AWHC has an incredible team of staff, specialists and volunteers across the country working to keep America’s wild horses and burros wild.
The Bureau of Land Management is trying to convince Congress that mass roundups and surgical sterilization of wild horses are the only solutions to managing America’s wild horse and burro population. With the capitulation of the ASPCA, HSUS and Return to Freedom to the livestock industry agenda, we’re the last ones standing fighting for the future of wild herds.
Make no mistake: the scale of the removals proposed — a staggering 130,000 wild horses and burros over the next ten years — will result in both the destruction of wild horses and burro populations in the wild and the mass slaughter of those held in captivity.
AWHC is fighting back hard, in Congress, in the courts and in the field where we’re implementing humane management programs to prove that wild horses and burros can be managed without harming them.
The Acting Director of the Bureau of Land Management labeled wild horses and burros as the greatest threat to public lands. He’s spreading disinformation and throwing his support behind cruel plans that could result in the wholesale slaughter of these beautiful animals in our lifetimes.
We refuse to let him get away with this. So when you make a donation to support AWHC, here’s where your money is going:
Education and Advocacy — From Nevada and Utah, to Oregon and Wyoming, sometimes the only public observer on site for roundups is one of our field representatives. But we do more than document these cruel acts. Over the past ten years, we’ve grown our grassroots base 100x in size so that we can be a powerful collective voice for protection of wild horses and burros and against their slaughter.
In The Wild Management — In northern Nevada, AWHC is implementing the world’s largest humane management program for wild horses. The cornerstone of this highly successful program is the remote darting of wild mares with the birth control vaccine PZP. We’re proving that there is a cost-effective, humane, and safe way to manage wild horses that would make roundups and slaughter a relic of the past.
Legislation — From statehouses to the U.S. Capitol, AWHC ensures that wild horses and burros have a voice in both state and federal government. We spearheaded state efforts like California’s AB 128 (which passed this year) and fought successfully in Congress to defeat language that would allow for the transfer and mass killing of wild horses.
Litigation — AWHC and our coalition partners have a strong record of successful litigation, winning over 90% of the cases we file. We’re currently involved in six major lawsuits to prevent inhumane surgical experiments on mares as well as prevent the removal of thousands of wild horses throughout the West. Over the years, we’ve put in place precedents that will stand the test of time, upholding important legal protections granted by Congress to America’s iconic mustangs and burros.
We wanted to share this incredible news with you: A generous donor is pledging to match ALL donations up to $50,000 between now and midnight tomorrow for #GivingTuesday.
This year, a $5 billion plan was introduced that would put wild horses and burros on the pathway to extinction. The commercial livestock industry is pushing for the implementation of this plan that would accelerate roundups and remove an unprecedented number of wild horses and burros from our public lands.
Our wild horses and burros don’t have corporate lobbyists and PACs to advocate on their behalf. But our staff, our volunteers, and generous supporters like you? We give them a voice and we give them a fighting chance.
We will never stop fighting. Your donation helps us support legislation to prevent the slaughter of horses and powers our legal team to make roundups a thing of the past.
It gives our team the resources and tools it needs to document roundups and our volunteers the equipment necessary to dart horses with fertility control to prove there is an ethical, cost-effective way to manage wild horses that doesn’t include inhumane roundups and slaughter.
For many of us, the #CyberMonday deals are hard, if not impossible, to beat. They offer the perfect opportunity to purchase presents and gifts for coworkers, friends, and family ahead of the holiday season.
But did you know that if you are purchasing through Amazon, you can help us save wild horses and burros? By using our nonprofit link (here!), a portion of your purchases will go towards our work to keep wild horses and burros wild.
And if you haven’t checked it out, you can get your hands on everything from calendars to coffee, clothing and prints to make the perfect gift for the animal lover in your life (or, just treat yourself!).
Go wild with your gift-giving this year and a portion of the proceeds will go toward the fight to keep wild horses and burros wild!
We’re thinking about gratitude this week, and want you to know how deeply grateful we are that you are part of our “herd.”
We know that some of the news we share with you is heartbreaking and sometimes difficult to stomach. But it’s important to remember that, together, we’ve accomplished some incredible work this year despite the obstacles — And that’s thanks to you and your continued support.
At a time when the threats against wild horses and burros continue to grow, we’ve experienced an outpouring of support from all across the nation by dedicated and compassionate people who are taking a stand to defend these beautiful animals.
Never underestimate the impact you are making. It’s making all of the difference. So on behalf of our team and America’s wild horses and burros: Thank you.
Warmest wishes to you and your family for a very Happy Thanksgiving.
We’re officially one week away from #GivingTuesday, which is one of the largest days for charitable giving in the United States for the entire year. Our ability to hit our annual fundraising goal at the end of the year depends on having a successful #GivingTuesday.
Here’s Why We Need Your Help: Over the past weeks, we’ve been sharing the news with you. The BLM outlined a $5 billion plan that could result in the removal and potential wholesale slaughter of America’s wild horse population in our lifetimes.
The Congress is currently considering giving the BLM more money to accelerate roundups and begin implementation of the plan. This is the biggest threat to mustangs and wild burros in generations and it could begin early next year — Which means we’re in a fight for their lives in 2020.
Our 2020 budget and the extent to which we can fight back (and expand our work in critical areas!) depends on reaching our end of year fundraising goal. And the only way we can achieve that is if we can bring on 5,000 individual donations on #GivingTuesday.
This is an ambitious goal, we know. But the stakes have never been higher and with your help, we will rise to the occasion.
Together, we are unstoppable,
American Wild Horse Campaign
P.S. — If you can’t donate, we completely understand. But there’s a way you can help us out without giving a cent. Share this email with three friends to help us spread the word and recruit more friends of America’s wild horses and burros!
“Zero wild horses.” That is the Appropriate Management Level the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) set for the Seaman and White River Herd Areas (HAs) in Nevada.
As a result, the BLM rounded up and removed 294 wild horses from these HAs this month with 9 dead. AWHC asked the BLM to delay any action until the court ruled in our Caliente Complex lawsuit about the legality of such a decision.
The BLM proceeded, until they halted the roundup because most of the horses were at higher elevations in the juniper forests where the helicopters couldn’t get them. The BLM says it will resume in January when the temperatures drop and the horses come down to lower ground. The BLM did allow public observation during this month’s roundup and most days, our observer was the only member of the public onsite to document and monitor the operation.
We are the eyes and ears on the ground. If it weren’t for that lone AWHC field representative, the public wouldn’t have insight, nor the BLM accountability, regarding this roundup — and many others.
Below Are Photos Our Observer Took During The Seaman and White River Roundup:
These photos are heartbreaking. Wild horses deserve to be free and live in the wild. That’s why it is critical we continue to observe, document and report on the atrocities the BLM is committing, while continuing to fight in the courts, in Congress and in the field to stop the roundups and implement humane management.
Wild horses and burros are quickly disappearing from our public lands. The round ups continue despite proof that the stated numbers on our public lands are far fewer than reported. Often, wild horses and burros adopted through the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) adoption program do not land in good hands. Especially, those who came out of the program from 15 years ago. This is because people don’t know how to train a wild equine so they end up forgetting about them. Or hurting them through the frustration caused by not knowing what to do. Here at TMR Rescue we are doing all we can to help these animals in need of a good home. TMR Rescue has over 60 wild burros with more on the way within the month. We also have 6 beautiful wild mustangs at the ranch that live along side one of our wild burro herds.
Some of our New Arrivals
New Wild Burros on the Run
Some of our Mustangs having a blast
Your donations will go directly towards taking care of our wild animals.
Four months. It’s been nearly four months since the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) passed the deadline to submit a report to Congress regarding the future of the Wild Horse and Burro Program.
Despite that, the Acting Director of the BLM has made time to serve the interests of his former clients and piece together a propaganda campaign in support of a $5 billion plan that will likely end with the slaughter of America’s wild horses.
This comes at a time when Congress is considering allocating more money to the Wild Horse and Burro Program without even seeing the BLM’s critical report!
We’re not the only ones fed up with this. Seven members of Congress are teaming up to demand the BLM issue this report ASAP since they missed the latest deadline.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced its decision to round up and permanently remove ALL wild horses from the Caliente Herd Area (HA) Complex in Nevada.
It should come as no surprise that the BLM did not consider reductions to domestic livestock in the same area before announcing its intention to eradicate the Caliente Complex mustangs. This comes as the Acting Director of the BLM has repeatedly sided with private livestock owners over the lives of wild horses.
But this decision is different from authorizing a standalone roundup — The BLM decision would eradicate mustangs in eight of the nine Herd Management Areas (HMAs) in the Caliente Complex.
That’s why AWHC joined with The Cloud Foundation (TCF) and Western Watersheds Project (WWP) to sue the BLM and stop them.
Under federal law, mustangs are one of two animals in our country specifically protected by an Act of Congress. The bald eagle is the other. As part of the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, wild horse populations must be managed to maintain “a thriving natural ecological balance.”
1 ) By refusing to protect wild horses or give full consideration to the long term impacts of this wild horse wipeout plan, the BLM deprived the American people of the opportunity to assess and respond to the rationale underlying this major decision.
2 ) Additionally, the BLM must consider reasonable alternatives short of the outright elimination of wild horses in these HMAs. By refusing to consider a reduction in livestock grazing, the BLM is violating the National Environmental Policy Act , its mandate to protect wild horses under the 1971 Wild Horse Act.
3 ) Remember — more than 500% more BLM land is authorized for livestock than for wild horses and burros in the West, and many of these private livestock owners benefit from as much as half a billion dollars annually in taxpayer subsidies. The claims of wild horse “overpopulation” by the BLM are false, further evidenced by the fact that wild horses are not found on 88% of BLM lands.
That’s why AWHC’s legal team is suing. Our suit regarding the Caliente Complex was just fully briefed on summary judgment, meaning it is officially moving forward at a time when the threat of slaughter is once again looming large.
The Bureau of Land Management is moving fast — This past week alone the BLM concluded a roundup in the Challis Herd Management Area (HMA) in central Idaho and announced that the agency will be moving forward with a plan to reduce the size of the wild horse and burro population in the Twin Peaks HMA in northeast California by 80% over the next 10 years.
Challis Roundup: 295 Wild Horses Captured
The BLM forcibly removed 295 wild horses from the Challis HMA between Nov. 5 and Nov. 11 as part of the Idaho roundup. This week the agency is expected to complete a census flight to determine how many wild horses will be returned to the 169,000-acre area.
The vast majority of the wild horses removed from these public lands will not be returned to the wild. Many will spend their lives in the BLM’s holding facilities, or worse, face being killed or sold for slaughter if Congress pulls the plug on funding for their long-term care.
We can expect the roundups to be greatly accelerated if the Senate approves the $5 billion plan, pushed by the livestock industry and BLM’s Acting Director, which would reduce wild horse populations in the West to near extinction levels.
You can read more about the Challis Roundup in this article from the Idaho Statesman here.
Twin Peaks HMA: BLM Officially Moves to Reduce Herd Size
The BLM recently released its management plan for the wild horses and burros of the Twin Peaks HMA — Including future helicopter roundups and fertility control over the next ten years.
According to the Sierra Sun Times: “This plan calls for several approaches, including using helicopter drive trapping, bait-and-water trapping and fertility control to reduce the herd … over ten years.”
While AWHC supports using fertility control, we do not support the drastic reduction in herd sizes for wild horses and burros in this HMA.
Nearly 90% of the existing wild burro population will be removed over ten years, leaving just 72 animals on the range and destroying the genetic health of this herd.
For the Twin Peaks wild horses the plan is almost as bad: reduce the herd by 80% and release castrated stallions (geldings) onto the range, a move that will take the wild out of these wild horses by destroying their natural behaviors. AWHC has a pending case at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that will determine whether or not the BLM can release geldings onto the range before its research into the impacts of the procedure on wild horses is completed.
Acting BLM Director William Perry Pendley’s recent declaration of wild horses as the top existential threat to public lands (even though wild horses aren’t on 88% of BLM land!) and his claim that it will cost $5 billion to “solve” the wild horse “problem” is the culmination of a years-long propaganda war against mustangs and burros.
The war is being waged by the commercial livestock industry, which seeks virtual eradication of these cherished animals in order to maximize taxpayer-subsidized grazing of privately-owned cattle and sheep on public lands.
This anti-mustang propaganda war was boosted recently with the capitulation of the Humane Society of the U.S., ASPCA and Return to Freedom to the cattlemen’s mass mustang roundup agenda.
With that in mind, your team at AWHC has been fighting back hard — from the battleground of Nevada to the seat of power in Washington DC — and we want to share some of our most recent work with you today.
Fighting Back at Ground Zero in the Wild Horse War: Nevada
On October 23, we organized a high-profile press conference with Nevada business leaders and a leading conservationist to counter the anti-wild horse messaging at a screening later that evening of the propaganda film “Horse Rich Dirt Poor.”
Well known real estate developer and Storey County Commissioner Lance Gilman and Erik Molvar, Executive Director of the Western Watersheds Campaign, struck back forcefully against the scapegoating of wild horses and in favor of protecting these iconic animals on public lands in the West. Read more about this highly successful event here.
Defending Wild Horses & Burros in Washington, DC
AWHC teamed up with our colleagues at Animal Wellness Action and The Cloud Foundation to hold a briefing on Capitol Hill for Congressional staff to discuss the mass roundup plan and its true cost to American taxpayers and the wild horses and burros we cherish. In one of the most successful Hill briefings ever, 35 staffers showed up to learn more about this issue that is obviously of concern to so many of their constituents. You can read more about this event here.
At the same time and a few miles away, the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board was meeting — with AWHC staff in attendance to ensure that your voices were represented and heard.
Throughout the meeting, BLM officials and most advisory board members expressed their utter disdain for public opinion, which they dismissed as being “emotional” and “uneducated.” It’s clear where the public stands on the mass roundup and surgical sterilization plan, as our most recent polling documents. At the meeting, we made sure that the voice of the people was not ignored.
While we’re battling on the national front, AWHC is investing significant resources to protect locally cherished herds and support humane management programs.
From the Virginia Range — where our darters have delivered more fertility control treatments to wild horses in six months than the entire BLM did last year — to the Onaqui Mountains in Utah, where we’re helping the BLM and the Wild Horses of America Foundation expand an existing fertility control program, to the Salt River in Arizona where we work closely with the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group, we’re working every day to keep wild horses wild and prove that humane management work.
You won’t want to miss our latest updates from the field here.
William Perry Pendley, the Acting Director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced this week that it would cost the taxpayers $5,000,000,000.00 to clear public lands of 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.
Just last week, Pendley labeled wild horses an “existential threat” to public lands in America, even though wild horses aren’t even present on 88% of BLM lands.
Pendley’s goal is to divert attention away from the commercial industries, including livestock grazing, that are the true “existential” threats to public lands, while simultaneously securing funding from Congress for unprecedented mass wild horse and burro roundups.
Pendley is executing a sophisticated propaganda campaign against wild horses. Phase 1 was to establish a fake crisis of wild horse overpopulation. That has largely been achieved with the HSUS, ASPCA and Return to Freedom capitulation to the livestock industry agenda of reducing wild horse and burro populations to near extinction levels.
Phase 2, to convince Congress that non-lethal management of wild horses is too expensive, is now underway.
This represents the greatest threat to the survival of wild horses and could result in their extinction. We need to organize and fight back like never before.
As we speak, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is forcibly reducing the population of wild horses in Wyoming’s Fifteenmile Herd Management Area (HMA) by 86% through a helicopter stampede.
So far, they’ve removed 558 wild horses from the area — With the goal of capturing nearly 700 wild horses before the end of the month.
This week, our observer was in Wyoming’s Fifteenmile HMA, where the BLM is currently rounding up the entirety of the wild horse population there from our public lands. At least 8 horses have died in the week since the roundup began, including:
One horse succumbed to a neck injury during the helicopter stampede while two others were euthanized;
Another died as a result of a strike to the head by another wild horse on the way to the trap;
One mare had a major cut and was taken to Rock Springs for treatment;
Despite BLM reports that wild horses are “starving” to justify these roundups, the wild horses being removed are in good body condition and sound health.
After the BLM breaks apart their families, only 100 wild horses will be returned to the area, threatening the long term survival of the herd itself.
This is not an isolated incident, either. If Congress authorizes the new BLM ten-year plan, we will witness roundups of this scale all throughout the West — Putting wild horses and burros squarely on the path to extinction.
Over the next two weeks, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will attempt to forcibly rip away nearly 700 wild horses in Wyoming from the Fifteenmile Herd Management Area (HMA), returning just 100 back into the wild.
For reference, that amounts to removing a staggering 86% of the entire wild horse population in the HMA.
We want to make this abundantly clear and transparent: Your support allows us to document these cruel operations so the public is informed, challenge the roundups when possible before they happen in Congress and in the courts, as well as fund our field programs where we PROVE that there is a better, more humane way to manage wild horses and burros.
The BLM wants to complete the Fifteenmile Roundup before the end of October if possible.
By the time the helicopters have cleared the area, as few as 100 wild horses could remain in the Fifteenmile HMA, which spans more than 70,000 acres. That is below the number of wild horses needed to maintain genetic viability.
Simply put, the Fifteenmile Roundup threatens to end the wild horse population in this area once and for all. And this is just the beginning of what is to come if Congress approves the BLM plan which would remove tens of thousands of wild horses throughout the West over the next ten years.
In 2018 alone, nearly 80,000 American horses, both wild and domestic, were taken to Canada or Mexico and slaughtered for human consumption.
That’s why AWHC sponsored Assembly Bill 128 (AB 128) in California — legislation to strengthen protections for horses from slaughter to help put a stop to this. AB 128 was authored by California State Assemblymember Todd Gloria (CA AD-78) in order to “make sure California’s horse population is not illegally sent to slaughter [by closing] a loophole that could lead horses to harm.”
We’re proud to tell you that all of our collective phone calls, petitions, and organizing worked: AB 128 was officially signed into law last weekend by California Governor Gavin Newsom!
The Acting Bureau of Land Management Director, William Perry Pendley, just went on record to single out wild horses as the biggest “existential threat” to public lands.
No, we’re not joking:
The irony of his comments is not lost on us. Almost 90 percent of BLM land has NO wild horses on it, and mustangs have nowhere near as large an environmental footprint as commercial livestock grazing. Pendley himself championed the cause of selling off our public lands into private ownership, for profit. That position is the real, existential threat to public lands.
But there’s a reason Pendley is peddling this fiction as fact: He’s trying to make the public case for a plan that would put wild horses on the pathway to extinction.
P.S. — It’s difficult to overstate how significant it is for the Acting Director of the BLM to label wild horses and burros “an existential threat” in an official capacity. We have to set the record straight and expose his lies — Every donation helps us do that and defend our wild horses and burros.
We wanted to make sure you had the chance to read this before getting too wrapped up in your weekend Meredith.
The roundup in the Devil’s Garden Wild Horse Territory in California ended this week, resulting in the permanent removal of 499 wild horses from their federally protected habitat. Already three of them have died at the U.S. Forest Service’s Double Devil Wild Horse Corrals.
This latest roundup followed the removal of 932 wild horses last fall from Devil’s Garden. The USFS announced last year that the captured wild horses could be sold without limitations on slaughter (we’re suing to stop them).
If you’ve already donated or cannot at this time, please consider sharing this with a couple of your close friends. Our wild horses and burros don’t have a voice – So we have to use ours.
A common question we get asked when we shine a spotlight on cruel practices and unjust policies that threaten our wild horses is:
“Why don’t you sue?”
The answer is – we are! The American Wild Horse Campaign currently has 6 active lawsuits. We consider litigation as one of our central pillars of defense against the increasing number of threats facing wild horses and burros throughout the West.
We’ve had some incredible successes – putting in place legal protections that will stand the test of time. In the case of Devil’s Garden, we’re currently suing to protect nearly 500 wild horses from potentially being sold to slaughter.
Take a moment to read below about how we’re defending wild horses and burros in the courts of law.
Thank you for looking this over and for your continued support,
American Wild Horse Campaign
P.S. – Getting the word out about our work helps us out immensely! So if you could forward this email to three friends, then we can close out this #WildHorseWednesday knowing we made a difference in the fight to defend America’s wild horses and burros!
