We are just DAYS away from the start of summer roundups!
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
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helicopter roundups
A big THANK YOU for powering this vital work!
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
On behalf of the entire American Wild Horse Campaign (AWHC) Observation Team, THANK YOU for supporting our roundup documentation work!
This past week, you heard from us about the importance of our humane observation program – one of the most impactful tools we have at our disposal to ensure transparency and accountability during federal helicopter roundups. Well, thanks to the support of this incredible herd of advocates, we significantly recharged our Observation Fund!
Thanks to you, we’ll not only be able to keep our humane observers who’ve already been deployed to the East Pershing Complex roundups in the field to continue their work, but also send more observers out to upcoming roundups in the months ahead.
That means more crucial evidence to provide to the media, the public, and to Congress that exposes the cruel realities of wild horse and burro roundups. Through our roundup observation work, and all of the other important programs you help power, we can and WILL show that there is a better way to conserve our precious wild herds.
Thank you!
– AWHC Observation Team
Your generosity allows us to be a voice for these innocent animals
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
In addition to documenting the cruelty that wild horses and burros are subjected to during Bureau of Land Management (BLM) helicopter roundups, my teammates and I investigate what happens to these innocent animals after they’ve been captured.
Our Investigations Team files Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to obtain government documents that reveal the harsh reality wild horses and burros face after they are rounded up and funneled into the BLM’s overburdened holding system. Our findings consistently show that the inhumane treatment these animals suffer continues well after the helicopters are grounded.
| HELP HOLD THE BLM ACCOUNTABLE |
Our FOIA work helps uncover indisputable evidence of the often unreported death toll of roundup operations, as well as the cruel impacts of the BLM’s holding system. For example, late last year, we filed FOIA requests that illuminated the deaths of over 30 burros at a Utah holding facility between August and September 2022.
The records we secured revealed that six burros died from hemorrhaging during gelding, and four were euthanized. These same records showed that the majority of the burros died from a preventable blood disease that they can get when they experience extreme stress.
Tragedies like this prove that the deaths don’t stop once the helicopters do. But if it weren’t for the work of our Investigations Team, the truth about what happened to these burros may have never been made public.
| HELP US REACH OUR GOAL |
Just like our observers who document violations at roundups in the field, our investigations work has shed a light on some serious animal welfare concerns within the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program. In the past few years, FOIA has helped us to uncover:
- The horrific slaughter pipeline resulting from the BLM’s disastrous Adoption Incentive Program (AIP) which has landed at least 1,100 wild horses and burros in kill pens since the start of our investigation;
- The deaths of 16 horses at the U.S. Forest Service’s Double Devil Wild Horse Corrals and the BLM’s Bruneau Wild Horse Off-Range Corrals;
- The BLM’s use of IUD’s in wild mares despite the lack of scientific research about the efficacy and safety of these devices in wild populations;
- And so much more.
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Thank you for your support,
Amelia Perrin
Investigations Manager
American Wild Horse Campaign
Here are 3 steps you can take NOW to help wild horses and burros
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
Roundup season is just around the corner, so we’re fighting on all fronts to protect our cherished wild horses and burros – whether that’s in the field, in the courts, or on Capitol Hill.
Our Government Relations team has been working tirelessly to help advance pro-wild horse and burro legislation in Congress, and our efforts have been building momentum. But we need your help to keep up the pressure.
Here are three actions you can take NOW to help fight for the protection and conservation of our cherished wild mustangs and burros:
1.) Urge Your Representative to Cosponsor the SAFE Act (H.R. 3475)!
Each year, tens of thousands of American horses — both wild and domestic — are brutally slaughtered in Canada and Mexico for human consumption in foreign countries. That’s why we’re supporting the SAFE Act, legislation that would permanently ban the slaughter of equines for human consumption and ban the export of equines to foreign countries for slaughter.
| TAKE ACTION |
2.) Call On Your Representative to Cosponsor the Wild Horse and Burro Protection Act (H.R. 3656)!
Federal helicopter roundups terrorize wild horses and burros. Far too many of these innocent animals are injured, or even killed, as a result of this inhumane practice. That’s why we’re working to pass the Wild Horse and Burro Protection Act. This critical bill would prohibit costly and inhumane helicopter roundups of wild horses and burros.
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3.) Tell Congress to Protect Wild Horses and Burros in the Fiscal Year 2024 Appropriations Bill!
Congress will soon begin consideration of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 spending bills, providing us a key opportunity to advocate for humane reforms to the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro Program. With the removal of more than 20,000 wild horses and burros from the wild last year, and thousands more to follow as roundup season begins next month, wild horses and burros need your voice more than ever!
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Thank you for stepping up for our wild herds.
— AWHC Team
Making history on Nevada’s Virginia Range
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
Yesterday marked four years since the start of our fertility control program on Nevada’s Virginia Range. To each and every one of you who donates to help fuel our continued efforts in Nevada and other Western states, volunteers to keep this program operating, or takes action in the emails we send to keep these horses safe — I want to say thank you.
Since we restarted our work on the Virginia Range in 2019, it’s become a landmark program — the largest of its kind for wild horses anywhere in the world. We’re proving there IS a better way that is humane, cost-effective, and doesn’t rely on brutally rounding up and removing thousands of wild horses and burros from their homes. Our experience on the Virginia Range has helped to educate the media and Congress about the alternatives to the costly and cruel mass roundup and stockpile cycle.
And it’s working. The results of our fertility control program have helped us to secure language in the federal spending bill for three years in a row that reallocates Bureau of Land Management (BLM) funding away from helicopter roundups and toward humane alternatives. And now, we have the opportunity to expand our programs to other herds across the West — helping to keep even more innocent wild horses safe and free from a future of captivity.
Friends, this program would not be a success without the dozens of volunteers who brave all kinds of weather and give their time to keep these iconic wild horses wild. And, it would not be possible without the generosity of our supporters, who provide us with the resources necessary to power this work.
I’m so proud of every AWHC staff member, volunteer, and supporter for making a program like this possible!
Thank you for all that you do to support our cause,
Suzanne Roy
Executive Director
American Wild Horse Campaign
Burro roundups are almost here, help us fight back!
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
Wild horse foaling season is underway, so from April to July, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has paused its wild horse roundups. Instead, it has set its sights on wild burros. The BLM is planning to roundup record numbers of burros starting on April 30th – one day before the start of Burro Awareness Month.
Over the next few months, the BLM aims to round up over 2,500 wild burros from five Herd Management Areas (HMAs) and permanently remove over 2,300. The largest operation will take place in the most genetically diverse burro herd, located in the Black Mountain HMA in Arizona where 1,120 wild burros will be permanently removed.
Even worse, the agency intends to use helicopters to chase these beloved animals into traps. This is a notable departure from primarily relying on bait trapping to capture burros.
AWHC field representatives will be on site at these burro roundups to hold the BLM accountable and our team will be working nonstop — on the Hill, in the courtroom, and on the range – to help save wild horses AND burros from inhumane helicopter roundups. But we need your help.
Unlike wild horses, who generally stay together during helicopter roundups and follow other horses into a trap site, wild burros are stoic animals and often stand their ground in the face of the helicopters, or scatter in an attempt to avoid capture. As a result, helicopter roundups can be even more brutal for burros.
We are fighting for the West’s few remaining wild burros and we need your help. Please make a donation of $10, $25, or whatever you can afford to give today to help us continue our fight to save wild burros.
| DONATE TODAY |
Thank you,
– American Wild Horse Campaign
BREAKING: 3/4 Americans OPPOSE Helicopter Roundups
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
Over the last month, our team has been busy polling American voters about the plight of wild horses. And after much analysis, we are very excited to announce the astounding results:
| 74% of American voters, regardless of political affiliation, oppose helicopter roundups of wild horses and burros.
3/4 Americans oppose the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) 2022 plans to round up and remove 19,000 wild horses and burros from public lands. 88% of Americans want our nation’s wild horses and burros protected on the public lands they call home. 79% of Americans oppose the slaughter of wild horses for human consumption. Right off the bat, 72% of Americans oppose removing wild horses from their natural habitat, which increases to 75% once they hear more information! |
What does this mean? American voters have spoken!
Wild horse and burro protection on our public lands is an issue Republicans and Democrats can agree on — now it’s time for our elected officials to stand up for in-the-wild, humane management of our cherished wild mustangs and burros.
| TELL CONGRESS TO TAKE ACTION |
Right now, Congress is considering legislation that could ban the use of helicopter roundups for good. Congress passed legislation in 1971 to protect wild horses and burros, yet the BLM’s current roundup plans would reduce wild horse populations to the pre-protection levels that pushed Congress to act over 50 years ago!
Wild horses and burros need our help now more than ever. Congress needs to hear from taxpayers like you that American constituents want to see wild horses and burros protected!
| TELL CONGRESS TO TAKE ACTION |
— American Wild Horse Campaign
Celebrating World Wildlife Day with ACTION >>
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
Do you know the best part about wildlife? It’s wild!
That’s why we can’t think of any better way to kick off today’s global celebration of wildlife than by taking action to protect America’s wild horses and burros right here at home!
| KEEP WILD HORSES WILD |
While the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) helicopters may be grounded until April when the agency starts rounding up wild burros, 19,000 wild horses and burros are still at risk of permanent removal from their homes on our public lands this year.
Speaking up for our wild herds right now will help us keep family bands intact and preserve the freedom of thousands of these cherished animals in the wild where they belong!
| KEEP WILD HORSES WILD |
Thanks for taking action!
AWHC Team
Announcing our newest initiative to protect wild horses and burros from slaughter >>
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
Today, we are so excited to share with you our next initiative in our fight to protect horses and burros — both wild and domestic — from slaughter!
Despite their federal protection, wild horses and burros continue to face the ever-present threat of brutal helicopter roundups — a tragic result of the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) mismanaged Wild Horse and Burro Program. Once captured, these innocent animals are stripped of their freedom and forced into holding, many entering the slaughter pipeline.
In an effort to permanently put an end to horse slaughter, we have partnered with the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) as a sponsoring organization of the Homes for Horses Coalition!
The Homes for Horses Coalition (HHC) is a national initiative made up of more than 520 member organizations with the ultimate goal of ending horse slaughter and all other forms of equine abuse for good.
Each year, tens of thousands of American horses and burros are exported for slaughter to Mexico and Canada for human consumption in foreign markets. And as we exposed last year through our investigative work, the BLM’s Adoption Incentive Program is placing “truckloads” of our iconic wild horses and burros in imminent danger of becoming victims of the brutal industry.
The BLM’s proposed roundups are only accelerating, and as a result, an increasing number of federally protected wild mustangs and burros are expected to enter the pipeline in the coming years.
Through our new role with HHC, we’ll be joining AWI in supporting the boots-on-the-ground rescues by providing advocacy leadership and resources to strengthen the nonprofits doing heroic jobs to help horses in need.
HHC is the only network of its kind in the nation, and we couldn’t be more proud to be a part of this important effort. It’s time to end horse slaughter once and for all. Are you with us?
Stay tuned for more updates and announcements from the coalition!
— American Wild Horse Campaign
Please read: FY 2021 Roundup Season in Review
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
In just a few short days, the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 roundup season will come to a close and the FY 2022 season will begin. Since last September, 17,917 wild horses and burros have been brutally chased by helicopters and most have been shipped to overburdened holding facilities.
The BLM’s aggressive roundup schedule will result in the highest number of wild horses and burros ever maintained in the BLM’s holding facilities.
We mourn for all of the wild horses and burros who have lost their freedom and their families. The silver lining to this upsetting news, however, is that public opposition to this cruel and costly program has never been greater.
Just this month, Colorado Governor Jared Polis spoke up passionately against a BLM roundup in his state, the National Sierra Club called on Interior Secretary Haaland to remove livestock from wild horse habitats, and the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) sent a letter to Secretary Haaland demanding that the BLM stop scapegoating wild horses for environmental damage caused by private livestock grazing.
Together, we are stronger than ever — and we promise to continue our work to protect the rights and freedom of America’s wild horses and burros.
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Your contributions make our advocacy for humane and scientific management practices possible. Your funding also allows AWHC to continue to hold the BLM accountable for the animal welfare abuses committed during helicopter roundups.
Earlier this month, we asked for your help to fight back against an especially brutal roundup in the Sand Wash Basin in Colorado, where tiny foals were being stampeded with helicopters and several were left alone to fend for themselves in the wild after their mothers were captured. And you stepped up.
In just 24 hours, supporters like you generated over 10,000 emails and calls demanding a halt to the roundup. The public pressure and the Governor’s intervention worked. The roundup was halted early and 150 wild horses who were targeted for removal remained free!
Change will happen, if we continue to work together.
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Thank you for your support,
Suzanne Roy
Executive Director
American Wild Horse Campaign
The BLM wants to remove 100% of these wild burros — can you help!?
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
We have urgent news.
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.
AWHC is working to appeal the decision, but we need your help to save these burros. Will you take the following actions to help us protect these three burro herds and save the place they call home?
- Send a letter to the BLM and 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.
We need your help, Erica. Will you take action and tell the BLM and your members of Congress that the burros in these three HAs MUST be protected?
| TAKE ACTION |
AWHC Team