We have only 24 hours to speak up on behalf of wild horses before the BLM closes comments to its National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board meeting.
Later this month, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will hold a virtual gathering of the National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board. There they will discuss the ongoing management of wild horses and burros on public lands, as well as “measures for increasing the placement of wild horses and burros into good homes through adoptions and sales.”
While adoption of captured wild horses is the best outcome for captured horses and burros, it should be the very last option when discussing population management.
There’s a better, more humane, scientific AND cost effective way to manage wild horse and burro populations and AWHC is demonstrating how that’s done with our innovative gold standard PZP fertility program.
Without pressure from people like you, the BLM will have no reason to cease the roundups that harm or kill innocent animals every year. Ranchers who graze private livestock on public lands and their well funded lobbyists will make sure their voices are heard. We need to be prepared to do the same.
As the end of summer approaches, children return to school (virtually or in person), Congress nears the end of its recess and our wild horses and burros across the West continue to endure a punishing and brutal summer roundup season. August was a busy, productive and at times heartbreaking month for our staff, partners and volunteers as we utilized the generous contributions from AWHC supporters to fight for the future of these iconic animals. Thanks to your support, we were able to send more people than ever to the field to observe, document and speak up against abuse at the roundups, launch a series of Senate ads to increase support for wild horse and burro protection, and continue to deliver humane fertility control to wild mares living on Nevada’s Virginia Range, surpassing 2,400 treatments delivered!
DEADLINE: Submit Comment to National Wild Horse and Burro Citizen Advisory Board
Wild horses and burros need your voice, as a citizen protector:
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) just announced a virtual gathering of the National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board September 23-24.
This is the first time the Advisory Board will meet since the BLM delivered its deadly report to Congress detailing a plan to round up nearly every wild horse and burro living today at a cost to taxpayers of $1 billion in just five years. These board members are supposed to represent stakeholders in the wild horse and burro issue. The largest stakeholder is the American public, which overwhelmingly wants our wild horses protected and preserved for generations to come. However, the Advisory Board is stacked with representatives from special interests, and consistently overlooks the public interest to promote the cattle industry’s mass mustang roundup agenda.
The meeting will be held virtually this year, making participation easy. Now more than ever, our wild horses and burros need your voice to demand protection and humane management of these national icons on our public lands.
Without representation by people like you, Meredith, the BLM will have no reason to cease the roundups that harm or kill innocent animals every year. For profit ranchers and their lobbyists will show out in droves, and we need to be prepared to do the same.
Thank you for lending your voice to keeping our wild horses and burros safe and wild.
PS — You can join the September 24-25 meetings at BLM.gov/live.
Late Summer Roundup Update
Last week, as the roundup in the Sulphur Herd Management Area concluded, we held the 563 wild horses who were captured, and the 8 who died, in our hearts and minds. The Sulphur roundup took place in Utah, scene of the most brutal incidents of the year, resulting in the death and injuries of too many innocent horses.
Please note: this link contains upsetting images of violence against wild horses.
This summer’s roundups have been long and aggressive, and will continue through February of next year. One in particular, at the Shawave Mountain HMA, concluded on August 24, with the capture and permanent removal of 1,653 wild horses — with sometimes over 150 captured in a single day — and the total eradication of wild burros from the area, with 220 of these innocent animals removed. By the end of the month-long ordeal, the death count was up to 12. Thanks to the support of thousands of people reading emails just like this one, our observers were onsite at the Shawave roundup and at the other helicopter operations that have occurred this summer to document and share what’s happening with the public.
Our representatives also demand that the BLM comply with its own animal welfare standards at these helicopter capture operations, and gather evidence of abuse when the agency routinely violates them.
Rest assured that so long as the BLM has wild horses and burros in its crosshairs, we will continue to fight its cruel and inhumane approach to population management with every arrow in our quiver— legal, legislative, grassroots opposition, and continuing to demonstrate that safe and humane fertility control alternatives are viable.
You can give to our Roundup Fund by donating here.
The View From the Field
Last week, AWHC staff member Brieanah Schwartz had the opportunity to witness and work her first wild horse roundup. She documented her experience to shed light on exactly what a roundup entails — for our wild horses and burros, and for all those in attendance. Below is a sneak preview of Brieanah’s experience, which will be turned into a special short documentary that we will be airing at our annual Stay Wild benefit event, held virtually this year on October 1.
Over the weekend, the Trump Administration officially dropped the nomination of William Perry Pendley as director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).This news comes just weeks after launching our efforts to REJECT Pendley’s nomination. We want to thank everyone who signed petitions, donated to ads, and put pressure on leadership to do the right thing. Your actions helped remove a direct threat to wild horses and burros across the country and is further proof that together, we can bring about great change.
As acting BLM director, Pendley notoriously called America’s beloved wild horses an “existential threat to the public lands,” despite the fact they are not present on 88 percent of the lands his agency manages. Thankfully, Pendley will no longer be able to use wild horses as the scapegoats to prop up his friends in Big Ag and Big Oil.
AWHC applauds the decision by the Trump Administration to withdraw the Pendley nomination and put the lives of our beautiful wild horses above profit:
We are extremely grateful to all the wild horse defenders who took action by signing our petition and donating to digital advocacy ads. Your voices amplified the chorus of opposition to Pendley’s nomination. Victories like this are incredibly important for forward momentum on wild horse protections, and all signs are pointing to more wins to come. In order to build on this success, we need to keep the pressure up.
will you donate today to power our ongoing advocacy efforts?
I just got off the phone with one of our field representatives in Nevada, and he told me something that I have to share with you: This week, at the helicopter roundup in the Shawave Herd Management Area, a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) employee complained to him about the House amendment we and our coalition partners worked to pass this month, which would require the BLM to spend $11 million of $21 million in additional Fiscal Year 2021 funding on fertility control.
The BLM employee asked:“how are we supposed to keep removing horses if your amendment passes?”… exactly. THIS, along with what our champions in Congress are telling us, is how we know what we’re doing has the potential to really make a difference.
At this time of year, it often feels like roundup season will never end. I know how difficult — and distressing — it is to see, and read, about hundreds of wild horses and burros being aggressively hunted down by helicopters, rounded up, separated from their tiny foals and captured all across the west.
By the end of the day on Thursday, the BLM had removed 913 wild horses as well as ALL of the 220 wild burros from the Shawave HMA in Nevada. Tragically, 8 wild horses and 1 burros have died so far from this roundup ALONE.
But here’s what I want to stress: We’ll continue to be right there with our wild horses and burros. Filming, documenting, relaying information to our lawyers standing by and our lobbyists on Capitol Hill. We will not stop until we’ve done everything in our power to ensure wild horse and burro management is humane, sustainable and cruelty-free.
PS — We’re going after those who profit off cruelty right where it hurts them most: their overstuffed hip pockets. The private companies contracted by the BLM to carry out these traumatic and overly aggressive helicopter roundups are making BIG money — most times more than half a million dollars per contract — to terrorize the wild horses and burros who call our public lands home. We know — and have proved — this money is better spent on humane, and scientifically sound fertility control measures and we’re this close to seeing Congress come around to the right side of history on this issue. Thank you for all you’ve done — and continue to do — to get us here.
July marked significant highs and lows for our wild horses — with wins in Congress, and tragic losses out on public lands as the BLM’s brutal roundup season continues, now in Nevada.
In the middle of all this important action, some exciting developments took place and we want to make sure you hear about them!
A historic win for wild horses
Our recent win on Capitol Hill is making the news and raising awareness in the places that matter most.
ICYMI: On July 23rd, the House of Representatives held its first vote on a wild horse issue in over a DECADE and APPROVED a protection measure, thanks to the tireless advocacy of all of us, and our wild horse champions in Congress. Specifically, the House passed an amendment that will rein in cruel and inhumane roundups by requiring the Bureau of Land Management to spend $11 million on the humane and proven safe fertility control vaccine, PZP.
Together, we kept up the pressure on Congress when it mattered — sending in more than twelve thousands of emails, making thousands of calls, and reaching hundreds of thousands of people on social media urging Congress to take action. These efforts resulted in a historic step forward for the management of wild horses and now we’re gearing up to take the fight to the Senate.
Here’s what people are saying about our recent victory:
Veteran Nevada journalist John L. Smith and members of Congress agree: This decision marks a significant step forward for wild horses.
In last week’s Nevada Public Radio interview, Smith noted that this bipartisan amendment sends a strong message that Congress is looking to fix the controversial BLM roundup program instead of continuing to spend “literally hundreds of millions of dollars chasing the horses around.”
He’s right — and that’s exactly why we advocated for the passage of this amendment while continuing to prove with our innovative, minimally invasive, PZP fertility control program that humane management of wild horses is possible.
Click here to read more about this important development, including comments from our coalition partners and other lawmakers committed to making change for our wild horses and burros.
Keeping Wild Horses Wild 101
Last week, AWHC hosted the second installment of our ‘Keeping Wild Horses Wild 101’ webinar series, this time focusing on the (especially timely!) importance of the legislative process in keeping wild horses wild. You can watch, and learn more, below:
Nearly 500 AWHC members from across the country signed up to learn from our government relations and communications team about the appropriations process, why it matters, key legislative updates, lobbying efforts, and how to talk to your own legislators.
Disney Plus Picks Up Adaptation of Black Beauty
It’s official, Mackenzie Foy and Kate Winslet will star in the new Disney adaptation of Black beauty. This contemporary version of the 1877 novel will tell the story of a mustang born wild and free, who, when rounded up, is separated from her family and everything she knows — sound familiar?!
AWHC is honored to work with the director, Ashley Avis, to bring awareness to the plight of wild horses and promote our shared mission to keep wild horses wild. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the film is set to premiere on Disney+ later this year.
Coming 2021…
On the topic of Black Beauty, AWHC is thrilled to have been interviewed by the director of the film for an upcoming documentary Wild Beauty: Mustang Spirit of the West!
This film will explore the plight of wild horses in more depth, shining a light on the issues they face while educating the public on the ongoing efforts to keep our wild horses and burros wild and free. Take a first look at this exciting documentary below!
We still have some time before the full feature documentary airs next spring but it’s a very encouraging sign that the entertainment industry is stepping up and joining the fight to protect the magnificent wild horses and burros of the American West.
From the entire team at AWHC, thank you for your continued support of our iconic wild horses and burros, we hope you have a wild (and safe) weekend!
It’s been a week of soaring highs, and crushing lows.
Last Thursday, we secured a huge legislative win for wild horses in the House of Representatives with the passing of a wild horse protection amendment requiring the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to implement humane and safe fertility control vaccine, PZP.
At the very same time, our hearts were breaking as we received daily updates from our field representative at a BLM roundup in the Swasey Herd Management Area (HMA) in Utah. He had the awful responsibility of observing and documenting the traumatic helicopter stampede, capture and removal of more than 600 of Utah’s federally-protected wild horses. There were many injuries, and two deaths.
I can honestly say that the abuses our observer witnessed at Swasey were some of the worst we’ve seen since AWHC began documenting roundups 10 years ago. And it’s far from over – more roundups are imminent in both Nevada and at Utah’s famed Sulphur HMA.
From July 15-July 24, BLM-hired helicopter contractors, Sampson Livestock, stampeded and captured approximately 603 Swasey wild horses, with the ultimate goal of reducing the 800-horse population to just 60 horses.
What we’ve witnessed in Utah is truly shocking:
A 5-year old mare crashing into a pen panel, breaking her neck and being dragged off in chains.
Terrified new foals being run-down by helicopters, falling behind and then being roped and dragged in.
Multiple stressed horses, exhausted from the exertion of a miles long helicopter stampede, one even collapsing before she could reach the trap.
Just-captured horses crashing into the panels of a dangerously small trap pen.
The BLM continued its daily assaults on the Swasey horses despite sweltering desert temperatures that exceeded 95 degrees — violating their own animal welfare guidelines — on more than one occasion.
I know some of this email is difficult and upsetting to read. It was difficult to write. But it’s worse to imagine a future where the BLM is allowed to forge ahead with its deadly, costly, unscientific approach to the management of wild horses on our public lands. The next roundups in Nevada and Utah are just around the corner and it’s critical that we forge full steam ahead with our work on Capitol Hill to reign in the BLM’s inhumane roundups. Our work continues, with your help, and we could not be more grateful.
JUST NOW, the House of Representatives passed a wild horse protection amendment that would rein in cruel and inhumane roundups by requiring the Bureau of Land Management to spend $11 million on the humane and proven safe fertility control vaccine, PZP.
This is the first vote on wild horse protection in over a decade and it would not have been possible without ALL of us.
We owe a debt of gratitude to our Congressional champions and the co-sponsors of this amendment: Representatives Steve Cohen (D-TN), Dina Titus (D-NV), Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), Joe Neguse (D-CO), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), David Schweikert (R-AZ), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), David Price (D-NC), Peter King (R-NY), Deb Haaland (D-NM), Ben McAdams (D-UT), and John Katko (R-NY).
Big thanks as well to YOU — for doing your part to keep America’s iconic wild horses wild.
Our advocacy efforts resulted in over 20,000 emails, calls and social posts in the past week from people like you reaching out to your representatives, urging them to make the right decision. And it worked.
The House has taken a stand to ensure that the BLM will no longer be able to proceed with business as usual, spending zero percent of its budget on humane fertility control, while two-thirds is spent to cruelly roundup and remove wild horses from public lands and warehouse them for life at taxpayer expense. Today marks a meaningful and historic step forward towards a truly sustainable and humane management program for these icons of the West. Now onto the Senate!
PS — Read more about the bill and hear from its champions here.
We have great news! The House Rules Committee just voted to move our Wild Horse Amendment on to the House Floor for a vote, which will take place as early as this afternoon.
This is huge! It marks the first time in years that we’ve had a floor vote on a wild horse protection measure, and, even better, it has a very good chance of passing!
And there’s more good news… Representative Joe Neguse at (202) 225-2161 was one of 12 co-sponsors who supported this important amendment! We’ve listed out their numbers below so you can call and thank them at your convenience today:
Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN): 202-225-3265
Raul Grijalva (D-AZ): 202-225-2435
David Schweikert (R-AZ): 202-225-219
Joe Neguse (D-CO): 202-225-2161
Jan Schakowsky (D-IL): 202-225-2111
David Price (D-NC): 202-225-1784
Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV): 202-225-5965
Peter King (R-NY) 202-225-7896
John Katko (R-NY) 202-225-3701
Deb Haaland (D-NM) 202-225-6316
Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) 202-225-4276
Ben McAdams (D-UT): 202-225-3011
The amendment would require the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to spend $11 million to implement humane fertility control and begin to move away from brutal helicopter roundups, like the one that claimed the life of a young mare in a horrific accident this week in Utah.
Your calls and emails have made a big difference, and that’s why it’s important to thank your Representative for standing up for America’s wild horses and burros!
The abject cruelty of the BLM’s roundup program was on full display this past weekend at a roundup in the Swasey HMA in Utah when a wild mare, chased by a helicopter, crashed into the panels of a trap pen, broke her neck and was dragged away with chains. BLM claimed she died instantly, but our observer and his photographs tell a different story.
The heartless treatment of our federally-protected mustangs by the agency charged with protecting them is nothing new.But now we have the opportunity to begin to address it.
U.S Reps. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz, Dina Titus, D-Nev., Joe Neguse, D-Colo., Jan Schakowski D-Ill., and Brian Fitzpatrick R-Penn., are sponsoring an amendment that would dedicate funding to protect America’s cherished wild horses and burros. It would require the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to spend at least $11 million to implement humane PZP fertility control as an alternative to cruel roundup and removal of wild horses from public lands.
It’s an effort to rein in the BLM’s cruel, costly and ineffective wild horse roundup and incarceration program and require the agency to implement humane birth control to humanely manage wild horse and burro populations in the wild.
Here is where we need your help. The Rules Committee will be deciding later today whether to allow the amendment to come to the floor for a vote later this week.
This is huge! Please drop what you are doing right now to help wild horses and burros. One call and one click WILL make a difference!
1. Call the Capitol Switchboard today to be directed to your Representative: 202) 225-3121. You can say:
“My name is [NAME] calling from [CITY] and I would like to request that Rep. [NAME] co-sponsor Amendment 6 to HB 7608. This amendment would dedicate funding to protect wild horses and burros, requiring the Bureau of Land Management to spend funds on humane fertility control. I also request that you contact the Rules Committee to ask them to advance the amendment to the floor by ruling it in order. Thank you.”
This week marks the halfway point of summer, the third week of roundup season, and the end of foaling season with many baby foals taking their first steps on wild ranges across the Western United States.
We’re working around the clock to make sure those first steps are free, but our wild horses still have a long road ahead.
We’re like to share some small, but meaningful, actions you can take this weekend that will go a long way in helping us keep up the fight for our beloved wild horses and burros:
TAKE ACTION: Tell the BLM to Humanely Manage Utah’s Wild Horses!
Deadline July 27. TAKE ACTION now:
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has released a 10-year roundup plan for the mustangs that live within the Confusion Herd Management Area (HMA).
The BLM estimates that just 551 wild horses live on the roughly 235,000 acres of public lands approximately 30 miles north from Garrison, Utah. However, the BLM wants to reduce the population to just 70 horses.
That’s one horse for every 3,350 acres! At the same time, the BLM authorizes approximately 10,400 cattle and sheep to graze in four grazing allotments within the HMA.
Under the Proposed Action, the BLM plans to:
Reduce the Confusion wild horse population by 87% through the permanent removal of 481 wild horses
Apply untested, inhumane surgical sterilization procedures on mares released back to the HMA; including the brutal ovariectomy via colpotomy method
Geld a portion of the stallions making them non-reproducing and destroying their natural behaviors
A quick update about last week’s House Appropriations Committee hearing:
We were disappointed when the Committee voted to move the Interior spending bill on to the full House for a vote without the amendment to rein in BLM wild horse roundups, or prohibit the cruel surgical sterilization of wild horses.
The news is not all bad, however: The bill passed out of Committee continues the ban on slaughtering wild horses and burros under the jurisdiction of the BLM and the U.S. Forest Service, and rejects the Administration’s request for a budget increase of $13.5 million on top of the $102 million appropriated last year. We will have many opportunities over the coming months — including when the Senate weighs in on the agency’s plan for wild horse management — to continue to push for meaningful reform of the cruel and costly BLM Wild Horse and Burro Roundup Program as Congress continues the appropriations process this year.
We will keep you updated on opportunities to encourage Congress to hold the BLM’s feet to the fire, but in the interim it’s important to celebrate the efforts of our champions in Congress who have been leading the charge to curb the roundups and institute more humane management methods.
It’s important to let our elected officials who are standing up for America’s wild horses and burros know how much we appreciate their continued efforts!
VIDEO: Summer on the Range
It’s warming up and just like us, these wild horses are using every excuse to cool down!
Nevada, Arizona, and Utah are home to thousands of wild and free horses, who are thoroughly enjoying themselves with some play time in the water… take a watch, and live vicariously through our treasured wild horses for a couple of beautiful minutes:
From the AWHC family, we hope you get to have a little summer fun with your herd!
You Can Help Horses With Your Morning Coffee!
Did you know that you can support wild horses with a cup of coffee? Wild Grounds is our Cause Coffee, and 20% of every package sold comes directly back to our work at the AWHC! We approached Thanksgiving Coffee with the concept for Wild Grounds as a way to generate much-needed funds for our work, and also to support their work fighting for economic and environmental justice for coffee farmers. Needless to say, Thanksgiving Coffee joined our cause right away!
This isn’t just any coffee, it’s “A Just Cup.” That’s the message of Thanksgiving Coffee, the roaster behind Wild Grounds. They have been roasting coffee since 1972, and are one of the country’s pioneering socially and environmentally progressive roasters.
Order a Just Cup today… it feels good and tastes delicious! Order now and 20% will benefit our work at AWHC
In case you need additional incentives: Thanksgiving Coffee was named Time Magazine’s 2017 Roaster of the Year, won a Good Food Award in 2019, and received a 96 point score from Coffee Review in May… so you can enjoy a great cup of coffee, while doing good work for wild horses. A win-win for the horses, and for you.
A big thank you for all that you continue to do to keep our wild horses, free. We hope you enjoy your weekend — may we suggest a frolic in the water, a strong cup of coffee, and some time with your herd of choice!
— The whole team at the American Wild Horse Campaign
For 15 long days now, America’s iconic wild horses have been under attack.
The scenes we’ve witnessed already are truly heartbreaking: America’s wild horses chased down by helicopters for miles in the scorching summer heat. Frantic mares separated from their terrified foals, roughly captured, and held for several hours without any food.
Photos taken by our field rep on July 4. He nicknamed the brave mare “Lady Liberty” and her terrified foal, “Baby Sam,” after witnessing the heartbreaking scene of their separation and capture at the Range Creek roundup.
AS WE WRITE, our field representative is onsite at the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) roundup at the Swasey Herd Management Area in Utah, which began today. It’s the second assault on Utah’s wild horses this month. Right now, BLM helicopters are stampeding wild horses, including tiny foals, driving them into traps and forever robbing these majestic mustangs of their freedom.
Our wild horses and burros are in for a long, cruel summer as the BLM rounds up and removes MORE THAN 5,000 of them from public lands in Utah, Colorado and Nevada by the end of September. And the agency is already laying the groundwork to extend these roundups into the fall and next year. We must take action to protect them, Erica.
Let’s take a quick look at the situation on the ground so far this roundup season:
TODAY, BLM helicopters descended on the Swasey Herd Management area in Utah. The goal? To round up and permanently remove 550 horses and reduce the population to just 100 horses on public lands where over 12,000 sheep graze each year.
On July 1, the BLM began the roundup and removal of wild horses from the Range Creek HMA. The first several days of the operation were closed to public viewing as the trap site was located on private lands and the property owner refused permission, but our field representative was there to document and observe the roundup scenes as soon as permitted. You can READ the day-by-day account, and see the heartbreaking scenes for yourself, here.
In August, the BLM plans to continue the assault on Utah’s wild horses with the roundup and removal of 500 wild horses from the Sulphur HMA.
Also in August, the BLM will turn its sights to Nevada, where the agency intends to roundup and remove an astounding 1,600 wild horses and 200 burros from the Shawave HMA located 50 miles northeast of Reno.
Then in September, the BLM will wrap up its summer roundup season with a massive roundup in Nevada’s Diamond Complex, targeting nearly 1,200 wild horses for permanent removal from their homes on our public lands.
This outdated approach to population management is not only unscientific, it’s cruel and inhumane. We are working hard to change this — in Congress, in the courts and in the field by showing that humane management works. We need YOU more than ever to keep showing up, speaking up, and supporting our work. Together, we will do everything in our power to protect America’s wild horses.
Thank you for your support, Erica. Our wild horses — and their continued freedom — depends on all of us.
We wanted give you a quick update about this morning’s hearing in Congress.
Unfortunately, the House Appropriations Committee voted to move the Interior spending bill on to the full House for a vote without the amendment to rein in BLM wild horse roundups. We’re disappointed that the Committee turned its back on requests made by senior appropriator Marcy Captor (D-OH) and House Natural Resource Committee Chair Raúl Grijlava to require the BLM to implement humane fertility control and to ban brutal surgical sterilization procedures on wild horses and burros.
The news is not all bad, however: The bill passed out of Committee does continue the ban on slaughtering wild horses and burros under the jurisdiction of the BLM and the U.S. Forest Service, and it rejected the Administration’s request for a budget increase of $13.5 million on top of the $102 million appropriated last year.
The report accompanying the bill indicates that the Committee believes that the BLM’s plan for wild horse management lacks sufficient detail and suggests that members will be working with the Senate on satisfactory language. This presents another opportunity for AWHC and our supporters to hold Congress’ feet to the fire regarding the need to force the BLM to reform its unsustainable and inhumane wild horse and burro roundup program.
The upshot is: Stay ready — they’ll be more opportunities soon to make our voices heard!
— The AWHC Team
*Original email below*
Tomorrow, the House Appropriations Committee will vote on the FY 2021 Interior Appropriations bill. This bill will fund the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) Wild Horse and Burro Program and determine whether limits are placed on the agency’s mass roundup plan for America’s mustangs.
You are in a unique position to influence this legislation because your Representative and/or Senator is on the Appropriations Committee that will vote on this bill. We have one day — TODAY — to push Congress to add critical language to the bill before it’s too late.
If passed in its current form, the bill would allocate $102.6 million for the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program. This is a 27% increase over 2019 budget levels.
Several key members of Congress have requested that language be included in this bill to require the BLM to implement PZP fertility control to humanely manage wild horses and burros in the wild and to prohibit surgical sterilization, including the brutal ovariectomy via colpotomy procedure.
Currently, this language is not in the bill, but it could be added via an amendment to the House bill during the full committee hearing Friday. Since the Senate bill is still pending, there’s still time to convince Senators to incorporate this language in its version of the Interior spending bill.
There’s a lot at stake — if Congress doesn’t put the brakes on the BLM, the agency will round up as many as 90,000 wild horses and burros from public lands over the next five years — that’s every horse and burro living free today and more!
Tomorrow, the House Appropriations Committee will vote on the FY 2021 Interior Appropriations bill. This bill will fund the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) Wild Horse and Burro Program and determine whether limits are placed on the agency’s mass roundup plan for America’s mustangs.
You are in a unique position to influence this legislation because your Representative and/or Senator is on the Appropriations Committee that will vote on this bill. We have one day — TODAY — to push Congress to add critical language to the bill before it’s too late.
If passed in its current form, the bill would allocate $102.6 million for the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program. This is a 27% increase over 2019 budget levels.
Several key members of Congress have requested that language be included in this bill to require the BLM to implement PZP fertility control to humanely manage wild horses and burros in the wild and to prohibit surgical sterilization, including the brutal ovariectomy via colpotomy procedure.
Currently, this language is not in the bill, but it could be added via an amendment to the House bill during the full committee hearing Friday. Since the Senate bill is still pending, there’s still time to convince Senators to incorporate this language in its version of the Interior spending bill.
There’s a lot at stake — if Congress doesn’t put the brakes on the BLM, the agency will round up as many as 90,000 wild horses and burros from public lands over the next five years — that’s every horse and burro living free today and more!
President Trump has nominated the fox to guard the henhouse.
Last Friday, Trump announced his plan to move forward with his nomination of Acting Director William Perry Pendley to Director of the Bureau of Land Management.
Let’s take a look at why this poses the greatest threat to our wild horses and burros in decades:
Pendley has said that wild horses were the “biggest existential threat” to public lands, even though horses only live on approximately 12% of BLM lands.
He has falsely claimed that managing wild horses non-lethally would require more than $5 billion.
Pendley’s career to date has been spent fighting to sell off public lands to private industry. While at the BLM, Pendley has stepped up efforts to undermine environmental laws like the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act, which protects public lands from unrestricted oil and gas development, mining operations and livestock grazing.
Recently, under Pendley, the BLM delivered to Congress a billion-dollar plan to cull federally protected wild horse and burro herds by 70% by rounding up 80,000 mustangs and burros from public lands over the next five years.
It’s pretty clear where Pendley’s interests are vested and it’s NOT with our public lands and wild horses:
Pendley knows exactly what he’s doing. By putting an outrageously high price tag on humane management of wild horses and burros, he’s laying the groundwork to make the case that non-lethal management of wild horses is too expensive and that slaughter is the only option. We can’t let this happen. Join us in telling Congress to say NO to confirming Pendley as Director of the BLM.
Acting Director Pendley is peddling a profit-motivated attack campaign against wild horses — but we see through his lies. Not only is he advocating for the mass removal and sterilization of horses, he’s actively defending — and has spent his career in the pockets of — the real threats to our public lands:
Wild horses are facing one of the biggest threats in a lifetime, and we need to do everything we can to keep them safe and wild. Pendley has initiated a propaganda campaign against wild horses, which includes creating a fake crisis in order to convince Congress that non-lethal management of wild horses is too expensive. For this reason, we are asking you to take action today to protect wild horses from Pendley’s grips.
Thank you for taking action today to keep our wild horses safe and free.
American Wild Horse Campaign
PS — As William Pendley’s confirmation process rolls ahead, the agency he heads is charging ahead with its unprecedented summer assault against our beloved wild horses and burros. Beginning today, BLM helicopters will descend on remote regions of the West to stampede and capture 5,000 federally-protected wild horses and burros by September 30.
Our team is all hands on deck to fight back all summer long against this assault — with volunteers in the field, with lawsuits, with every advocacy tool at our disposal — but to do this, we need your help. Will you pitch in to our Roundup Fund today?
In case you missed Grace’s update yesterday, we wanted to remind you that RIGHT NOW is your last chance to make sure your voice is heard by the Bureau of Land Management Southern Nevada District Office before today’s comment period deadline.
This summer, the BLM plans to round up and remove more than 5,000 wild horses and burros from public lands beginning on July 1st and ending September of 2020. At the same time, they’re laying the groundwork for these roundups to continue into the fall and next year. One of the large roundups still in the planning stages is in the Nevada Wild Horse Range; a more than 1 million acre Herd Management Area that is on land used by the military for warfare testing and training.
TODAY is our last chance to submit comments to the BLM’s 10-year management plan that would see over half of the wild horses in the Nevada Wild Horse Range rounded up and removed. In addition, wild burros living in the area would be completely eradicated.
All comments must be submitted by 4:30 p.m. PST TODAY.
It is estimated that only 800 wild horses live within the more than 1.3 million acres of public land in this area. Our wild horses, burros — and their tiny vulnerable foals — are depending on us now more than ever… and we have only hours left to speak up for them.
Last Saturday marked the official first day of summer, and with it, the beginning of a season that places our iconic wild horses and burros in the cross-hairs of a particularly cruel and inhumane roundup by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
This weekend, I know so many of our hearts, heads and screens are saturated with grief, fear and worry. I want you to know, however, that it’s not all bad news on the wild horse front. In fact, there’s cause for hope as we rally together like never before to protect and preserve our beloved wild horses.
I want to share a couple of these hopeful stories with you, but first to ask that you join me in getting your comments in this weekend in opposition to the BLM’s plan to round up over 400 wild horses and burros from the Nevada Wild Horse Range – the nation’s first protected habitat area for mustangs.
URGENT: TWO days left to speak up
This summer’s assault on wild horse and burro herds will be particularly cruel and inhumane — helicopter roundups in the sweltering desert heat will involve tiny, vulnerable foals who risk being literally run to death after miles-long helicopter chases. The BLM plans to round up and remove more than 5,000 federally-protected wild horses and burros from public lands beginning July 1 and ending September of 2020.
At the same time, the BLM is laying the groundwork for the roundups to continue into the fall and next year. One of the large roundups still in the planning stages is in the Nevada Wild Horse Range, a more than 1 million acre Herd Management Area that is on land used by the military for warfare testing and training.
We have only two days left to submit comments to the BLM’s 10-year management plan that would see over half of the wild horses in this range rounded up and removed. In addition, wild burros living in the area would be completely eradicated.
So far, more than 5,700 of you have submitted comments on the BLM’s plan. Now is the time to keep up the pressure, and turn up the volume.
Will you take three minutes now to do these three things? You can take these actions from the safety of your home right now:
If you haven’t already, TAKE ACTION now to demand that the BLM change its unsustainable, inhumane management plan for the wild mustangs of the Nevada Wild Horse Range.
Make sure your friends take action also! Nevada’s wild burros and horses need as many voices as possible to speak up before Monday.
Or, forward this email to a friend!
Donate to our Roundup Fund: Today’s donation will keep our team in the field during roundup season, and give us the resources necessary to ensure that our legal team can challenge any attempts to block public observation:
UPDATE: Our Rescue Fund at Work
Good news stories may seem a little scarce these days; but they DO exist, and we want to share some silver linings (and some VERY adorable foal photos) with you. This will be a tough summer for our vulnerable foals, but in the Virginia Range, where we operate the world’s largest wild horse fertility control program, we’re working with a local coalition of organizations on the ground, and our tireless volunteers to ensure orphaned and injured foals receive the critical care they need so they can be adopted into forever homes.
Your generous contributions to the AWHC Rescue Fund are making this work possible, so thank you.
Thanks to your support, we’ve been able to provide volunteers in the field with life-saving emergency foal kits (see above). We’ve instituted a “red tag” system that keeps the kits stocked with critical medicine and supplies. Foals can crash rapidly, so being fully equipped with Equine IgG Seramune Oral colostrum, saline, Foal Lac milk, antibiotics, Vetericyn wound treatment and enemas often means the difference between life and death on the range. Thank you for helping us support the work of Wild Horse Connection, Least Resistance Training Concepts, LBL Equine Rescue and other local organizations by providing supplies they need to save precious foals in need!!
We are thrilled to announce that thanks to your grassroots support, AWHC was able to present local Nevada group LBL Equine Rescue, with a matching grant that helped them to meet their fundraising goal for a new foal nursery! The nursery will be fully equipped to provide round-the-clock care for foals in critical condition, and will even include sleeping quarters for volunteers working overnight shifts (young foals need to be fed every two hours).
The Least Resistance Training Concepts Large Animal Rescue Team is the busiest in the country. They’re on call 24/7 for every type of emergency, from rescuing horses stuck in cattle guards and barbed wire to coming to the aid of orphaned foals.
We were pleased to make a grant to LRTC from our Rescue Fund that supported the retrofitting of a decommissioned ambulance donated by a kind fire department. Now modified, the ambulance serves as an anchor and transport vehicle for foal rescues, a water rescue unit, support unit for complex large animal rescues and much more. We’re proud to support LRTC with this one-of-a-kind project that is setting the standard for large animal rescue worldwide!
These initiatives — made possible by you and your generous support of the Rescue Fund — have enabled AWHC and our team of volunteers to make life-saving interventions for foals, wild horses and burros.
Finally, allow me to introduce you to some of the fuzzy, thankful faces you’ve helped save this foaling season:
Rustler, Leela, Sinclair, Carte, Stitch, Goliath and all of us here at AWHC want to say a huge THANK YOU, and wish you a safe and happy weekend.
Grace Kuhn,
Communications Director
American Wild Horse Campaign
Last Saturday marked the official first day of summer, and with it, the beginning of a season that places our iconic wild horses and burros in the cross-hairs of a particularly cruel and inhumane roundup by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
This weekend, I know so many of our hearts, heads and screens are saturated with grief, fear and worry. I want you to know, however, that it’s not all bad news on the wild horse front. In fact, there’s cause for hope as we rally together like never before to protect and preserve our beloved wild horses.
I want to share a couple of these hopeful stories with you, but first to ask that you join me in getting your comments in this weekend in opposition to the BLM’s plan to round up over 400 wild horses and burros from the Nevada Wild Horse Range – the nation’s first protected habitat area for mustangs.
URGENT: TWO days left to speak up
This summer’s assault on wild horse and burro herds will be particularly cruel and inhumane — helicopter roundups in the sweltering desert heat will involve tiny, vulnerable foals who risk being literally run to death after miles-long helicopter chases. The BLM plans to round up and remove more than 5,000 federally-protected wild horses and burros from public lands beginning July 1 and ending September of 2020.
At the same time, the BLM is laying the groundwork for the roundups to continue into the fall and next year. One of the large roundups still in the planning stages is in the Nevada Wild Horse Range, a more than 1 million acre Herd Management Area that is on land used by the military for warfare testing and training.
We have only two days left to submit comments to the BLM’s 10-year management plan that would see over half of the wild horses in this range rounded up and removed. In addition, wild burros living in the area would be completely eradicated.
So far, more than 5,700 of you have submitted comments on the BLM’s plan. Now is the time to keep up the pressure, and turn up the volume.
Will you take three minutes now to do these three things? You can take these actions from the safety of your home right now:
If you haven’t already, TAKE ACTION now to demand that the BLM change its unsustainable, inhumane management plan for the wild mustangs of the Nevada Wild Horse Range.
Make sure your friends take action also! Nevada’s wild burros and horses need as many voices as possible to speak up before Monday.
Or, forward this email to a friend!
Donate to our Roundup Fund: Today’s donation will keep our team in the field during roundup season, and give us the resources necessary to ensure that our legal team can challenge any attempts to block public observation:
UPDATE: Our Rescue Fund at Work
Good news stories may seem a little scarce these days; but they DO exist, and we want to share some silver linings (and some VERY adorable foal photos) with you. This will be a tough summer for our vulnerable foals, but in the Virginia Range, where we operate the world’s largest wild horse fertility control program, we’re working with a local coalition of organizations on the ground, and our tireless volunteers to ensure orphaned and injured foals receive the critical care they need so they can be adopted into forever homes.
Your generous contributions to the AWHC Rescue Fund are making this work possible, so thank you.
Thanks to your support, we’ve been able to provide volunteers in the field with life-saving emergency foal kits (see above). We’ve instituted a “red tag” system that keeps the kits stocked with critical medicine and supplies. Foals can crash rapidly, so being fully equipped with Equine IgG Seramune Oral colostrum, saline, Foal Lac milk, antibiotics, Vetericyn wound treatment and enemas often means the difference between life and death on the range. Thank you for helping us support the work of Wild Horse Connection, Least Resistance Training Concepts, LBL Equine Rescue and other local organizations by providing supplies they need to save precious foals in need!!
We are thrilled to announce that thanks to your grassroots support, AWHC was able to present local Nevada group LBL Equine Rescue, with a matching grant that helped them to meet their fundraising goal for a new foal nursery! The nursery will be fully equipped to provide round-the-clock care for foals in critical condition, and will even include sleeping quarters for volunteers working overnight shifts (young foals need to be fed every two hours).
The Least Resistance Training Concepts Large Animal Rescue Team is the busiest in the country. They’re on call 24/7 for every type of emergency, from rescuing horses stuck in cattle guards and barbed wire to coming to the aid of orphaned foals.
We were pleased to make a grant to LRTC from our Rescue Fund that supported the retrofitting of a decommissioned ambulance donated by a kind fire department. Now modified, the ambulance serves as an anchor and transport vehicle for foal rescues, a water rescue unit, support unit for complex large animal rescues and much more. We’re proud to support LRTC with this one-of-a-kind project that is setting the standard for large animal rescue worldwide!
These initiatives — made possible by you and your generous support of the Rescue Fund — have enabled AWHC and our team of volunteers to make life-saving interventions for foals, wild horses and burros.
Finally, allow me to introduce you to some of the fuzzy, thankful faces you’ve helped save this foaling season:
Rustler, Leela, Sinclair, Carte, Stitch, Goliath and all of us here at AWHC want to say a huge THANK YOU, and wish you a safe and happy weekend.
Grace Kuhn,
Communications Director
American Wild Horse Campaign
Management (BLM) Southern Nevada District Office to protect hundreds of wild horses and burros from roundups within the Nevada Wild Horse Range Herd Management Area. We must act now to demand that the BLM manage Nevada’s wild horses humanely!
Only 800 wild horses are estimated to live within the more than 1.3 million acres of public land in this area, which is part of the Nevada Test & Training Range used by the Air Force. Due to military restrictions, the BLM actively manages wild horses on 484,000 acres of the range. According to the agency’s proposed 10-year management plan, over half of the wild horses in this range would be rounded up and removed. In addition, wild burros living in the area would be completely eradicated.
The BLM is currently accepting public comments on the management proposal and its environmental consequences. Now is the time to weigh in against the agency’s plan to reduce the population to an unscientifically low population limit that will leave just one horse per 3,250 acres and eliminate wild burros from the area entirely!
Key aspects of the BLM’s destructive plan include:
Removing all wild horses deemed “excess” over a 10 year period to achieve and maintain a population of just 300-400 horses;
Removing all wild burros from the area;
Applying untested IUDs for wild mares and other methods of fertility control after the low population limit of 300 horses is reached;
Maintaining an unnatural population of 60% stallions, 40% mares; and
Gelding a portion of the stallions, making them non-reproducing and destroying their natural behaviors.
The wild horses and burros of the Nevada Wild Horse Range HMA need you to speak up for them today! Thank you for taking the time to act in their defense.
Last year, Congress awarded the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program a $21 million budget increase – but specified that the funding would not become available until 60 days after the BLM submitted a report to Congress outlining its plans for the future management of America’s wild horses and burros.
That report was delivered five weeks ago, and it’s as bad as we feared: Roundup and removal of 18,000-20,000 wild horses and burros per year… tripling the number of wild horses and burros warehoused in off-range holding facilities… reducing wild herds by 70% to near extinction levels….use of dangerous and gruesome sterilization surgeries as a management tool.
And the kicker? A billion-dollar price tag just for the first five years!
Please join House Natural Resources Chairman Raúl Grijalva and several of his House and Senate colleagues in demanding that Congress step up to require the BLM to prioritize the use of humane, scientifically-recommended fertility control over cruel roundups and stockpiling wild horses and burros in holding facilities.
Please contact your Senators and Representative today and ask them to support language in Fiscal Year 2021 spending legislation that puts the brakes on BLM’s mass roundup plan by requiring the agency to implement humane fertility control and prohibiting it from performing barbaric sterilization procedures on wild horses and burros.
In a little less than a month, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will unleash helicopters to begin its summer assault on wild horses and burros living on public lands in the West. In the BLM’s crosshairs: wild horse and burro herds in Utah, Colorado, and Nevada.
The largest roundup of the summer will take place in Nevada’s Shawave Mountains Herd Management Area (HMA), just 50 miles northeast of Reno. The HMA is part of the 1 million-acre Blue Wing Complex, where the BLM allows just 333 to 553 horses and 50 to 90 burros while authorizing 1,200 privately owned cattle and 2,700 sheep to graze year-round.
This is just the beginning. If the BLM has its way, as many as 18,000-20,000 wild horses and burros will lose their freedom each year… if Congress decides to fund the agency’s mass roundup plan.
Summer roundups are particularly inhumane due to sweltering desert temperatures and the presence of tiny, vulnerable foals, who are sometimes literally run to death in miles-long helicopter stampedes.
This summer, this cruelty could take place out of public view, as the BLM is already signaling that it may use COVID-19 restrictions to block the public from witnessing these brutal capture operations and documenting their terrible impacts on wild horses and burros.
AWHC is gearing up for these summer roundups, both to document them and to fight back if the BLM attempts to crack down on public observation.
At the same time, we’re working on Capitol Hill to shelve the BLM’s plan to massively scale up roundups and force the agency to prioritize humane fertility control to manage wild herds and keep them wild.
Your help is needed on all fronts! Here’s what you can do today:
Donate to our Roundup FundToday’s donation will keep our team in the field during the roundup season and give us the resources necessary to ensure our legal team can challenge any attempts to block public observation.
Ask them to put the brakes on BLM’s mass removal plans, require the use of humane fertility control as an alternative to roundups, and prohibit the conducting of helicopter roundups in the absence of public observation.
We want to be very cognizant of the reality facing our country. For many, this is an incredibly stressful time, financially and emotionally, as well as very painful, difficult, and upsetting.
We also know that many of you are using your platforms, resources, and time to address injustices and support your communities in a time of need.
All of us at AWHC continue to be inspired and amazed that, despite these hardships, so many of you continue to stay involved, stay engaged, and support not only us but America’s wild horses and burros. This is so important because the Bureau of Land Management continues its assault on these iconic animals and is even stepping it up during this crisis, when the public’s attention is directed elsewhere.
That’s evident in the BLM’s newly unveiled roundup schedule for the Summer/Fall, which we discuss below. But for this newsletter, we don’t want to share only the bad news. There’s some uplifting news as well, and we’ve included a few photos and videos that might brighten your day.
BREAKING: Bureau of Land Management Outlines Largest Removal Of Wild Horses In a Decade
Last month, the Bureau of Land Management submitted a report to Congress that outlines a plan to conduct mass roundups over the next 18-20 years and slash wild horse and burro populations on public lands by 70%.
The agency is planning to launch Phase 1 of its assault next month, with the roundup and removal of 5,000 federally-protected wild horses and burros from BLM lands between July 1 and September 30.
This means that, for Fiscal Year 2020 (Oct. 1, 2019 – September 30, 2020), over 12,000 innocent wild horses and burros will lose their freedom. To put this in perspective, that’s the largest number in the last decade.
If the BLM has its way, that is only the beginning. In its new report, the BLM is proposing to use helicopters to capture and remove 18,000-20,000 wild horses and burros from public lands EACH YEAR for the foreseeable future.
The roundups that will begin next month will have an added component of brutality. Using helicopters to drive wild horses and burros for miles in punishing summer temperatures often results in fatalities. Summer roundups are particularly tough on the tiny foals that are on the range this time of year.
These vulnerable babies have been literally run to death in past roundups, collapsing and dying as their mothers look on helplessly. The BLM lists the cause of death as “capture myopathy,” defined as “muscle damage that results from extreme exertion, struggle or stress.”
According to the BLM’s new roundup schedule, Nevada and Utah will be the epicenter of the summer roundups, the largest of which include:
Shawave Mountains Herd Management Area, Nevada: 1,600 wild horses and 200 wild burros targeted for removal.
Diamond Complex, Nevada: 1,200 wild horses to be removed.
Sulphur Herd Management Area, Utah: 600 wild horses to be rounded up
AWHC will be onsite to document these roundups and we’re prepared to fight back if the BLM attempts to use the coronavirus pandemic to restrict public access. (Social distancing is not a problem out on the range.)
UPDATE: Wild Horse Champions in Congress Stand Up To The U.S. Forest Service
During April and May, AWHC and our partners at the Animal Welfare Institute sounded the alarm about the lack of critical safeguards and transparency associated with the U.S. Forest Service’s selling of wild horses from the Devil’s Garden Wild Horse Territory in California. (The horses were captured last fall in a helicopter roundup.)
The Forest Service has been selling these federally-protected wild horses for as little as $1 a piece, without meaningful limits on the number of horses a buyer can purchase at one time, and no adequate vetting procedures to ensure that buyers have the resources and facilities necessary to safely care for horses.
This lack of safeguards places the horses at higher risk of abuse or slaughter.
We brought our concerns to Congress and we’re pleased to announce that a bipartisan group of wild horse champions has taken action for the Devil’s Garden horses.
Representatives Ted Lieu, Brian Fitzpatrick, Steve Cohen, Joe Neguse, Jan Schakowsky, and Dina Titus sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Forest Service, requesting that it adopt policies for its sales and adoption program to ensure oversight, transparency and protection, including measures to prevent federally-protected wild horses from ending up in the hands of kill buyers or others who might abuse and neglect them.
Additionally, these Congressmembers have called on the Forest Service to cease sales until these reforms are in place and pandemic restrictions are fully lifted.
We will continue to build on this important action to hold the Forest Service accountable for the welfare of the wild horses it is mandated under federal law to protect.
A Great Way To Stay Up To Date With Our Team In Nevada On The Virginia Range
AWHC is incredibly proud of the dedication and hard work of our staff and volunteers on the Virginia Range in Nevada.
We also know that many of you have reached out, asking if there is a better way to stay up to date with our team there: And there is!
Our team operates the Facebook group “Stay Wild! AWHC Nevada” where we post and share photos, videos, and updates on a near-daily basis to provide supporters with the opportunity to see and hear what they see in the field each and every day.
A perfect example? One of our volunteers, from a safe distance, captured an incredible moment on video: The first steps of a wild foal with her mother.
Especially in these uncertain and difficult times, little videos like these can help lift our spirits and improve our mood. And they serve as a powerful reminder about why we do the work that we do.
If you would like to learn more about our program on the Virginia Range (the largest in the world!) you can read more here.
We are all in this together — thank you for being part of our herd!
