Thank you so much to everyone who renewed their support over the last month to help us protect America’s wild horses and burros in 2022 and the years to come. We’re grateful for your generosity and dedication to protecting our wild herds.
Every single year, thousands of America’s wild horses and burros are brutally chased by low-flying helicopters and cruelly captured. These cherished animals that once freely roamed our public lands are sent to holding facilities across the country, costing them their families, their freedom, and for some of them — their lives. Far too many are ending up in the slaughter pipeline through a BLM program that pays individuals $1,000 per animal to adopt up to four untamed wild horses or burros per year.
What happens during these roundups is equally as upsetting — wild horses and foals run for their lives, chased to pure exhaustion. Foals are left abandoned and hungry without their mothers, and panicked horses break their limbs, backs, or necks during the chase or in the trap pens.
The continuation of helicopter roundups as the primary method of population management is fiscally reckless, unscientific, and grossly inhumane. The BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program needs reform and it needs it now.
The BLM is in Year 2 of a devastating, accelerated roundup plan that aims to remove as many as 20,000 wild horses and burros per year over the next five years. In 2022, the BLM is conducting aggressive roundups that will remove 19,000 wild horses and burros from their homes on our public lands.
If we don’t speak up for America’s wild horses and burros, thousands more will be mistreated at the hands of the BLM and their contractors. Just this month, the BLM finished the largest roundup in U.S. history in the Wyoming Checkerboard, throwing nearly 4,000 formerly free-roaming wild horses into feedlot pens and leaving behind a trail of animal welfare violations. Action must be taken to drastically reform this mismanaged program.
Introducing our OFFICIAL 2022 American Wild Horse Campaign Member Card:
We have so much in store for 2022. Not only are we continuing our fight on the Hill, in the courts, and in the field — we’re also working on a number of groundbreaking new initiatives — all in the name of keeping wild horses and burros in the wild where they belong.
We’re laser-focused on the fight to preserve the freedom of our wild mustangs and burros. That means in 2022, we are … proving through our PZP program on Nevada’s Virginia Range that humane in the wild management works … expanding our investigative team to uncover abuse and hold the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) accountable … continuing our lawsuit against the BLM’s Adoption Incentive Program that’s sending horses and burros to slaughter … working with a prestigious university to make roundup violations enforceable by law … and so much more!!
Today, we are so excited to share with you our next initiative in our fight to protect horses and burros — both wild and domestic — from slaughter!
Despite their federal protection, wild horses and burros continue to face the ever-present threat of brutal helicopter roundups — a tragic result of the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) mismanaged Wild Horse and Burro Program. Once captured, these innocent animals are stripped of their freedom and forced into holding, many entering the slaughter pipeline.
In an effort to permanently put an end to horse slaughter, we have partnered with the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) as a sponsoring organization of the Homes for Horses Coalition!
The Homes for Horses Coalition (HHC) is a national initiative made up of more than 520 member organizations with the ultimate goal of ending horse slaughter and all other forms of equine abuse for good.
Each year, tens of thousands of American horses and burros are exported for slaughter to Mexico and Canada for human consumption in foreign markets. And as we exposed last year through our investigative work, the BLM’s Adoption Incentive Program is placing “truckloads” of our iconic wild horses and burros in imminent danger of becoming victims of the brutal industry.
The BLM’s proposed roundups are only accelerating, and as a result, an increasing number of federally protected wild mustangs and burros are expected to enter the pipeline in the coming years.
Through our new role with HHC, we’ll be joining AWI in supporting the boots-on-the-ground rescues by providing advocacy leadership and resources to strengthen the nonprofits doing heroic jobs to help horses in need.
HHC is the only network of its kind in the nation, and we couldn’t be more proud to be a part of this important effort. It’s time to end horse slaughter once and for all. Are you with us?
Stay tuned for more updates and announcements from the coalition!
Introducing our OFFICIAL 2022 American Wild Horse Campaign Member Card:
We have so much in store for 2022. Not only are we continuing our fight on the Hill, in courts, and in the field — we’re also working on a number of groundbreaking new initiatives — all in the name of keeping wild horses and burros in the wild where they belong.
We’re laser-focused on the fight to preserve the freedom of our wild mustangs and burros. That means in 2022, we are … proving through our PZP program on Nevada’s Virginia Range that humane in the wild management works … expanding our investigative team to uncover abuse and hold the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) accountable … continuing our lawsuit against the BLM’s Adoption Incentive Program that’s sending horses and burros to slaughter … working with a prestigious university to make roundup violations enforceable by law … and so much more!!
The new year is upon us, and so is the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) proposed roundup plan for the 2022 calendar year. Over the next 12 months, the BLM intends to round up 22,000 wild horses and burros — permanently removing 19,000 of these animals from their homes on our public lands.
This is Year 2 of the BLM’s plan remove 20,000 horses per year for the next five years, and it presents a real threat to the survival of America’s wild herds. But it’s not the end of their story. Far from it. Because the worse the BLM treats our cherished wild mustangs, the more support we get from Congress and the American public to change the current costly and cruel wild horse and burro management program.
Our team enters 2022 prepared for the many battles ahead — in court, on the Hill, and in the field — to protect wild horses and burros and keep them in the wild where they belong. Today, I wanted to share with you some of our biggest plans for 2022. This year, we intend to:
Spearhead a national awareness campaign and grow our Ambassador Program to educate the American public about the plight of wild horses and empower them to get involved.
Continue to demonstrate through boots-on-the-ground work that humane management of wild horses is possible. We’ll continue to deliver unprecedented results from our PZP program on Nevada’s Virginia Range and broker programs for other herds across the West.
Put science at the forefront of wild horse management — We’ll be launching a number of new and exciting science initiatives, including an academic analysis of our Virginia Range PZP program data AND we’ll be creating an economic report to highlight the missteps of the BLM’s current approach and the cost-savings of a more humane one.
Amplify our work and your voice on Capitol Hill to pass legislation that diverts funds away from roundups and toward fertility control programs and ensure that the BLM uses these funds appropriately.
Expand our Investigative Team to continue to uncover waste, fraud, and abuse in the BLM’s on-range and off-range programs.
Continue our lawsuit against the BLM over its Adoption Incentive Program that’s sending wild horses and burros into the slaughter pipeline, while gearing up for new legal battles ahead…
Meredith: We have big plans for 2022! We’re using every resource at our disposal to continue our fight on behalf of America’s wild horses and burros.Our first step? Growing our grassroots army to build the scale of the wild horse protection movement so that it is inclusive, diverse, empowered, and well-equipped to achieve our mission of protecting wild horses and burros for generations to come.
Thanks to the generosity of supporters like you, we are SO excited to share that we reached our $125,000 Year-End fundraising goal and UNLOCKED the $100,000 gift from our matching donor!!
From each and every one of us at the American Wild Horse Campaign — thank you so much for your part in helping us reach this goal! Please know that your support will make such an enormous difference for America’s wild horses and burros in 2022 as we continue our fight to keep these cherished animals wild.
While we begin to tackle our 2022 agenda, we wanted to share with you the victories that AWHC supporters helped us to accomplish over the past year. Please read on for a recap of our 2021 accomplishments and a preview of what’s to come this year!
Exposed the Adoption Incentive Program
After a months-long investigation, our team uncovered a slaughter pipeline that had been created by the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Adoption Incentive Program (AIP). In partnership with The New York Times, we exposed the disastrous program in a front-page report.
Uncovering this pipeline was only the first of several milestones in this fight. Shortly after the New York Times exposé, we garnered an overwhelming amount of support from the public, and dozens of members of Congress took action on Capitol Hill to reform the failed program. At the same time, AWHC filed suit against the BLM to challenge the AIP. Recently, government attorneys informed us that the BLM will be revealing a “new” Adoption Incentive Program in early 2022. We will be watching closely to ensure that the program is meaningfully reformed by ending the cash incentives that are fueling fraud and abuse.
Made Strides on Capitol Hill
Our government relations team worked tirelessly with members of the House and Senate to pass historic legislation during the Fiscal Year 2022 Appropriations process allocating $11 million in funding toward humane wild horse and burro management.
This $11 million was reallocated away from the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) roundup funds toward implementing “a robust and humane fertility control strategy of reversible immunocontraceptive vaccines” for America’s wild horses. This breakthrough language marks the first time that Congress is requiring the BLM to implement alternatives to the cruel roundup and removal of wild horses and burros from their homes on our public lands. It’s a huge step toward responsible wild horse and burro management that will help keep these iconic animals in the wild, where they belong!
Helped Rescue Over 100 Wild Horses & Burros from Slaughter
Thanks to the help of generous supporters like you, we were able to help fund the rescues of over 100 slaughter-bound wild horses and burros this year. In collaboration with our rescue partners, we were able to identify and rescue wild horses and burros from kill pens across the country — in imminent danger of being shipped to Mexico or Canada for brutal slaughter. The vast majority of these horses and burros were sent into the slaughter pipeline through the BLM’s Adoption Incentive Program by adopters who pocketed the cash incentives then dumped “their” animals at kill pens.
Proved Humane Management Works
AWHC operates the world’s largest humane fertility control program for wild horses on Nevada’s Virginia Range — and this Spring we will celebrate the three-year anniversary of this groundbreaking program!
On the range, we use Porcine Zona Pellucida (PZP) immunocontraception — a scientifically-proven fertility control vaccine given to female horses through an injection via remote darting with an air rifle. The vaccine creates an immune response that prevents fertilization without impacting the horses’ hormonal systems, thus preserving their natural behaviors.
This year our program reduced the foaling rate on the Virginia Range by 44%! This achievement has been critical in demonstrating to lawmakers and the BLM that fertility control is an effective tool for reducing population growth and a viable alternative to costly and cruel helicopter roundups for the management of America’s wild herds.
Protected Nevada’s Wild Horses
Earlier this year, a resolution was introduced in the Nevada State Senate that called on Congress to fund brutal helicopter roundups of at least 40,000 of Nevada’s wild horses and burros — that’s nearly every wild horse and burro living in Nevada today!
We quickly mobilized political and environmental opposition to the resolution, SJR 3, and were successful in killing it in the Natural Resources Committee. The outcome was an important show of support by this key legislative committee for humane wild horse management and a significant defeat for the coalition of livestock operators, hunters, and commercial wildlife trappers behind the mass roundup resolution.
Amplified Our Voice
Our movement to save America’s wild horses and burros grew by leaps and bounds this year. Public outrage over the plight of these iconic animals grew, and so did the number of lawmakers on Capitol Hill demanding reform. So many of you joined the fight to preserve the freedom of our wild horses and burros on the public lands they call home, and for that, we are so grateful.
We have much progress to make in 2022, but we know we can always count on supporters like you to lobby your elected officials, support our critical legal work, and raise awareness across the country about the threats America’s wild horses and burros continue to face.
This fight is a marathon, not a sprint, and we know that we can count on you to stand with us all along the way. Together, we will make real progress for our cherished wild horses and burros in 2022.
So stay ready and stay tuned! We wish you and your loved ones a happy and healthy New Year!
With Gratitude,
Suzanne Roy Executive Director American Wild Horse Campaign
The cost to vaccinate a single mare with a PZP vaccine is just $30.
But instead, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) spends millions of taxpayer dollars to brutally round up our wild horses and burros by chasing them with helicopters and confining them in pens, robbing them of all that wild horses hold dear — family and freedom.
Far too many of these beloved animals are entering the slaughter pipeline through the BLM’s disastrous Adoption Incentive Program, as exposed by our investigation earlier this year.
On Nevada’s Virginia Range, where a population of state-managed wild mustangs is threatened by extreme habitat loss, we’re operating the largest PZP fertility program in the world for wild horses.
And our work there has reduced the foaling rate by 44% while allowing these animals to remain free as nature intended. This data is incredibly useful as we prove to lawmakers and the BLM that there is a better alternative to the agency’s current approach to managing our wild horse populations.
2021 was a year full of highs and lows — and we’re so grateful that through it all, you stood by our side in the fight to protect wild horses and burros.
One of our biggest accomplishments was our investigation into the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Adoption Incentive Program (AIP), which resulted in a front-page New York Times exposé, elevating the tragedies of the AIP to a national level.
As one of AWHC’s lead investigators into the AIP, every single day, I identify and track new BLM mustangs and burros in kill pens across the country. After months of investigation, we confirmed that the titles of the horses and burros we were rescuing matched those of animals adopted through the AIP.
Time and time again in this investigation, we’ve identified adopters who have collected the AIP cash incentives, then dumped the horses and burros they had adopted at slaughter auctions as soon as the money cleared their accounts.
Our Rescue Fund was key to this investigation as it allowed us to support our rescue partners in pulling wild horses and burros from kill pens. This not only saved these innocent animals’ lives but also gave us access to information — including titles and brand numbers — that helped us connect the dots to expose the program.
Since uncovering and exposing this slaughter pipeline, we’ve made some impressive strides! Congress has taken notice of this problem, and our Government Relations team is working with elected officials on solutions to better protect our wild horses and burros from slaughter.
After the New York Times exposé, the BLM announced a list of reforms to the Adoption Incentive Program. But, these reforms did not go far enough, so we filed a lawsuit. This week, government attorneys informed our lawyers that the BLM would be unveiling a new Adoption Incentive Program in the new year, and we will be watching closely to see if meaningful reforms are forthcoming.
Meredith: Supporters like you make these important initiatives possible — our investigative work to uncover this slaughter pipeline, our rescue fund to help save the AIP’s victims, our Government Relations work on the Hill, and even our litigation against the BLM. None of this would be possible without your help.
As we enter the holiday season and 2021 comes to an end, we wanted to tell you just how grateful we are for all that American Wild Horse Campaign supporters have helped us to accomplish this year.
Whether you sent messages to your legislators on behalf of our cherished wild horses and burros or donated to one of our life-saving programs like our Rescue Fund — we are so grateful for your continued support.
Today, I wanted to share with you some of the most impressive victories that amazing supporters like yourself helped us to accomplish this year:
As 2021 comes to a close, we hope you join in celebrating these victories with us.
We are so grateful for your advocacy, financial support, passion, and dedication to protecting the wild horses and burros we all love. Many battles lie before us in the new year as we work toward a better future for these magnificent animals, but with you on our side, we know we will prevail.
All of us at the American Wild Horse Campaign wish you and your loved ones (human and non-human) a very happy and restful holiday season.
— Suzanne
Suzanne Roy Executive Director American Wild Horse Campaign
To everyone who acted on behalf of wild horses and burros yesterday and sent messages to Director Stone-Manning and Secretary Haaland to enact further protections for these innocent animals: Thank you.
While our team was on the ground in Washington, D.C. rallying against the tragic roundup happening now in Wyoming that is expected to cut the state’s wild horse population by half, supporters like you made your voices heard loud and clear as we called for further protections for our beloved equines. Thank you, for being their voice.
But, on the eve of the 50th Anniversary of the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 — the foundational law protecting wild horses and burros on our public lands — we must keep the momentum going and demand further federal action to protect them.
We’ve seen — over the last year especially — that the protections currently in place for wild horses and burros are not enough. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) continues to brutally round up and remove these animals from the lands they call home, costing them their freedom and separating them from their families forever.
And as we discovered through our investigation into the BLM’s Adoption Incentive Program earlier this year: Many of these animals will be sent to kill pens where they will meet a grim fate — a byproduct of the disastrous Adoption Incentive Program that has funneled “truckloads” of wild horses and burros into the slaughter pipeline.
But with the new year comes new BLM leadership, new opportunities to implement humane management, and the same unwavering perseverance from our team here at AWHC in our fight to preserve the freedom of America’s wild horses and burros.
Giving Tuesday is finally here — and so is our biggest Giving Tuesday fundraising goal EVER!
Last week, we emailed you about an exciting match opportunity — and I’m thrilled to announce that we unlocked our Giving Tuesday 2x Match, so all gifts made today will be DOUBLED!
We set a goal to raise $75,000 before midnight tonight to fuel our fight for wild horses and burros as we head into 2022. This might seem like a lot, but Giving Tuesday is our most critical fundraising day of the entire year, and 2022 is set to be our busiest year yet!
Earlier this year, we uncovered the wild horse-to-slaughter pipeline that has resulted from the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) failed Adoption Incentive Program (AIP). After exposing this disastrous program, we filed a lawsuit against the BLM.
While the BLM announced reforms to the program as a result of the uproar we caused — their reforms are not enough and hundreds of horses and burros are still being dumped in kill pens.
That’s why we’re dedicating part of the funds raised today to the victims of the Adoption Incentive Program. Your donation today will help to continue our lawsuit against the BLM and fuel our fight to prevent more wild horses and burros from entering the slaughter pipeline through the AIP.
The BLM has failed the wild horses and burros that have been placed in jeopardy through the Adoption Incentive Program. But our work to help rescue the AIP’s victims and litigate for the termination of the program won’t stop.
On this Thanksgiving holiday — from all of us here at the American Wild Horse Campaign — I want to send my heartfelt thanks to you for your support and dedication to protecting America’s wild horses and burros.
You have helped us accomplish some pretty amazing things this year, and for that, we are so grateful.
Supporters like you helped us expose the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Adoption Incentive Program (AIP) as a pipeline to slaughter for “truckloads” of wild horses and burros. Our investigation led to a front-page New York Times exposé, which elevated this devastating issue to the national level.
Your support provided our field team with the resources and equipment necessary to successfully implement the world’s largest PZP fertility control program for wild horses on Nevada’s Virginia Range. This groundbreaking program is proving that there is a better way to manage wild horses and burros besides brutally rounding them up with helicopters.
And guess what?It’s working. This year, we reduced the foaling rate by more than 40% as compared to 2020. These incredible results armed our Government Relations team with the statistics and evidence necessary to secure $11 million in funding towards a comprehensive, humane fertility control vaccine program as part of the BLM’s 2022 Fiscal Year budget.
Your efforts helped us defeat SJR3 — a resolution that called for the removal of close to 40,000 wild horses and burros from their homes in Nevada. And your generosity helped us support the rescues of innocent foals on the Virginia Range, like Hazel, and victims of the AIP including 12 BLM-branded burros from an Oklahoma kill pen and 10 unhandled mustangs from a kill pen in Colorado.
As 2021 comes to a close, we are grateful for your advocacy, your financial support, and your passion and dedication to protecting the wild horses and burros we all cherish. Many battles lie before us in the new year as we work toward a better future for these magnificent animals, but with you on our side, we know we will prevail.
All of us at AWHC wish you and your loved ones (human and non-human) a very happy and restful Thanksgiving holiday.
Warmly,
Suzanne
Suzanne Roy Executive Director American Wild Horse Campaign
Giving Tuesday is just around the corner — and I’m excited to announce that this year, we’ve set our biggest fundraising goal ever. This Giving Tuesday, we’re aiming to raise $75,000 so we have the resources necessary to fuel our work in the field, in courts, and on the Hill in 2022.
So much is at stake in 2022. RIGHT NOW, the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Fiscal Year 2022 budget includes a proposed increase in funding that can be used toward wild horse and burro roundups and removals.
While this might seem disastrous, there’s still hope. The BLM just appointed their newest director, and we’re using every resource at our disposal to fight for meaningful change for wild horses and burros with this new transition in leadership. But timing is of the essence — we must act now.
We wanted to share some recent updates about roundups, happy endings for rescued burros, and two actions you can take to help protect both wild horses and burros and global burro populations!
Recently, the Senate Appropriations Committee joined the House in allocating $11 million of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)’s Wild Horse and Burro Program budget towards a comprehensive fertility control vaccine program for wild horses.
This was a huge victory, but our work is not over! Congress must now negotiate a final Fiscal Year 2022 spending bill, and we need your help to ensure that it includes this $11 million of dedicated funding for fertility control vaccines. This is a critical step toward curtailing the brutal helicopter roundups that are so costly to American taxpayers and the wild horses and burros we love.
Each year, millions of donkeys are brutally slaughtered for the production of ejiao (eh-gee-yow), medicinal gelatin that is made from boiling the skins of these animals. The U.S. is the third largest importer of ejiao in the world. The donkey skin trade is now decimating global populations as well as harming the impoverished global communities that rely on them for survival.
Luckily, the Ejiao Act was recently introduced in Congress to ban the knowing sale or transportation of ejiao in all interstate or foreign trade. We need to speak up for all donkeys — including our federally protected wild burros! Please take a moment to ask your Representative to co-sponsor the Ejiao Act!
The U.S. Forest Service ended its controversial roundup of wild horses from the Devil’s Garden Wild Horse Territory in California’s Modoc National Forest in October, resulting in the permanent removal of 506 horses. During the month-long operation, five horses died — a tragic fact that was unknown to the public until AWHC persisted in getting the information from the Forest Service.
In our most recent blog, AWHC looks at this disturbing situation and the Forest Service’s continued lack of transparency and intransigence in refusing to implement humane fertility control. Read the in-depth piece below.
Photo by Carol Lollis for the Daily Hampshire Gazette
Recently, AWHC’s Program Specialist Mary Koncel welcomed two adorable rescued burros, Huck and Puck, to her home in Massachusetts! Huck and Puck had a long journey, from the deserts of Nevada, to being adopted through the BLM’s Adoption Incentive Program, to a kill pen in Oklahoma, to finally getting the happy ending they deserve in Massachusetts! Read their story below.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) recently confirmed its newest Director, Tracy Stone-Manning. We welcome Director Stone-Manning, as she comes in at a pivotal moment for the BLM.
With the New York Times report earlier this year, fueled by research conducted by AWHC, we revealed the wild horse-to-slaughter pipeline that has come to exist as a result of the BLM’s failed Adoption Incentive Program (AIP). Since the report, members of the public and Congress have called for reforms and an end to the program.
Today, we’re taking things a step further. With new leadership, the BLM has the opportunity to reform the programs that have failed America’s wild horses and burros for the last fifty years.
Right now, thousands of wild horses are being rounded up across 3.4 million acres of land in Wyoming. And for Fiscal Year 2022, the House and Senate appropriations committees gave the BLM a budget increase towards their helicopter roundup programs.Change for America’s wild horses and burros is dire and needed now.
We’re calling on Director Stone-Manning to:
Put an end to the cash-incentive Adoption Incentive Program that’s sending truckloads of wild horses and burros into the slaughter pipeline.
Redirect resources away from inhumane and costly roundups toward scientific, on-range management with fertility control vaccines that allow horses to stay in the wild where they belong.
Address the bias in resource allocation for commercial livestock grazing within wild horse and burro habitats.
Bring accountability and compliance to roundups by requiring cameras on helicopters, traps, and holding pens during roundups.
Provide meaningful public observation of roundup operations.
Strengthen the agency’s Comprehensive Animal Welfare Program guidelines and make them enforceable.
To everyone who attended our annual Stay Wild virtual fundraiser last night, I wanted to say thank you so much for your generosity and compassion. The support we received will surely help us continue to save the lives of America’s wild horses and burros.
We set a goal to raise $180,000 through last night’s event, and I’m excited to share that so far, we have raised a total of $150,016. While this is a major achievement, we still have a few areas where your support is greatly needed! Can you help us hit our $180,000 goal before midnight tonight?
We set a goal last night to raise $11,000 towards our Field Programs. $11,000 helps us administer 367 doses of the PZP fertility control vaccine to wild mares in Nevada and keeps our field team supplied for two months on the Virginia Range!
We also set a goal to raise $10,000 for our Legal Fund. $10,000 provides us the necessary resources to fuel our next lawsuit — and we have a few in the pipeline!
Just this year, we’ve filed suit against the disastrous Adoption Incentive Program (AIP), stopped the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from performing dangerous surgical sterilization procedures on wild mares, and we’re working on a rulemaking petition with a prestigious university to strengthen and make the BLM’s Comprehensive Animal Welfare Program enforceable!
We also set a very important goal to raise $25,000 towards our Rescue Fund, and while we have successfully secured $11,910 towards our rescue efforts, we still have a ways to go if we want to hit our goal!
This may seem like a big goal, but every $8,000 helps us bail approximately 10 wild horses and burros from kill pens and every $500 helps us provide the necessary medical supplies to care for and treat orphaned and injured foals on Nevada’s Virginia Range. Will you help us hit our $25,000 goal so we can fuel our rescue efforts?
Last night’s journey through the history of America’s wild horse and burro protection movement was truly something to remember. From Wild Horse Annie’s fight to protect these cherished icons in the ‘70s to the work we’re doing today — we’re so grateful to have you along for the ride with us.
From musical guest performances to sobering behind-the-scenes footage of the atrocities of the AIP and our fight to terminate it, I won’t be forgetting last night anytime soon.
To our sponsors and silent auction participants, to our staff and board, to the amazing talent and our wonderful host committee: thank you … we couldn’t have done it without you! THANK YOU also to everyone who attended and donated — you made this year’s Stay Wild one for the books!
Now let’s keep the good work going!!
Suzanne Roy Executive Director
American Wild Horse Campaign
Earlier this week we shared an exciting win with you. On Tuesday, the Senate Appropriations Committee released their fiscal year 2022 bill for the Department of the Interior.
In this bill, $11 million was reallocated away from the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) roundup funds towards implementing “a robust and humane fertility control strategy of reversible immunocontraceptive vaccines” for America’s wild horses.
While we have some other objections to the bill’s allocated funding for the BLM, this is a big step in the right direction for America’s wild horses and burros.
We’re grateful for the help of AWHC supporters who contacted their members of Congress and advocated on the behalf of wild horses and burros. Your help provided our Government Relations team with the necessary support to work with Congress to get a meaningful funding provision passed.
This $11 million in funding is crucial in furthering protections for America’s wild horses and burros. The Senate Appropriations Committee took a historic step towards reforming the Wild Horse and Burro Program by including this language. While there is still more work to do, this provision will help keep wild horses in the wild, where they belong!
The largest roundup in history has officially begun. The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) helicopters have descended on five Herd Management Areas (HMAs) in the Wyoming Checkerboard, and are targeting 4,000 wild horses for capture.
The roundup is SO massive that it is scheduled to continue through February of 2022. Approximately 3,555 wild horses will be permanently removed from 3.4 million acres of land. Given the mortality rate associated with roundups, at least 50 horses are expected to die as a result of the months-long helicopter stampede.
The survivors — wild animals who roam 10-20 miles a day — will be confined in feedlot pens that provide just 700 square feet of space per horse. Many will be adopted through the BLM’s cash incentive program that’s sending “truckloads” of wild horses into the slaughter pipeline, according to the New York Times. The “lucky ones” who escape this grim fate will never experience freedom or family again.
All for what? Livestock special interests have lobbied for decades for the removal of these wild horses so that their cattle can graze on our public lands. Now, the lives of thousands of Wyoming’s wild horses hang in the balance as the BLM begins this devastating roundup that will cost taxpayers millions of dollars.
We’re fighting back against the BLM’s efforts. That’s why we just launched our campaign, Keep WY Wyld. Earlier this week, we started a national petition in partnership with the Animal Welfare Institute to demand a halt to these roundups. Now, we’re announcing the next steps of our campaign >>
This roundup is just a precursor to the pending BLM plan to eradicate horses entirely from most of the HMAs in this area. If successful, this action would result in the loss of 52% of the state’s wild horse habitat.
We refuse to allow that to happen. So we’re using every resource at our disposal to fight for the rights of Wyoming’s wild horses. The livestock industry is well-funded and we expect them to fight back.
Learn about the planned roundup including background and history on the special interests that play a role in why this roundup is happening;
Hear more about our national campaign, Keep WY Wyld and our plan to fight back for the horses of the Wyoming Checkerboard;
Get inspired and learn more about how you can help in our fight to protect these wild horses!
Roughly 4,397 wild horses living in five herd management areas across the Wyoming Checkerboard will be rounded up as part of this action, so it’s critical that supporters like you join us in this fight. The proposed roundup will reduce the wild horse population across these areas to just 1,550 wild horses — leaving just 1 horse for every 2,217 acres of land.
We hope you’ll join us to hear more about our national campaign and get inspired to join the fight to protect these cherished icons.
Did you know that a gift of $30 today will help us keep wild horses wild for years to come?How? It costs just $30 to vaccinate a single mare annually with Porcine Zona Pellucida (PZP) — a scientifically-proven fertility control vaccine.
On Nevada’s Virginia Range, we operate the world’s largest humane fertility control program for wild horses. Earlier this year, we celebrated our two-year anniversary of this historic program! Our work on the Virginia Range provides scientific evidence to the public that THERE IS a humane way to manage wild horses that doesn’t require mass roundups, crowded holding pens, or dangerous sterilization surgeries.
The success of our PZP program in Nevada has been critical in our fight to protect wild horses. And the continued operation of this program helps us to provide lawmakers, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and the rest of the public with cold, hard, scientific evidence that supports the legitimacy and efficacy of this humane population management tool.
Today is the last day of the BLM’s FY 2021 roundup season. Since this time last year, over 17,917 wild horses and burros have been brutally chased by helicopters and taken to holding facilities, costing these innocent animals their families and their freedom.
