Help us enact lasting change for wild horses and burros

The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:

The roundup of the beloved wild horses from the Onaqui Herd Management Area (HMA) in Utah has officially ended. In total, 435 mustangs were captured, and there was one death of a young mare who suffered a severely broken leg after she was likely kicked in the chaos of the trap.

Approximately 135 Onaqui horses will be released back into the wild and our friends at the Onaqui Catalogue Foundation are using their comprehensive database of the Onaqui herd to assist the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in making the best decisions possible about which horses to return based on thoughtful criteria like keeping family bands together.

We are devastated, heartbroken, but more importantly we are fired up to fight harder than ever. The unnecessary mass roundup of most of the Onaqui wild horses has launched a rallying cry for true change. 

For 50 years, the BLM has all but ignored the will of the American people who want humane management of our Western herds. It has flipped the Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act on its head, and instead of protecting these animals from “capture, harassment, and death,” its outdated management practices actively harm these beloved animals. What’s worse — Congress has granted the agency more than $100 million dollars to continue on with this woefully mismanaged program with no restrictions to prevent the BLM from using the funds to roundup more horses without implementing real change. 

But we have an opportunity to change course during the next federal budget cycle. In fact, the U.S. House of Representatives is set to pass Fiscal Year 22 appropriations legislation that includes language, championed by AWHC and U.S Representatives Dina Titus, Steve Cohen, and Mark Pocan, to require the BLM to allocate at least $11 million to implement humane fertility control as a step toward eliminating cruel roundups and evaluate relocating these federally protected animals as an alternative to their removal from the range. Very soon, the Senate Appropriations Committee will also consider this protective language.

Time is of the essence. Join us in a day of action for the Onaqui wild horses who lost their freedom, for Velma Johnston, aka “Wild Horse Annie,” whose work contributed to federal wild horse protection 50 years ago, and for the millions of Americans who want wild horses and burros to be protected and preserved on our public lands for generations to come.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

1. Click here to send an email to your Senators today. Then, follow up the email with a call.
2. Download this graphic and upload it to the Interior Department and the White House Facebook pages.
3. Click here to send an automated Tweet to President Biden and Secretary Haaland.

Let’s harness the outrage over the roundup of the Onaqui wild horses to make lasting change today!

Thank you for standing with us and with wild horses,

Suzanne Roy
Executive Director
American Wild Horse Campaign