Tomorrow, the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee will vote on the spending bill that will fund the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for 2019.
If this committee joins the House in authorizing the mass sterilization of wild horses and burros, it will be the end of our wild free-roaming herds in the American West.
Not only that, but the Congress will be unleashing unfathomable cruelty on these national icons.
This risky, archaic surgery will cause mares to bleed to death or die from infection or evisceration (intestines coming through the surgical incision), and will cause abortions in many pregnant mares.
On Tuesday, the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee will vote on the Fiscal Year 2019 Interior spending bill. The full Senate Appropriations Committee vote will take place on Thursday.
These votes could not be more important!
Last week, the House Appropriations Committee passed the devastating Stewart Amendment to authorize the permanent sterilization of entire wild horse and burro herds.
The Stewart Amendment put a target on every wild horse and burro herd in the West by authorizing the BLM to “manage any group of wild horses or burros as a non-reproducing or single sex herd, in whole or in part, through chemical or surgical sterilization.”
This will be the beginning of the end of America’s wild free-roaming herds!
We wanted you to know immediately: The House Appropriations Committee today took a devastating action to authorize the BLM to manage wild horses and burros in non-reproducing and single-sex herds by subjecting them to risky, invasive surgeries like this: link to video.
If passed by the full Congress this would spell the beginning of the end for the iconic, free-roaming mustang herds of the American West.
While this is bad news, we can stop it in the Senate. Game on!
Here’s what you can do today:
Call Your Senators at 202-224-3121. Tell them to stand with the 80 percent of Americans who want wild horses protected and humanely managed. Ask them to oppose any 2019 appropriations language that authorizes the slaughter, killing, or sterilization of these cherished federally-protected animals.
You can also let the amendment sponsor and supporters know how you feel about their vote.
Rep. Chris Stewart, amendment sponsor, 202-225-9730
Rep. Ken Calvert, Interior Appropriations Subcommittee Chair, (202) 225-1986
The House Appropriations Committee just scheduled its markup hearing on the 2019 Interior Department spending bill for TOMORROW!
Late yesterday, we learned that Rep. Chris Stewart (R-UT), who has long been pushing for the mass killing of our wild horses and burros, will likely introduce an amendment to promote the sterilization of our wild herds.
The BLM already wants to do this. With Congressional support, it will be hard to stop. And there’s always a chance that Rep. Stewart will slip in language to allow the BLM to kill tens of thousands of healthy horses and burros… despite the objections of 80 percent of Americans.
Proud magnificent stallions would be castrated, resulting in “reduction in or complete loss of male-type behaviors necessary for maintenance of social organization, band integrity and expression of natural behavioral repertoire,” according to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).
Innocent mares will be subject to a barbaric procedure that literally rips their ovaries out with a rod-and-chain-like tool, a method so invasive that the NAS called it “inadvisable for field application” due to risk of hemorrhage and infection.
Sterilization will take the wild out of wild horses by destroying their natural behaviors…. and will endanger their lives.
This is wrong. We have to fight any amendments that permit mass killing or require the surgical sterilization of wild horses — or any legislative language that will lay the groundwork for doing so.
We wouldn’t be messaging you if it weren’t crucial to the survival of wild free-roaming horses and burros in America. Attacks on wild horses are mounting daily, but with supporters like you using your voices to defend them, we are fighting back.
Photo by Steve Paige of Triple B Mustangs in BLM Litchfield Holding Pens, May 29, 2018
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is accepting public comments on another massive helicopter roundup of Nevada mustangs — this one in the Eagle Complex on the border with Utah. The BLM allows just 145-265 wild horses to live in this 1,160-square-mile public lands area, while authorizing the annual equivalent of 4,400 cow/calf pairs to graze there. The action perpetuates the BLM’s broken cycle of roundups and removals and failure to use humane and scientifically-recommended birth control to manage wild horses and burros in the wild. Please take a stand against this waste and cruelty now by clicking below.
Well, they’re back at it again—Congress has begun work on the Department of the Interior/ BLM’s budget for the Fiscal Year 2019, which starts on October 1. And again, the House of Representatives is looking for ways to harm horses on the western range. This year, the House Subcommittee on Interior and Environment Appropriations has forwarded report language that, while avoiding a direct attempt to allow outright slaughter, instructs BLM to start the process to “immediately begin designing the regulatory framework and technical protocols for an active sterilization program.” The report language also directs BLM to “analyze” an option to kill healthy horses older than 10 years — less than half the lifespan for many wild horses! Read more about this situation and what you can do by clicking below for our latest blog!
Photo of Wyoming Checkerboard mustangs in trap at BLM 2017 roundup by Caroline Christie
This BLM is doubling down on the mass roundup and removal of wild horses from our public lands, a management practice that the National Academy of Sciences called “expensive and unproductive for the BLM and the public it serves.” In the crosshairs over the next four months: nearly 6,000 wild horses and burros, currently living peacefully on our public lands in eight Western states. Read more about the BLM’s summer/fall roundup schedule and what it means for American taxpayers and our cherished wild horses and burros by clicking below.
The BLM is planning dangerous surgical sterilization experiments on wild mares in Oregon.
Warning: this may be hard to read.
In the proposed “ovariectomy via colpotomy,” procedure, a veterinarian makes an incision in the mare’s vagina, inserts his arm into the vaginal cavity, manually locates the ovaries and rips them out using an “ecraseur,” a rod-like device with a chain on the end. The painful procedure will subject mares to the risk of infection, hemorrhage and evisceration, and could cause mares in the early to mid-stages of pregnancy to abort their fetuses.
It is crucial that we act now. The BLM has only provided ONE WEEK to send comments opposing the proposal. And if we don’t take action today, these experiments could mean living hell for helpless horses in Oregon. Can you take a stand for wild horses now?
The plan the BLM is proposing is being done without any academic affiliation whatsoever. The procedures they’re proposing is so cruel that in 2013, the National Academy of Sciences advised that the risk of infection “makes it inadvisable for field application.” There is no reason for believing that these tactics are less risky, expensive, or painful than other birth control methods.
It makes no sense, and yet unless we act TODAY, horses in Oregon will be put through these barbaric experiments. Submit your comment today.
As early as next week, the House Appropriations Committee will consider its Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 Interior Department spending bill, including funding for the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) Wild Horse and Burro Program.
The current draft of the bill protects wild horses and burros from killing and slaughter. HOWEVER, Rep. Chris Stewart (R-UT) is likely to again introduce an amendment to strip these long-standing protections, placing as many as 100,000 wild horses and burros in holding facilities and on the range in danger of being killed or sold for slaughter.
Last year, the House approved Rep. Stewart’s lethal amendment, but the Senate rejected it. This year, with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and his BLM doubling down on their request for permission to kill and slaughter our mustangs, these national icons are again in danger.
Please call your Representative today and ask him/her to weigh in with Appropriators to keep mustang and burro slaughter and killing OUT of Fiscal Year 2019 spending legislation.
As early as next week, the House Appropriations Committee will consider its Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 Interior Department spending bill, including funding for the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) Wild Horse and Burro Program.
The current draft of the bill protects wild horses and burros from killing and slaughter. HOWEVER, Rep. Chris Stewart (R-UT) is likely to again introduce an amendment to strip these long-standing protections, placing as many as 100,000 wild horses and burros in holding facilities and on the range in danger of being killed or sold for slaughter.
Last year, the House approved Rep. Stewart’s lethal amendment, but the Senate rejected it. This year, with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and his BLM doubling down on their request for permission to kill and slaughter our mustangs, these national icons are again in danger.
Please call your Representative today and ask him/her to weigh in with Appropriators to keep mustang and burro slaughter and killing OUT of Fiscal Year 2019 spending legislation.
THE CLOCK IS TICKING on 25 new lives. – 25 Miniatures are at risk of dying, and we need your help to save them…
We came together and saved 25 more mustangs this last week. Thank You for making that possible. Out of those 25, we brought home 4 orphans and a badly injured mare and baby. Thankfully the extended network of folks came together to help.
As always, Chilly Pepper incurred ALL THE COSTS to rescue them, but once again they are OFF OUR BOOKS, and safe and sound until they find their forever homes.**
Unfortunately with those 25 we incurred some hefty vet bills. I just saw one of them this morning. This bill is $1972.85, which is pretty much going to wipe out most of the budget.
We also have another vet bill for emergency care for Valentine. Matt came home to find him in desperate need of vet care, and although the Vet did every thing she could my beautiful boy died. It is heartbreaking to be gone for so long and have a horse get sick and not make it. We saved 25, but my beautiful boy is gone.
I RECEIVED ANOTHER EMERGENCY CALL YESTERDAY – We are on standby for 25? miniature horses, similar to the ones shown above. Their lives are at risk, but unless we raise enough funds we will not be able to answer the call. We spent thousands of dollars to save the last 25, and we are simply tapped out.
We have a few days to a week or so? We are on standby for when the miniatures are all rounded up and we can pick them up. But it will not happen if we do not raise funds to cover the rescue.
The rescue work we do is very expensive, but Y’ALL ARE DIRECTLY SAVING LIVES! Matt and I are willing to keep doing the work, but as of right now the budget is tapped.We have been getting lots of kids placed, and that also makes a huge difference in the feed bill. We definitely DO NOT hoard horses, and most all of your donations go to saving more lives, as opposed to feeding “stored horses”.
PLEASE HELP if you can. We will ONLY BE ABLE TO SAVE THE MINI’S if folks open their hearts. We are ALSO STANDING BY for more babies. The roundups are happening as I type this and that means lots more orphans. As we sit right now, there are simply not enough funds to save more lives.
We are driving thousands of miles while we save and place these horses. Our rescue spent over $8000 just in fuel last year, but YOU SAVED hundreds of lives. So I am asking folks to help us keep saving more lives if you can.
Below meet our little Bear. She is a yearling, and the size of the 3 week old babies. She is one of the 25 you just saved.
If you want to help You can go to You Caring – to help us keep saving lives..
We did it! Thanks to your help, we were able to raise $55,000, blowing our $50,000 goal out of the water!
With these donations, we’ll be able to continue fighting for wild horses — out on the range and in the courts. We couldn’t do this crucial work without your support.
Watch out for future emails from us with updates on the legal battles we’re fighting in Nevada, as well as rescue stories (the ones that make this all worth it).
I can’t thank you enough for helping us stand up for these innocent creatures. Together, we’re making the future of America’s wild horses and burros safe, secure, and beautiful.
The BLM is seeking public comments for the roundup and removal of up to 149 “excess” horses – or 66% of the population – from inside and outside the Muddy Creek Herd Management Area (HMA) in Utah.
The mustang’s habitat is made up of 283,000 acres of land, but the BLM only allows between 75-125 horses to reside within it. According to the BLM, removing the horses is necessary to prevent degradation to the range. But here’s the kicker: they permit nearly five times that number for livestock on allotments that overlap with the HMA.
Not only is this roundup ridiculous, but if Congress approves any of the BLM’s options in its recent report, the horses removed from this area are in danger of being killed, sold for slaughter, or sterilized.
Instead of this plan that endangers these herds, the BLM should immediately implement a comprehensive PZP program in the HMA to vaccinate enough mares to significantly reduce population growth rates over time.
Please take one moment to let the BLM know that the Muddy Creek wild horses need to remain wild and free on our public lands in Utah!
Thank you for caring about America’s wild horses and burros,
We’ve got a lot going on, and it’s only with your support that we’re able to continue to protect our wild horses — in the field, in court, and in the halls of Congress.
Last month, the BLM rolled out a disastrous report to Congress on wild horse and burro management that pays lip service to humane solutions while continuing to push for mass roundups, slaughter and sterilization.
Even before Congress acts, the BLM is implementing actions that will destroy numerous wild horse herds and place thousands of mustangs in jeopardy of being killed.
➔ Wyoming, where we’re challenging the BLM’s attempt to round up even more wild horses than authorized from the Wyoming Checkerboard by pretending that foals don’t count in the overall removal totals. Help us win.
➔ Nevada, where we’re fighting a disastrous BLM plan to reduce the breeding population in two eastern Nevada regions by 90% and destroy these wild free-roaming herds by castrating stallions and using an unproven vaccine called GonaCon on mares. And we’re gearing up to sue to stop the BLM from zeroing out (eliminating all wild horses from) nearly one million acres of public land while allowing subsidized cattle grazing to continue in force. Help us win.
➔ Utah, where we’ve been fighting for four years to dismiss a rancher lawsuit seeking the removal of hundreds of wild horses from our public lands. We won at the lower court; now the ranchers have appealed, and we are defending Utah mustangs at the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. Help us win.
➔ California, where we’re defending the Devil’s Garden wild horses from a rancher lawsuit seeking removal of more than 2,000 mustangs from U.S. Forest Service lands. Help us win.
We’ve already won important legal precedents through successful litigation. With your help, we’ll score more legal victories to protect our cherished wild horse and burro herds.
The Bureau of Land Management just released its report to Congress on future management of wild horses and burros on public lands. The BLM’s answer: mass removals, slaughter and sterilization.
The report reveals that the agency will push to change the law to secure “flexibility” to transfer and sell animals without limitation, meaning tens of thousands would be slaughtered.
The plan calls for Congress to “remove prohibitions” currently placed into appropriations bills that forbid the agency from mass killing and slaughter of our mustangs.
The BLM is going against the recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences and more than 100 horse advocacy organizations, and the will of the American people. The agency wants to reduce wild populations to 1971 levels — when Congress protected these animals because they were “fast disappearing.”
Worse, the BLM wants to sterilize 80 percent of the wild herds… a move that is both dangerous and would take the wild out of wild horses by destroying their natural behaviors.
The Bureau of Land Management just released its report to Congress on future management of wild horses and burros on public lands. The BLM’s answer: mass removals, slaughter and sterilization.
The report reveals that the agency will push to change the law to secure “flexibility” to transfer and sell animals without limitation, meaning tens of thousands would be slaughtered.
The plan calls for Congress to “remove prohibitions” currently placed into appropriations bills that forbid the agency from mass killing and slaughter of our mustangs.
The BLM is going against the recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences and more than 100 horse advocacy organizations, and the will of the American people. The agency wants to reduce wild populations to 1971 levels —when Congress protected these animals because they were “fast disappearing.”
Worse, the BLM wants to sterilize 80 percent of the wild herds… a move that is both dangerous and would take the wild out of wild horses by destroying their natural behaviors.
It’s an exciting time for the American Wild Horse Campaign.
This spring, we helped win battles to keep wild horses protected in the federal budget for Fiscal Year 2018, launched a lawsuit against the BLM to stop destructive wild horse management policies on public lands, and even saw the Secretary of the Interior publicly backtrack from his all-out push to slaughter these American icons.
But this fight is far from over… We face another battle for the lives of our mustangs this year as Congress debates spending legislation for Fiscal Year 2019.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll be keeping you updated on the work we’re doing to protect wild horses and burros, and the battles we’re fighting in court, on the range, and in Congress to defend their rights to live WILD and FREE on our public lands.
Now is a crucial time for your support. We’re building the grassroots support and laying the foundation for lasting protections…. Our campaign has come so far, and we can’t afford to lose any ground.
At a hearing on Capitol Hill yesterday, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and Rep. Chris Stewart (R-UT), who last year lobbied hard for language authorizing the mass killing of wild horses and burros, signaled a possible shift in tactics. Instead of advocating for Congress to lift the ban on mustang slaughter, they focused on non-lethal management strategies. While the Interior Department’s Fiscal Year 2019 budget still proposes language that would authorize horse slaughter, it may be that Secretary Zinke and Rep. Stewart have resigned themselves to the fact that mass slaughter of America’s wild horses and burros is wildly unpopular, especially in an election year. Whatever the reason, the shift in focus away from slaughter to non-lethal options is a significant development. Read more in an analysis by AWHC’s lobbyist by clicking below.
As a supporter of AWHC, you deserve to know where your candidates stand on the issues involving wild horses. That’s why, in addition to our work in the field, in the courts, and with the federal budget, we’re launching a new initiative: our first candidate survey. Over the next few months, we’ll be asking candidates in key states a series of questions on where they stand on protecting wild horses and burros and our public lands. We’ll then inform our supporters of the candidates’ positions on the wild horse issue, so voters can be informed before heading to the polls this fall. Click below for a preview of the survey and stay tuned for the results.
As a result of AWHC’s Cooperative Agreement with the State of Nevada for rescue of the Virginia Range horses, over 200 of these cherished mustangs have been saved from slaughter. Through a strong coalition effort, the vast majority of these horses have been placed in quality homes. However, the downside of adoption is that many adoptions fail, and mustangs routinely enter the slaughter pipeline. Such is the case with five Virginia Range horses — a senior gelding and his family — who are currently being transported back to Nevada after being rescued from the kill buyer who operates the notorious Bastrop kill pen in Louisiana. Read more by clicking below about the rescue and why we fight so hard to keep wild horses wild and free on the range, where they belong.
The following is from The Cloud Foundation and The American Wild Horse Campaign:
As you probably are aware, 2017 presented major threats to America’s wild horses and burros. In 2018, the assault on our beloved wild herds is continuing and will intensify.
With the input of others that value our wild horses and burros, we’ve developed a Unified Statement. Its purpose is to detail and demonstrate common cause among equine welfare, photography, eco-tourist and other citizen organizations that support humane, evidence-based management of wild horses and burros on our public lands. By outlining principles and recommendations for ways to keep free-roaming equines on their homelands, the statement shows that we’re not only against a cruel and broken system of roundup and removal, but are also banding together around sensible alternatives. We’re excited that over 110 groups across the country have chosen to participate.
Last month, Congressional appropriators defeated an administration proposal to destroy tens of thousands of wild equines and allow “unlimited” sales of those deemed unadaptable. This month, the Trump Administration again called on Congress to grant authority in the Fiscal Year 2019 budget to authorize killing and selling to slaughter tens of thousands of captive and free-roaming wild equines. Therefore, the Unified Statement could not be more timely. Read the Unified Statement and learn how you can support this effort.
Your Senators and Representatives are back in their home districts for the next two weeks for Easter Recess.
This is a great time to call their district offices and thank them for maintaining protections for wild horses and burros in the 2018 Omnibus spending bill, which passed last week.
Remember, the Fiscal Year 2019 Appropriations process is already under way, and the Interior Department is once again doubling down on its plan to slaughter our nation’s iconic mustangs and burros.
We have a major battle on our hands again, and we can lay a strong foundation for the fight ahead expressing our gratitude now to Congress for listening to the will of the people and protecting our wild horses and burros.
Here’s what you need to say: “I’m calling to let Senator/Rep [name] know how much I appreciate Congress’ decision to maintain long-standing protections for wild horses and burros from killing and slaughter. Please ask Senator/Rep to ensure that these same protections are carried forward in 2019 spending legislation. Thank you.”
The Omnibus spending bill is finally out, and America’s horses are protected for the next six months!
This is huge! Congress heard the voice of the American people and maintained protections for wild horses and burros against slaughter and mass killing. The spending bill also maintains the de facto ban on U.S. horse slaughter by continuing the prohibition for federal funding of USDA horsemeat inspections.
While we breathe a collective sigh of relief, let’s take a moment to savor the significance of this victory. Just one year ago, newly-appointed Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke made killing wild horses and burros a top priority of his administration, and he aligned with powerful agricultural lobbying groups to get his lethal agenda through the Congress.
But these special interests could not drown out the voice of the American people, who want our wild horses protected and humanely managed, not slaughtered.
We share this victory with many organizations and tens of thousands of citizens across the U.S., who made their voices heard on behalf of our iconic mustangs and burros.
So let’s celebrate today, but while we do, let’s remember that this fight is far from over. This spending bill expires on September 30, 2018, and Zinke’s Interior Department will double down on its efforts to slaughter our wild horses and burros. The next appropriations fight – for Fiscal Year 2019 — has already begun.
We’re counting on your support in the coming weeks and months as we work to build on this victory and secure lasting protections for our magnificent wild horses and burros. So please, stay tuned, stay strong and stay ready.
