As we speak, a sign-on letter is circulating in the U.S. Senate requesting that at least $11 million of Fiscal Year 2022 funding for the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro Program be earmarked for humane fertility control as a step away from brutal helicopter roundups and the removal of wild horses and burros from public lands. Over 40 members of the House have signed onto a similar request. Now we need your help to get your Senators to sign on!
The U.S. Forest Service is planning to continue its assault on the Devil’s Garden wild horses in California. During a Motorized Vehicle Public Meeting last week, officials from the Modoc National Forest announced their intent to remove between 800-1,000 wild horses from their 285,000-acre federally-designated habitat beginning in September.
It’s well past the time to hit the reset button on the management not only of wild horses, but wild burros as well. Last week, AWHC’s program specialist, Mary Koncel teamed up with an adviser to the Cloud Foundation to write an opinion piece for the Washington Examiner to raise awareness about these amazing animals of the desert southwest and inspire citizens to take action to protect them. Read more below.
The BLM National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board will meet from June 30 – July 1. This citizen Advisory Board is supposed to represent broad stakeholder interests but its membership, which is appointed by the Secretaries of Interior and Agriculture, is heavily weighted in favor of livestock interests.
As I write this, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is rounding up wild burros in California. Next month, the official roundup season begins in full force. In the middle of July, Utah’s Onaqui herd will be targeted.
For these wild horses and burros, the dust never settles.
As you know, a huge part of our work involves observing and documenting as many roundups as we can. We do this to hold the agencies and government contractors accountable for their often inhumane actions. And, we report to the public what happens at each roundup on public land, so you’re informed.
But, we’re doing far more than just documenting. We’re fully engaged on the ground and working to ensure that cruel roundups are minimized — and ideally eliminated — in the future.
We’re working in Congress to ensure that protective language is being submitted that would give funds to in-the-wild management to begin the shift away from removals.
In Onaqui, we have submitted a scientific plan for the humane management of the beloved horses that would leave them wild.
We are working with a prestigious University on a rulemaking petition to make violations of the BLM’s animal welfare standards enforceable by law.
We are proving humane management can work to keep wild horses wild through the world’s largest fertility control program for mustangs in Nevada.
We need all hands on deck, Erica, because the Biden Administration just released the next fiscal year’s budget, and it includes a $36.8 million increase for the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program. The new proposal also continues the Trump Administration’s accelerated roundup plan that could remove nearly 90,000 wild horses and burros from their homes over just the next five years!
We wanted to make sure you heard about this exciting update:
Over the last week, 30+ members of Congress have called on the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to suspend an adoption program that’s sending wild horses and burros to slaughter.
The recent groundbreaking New York Times report — prompted by an AWHC investigation of the BLM’s Adoption Incentive Program (AIP) — has led to national awareness about the plight of wild horses and burros, and has received significant attention from legislators on Capitol Hill.
Late last week, in a letter directed to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (CA) called on the Interior Department to immediately suspend the BLM’s AIP and conduct a thorough investigation into the program that’s become a pipeline to slaughter for untold numbers of federally-protected wild horses and burros.
On Wednesday, U.S. Reps. Earl Blumenauer, Dina Titus, Steve Cohen, Jan Schakowsky, and Mike Quigley along with 25 of their House colleagues sent a similar letter to Secretary Haaland, asking that the AIP be suspended and calling for the passage of the Save America’s Forgotten Equines (SAFE) Act to protect all American horses from slaughter.
In coordination with our rescue partners, Evanescent Mustang Rescue, Skydog Sanctuary, and Black Hills Sanctuary, AWHC spent significant time searching for and accumulating tangible evidence to document the connection between the BLM’s AIP and the uptick in cherished wild horses and burros in slaughter auctions across the country — all leading to the New York Times exposé.
We’re working with Senator Feinstein, Reps. Titus and Cohen, and many other members of Congress to put a halt to the AIP, pass federal legislation to help keep wild horses in the wild, and we’re fighting back against a dangerous bill that would strip away federal protections for wild horses and burros by allowing the BLM to trade away their habitats to states.
In Nevada’s Virginia Range, AWHC operates the world’s largest humane management program for wild horses. We recently celebrated our two-year anniversary of the establishment of this historic initiative to prove to the world that THERE IS a humane way to manage wild horse populations that doesn’t require mass roundups, crowded holding corrals, dangerous sterilization surgeries, or slaughter.
We’re fighting back against the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) massive herd removals in court and on Capitol Hill — and the success of our PZP program in Nevada has been critical in our fight to protect wild horses.
In roughly a month, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is scheduled to resume helicopter roundups. And over the next 5 years, the BLM is planning to round up an estimated 90,000 wild horses and burros!
What’s worse, is that the BLM is accelerating roundups over the next five years, which is projected to cost taxpayers nearly $1 billion dollars. Now we don’t have to tell you that a $30 fertility control treatment is a MUCH MORE cost-effective option compared to these costly roundups!
Tens of thousands of wild horses and burros will lose their families and freedom because of these roundups, and because the BLM doesn’t have the capacity to store all of the horses they capture, it’s already leading to slaughter for too many of these cherished animals.
The Biden Administration just released its proposed Fiscal Year 2022 budget for the U.S. Department of the Interior. It contains an astounding increase of $36.8 million for the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program, and continues the Trump Administration’s accelerated, mass roundup plan and scapegoating of wild equids.
Remember what that plan includes: the removal of nearly 90,000 wild horses and burros from their homes on our public lands, the tripling of the number of wild horses and burros in holding facilities, and a cost to taxpayers of nearly $1 billion in the first five years! And, as the New York Times recently reported, this is already leading to the slaughter of these protected national icons.
It’s shocking that Interior Secretary Haaland has put her seal of approval on this plan. As a member of Congress, she opposed additional funding for wild horse and burro roundups, advocating instead for humane birth control. Clearly, at the helm of the Interior Department, she’s now prioritizing livestock industry interests over the protection of wild horses and burros.
But remember, this is only a budget request. It does not mean that Congress will fund it.
So, it’s time to fight back … And it’s already happening!
Increasing numbers of environmental organizations are speaking up against the scapegoating of wild horses for damage caused by massive livestock grazing. In fact, the Sierra Club recently adopted a policy calling for the elimination of livestock grazing in wild horse and burro habitats!
Support for humane, in-the-wild horse and burro management is growing on Capitol Hill. Reps. Dina Titus (D-NV) and Steve Cohen (D-TN) were recently joined by over 40 of their House colleagues in requesting Congress to fund humane fertility control and other on-range methods as a priority over removing wild horses and burros from their homes.
AWHC is working with key members of Congress to support a humane, environmentally-focused and scientific approach to wild horse management that would drastically reduce the removal of wild horses and burros from their habitats.
We really need you to take action too.Here’s what you can do:
Protest this budget request on the Interior Department’s Facebook page by downloading the below graphic and uploading it to this post.
Email Secretary Haaland at exsec@ios.doi.gov. Suggested message: “I strongly oppose your cruel plan to remove tens of thousands of wild horses and burros from our public lands. I’m especially disappointed that you blame wild horses and burros for environmental damage and climate change while you continue to ignore livestock grazing, which is the real contributor to these issues. Humane on-range management alternatives — including birth control and removing livestock — are available, scientifically-recommended, and cost-effective. I’m very disappointed that you are prioritizing livestock interests over the interests of the 80 percent of Americans who want wild horses and burros protected, not rounded up, penned, and slaughtered.”
The Onaqui wild horses of the West Desert in Utah just gained a powerful voice in the battle to save the iconic herd from a brutal helicopter roundup planned by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) this summer. What’s at stake: the fate of 300 of the 500 Onaqui wild horses targeted for removal by the BLM.
Actress Katherine Heigl (Grey’s Anatomy), is using her platform to join AWHC in speaking out for this beloved herd, known for its striking colors, unique social dynamics, and acclimation to photographers and other visitors from all over the world.
A growing chorus of celebrities and activists is speaking out against the BLM’s inhumane mass roundup and removal of thousands of wild horses and burros every year from the public lands they call home. As was revealed by our investigation and confirmed by a New York Times exposé — far too many captured wild horses and burros are adopted then dumped at slaughter auctions across the country.
Katherine makes a great point: Why are we spending so much time and money to round up the Onaqui wild horses, separating their family groups, terrorizing or even killing them, when there is already a humane fertility control program in place to control the population?
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) recently released its final decision to round up and remove ALL of the wild burros in the Centennial, Panamint, and Slate Herd Areas (HAs) in California.
These Herd Areas are made up of roughly 1.73 million acres of public and private land and are currently home to roughly 1,000 wild burros!
The BLM changed the Appropriate Management Level (AML) for the burros in the three HAs to 0, even though these animals call this area home. NOW, the BLM is planning to conduct brutal helicopter roundups to remove every wild burro from this area over the next 10 years.
The BLM just announced that the first roundup is scheduled to take place next week, on May 28, and 300 burros are at risk of immediate removal, so we need your help now.
Send a letter to the BLMand tell them that this final decision to remove ALL of the burros from the Centennial, Panamint, and Slate HAs must be revised. You can use the letter we provided to tell them that you oppose this decision.
Contact your members of Congress and tell them that you strongly oppose the BLM’s decision to remove these burros from the land they call home!
We sent a letter to the BLM months ago asking them to reinstate these HAs, and they ignored us. Not only will these roundups be traumatic for the burros being removed — this is another unnecessary removal action by the BLM at the expense of American taxpayers.
Recent research has shown that these burro species have made a positive impact on the lands where they live. Without burros as part of the ecosystem, the BLM could potentially impact the environment beyond repair.
The New York Times article published last weekend has resulted in A LOT of buzz for wild horses. Thanks to our partners who helped us uncover the unethical operations that were happening through the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Adoption Incentive Program (AIP), we now have a means to fight against the AIP on Capitol Hill.
As we speak, we are working with members of Congress to put a halt to the AIP program, pass federal legislation to help keep wild horses wild, and we’re fighting back against a dangerous bill that would strip away federal protections for wild horses and burros.
Our Government Relations team is relentless in their legislative fight to protect wild horses and burros, but they have been working especially hard since the New York Times article came out. They’ve been working around the clock — holding meetings with legislators, mobilizing supporters to contact their elected officials, and working to help develop policies that will protect wild horses and burros.
Our Government Relations team has been integral in the legislative victories we’ve had to date. Just this year, AWHC helped put an end to SJR3, a Nevada bill that called on Congress to fund the removal of 40,000 of Nevada’s wild horses, and mobilized supporters like you to contact your legislators and push for Congress to support the confirmation of Secretary of the Interior Deb Halaand, who supported wild horse protection when she was in Congress.
We wanted to say thank you — after this weekend’s New York Times article was published, we have received an outpouring of support for our work.
If you haven’t yet had a chance to read the article from the New York Times uncovering the wild horse-slaughter pipeline that has emerged as a result of the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Adoption Incentive Program (AIP) — you can check it out at the link here.
In coordination with our partners, we spent significant time searching for and accumulating tangible evidence to document the connection between this program and the slaughter of hundreds of cherished wild horses and burros — leading to the New York Times exposé. Your support made this work possible and it will carry us through our efforts to use legal, legislative, and grassroots channels to shut this program down. Can you make a donation today to help us shut down the AIP?
A key part of our research was using our Rescue Fund to help our partners rescue wild horses and burros from kill pens. Not just saving these innocent animal’s lives, but also giving us access to information — including titles and brand numbers — that helped us connect the dots.
Now that this story is out, your support is critical. Thousands of America’s wild horses and burros are at risk because of this program and the BLM’s mass roundup plan that is resulting in their slaughter. They need our help.
Over the last several months, the American Wild Horse Campaign — with assistance from Evanescent Mustang Rescue, Skydog Ranch and Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary — has been conducting an investigation into the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Adoption Incentive Program (AIP), leading to today’s New York Times report exposing this federal program as a subsidized pipeline to slaughter for federally-protected wild horses and burros.
The BLM’s AIP pays individuals $1,000 to adopt a wild, unhandled horse or burro. As AWHC predicted when the program was implemented in 2019, the initiative has been a disaster for these animals.It is now clear that the BLM is laundering horses to slaughter through the AIP and evading the long-standing Congressional slaughter ban.
This program is a predictable result of the BLM’s inhumane and costly mass roundup program and the agency’s efforts to empty holding pens to make room for the tens of thousands of horses and burros targeted for removal over the next five years.
Our investigation, as affirmed by the New York Times, has documented:
Wild horses and burros are being sent to slaughter through the AIP.
Adopters are collecting the payments then sending horses to livestock auctions known as “kill pens” where they are purchased by kill buyers and shipped across the border for slaughter.
Adopters are routinely violating their BLM adoption contracts, which they sign under penalty of perjury, prohibiting the sale of these animals directly or indirectly to slaughter.
Groups of related individuals are evading the four-horse adoption limit by adopting multiple horses each using the same location on their applications, then collecting as much as $30,000 in AIP payments and sales of the horses at kill pens.
The AIP additionally has resulted in severe neglect and abuse of horses and burros by adopters unqualified or uninterested in providing adequate care.
The AIP should not be allowed to continue. The BLM must stop rounding up wild horses and burros and start managing them humanely in the wild. Thousands of America’s iconic wild horses and burros are at risk and need your voice.
Please take these three actions to make change for them right now:
Sign our petition demanding an end to the AIP and to mass roundups that send too many wild horses and burros into the slaughter pipeline.
On the eve of Burro Awareness Month, our rescue partner Evanescent Mustang Rescue and Sanctuary alerted us about 12 burros that were dumped in an Oklahoma kill pen. The burros were rounded up by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and were ready to ship to slaughter any day.
These burros are likely victims of the BLM’s Adoption Incentive Program, which pays a $1,000 incentive for individuals to adopt wild and unhandled horses and burros. The program is resulting in many of these beautiful wild animals being “flipped” to kill pens.
We knew we had to help Evanescent rescue these innocent animals and get them to safety ASAP.
AWHC’s Rescue Fund paid the bail for all 12 burros, and Evanescent rescued them and is providing a safe landing place where they can rest and heal until they are ready for adoption!
This victory wouldn’t be possible without the support of donors like you. The resources you help to provide the AWHC & our Rescue Fund are integral in helping our rescue partners save wild horses and burros.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the US Forest Service, and the National Park Service have long treated these long-eared equids with disregard and deliberate misinformation campaigns. Cattle grazing, road-building, big game hunting, gold and lithium mining and other commercial uses erode their habitat and damage their access to water.
With Deb Haaland as Secretary of Interior, there’s a chance to change this harmful pattern. But it may not save their skins unless awareness leads to concerted action — and pronto.
In the spirit of Burro Awareness Month, we would like to share with you a guest blog about these incredible animals written by advocate and burro-extraordinaire, Charlotte Roe. After you read it, follow the link at the bottom to support America’s burros.
You may be familiar with the Sand Wash Basin Herd Management Area (HMA) in Colorado because of the world famous stallion, Picasso who called this 157,000-acre public lands habitat home, and who died wild and free on this very land. Unfortunately, the surviving members of his herd may not be so lucky.
The BLM is currently planning to roundup and remove over 80% of the Sand Wash wild mustangs, leaving only a population 163 — about 1 horse per every 980 acres!
Adding insult to injury, the local organization, Sand Wash Advocate Team (SWAT) has worked tirelessly to implement a PZP program to humanely manage the Sand Wash mustangs — and it’s working. Instead of a costly and cruel helicopter roundup, the BLM should invest more time and resources to support SWAT’s efforts and expand the PZP program in the HMA. This would be more humane for the horses and more cost-effective for the American taxpayers.
It’s unfortunately more bad news for the wild horses and burros that reside within the Calico Complex in Nevada. The BLM is targeting the estimated 1,700 wild horses and 70 wild burros for removal in this nearly 600,000-acre area.
The agency is also considering extreme manipulation of the wild horse and burro population remaining on the range by implementing unproven IUDs over scientifically proven PZP fertility control, unnaturally skewing the sex ratio in favor of males, and managing a fourth of the population as non-reproducing, including by castrating stallions.
In 2013 we started “Burro Awareness Month” to promote awareness and appreciation for the amazing and unique burros of America’s Southwest. Now, it’s time that we make it a national holiday!
Wild burros have the same rich history and are as culturally significant as wild horses, but unfortunately, they receive far less attention.
Burros were first introduced to the Desert Southwest by the Spaniards in the 1500’s, and served as reliable companions to explorers and pioneers on their treks throughout the West in the years thereafter.
They worked tirelessly to carry supplies and machinery to mining camps, and became indispensable to the workers. At the end of the mining boom many burros escaped or were turned loose, and with their innate ability to survive under the harshest conditions—wild herds eventually formed and flourished.
America’s burros are protected under federal law, but they are in crisis due to government mismanagement which has caused dwindling numbers and a lack of genetic diversity. Our goal is to keep burros wild and free on the range through humane management programs and initiatives to ensure healthy populations of wild burros living on our public lands.
Fewer than 15,000 burros are estimated to remain on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Forest Service lands across the U.S. Like wild horses, these agencies have historically managed burros by rounding them up and removing large numbers of them from the range.
This week there are four important Action Alert deadlines for comments on mass roundup plans targeting wild horses and burros in Nevada, Wyoming, Colorado and California!
So, please take a moment to weigh in for meaningful change for wild horses and burros by taking the actions below:
Burros are incredible animals and evolving science is documenting the important role they play in the desert ecosystem. But a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plan for wild burros in the Lake Mead Complex outside Las Vegas would zero out wild burros from two of three habitat areas, and leave behind a minuscule number of burros in the third. For good measure, the BLM also wants to capture and remove every wild horse living in the area. Take action to oppose this by Friday.
The BLM is targeting the famed Sand Wash Basin wild horses in Colorado for mass roundup and removals. The HMA covers roughly 157,700 acres of public land and is currently home to an estimated 935 wild horses. The BLM’s proposed plan calls for the removal of 772 wild horses, leaving a mere 163 horses in this HMA!
The Sand Wash Advocate Team (SWAT) has worked tirelessly to implement a PZP program in this HMA, yet these horses are still targeted for mass removal. The BLM’s current plan calls for continued use of PZP, but would also allow for the use of unstudied IUDs as an alternative form of population control. Submit your comments by Saturday and oppose the BLM’s plan!
The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) wants taxpayers to spend as much as $18 million to fund 6-8 years of wild horse helicopter roundups in the Devil’s Garden Wild Horse Territory in the northeast corner of California. The USFS wants to reduce the wild horse population to a fraction of its current size in order to maximize commercial livestock grazing on public lands where the horses live.
Worse, even though they’re asking you to pay for it, the Forest Service doesn’t want your comments on the plan! However, as one of a handful of designated “stakeholders,” AWHC is committed to making your voice heard in this process. Sign our petition by Friday.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is again targeting the wild horses of the Wyoming Checkerboard for a massive helicopter roundup that will remove a shocking 3,500 wild horses — or 40% of the state’s wild horse population — from 3.5 million acres of habitat in the southern part of the state.
The plan calls for drastically reducing the population to just 1,550 wild horses roaming free. Under this proposal, the BLM plans to treat and release 290 mares with PZP and use unproven IUDs. The BLM is also considering an alternative plan that calls for the surgical sterilization of 100 mares, the castratation of 100 stallions, and would skew the sex ratio of the population to 60% stallions and 40% mares. Submit your comments by Friday to oppose the BLM’s plan!
Every year, April 26 is a day dedicated to encouraging horse lovers to come together and advocate on behalf of America’s beloved horses. And this year especially, we need your help to protect wild horses in danger of slaughter.
As part of an investigation into the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Adoption Incentive Program, AWHC staff members have been monitoring kill pens across the country and documenting so many BLM mustangs being sold at these slaughter auctions.
In our search, one AWHC staff member came across a one-year-old mare at a kill pen in Texas. She was all alone and due to ship to slaughter in less than a week.
The sad reality is, that with so many wild horses and burros in kill pens across the country, many rescue organizations are spread thin in their efforts to save these animals.
We knew we had to step in and save the little roan filly, so we partnered with Montgomery Creek Ranch, a beautiful wild horse sanctuary in northern California, to pull her out of the kill pen.
There are so many beautiful and beloved wild horses and burros that are trapped in kill pens all across the country, thanks to the BLM’s terrible Adoption Incentive Program, which creates a financial incentive to adopt and then dump these innocent animals.
So far, we’ve been able to help rescue more than a dozen wild horses from kill pens, thanks to wonderful sanctuaries and rescue groups, and with the help of generous supporters like you. Your support will help us help save more horses from slaughter, like the filly we were able to rescue from Texas.
This past December, in collaboration with Utah citizen, Robert Hammer, we filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of the Interior to stop the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from performing risky and inhumane surgical sterilization surgeries on federally-protected wild mares recently rounded up in Utah.
And, we’re happy to report that this morning, government attorneys informed our lawyers that the BLM is dropping their plans to conduct inhumane sterilization surgeries on wild mares in Utah.
Not only is this a huge victory on behalf of the wild horses of Utah, but this is also the THIRD time that AWHC’s legal action has blocked the BLM from proceeding with the controversial surgeries in wild mares!
The new leadership of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland — someone who AWHC supporters like you pushed your members of Congress to confirm — no doubt played a key role in the BLM’s decision to drop plans to conduct these invasive and risky surgeries.
When in Congress, Sec. Haaland was a champion for wild horse protection, signing onto a letter spearheaded by AWHC and the Animal Welfare Institute, calling on the BLM to abandon plans to conduct sterilization surgeries. She also co-sponsored a House amendment to promote fertility control as a humane management option.
And this morning, we saw the effects of having wild-horse friendly leadership in Washington!
While today was a big win, your support is still critical to our efforts to ensure that wild horses and burros maintain their freedom and remain protected from special interests. We are already gearing up for necessary legal action to defend wild horses in Wyoming, California, and other states against proposed federal actions to decimate wild herds.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service are currently preparing for the upcoming roundup season, and as such, have released several disastrous plans for mustangs and burros that need your immediate attention.
We’ve told you recently about a lot of roundups planned and we know sometimes this news can be overwhelming. But don’t forget — the power to stop this is in our hands, and we are gaining more support every day … with the public, in the scientific community, in state legislatures, and on Capitol Hill. Lawmakers know that wild horses and burros have a loud and powerful constituency and we must keep raising our voices for change so that they are truly protected on our public lands.
Please take a few moments to read about the latest roundup plans below, and then ACT!
The BLM recently released a plan that would permanently remove 3,500 wild horses — or nearly 40 percent of the state’s wild horse population — from 2.5 million acres of habitat in the “Wyoming Checkerboard” in the southern part of the state. The plan calls for drastically reducing the population to the low Appropriate Management Levels (AMLs) in five federally designated Herd Management Areas (HMAs): Adobe Town, Salt Wells Creek, Great Divide Basin, White Mountain, and Little Colorado.
This mass roundup plan will cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars. It will cost these historic wild horses their families, their freedom, and, for many, their lives. The cruel policy is driven by commercial interests, in particular, the Rock Springs Grazing Association (RSGA), whose members graze their cattle and sheep on public lands and view the horses as competition for cheap grazing. Since 2011, AWHC has been involved in litigation against the RSGA to defend the wild horses in this area and has amassed numerous court victories, including at the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. We intend to continue the legal fight to defend Wyoming’s wild horses and to rally public opposition to this plan.
Please weigh in now in opposition of this disastrous plan!
The U.S. Forest Service plans to step up its assault on the Devil’s Garden wild horse herd in California’s Modoc National Forest. Its years-long battle against these historic wild horses began in 2012, when the agency attempted to reduce the size of their habitat by 22,000-acres. We went to court and we stopped them. Pursuant to an appellate court ruling, the Forest Service must consider those 22,000 acres as an active part of the horses’ habitat.
Now, the Forest Service has released an “AML Implementation Plan” that is only being sent to “stakeholders”. The plan reduces the Devil’s Garden wild horse population to just 206-402 mustangs (down from 1,900 today) to achieve an “Appropriate” Management Level that was set based on the illegal elimination of 22,000 acres of the horses’ habitat. The plan does not evaluate the appropriate population size for the larger habitat and is based on the policy of allocating most of the forage in the area to commercial livestock. Indeed, the agency permits an incredible 3,700 privately-owned cows and 2,900 privately-owned sheep to graze in the mustangs’ habitat! And if all of that wasn’t enough, the Forest Service has rejected our offer to implement a humane fertility control program to actually manage the horses effectively in the wild, instead of relentlessly rounding them up with helicopters, penning them, and selling them for $1 a piece.
AWHC is considered a stakeholder with the ability to comment on this plan, but we represent all of you — the American people — and believe that you should also have a say. So please join us in signing onto our letter opposing this inhumane and expensive management plan.
The BLM is seeking public comments on a roundup and removal of wild horses from the Sulphur HMA in Utah.
In 2017, the Beaver County Commissioners in Utah filed a lawsuit seeking to force the BLM to remove all “excess” wild horses from the Sulphur HMA. The request sought to eliminate hundreds of federally-protected wild horses from their habitat in order to reduce the competition with domestic livestock. AWHC and our coalition immediately filed a Motion to Intervene in order to protect wild horses on the range. Earlier this year, the case was settled out of court.
Now, the wild horses are back on the chopping block. The HMA is made up of 265,711 acres of public and private land and is currently home to an estimated 414 wild horses. However, the BLM set the “Appropriate” Management Level for this HMA at just 165-250 wild horses. The plan calls for achieving the low AML, leaving just one horse per every 1,600 acres! At the same time, like most of the areas where wild horses live, the BLM allows thousands of sheep and cattle to graze within the HMA. Please take action today.
The U.S. Forest Service recently released a Territory Management Plan for the Heber wild horses, a unique band of horses that reside within the Apache Sitgreaves Forest in northern Arizona. This plan will decimate this historic population, leaving as few as 50 horses on nearly 20,000 acres of public land! Meanwhile, the agency permits thousands of cattle to graze within the horses’ habitat.
These horses have been the target of brutal shootings in the Forest that have left 28 dead since 2018. Enough is enough. We must speak up loudly for the Heber wild horses and demand better treatment, a fairer plan, and ultimately, justice!
The Heber wild horses of the Sitgreaves National Forest in eastern Arizona have been through enough. Since 2018, the bodies of 28 horses from this small herd have been found shot to death in the Forest and not a single person has been brought to justice.
Now, the Forest Service has just released a Territory Management Plan that continues this assault — in a different way. The agency wants to reduce the population of these mustangs to as few as 50 animals on nearly 20,000-acres of public land.
Why? You might ask — well, taking a look at who else resides in the Forest might be a good place to find answers. At the same time that the Forest Service wants to drastically reduce the population of the herds, it permits nearly 500 cow/calf pairs to graze within the horses’ habitat.
We cannot let this stand. Please take one moment to speak up for Arizona’s Heber wild horses.
The wild horses in the Onaqui Herd Management Area (HMA) of Dugway, Utah are arguably the most visited and cherished mustang population in the country. The herd’s accessibility provides a unique experience for visitors and photographers who, in turn, share their photographs and stories of these iconic animals with an international audience. Not only that, but there is a successful PZP program, spearheaded by volunteers, to stabilize the population numbers.
But none of that seems to matter to the BLM, which recently announced that it will be targeting hundreds of the Onaqui wild horses for removal as early as July 2021. When we heard the news, we sprung into action and are currently developing a plan to fight back. We will give you more details on that soon, but for now, please read our most recent oped in the Salt Lake Tribune about this situation.
The BLM released an Environmental Assessment this week outlining a plan to continue its nearly decade-long assault on the iconic wild horses of the Wyoming Checkerboard. Under the proposal, the BLM would use helicopters to permanently remove 3,500 wild horses — or nearly 40% of the wild horse population in the state.
The BLM continues to cater to the interests of the Rock Springs Grazing Association (RSGA), whose members view wild horses as competition for cheap, taxpayer-subsidized livestock grazing on public lands. Since 2011, AWHC has been involved in litigation against the RSGA and the BLM to defend the wild horses in this area and has amassed numerous court victories, including at the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. We intend to continue legal action to defend Wyoming wild horses and to rally public opposition to this plan — but more on that soon.
Check out our latest news release on the situation and stay tuned for more ways to take action in the coming weeks.
Here at the American Wild Horse Campaign, we run a Foal Rescue Fund to provide vet and critical care, safe transportation for baby foals in need of medical attention, and the creation of field kits to provide immediate treatment to foals while volunteers are on the range.
We have also provided funds to help build a critical foal care nursery, and to retrofit a retired ambulance to ensure that foals can be safely transported to get the care they need.
On the Virginia Range, saving foals is a real community effort and we are proud to play a key role in it. On March 22, two AWHC fertility control volunteers came across a wild horse band with a tiny baby foal named Hazel.
They quickly realized the foal wasn’t with her mother and instead was with a guardian mare who wasn’t able to feed her. The team tried but was unable to locate her family. That’s when the community coalition sprung into action. The range management team at Wild Horse Connection (WHC) was contacted. WHC secured permission to help the foal, then dispatched the Technical Large Animal Rescue Team (TLAR) to execute the rescue mission.
The filly went to LBL Equine Rescue to receive care while the local groups tried to locate her family. Hazel perked up with the loving care she received all night! Using their field knowledge and AWHC’s extensive wild horse identification database, the TLAR team tried to find Hazel’s mother the next morning — but a reunion was ultimately unsuccessful.
Foals are so delicate, and any seemingly healthy one can crash quickly. That was the case with Hazel.
She had to be rushed to the vet clinic, where they put her on an IV and antibiotics after discovering she had intestinal inflammation and four different bacterial infections. Hazel also needed a plasma infusion to fight the infections, but she was quite the little fighter and the vets made sure she received the best care possible!
We’re happy to say, Hazel was released back to the rescue on March 30th!
Our Foal Rescue Fund is helping to cover Hazel’s mounting vet bills. This is why our Rescue Fund is so important — we’ve helped fund the local nursery where Hazel is being cared for, we’re purchasing kits that help provide immediate medical care in the field for quickly crashing foals, and we’ve provided resources to help retrofit a retired ambulance that is used by the TLAR rescue team to transport critical care foals to safety.
The more funds we raise for our Foal Rescue Fund, the more we can help tiny, vulnerable foals like Hazel and support the wonderful local volunteers and groups who work night and day to protect the Virginia Range horses in Nevada.
Young horse lovers can get excited! A new trailer for the upcoming movie, Spirit Untamed has just been released, including Taylor Swift’s re-recorded song, “Wildest Dreams.”
In the movie, a girl and her new friends must save a wild herd of mustangs from rustlers. That sounds a lot like what the American Wild Horse Campaign is working on!
This movie provides a great opportunity to not only inspire a new generation of young horse lovers, but it also speaks to the very important issue of protecting wild horses.
In fact, right now, the Bureau of Land Management is planning to round up and remove hundreds of Onaqui wild horses from the West Desert in Utah. We are putting together an action plan to protect this beloved herd and preserve their freedom, but we need your help.
