the next group. The cost of this rescue averaged about $250 (per horse) x 49, which is pretty good when you consider that covers saving them, vetting them, delivering them safely to their new homes and all fuel costs.
Unfortunately, this does not include feeding and caring for the stallions or getting them vetted. We need to buy hay asap. The horses came in pretty thin and beat up and they need extra groceries.
What makes things even harder is that Chilly Pepper – Miracle Mustang, (and all of YOU who helped save the 900+), spent thousands to save the horses at ISPMB. All the funds were supposed to be reimbursed when we went the second time, but we all know how expensive rescue is. It simply did not happen. So our funds were already depleted immeasurably.
However, that was a successful life saving rescue for over 700 horses. There are still horses left, and we offered to place more through Chilly Pepper. However, due to things beyond our control, that did not happen. So although together we helped save over 700, as many as 100+ may face a “merciful end to their lives”. This sounds horrible, and breaks my heart, but at least none of them will face slaughter like the ones we are rescuing at this time.
There is no choice of where to concentrate at this point. A quick painless end to life or a devastating trip through slaughter, where they are often butchered while still alive – the answer is clear – save as many of the Yakama ponies as we can.
Kim Clark took 25 of the mares and foals at “A Little Piece of Heaven” in Idaho. She is a huge part of our success as she is part of the team that finds homes for these horses.
Wendy & Mike Hanson at Mountain Ranch Equine Rehab took 8 to gentle and match up with “their person”. They work with troubled youth and are using some of the wild ones for therapy for some of our amazing heroes (our beloved veterans).
Kayleen and Clint, out of Oregon, took on 5 fillies and young mares to train and re-home, and we have 10 stallions and a mare at Chilly Pepper.
(We like folks to know that they are actually safe!)
Below, meet the newest orphan “My Heart in the Sky” aka SKY for short, with Rocky and no-name in the background (My niece is picking “no-name” out a very special name. lol) Sky is named after our beloved friend Les Stedronsky, may she rest in all God’s glory. We love you and we miss you so, Les!
THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS HAPPEN! We so appreciate the love and support and I am working on Thank You’s as quickly as I can. We still need your help. So please let’s keep saving lives. Together we are making a difference!
If you want to help You can go to You Caring – to help us keep saving lives..
