The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:

News & Alerts

The famed Onaqui wild horses who live on our public lands near Salt Lake City, Utah need your help. In just a few months, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will begin removing these beloved horses from the range. Families will be shattered and 379 of these magnificent animals will lose their freedom forever. In honor of Independence Day, please take a stand for these iconic Utah mustangs who are protected as national symbols of freedom.

Below is a sample comment that you can copy and paste. Leave a comment now opposing the BLM’s fiscally irresponsible and inhumane plan for the Onaqui herd.

I oppose the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) plan to proceed with this Proposed Action that would round up 90 percent of the Onaqui herd and permanently remove 379 horses from the range.

The EA is inadequate because it failed to consider a number of critical impacts and alternatives. The final EA must revise the Proposed Action to include managing the population with fertility control, not removals, as recommended by the National Academy of Sciences. The BLM should reduce livestock grazing pursuant to 43 C.F.R. 4710.5(a) and increase the AML for this area to accommodate current wild horse herd numbers. The original Herd Area territory should be restored to active management status, thereby increasing the size of the Onaqui HMA to the 507,681 acres originally designated by Congress.

Finally, the EA must analyze these impacts: 1) BLM’s request to Congress for authorization to kill or slaughter unadopted horses on the animals themselves; 2) Mass removal on recreational use of the HMA for wild horse viewing and photographing; 3) Costly roundup/removal/holding of horses on taxpayers vs. leaving horses on the range and reducing livestock grazing; 4) Reduced ecotourism/wild horse viewing opportunities on the local economy.

 Thank you for your consideration.

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