Menu

Virginia Range Mustangs

It was a good day for wild horses

, , , , , , 0

The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:

News & Alerts

New Agreement for Virginia Range Mustangs Fertility Control Program

On Tuesday, AWHC and the Nevada Department of Agriculture signed a new agreement to implement a humane fertility control management program for the Virginia Range horses. The program aims to reduce population growth rates in the historic herd, which lives in a 300,000-acre range increasingly impacted by rapid development in the northern Nevada area. Our program’s certified darters will begin working this week in cooperation with the tech company, Blockchains, LLC – the largest landowner in the Virginia Range — to deliver the PZP immunocontraceptive vaccine to wild horses in Innovation Park in Storey County! Read more about this critically important program below.

 

AB 128 Passes Out of California’s Assembly Parks and Wildlife Committee

AB 128, a bill to increase protections from slaughter for California’s wild and domestic horses cleared its first hurdle on Tuesday when it passed out of the California Assembly Parks, Water and Wildlife Committee on a 10-1 vote (with 3 abstentions). AWHC is proud to sponsor this bill in conjunction with bill author Assemblyman Todd Gloria, who has been a leading voice for the welfare of California’s horses and an outspoken opponent of the federal government’s plan to sell California wild horses from the Devil’s Garden Territory without limitation on slaughter. Read more about the bill and the latest developments below.

 

Limited Edition ‘Born Wild – Stay Wild’ Apparel

For this week only, we have teamed up with company FLOAT to offer you limited-edition apparel that supports our work to Keep Wild Horses Wild! $8 from every purchase of the ‘Born Wild-Stay Wild’ apparel goes to AWHC. Get them while they last – offer ends on Monday morning!

 

Speak up for the Warm Springs wild horses and more news!

, , , , , , , , , 0

The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:

News & Alerts

Speak up for Oregon’s Warm Springs Wild Horses

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is seeking public comments on a plan for the Warm Springs Herd Management Area (HMA) in Oregon. This HMA was recently the site of a large roundup that removed 100 percent of the wild horses living there, including 100 mares who were slated to be used in an experimental surgical sterilization study. That plan was dropped after a federal judge issued a Preliminary Injunction in response to litigation by filed AWHC, The Cloud Foundation, and the Animal Welfare Institute. The BLM’s new plan is to return just 66 of the 846 horses removed from the HMA and treat all released mares with PZP fertility control. Bottom line: The BLM is releasing too few horses to maintain a healthy, genetically viable population in the Warm Springs HMA. Please take action with us below!

 

Forest Service Hands Reins of Wild Horse Management in CA to Cattle Interests

For the last several months, our team has been investigating how livestock interests in northern California’s Modoc National Forest took control of U.S. Forest Service policy regarding the management of federally-protected wild horses. Our reporting shows a trail of money, extremist politics and junk science leading to the current situation in which the Forest Service intends to sell federally-protected wild horses without limitation on slaughter for the first time in history. Read more about the situation and the disturbing precedent it sets for special interest takeover of public lands policy by clicking below.

 

Rescue Video: The ‘Alabama 5’

When we learned in April 2018 that five Virginia Range mustangs who had been adopted to a small sanctuary in Alabama were sold to a notorious kill buyer, we sprang into action. Just days before they shipped for slaughter, we rescued them. Thanks to supporters like you — and to Chilly Pepper Mustang Rescue and Freedom Reigns Equine Sanctuary — this small family is safe. Just four years ago, these mustangs were roaming free in Nevada. When we reached them in Alabama, they were in rough shape — neglected, traumatized and very thin. Today, they’re back home in the West looking happy and healthy. Watch their story in our latest video, and then share with your friends and family!

 

We’re Heading Court Again… And Other News

, , , , , , , 0

The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:

Thursday, March 15, 2018

Fate of 90,000 Horses to be Decided in Congress Next Week 

Photo: Mikel Hettrick

We have just eight days until Congress must make a decision on spending legislation for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2018. Behind the scenes negotiations are going on RIGHT NOW as Congress decides between the Senate Interior spending bill, which prohibits killing and slaughter of wild horses and burros, and the House version, which would allow the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to destroy up to 90,000 mustangs and burros. It’s time to reach out to House and Senate leadership to save the lives of our American mustangs and burros – will you make the calls today?

NV Business Leaders Stand With AWHC to Save Virginia Range Mustangs

Photo: Scott Sonner/AP

We were honored this week to be joined at a press conference in Reno, Nevada by officials from the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center (TRI), the largest industrial park in the world, in support of our fight to save the Virginia Range horses in northern Nevada. TRI Director and Storey County Commissioner Lance Gilman gave an inspiring talk about the incredible economic development happening at the TRI and how the powerhouse companies there — including Tesla, Switch, and Blockchains — are strongly behind protecting the horses. Tomorrow, we’ll file our lawsuit to stop the state from giving away the horses to a private owner who would then have the “property rights” to do what it wants with the horses, including selling them for slaughter. 

AWHC and TCF Threaten Legal Action Over Upcoming BLM Advisory Board Meeting

AWHC and The Cloud Foundation are taking a stand against the BLM’s violation of public notice requirements in the scheduling of the next meeting of the National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board, currently set for Salt Lake City on March 27, 2018. Yesterday, William Miller of Scottsdale, AZ, attorney for AWHC and TCF, sent a formal letter demanding that the meeting be rescheduled to allow for the required 30-day public notification. Mr. Miller says: “The BLM must give proper notice so that the public can have a voice on this issue that so many citizens care about. This Board has been consistently out of step with the wishes of Americans, 80 percent of whom oppose the killing and slaughter of our wild horses. We will not stand by while this agency trounces federal law in order to restrict the voice of the people and ram through yet another morally bankrupt and unscientific recommendation to kill our American mustangs.”

 

New Trump Budget Puts Mustang Lives on the Line…Again

, , , , , 0

The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:

Tuesday, February 13, 2018

BLM Doubles Down on Mass Mustang Slaughter

The Trump Administration’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 budget is out, and it again asks Congress for permission to slaughter federally protected mustangs and burros in holding facilities and on the range. The budget calls for slashing $14 million from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro Program budget by selling as many as 90,000 wild horses and burros for slaughter to supply foreign horsemeat markets. The lethal plan tramples the wishes of the vast majority Americans – including 86% of Trump voters — and is contrary to the recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences. We now have two fights on our hands as Congress finalizes 2018 spending legislation and begins the 2019 appropriations process. Please take one moment to take a stand against mass mustang slaughter by clicking below.

Stop Nevada’s Virginia Range Mustang Giveaway

Late last week, AWHC sent Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval and his Department of Agriculture a legal letter demanding that they rescind the Request for Proposals to transfer ownership of the historic Virginia Range mustangs to a private party. The new owner would then have “property” rights to do what it wants with the horses, including sell them for slaughter. The proposed giveaway is not only illegal, but also would prevent the public from having any say in the protection and management of this locally cherished mustang population. Join us in standing up for the Virginia Range horses by clicking below.

United We Stand for Mustangs

AWHC is pleased to join with more than 80 other organizations and businesses in calling on Congress to maintain prohibitions on mass killing and slaughter of wild horses and burros, and to compel the BLM to implement a humane, scientific and politically viable management program for the nation’s iconic mustang and burro herds. The “Unified Statement “on the Humane, Sustainable, and Cost-Effective On-Range Management of America’s Wild Horses and Burros” lays out a set of principles and recommendations on which such a plan can be based. Please click below to read and share the Unified Statement – the more we stand together, the better our chances of prevailing for the mustangs!