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.
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.
We want to be very cognizant of the reality facing our country. For many, this is an incredibly stressful time, financially and emotionally, as well as very painful, difficult, and upsetting.
We also know that many of you are using your platforms, resources, and time to address injustices and support your communities in a time of need.
All of us at AWHC continue to be inspired and amazed that, despite these hardships, so many of you continue to stay involved, stay engaged, and support not only us but America’s wild horses and burros. This is so important because the Bureau of Land Management continues its assault on these iconic animals and is even stepping it up during this crisis, when the public’s attention is directed elsewhere.
That’s evident in the BLM’s newly unveiled roundup schedule for the Summer/Fall, which we discuss below. But for this newsletter, we don’t want to share only the bad news. There’s some uplifting news as well, and we’ve included a few photos and videos that might brighten your day.
BREAKING: Bureau of Land Management Outlines Largest Removal Of Wild Horses In a Decade
Last month, the Bureau of Land Management submitted a report to Congress that outlines a plan to conduct mass roundups over the next 18-20 years and slash wild horse and burro populations on public lands by 70%.
The agency is planning to launch Phase 1 of its assault next month, with the roundup and removal of 5,000 federally-protected wild horses and burros from BLM lands between July 1 and September 30.
This means that, for Fiscal Year 2020 (Oct. 1, 2019 – September 30, 2020), over 12,000 innocent wild horses and burros will lose their freedom. To put this in perspective, that’s the largest number in the last decade.
If the BLM has its way, that is only the beginning. In its new report, the BLM is proposing to use helicopters to capture and remove 18,000-20,000 wild horses and burros from public lands EACH YEAR for the foreseeable future.
The roundups that will begin next month will have an added component of brutality. Using helicopters to drive wild horses and burros for miles in punishing summer temperatures often results in fatalities. Summer roundups are particularly tough on the tiny foals that are on the range this time of year.
These vulnerable babies have been literally run to death in past roundups, collapsing and dying as their mothers look on helplessly. The BLM lists the cause of death as “capture myopathy,” defined as “muscle damage that results from extreme exertion, struggle or stress.”
According to the BLM’s new roundup schedule, Nevada and Utah will be the epicenter of the summer roundups, the largest of which include:
Shawave Mountains Herd Management Area, Nevada: 1,600 wild horses and 200 wild burros targeted for removal.
Diamond Complex, Nevada: 1,200 wild horses to be removed.
Sulphur Herd Management Area, Utah: 600 wild horses to be rounded up
AWHC will be onsite to document these roundups and we’re prepared to fight back if the BLM attempts to use the coronavirus pandemic to restrict public access. (Social distancing is not a problem out on the range.)
UPDATE: Wild Horse Champions in Congress Stand Up To The U.S. Forest Service
During April and May, AWHC and our partners at the Animal Welfare Institute sounded the alarm about the lack of critical safeguards and transparency associated with the U.S. Forest Service’s selling of wild horses from the Devil’s Garden Wild Horse Territory in California. (The horses were captured last fall in a helicopter roundup.)
The Forest Service has been selling these federally-protected wild horses for as little as $1 a piece, without meaningful limits on the number of horses a buyer can purchase at one time, and no adequate vetting procedures to ensure that buyers have the resources and facilities necessary to safely care for horses.
This lack of safeguards places the horses at higher risk of abuse or slaughter.
We brought our concerns to Congress and we’re pleased to announce that a bipartisan group of wild horse champions has taken action for the Devil’s Garden horses.
Representatives Ted Lieu, Brian Fitzpatrick, Steve Cohen, Joe Neguse, Jan Schakowsky, and Dina Titus sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Forest Service, requesting that it adopt policies for its sales and adoption program to ensure oversight, transparency and protection, including measures to prevent federally-protected wild horses from ending up in the hands of kill buyers or others who might abuse and neglect them.
Additionally, these Congressmembers have called on the Forest Service to cease sales until these reforms are in place and pandemic restrictions are fully lifted.
We will continue to build on this important action to hold the Forest Service accountable for the welfare of the wild horses it is mandated under federal law to protect.
A Great Way To Stay Up To Date With Our Team In Nevada On The Virginia Range
AWHC is incredibly proud of the dedication and hard work of our staff and volunteers on the Virginia Range in Nevada.
We also know that many of you have reached out, asking if there is a better way to stay up to date with our team there: And there is!
Our team operates the Facebook group “Stay Wild! AWHC Nevada” where we post and share photos, videos, and updates on a near-daily basis to provide supporters with the opportunity to see and hear what they see in the field each and every day.
A perfect example? One of our volunteers, from a safe distance, captured an incredible moment on video: The first steps of a wild foal with her mother.
Especially in these uncertain and difficult times, little videos like these can help lift our spirits and improve our mood. And they serve as a powerful reminder about why we do the work that we do.
If you would like to learn more about our program on the Virginia Range (the largest in the world!) you can read more here.
We are all in this together — thank you for being part of our herd!
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.
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.
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!
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.
As many of you know, we’re in the midst of foaling season. That’s when pregnant mares welcome the newest additions to their families and herds to the world.
But with the excitement of welcoming a new life into the world comes risk and danger.
With AWHC volunteer fertility control darters in the field every day in Nevada’s Virginia Range, our team is often the first responder to foals in need. Working through a local coalition of organizations, orphaned and injured foals are rescued, stabilized, provided veterinary care, and nursed back to health so they can be adopted into forever homes.
For the last several years, AWHC has been proud to support the local effort through our foal rescue fund. This year, we’re providing foal rescue kits to rescue volunteers so they have everything they need to save these innocent babies’ lives. Our rescue fund also assists with veterinary bills, care and transportation of foals to sanctuary/training facilities.
Our foal kits are small, compact, easy to carry into the field — Because when a foal is hurt, the difference between recovery and not making it can be a matter of hours, if not minutes.
Inside each are essential emergency supplies, including but not limited to: disinfectant, colostrum (formula) and electrolytes to help stabilize the foal, bandages to cover any exposed wounds, blankets for foals in shock or for transport, and medical equipment in the event volunteers need to perform life-saving care.
These kits have all the things we need in a really organized way. We can bandage [foals] up quickly and prepare to get them to a vet ASAP. Before we had these kits, my bags were a mish-mash [of supplies]. I would have to dump everything out on the range to find what I needed, these kits make it easy and it’s really great for our entire team, especially when time is not on our side.”
– Tracy Wilson, rescue volunteer & member of AWHC fertility control team
The local volunteers work incredibly hard. And I want to ensure this foaling season that they have every resource at their disposal when crisis strikes so they can save these foals and get them the care they need to heal, recover, and find their forever homes.
The only “crime” wild horses have committed is being born wild. With a fair resource allocation, our public lands could easily support the existing wild horse population — and claims to the contrary are being promoted by the livestock industry, which has everything to gain from the horses’ elimination.
NO wild horse should be cruelly stampeded by helicopters, trapped and sent to crowded holding pens.
NO mare should have her ovaries barbarically removed through an outdated surgical procedure that has been condemned by veterinarians, animal protection groups, and scientists.
NO foal should be separated from his or her family and sold off in auctions, sometimes for as little as $1 (in the case of horses removed from Forest Service land).
AWHC is fighting to make sure that wild horses and burros are protected. And we’re getting results — we’ve delayed roundups and proven that they are unnecessary with our model fertility control program. We’ve prevented the BLM from conducting dangerous and inhumane sterilization surgeries that would endanger individual horses and threaten wild herds. We’re currently fighting to stop the BLM from rounding up 3,000 wild horses in Wyoming and to prevent the Forest Service’s ‘horse dumping’ policy.
Today, AWHC officially launched our new webinar series ‘Wild Horse 101.’
The response was incredible! In fact, so many people RSVP’d and tried to join the webinar that we quickly hit capacity for the maximum number of viewers on the platform.
Many of you reached out to us — that you couldn’t view the webinar as a result or wanted to participate but were busy at the time of the viewing.
That’s why we wanted to make the webinar available to you here to view so you can watch it without any issues and at your leisure.
↓ Watch Today’s Webinar ↓
Thank you for helping make the launch of our webinar a success and we wanted to apologize for any technical issues or confusion for those who tried to join but were not able to.
We appreciate your patience and are thankful to count you among our supporters!
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 TOMORROW, April 30, with the launch of our ‘Wild Horses 101’ webinar series. You can RSVP here.
We’ll be discussing the origins of wild horses in the Americas, Wild Horse Annie and the beginning of the movement to save America’s wild horses, some of the major policies and proposals being implemented and considered by the Bureau of Land Management, and so much more!
We want this to be an interactive and engaging experience, so during the webinar, you will have the chance to ask questions and we’d be glad to answer them.
We hope to hear from you and look forward to speaking with you all,
American Wild Horse Campaign
P.S. — If you already registered before the webinar was postponed, you do not need to register again.
This past weekend, AWHC launched a major initiative, #KeepWyWyld, as part of our national effort to prevent the Bureau of Land Management from moving forward with a plan known as The Wyoming Wild Horse Wipeout.
If it moves forward, irreversible damage will be done to Wyoming’s cherished wild horses and half of the state’s wild horse habitat will be gone for good.
That’s why I’m reaching out to you now. Since launching this initiative just last week, the outpouring of support has been incredible. In fact, it’s exceeding all of our expectations.
But if we’re going to succeed and save these horses, then we all need to do our part and we don’t have much time. Which is why we’ve outlined five ways you can get involved and provided an update on how we’re tracking toward our goals ahead of the April 30 deadline for public comments.
Here Are 5 Ways You Can #KeepWyomingWyld This Weekend
April 30 is the deadline to submit public comments in opposition to the Bureau of Land Management’s Wyoming Wild Horse Wipeout proposal, which would result in more than 3,000 wild horses being rounded up and permanently removed from public lands.
That gives us less than ONE week to PROVE to the BLM that the American people oppose this devastating mustang eradication plan.
Wyoming’s tourism slogan is “Don’t Fence Me In,” and the state’s iconic wild horses symbolize that sentiment. In fact, the Pilot Butte Wild Horse Scenic Loop in the Checkerboard is promoted by the state’s tourism boards as “something you and your family will never forget because Sweetwater County’s cherished wild horses are living examples of a wide-open landscape and untamed frontier spirit.”
Incredibly, the BLM’s plan would eradicate every single wild horse from the viewing loop, fencing these symbols of the wide open West in dismal feedlots!
Write to Wyoming’s tourism boards here and ask them to join our efforts to prevent the destruction of the iconic Wyoming Checkerboard mustangs.
Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon has the power to oppose and potentially change the course of the Wyoming Wild Horse Wipeout. In fact, his state is looking to purchase a large chunk of these lands from Occidental Petroleum and could designate the area as a recreational resource in which wild horses are protected.
Take part in AWHC’s national petition drive to demonstrate the immense public pressure in opposition to the eradication of Wyoming’s wild horses.
If we’re going to save these horses, then we need to get everyone involved, including our friends, family, and coworkers.
So many people who love wild horses aren’t aware of what’s at stake in Wyoming — And just a couple minutes of their time can make a difference.
Add a frame to your Facebook profile picture in support of Wyoming’s wild horses here
Change your Facebook cover photo and upload Instagram stories in support of the horses here
Start a Tweet storm and get people talking on Twitter about this issue here
Our legal team has been heavily involved in fighting back against attempts by the BLM and the livestock industry to round up tens of thousands of wild horses, permanently remove them from public lands, and perform dangerous sterilization surgeries on mares. We’ve been fighting the attempt to eradicate the Wyoming Checkerboard horses since 2011.
Not only have we achieved a number of important legal protections but also our legal team has scored victories in fourteen separate lawsuits filed over the last nine years!
The future of the Wyoming Checkerboard wild horse herds is in danger. The Bureau of Land Management’s proposed Wyoming Wild Horse Wipeout would result in the state losing more than HALF of its wild horse habitat.
Nearly 40% of the state’s wild horse population would be roundup and removed from the wild — all to allow the livestock industry and private ranchers to replace them with cattle and sheep after targeting the state’s wild horses for elimination for years.
That’s why on this Earth Day, we’ve set the 24-hour goal of raising $10,000 toward the AWHC Wyoming Legal Defense Fund.
We know this is a difficult time and many of you are not in a position to donate right now.
But at a time when the BLM is threatening to round up as many as 20,000 wild horses per year and proposing the eradication of Wyoming’s Checkerboard horses, your support is what allows us to: continue spreading the word about this cruel and costly plan, organize throughout the country in support of America’s wild horses, fight back in the courts through our legal team, operate the world’s largest humane fertility control program for wild horses, and so much more.
P.S. — We’ve gone to court three times to defend the Wyoming Checkerboard horses — and each time we’ve won. Now we’re gearing up for a fourth legal battle … and this one is literally the last stand for these iconic mustangs. Please help if you can.
At the beginning of this week, we reached out to you about a devastating plan being proposed that represents an existential threat to Wyoming’s wild horses.
The stakes have never been higher for Wyoming’s Checkerboard wild horse herd: Over 3,000 of them could be rounded up and removed from public lands while nearly 2.5 MILLION acres of wild horse habitat could be permanently eliminated.
Here Are 5 Ways You Can #KeepWyomingWyld This Weekend
April 30 is the deadline to submit public comments in opposition to the Bureau of Land Management’s Wyoming Wild Horse Wipeout proposal.
That gives us less than two weeks to PROVE to the BLM that the American people oppose this devastating mustang eradication plan.
Wyoming’s tourism slogan is “Don’t Fence Me In,” and the state’s iconic wild horses symbolize that sentiment. In fact, the Pilot Butte Wild Horse Scenic Loop in the Checkerboard is promoted by the state’s tourism boards as “something you and your family will never forget because Sweetwater County’s cherished wild horses are living examples of a wide-open landscape and untamed frontier spirit.”
Incredibly, the BLM’s plan would eradicate every single wild horse from the viewing loop, fencing these symbols of the wide open West in dismal feedlots!
Write to Wyoming’s tourism boards here and ask them to join our efforts to prevent the destruction of the iconic Wyoming Checkerboard mustangs.
Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon has the power to oppose and potentially change the course of the Wyoming Wild Horse Wipeout. In fact, his state is looking to purchase a large chunk of these lands from Occidental Petroleum and could designate the area as a recreational resource in which wild horses are protected.
Take part in AWHC’s national petition drive to demonstrate the immense public pressure in opposition to the eradication of Wyoming’s wild horses.
If we’re going to save these horses, then we need to get everyone involved, including our friends, family, and coworkers.
So many people who love wild horses aren’t aware of what’s at stake in Wyoming — And just a couple minutes of their time can make a difference.
Add a frame to your Facebook profile picture in support of Wyoming’s wild horses here
Change your Facebook cover photo and upload Instagram stories in support of the horses here
Start a Tweet storm and get people talking on Twitter about this issue here
Our legal team has been heavily involved in fighting back against attempts by the BLM and the livestock industry to round up tens of thousands of wild horses, permanently remove them from public lands, and perform dangerous sterilization surgeries on mares. We’ve been fighting the attempt to eradicate the Wyoming Checkerboard horses since 2011.
Not only have we achieved a number of important legal protections but also our legal team has scored victories in fourteen separate lawsuits filed over the last nine years!
For nearly a decade, the Checkerboard wild horse population has been a top target of the powerful Rock Springs Grazing Association and the livestock industry. Now, the Bureau of Land Management is preparing to bend to their demands and deal a devastating, irreversible blow to Wyoming’s wild horses.
The scope of the proposed plan is unprecedented, and will result in the destruction of the magnificent wild horses of the Wyoming Checkerboard. If we fail to generate a massive show of force, these horses will be lost forever.
Today is a major milestone for us. One year ago, we signed an agreement with the State of Nevada to launch a PZP fertility control program for the famed Virginia Range wild horse herd in Nevada. It’s now the largest humane wild horse fertility control program in the world.
Our mission was to prove that there is an effective and cost-efficient way to humanely manage wild horse populations without expensive roundups, crowded holding corrals, or dangerous sterilization surgeries.
We’re proud to announce that this program hasn’t just been a success, it has exceeded all expectations. And we wanted to give you an inside look at this historic program as we expand on this work in the months ahead.
↓ Watch The Video ↓
In our program, volunteer darters deliver the safe and effective fertility control vaccine PZP remotely to wild mares on the range. The vaccine is 97% effective in preventing pregnancy and is an excellent tool to keep wild horses in balance with their environment.
And, unlike the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) $81 million-a-year roundup program, our program is cost-effective and most importantly, keeps wild horses where they belong: in the wild.
From the get-go, there were skeptics: “How do you expect to deliver fertility control in such a large wild horse population in such a vast habitat area?”
But we didn’t back down from the challenge. Our team — including our incredible volunteers — worked hard, day-in and day-out. And tens of thousands of you supported this work along the way.
Over the course of this past year, our mostly volunteer team delivered over 1,700 fertility control treatments (primers and boosters) to more than 950 mares in the 300,000-acre Virginia Range. That number represents nearly 80% of the reproductive-age mares in this roughly 3,000-horse mustang population.
The Stunning News? Our team actually OUTPERFORMED the BLM’s own program to administer fertility control!
We didn’t do this alone. This successful effort would not be possible without our village of partners and supporters — the Nevada Department of Agriculture, political and business leaders, including Governor Steve Sisolak, Assemblyman Jim Wheeler, tech company Blockchains LLC and real estate developer Lance Gilman, to local wild horse organizations, our amazing team of dedicated volunteers, and generous supporters like you.
I hope that you feel as proud as I do of this work, our team in Nevada, and what we have all achieved together.
Even as we celebrate these accomplishments, we know that this work is far from over. The BLM and the livestock industry continue to push for a multi-billion dollar plan to round up and remove more than 100,000 wild horses from public lands in the next ten years.
We’ll continue to fight back using every resource at our disposal. And, even during these difficult times for our country, we’ll work to expand our operations in Nevada — home to more than half of the nation’s remaining wild horses — to continue to show that wild horses can be managed humanely and to ensure that America’s mustangs stay wild and free.
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.
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.
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.
My name is Deb Walker and I’m AWHC’s Field Representative here in Nevada. I coordinate our amazing team of volunteers on the Virginia Range implementing the world’s largest humane management program for wild horses.
AWHC reached out on Monday asking for donations of $30 to cover the costs of the cornerstone of this program — the $30 fertility control vaccine known as PZP. We’ve had an incredible response and outpouring of support since then.
As a result, we can cover the costs of 321 (!) annual vaccines for wild mares. Our team of volunteers is working hard and I want to let them know we have the supplies we need to not only maintain this program but to expand it!
Nevada Field Representative
American Wild Horse Campaign
Read Our Previous Message Below:
We know that this is a difficult time for the country and for many of you. If you are not in a position to financially support our work, we completely understand. But for those of you who can, give us a moment to explain why we’re asking for $30.
In Nevada’s Virginia Range, AWHC operates the world’s largest humane management program for wild horses. Next week marks the one year anniversary of the establishment of this historic initiative to prove to the world that there is a humane way to manage wild horse populations that doesn’t require mass roundups, crowded holding corrals, dangerous sterilization surgeries or slaughter.
The cornerstone of this highly successful program is the remote darting of wild mares with the scientifically proven fertility vaccine known as ‘PZP’. Our work on the Virginia Range continues uninterrupted despite the COVID-19 pandemic and our volunteers are working hard, day-in and day-out, to vaccinate these mares.
The price of a single mare’s annual PZP vaccine is just $30.
Compare that to the tens of thousands of dollars the Bureau of Land Management spends on the roundup and long-term holding involved in the removal of a single horse.
Let alone the $5 BILLION figure the Acting Director of the BLM is citing as the cost of a plan to round up over 100,000 horses from public lands over the next decade, with the goal of rounding up as many as 20,000 in 2020 alone.
We know that this is a difficult time for the country and for many of you. If you are not in a position to financially support our work, we completely understand. But for those of you who can, give us a moment to explain why we’re asking for $30.
In Nevada’s Virginia Range, AWHC operates the world’s largest humane management program for wild horses. Next week marks the one year anniversary of the establishment of this historic initiative to prove to the world that there is a humane way to manage wild horse populations that doesn’t require mass roundups, crowded holding corrals, dangerous sterilization surgeries or slaughter.
The cornerstone of this highly successful program is the remote darting of wild mares with the scientifically proven fertility vaccine known as ‘PZP’. Our work on the Virginia Range continues uninterrupted despite the COVID-19 pandemic and our volunteers are working hard, day-in and day-out, to vaccinate these mares.
The price of a single mare’s annual PZP vaccine is just $30.
Compare that to the tens of thousands of dollars the Bureau of Land Management spends on the roundup and long-term holding involved in the removal of a single horse.
Let alone the $5 BILLION figure the Acting Director of the BLM is citing as the cost of a plan to round up over 100,000 horses from public lands over the next decade, with the goal of rounding up as many as 20,000 in 2020 alone.
