The wild horses of the Onaqui Herd Management Area (HMA) just outside of Dugway, Utah are some of the most well-known and well-loved mustangs in the country. Photographers and tourists from all over the world flock to this 200,000-acre public land area to spend time with the animals they have come to know and love, including revered wild horses like Old Man, Red Lion, or, Diamond and DeeDee — a stunning mother-daughter duo.
Photo by PJ Kaszas
It’s no matter that DeeDee was born to Diamond over 7 years ago. She has remained by her mother’s side ever since, napping, grazing, and raising her own young. It’s the wild horse way and why we love them: their relationships with one another are strong, intricate, and dynamic.
So it was devastating to local advocates when the helicopters descended on the HMA in July of 2021, and threatened to rip this pair — and their unique bond — apart. They ended up being captured in the operation along with over 400 other cherished mustangs, and have been stuck in a mud-ridden holding facility since. Visitors to the corrals noted that the pair still clung together, amidst the trauma they endured.
Local advocates worked tirelessly to find a home for Diamond and DeeDee together and lucked out when AWHC Board Member and owner of Freedom Reigns Equine Sanctuary, Alicia Goetz stepped up and agreed to welcome the mares to her herd of nearly 500 rescued horses on her almost 4,000-acre sanctuary.
Photo by Kimerlee Curyl
And on Wednesday, we were onsite to welcome the special mother-daughter pair to their new life. After they cautiously came off the trailer, they took to the ground and began to roll. Photographer Kimerlee Curyl, spoke of the moment best:
“I began to get teary as I watched the caked mud and manure fall off of them as they rolled around in the new green grass of their temporary enclosure. To me, it represented the shedding of their life in holding and that terrible roundup. It was a beautiful and emotional day.”
It really was a beautiful day.
Photo by Kimerlee Curyl
After their quarantine period is up, Diamond and DeeDee will be released out to the main sanctuary to roam over thousands of acres of rolling hills.
We are grateful to the local advocates who worked so hard to keep this family together, and to Alicia for her commitment to ensuring that Diamond and DeeDee live the remainder of their lives at Freedom Reigns, the next best thing to being wild and free.
2022 is shaping up to be a busy year for our team at the American Wild Horse Campaign! We’ll be continuing our fight in the court, in the field, and on the Hill to preserve the freedom of America’s wild horses and burros.
We are on the frontlines of the fight to protect these iconic animals, but one thing is for sure: we couldn’t do it without our large herd of wild horse advocates who help to fuel our work. Grassroots supporters like you make up this incredible network and help to make our important efforts possible.
While our Government Relations team is busy setting their legislative agenda for the new year, we wanted to reach out with some advocacy resources so that you have everything you need to be the voice of our wild herds this year!
ADVOCACY ACTION KIT
Visit our Action Center to find contact information for your legislators or track wild horse legislation!
The American Wild Horse Campaign is so much more than just our staff — it’s a community of activists who put in the work, time and time again, to defend our treasured wild horses and burros.
In 2021, supporters like you helped us to:
Collect over 460,000 petition signatures to protect wild horses and burros;
Send over 338,000 messages to legislators on behalf of our wild herds;
And grow our grassroots network by more than 246,000!
So, will you stand with us again in 2022 to protect the lives of America’s wild horses and burros? We’ll be in touch over the next few weeks with actions you can take to protect these cherished animals.
Introducing our OFFICIAL 2022 American Wild Horse Campaign Member Card:
We have so much in store for 2022. Not only are we continuing our fight on the Hill, in courts, and in the field — we’re also working on a number of groundbreaking new initiatives — all in the name of keeping wild horses and burros in the wild where they belong.
We’re laser-focused on the fight to preserve the freedom of our wild mustangs and burros. That means in 2022, we are … proving through our PZP program on Nevada’s Virginia Range that humane in the wild management works … expanding our investigative team to uncover abuse and hold the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) accountable … continuing our lawsuit against the BLM’s Adoption Incentive Program that’s sending horses and burros to slaughter … working with a prestigious university to make roundup violations enforceable by law … and so much more!!
The new year is upon us, and so is the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) proposed roundup plan for the 2022 calendar year. Over the next 12 months, the BLM intends to round up 22,000 wild horses and burros — permanently removing 19,000 of these animals from their homes on our public lands.
This is Year 2 of the BLM’s plan remove 20,000 horses per year for the next five years, and it presents a real threat to the survival of America’s wild herds. But it’s not the end of their story. Far from it. Because the worse the BLM treats our cherished wild mustangs, the more support we get from Congress and the American public to change the current costly and cruel wild horse and burro management program.
Our team enters 2022 prepared for the many battles ahead — in court, on the Hill, and in the field — to protect wild horses and burros and keep them in the wild where they belong. Today, I wanted to share with you some of our biggest plans for 2022. This year, we intend to:
Spearhead a national awareness campaign and grow our Ambassador Program to educate the American public about the plight of wild horses and empower them to get involved.
Continue to demonstrate through boots-on-the-ground work that humane management of wild horses is possible. We’ll continue to deliver unprecedented results from our PZP program on Nevada’s Virginia Range and broker programs for other herds across the West.
Put science at the forefront of wild horse management — We’ll be launching a number of new and exciting science initiatives, including an academic analysis of our Virginia Range PZP program data AND we’ll be creating an economic report to highlight the missteps of the BLM’s current approach and the cost-savings of a more humane one.
Amplify our work and your voice on Capitol Hill to pass legislation that diverts funds away from roundups and toward fertility control programs and ensure that the BLM uses these funds appropriately.
Expand our Investigative Team to continue to uncover waste, fraud, and abuse in the BLM’s on-range and off-range programs.
Continue our lawsuit against the BLM over its Adoption Incentive Program that’s sending wild horses and burros into the slaughter pipeline, while gearing up for new legal battles ahead…
Meredith: We have big plans for 2022! We’re using every resource at our disposal to continue our fight on behalf of America’s wild horses and burros.Our first step? Growing our grassroots army to build the scale of the wild horse protection movement so that it is inclusive, diverse, empowered, and well-equipped to achieve our mission of protecting wild horses and burros for generations to come.
By now you may have seen the news about the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) announcement of its intent to round up at least 22,000 wild horses and burros from national public lands this year and permanently remove 19,000 of them from their homes on the range.
These formerly free-roaming animals will join the 58,000 other wild horses and burros confined in off-range government holding facilities, putting 2022 on track to become the year that the United States of America holds more wild mustangs – our national symbols of freedom – in captivity than remain free in the wild.
It’s part of the BLM’s plan to reduce wild horse populations to just 17,000 – 27,000 animals on 27 million acres of land. That’s fewer animals than were left in the West in 1971 when Congress passed a law to protect them because they were “fast disappearing.”
This is wrong on so many levels – it counters the recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences, is fiscally reckless and unconscionably inhumane.
The BLM claims these devastating roundups are necessary to protect the environment. But wild horses and burros are present on just 12% of the land that the BLM manages, and they are greatly outnumbered by commercial livestock — a major cause of land degradation and a contributor to climate change. Spending hundreds of millions of dollars to round up and warehouse wild horses in captivity actually harms the environment by diverting funds away from actual programs to address land health, habitat restoration, and climate change.
I understand if you are angry at this injustice. I know I am. But I don’t want you to despair or give up. I’m not, because I see the real progress we’ve made together in the last year alone:
We worked with Congress to direct one-third of the funding earmarked for roundups to the implementation of humane fertility control instead. We combatted roundups in the Sand Wash Basin (Colorado) and Onaqui (Utah) Herd Management Areas (HMAs) — and thanks to public outcry and the support of political leaders like Governor Jared Polis, we succeeded in keeping more horses in the wild than originally intended. We also got the commitment of the BLM in both states to work to make these the last helicopter roundups that ever occur in the HMAs by ensuring the PZP fertility control programs there succeed. We joined forces with a growing chorus of prominent environmental groups to oppose the BLM’s scapegoating of wild horses while giving commercial livestock a pass. The 7 million-member Sierra Club even wrote to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland calling for the removal of all commercial livestock from wild horse and burro habitat areas! We added nearly 200,000 new supporters to our grassroots army fighting to keep wild horses wild, and our videos, photographs, and reports documenting the cruelty of the roundups were seen by millions nationwide.
The fight to save our wild horses and burros is a marathon, not a sprint, and we are making progress. In fact, we are stronger and larger than ever.
We have an impactful agenda this year to continue the fight on the Hill, in the courts, and in the field. But the backbone of the fight is you.
So please, stay positive. Stay passionate. And stay ready.
We’ll be in touch!
Suzanne Roy Executive Director American Wild Horse Campaign
Thanks to the generosity of supporters like you, we are SO excited to share that we reached our $125,000 Year-End fundraising goal and UNLOCKED the $100,000 gift from our matching donor!!
From each and every one of us at the American Wild Horse Campaign — thank you so much for your part in helping us reach this goal! Please know that your support will make such an enormous difference for America’s wild horses and burros in 2022 as we continue our fight to keep these cherished animals wild.
While we begin to tackle our 2022 agenda, we wanted to share with you the victories that AWHC supporters helped us to accomplish over the past year. Please read on for a recap of our 2021 accomplishments and a preview of what’s to come this year!
Exposed the Adoption Incentive Program
After a months-long investigation, our team uncovered a slaughter pipeline that had been created by the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Adoption Incentive Program (AIP). In partnership with The New York Times, we exposed the disastrous program in a front-page report.
Uncovering this pipeline was only the first of several milestones in this fight. Shortly after the New York Times exposé, we garnered an overwhelming amount of support from the public, and dozens of members of Congress took action on Capitol Hill to reform the failed program. At the same time, AWHC filed suit against the BLM to challenge the AIP. Recently, government attorneys informed us that the BLM will be revealing a “new” Adoption Incentive Program in early 2022. We will be watching closely to ensure that the program is meaningfully reformed by ending the cash incentives that are fueling fraud and abuse.
Made Strides on Capitol Hill
Our government relations team worked tirelessly with members of the House and Senate to pass historic legislation during the Fiscal Year 2022 Appropriations process allocating $11 million in funding toward humane wild horse and burro management.
This $11 million was reallocated away from the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) roundup funds toward implementing “a robust and humane fertility control strategy of reversible immunocontraceptive vaccines” for America’s wild horses. This breakthrough language marks the first time that Congress is requiring the BLM to implement alternatives to the cruel roundup and removal of wild horses and burros from their homes on our public lands. It’s a huge step toward responsible wild horse and burro management that will help keep these iconic animals in the wild, where they belong!
Helped Rescue Over 100 Wild Horses & Burros from Slaughter
Thanks to the help of generous supporters like you, we were able to help fund the rescues of over 100 slaughter-bound wild horses and burros this year. In collaboration with our rescue partners, we were able to identify and rescue wild horses and burros from kill pens across the country — in imminent danger of being shipped to Mexico or Canada for brutal slaughter. The vast majority of these horses and burros were sent into the slaughter pipeline through the BLM’s Adoption Incentive Program by adopters who pocketed the cash incentives then dumped “their” animals at kill pens.
Proved Humane Management Works
AWHC operates the world’s largest humane fertility control program for wild horses on Nevada’s Virginia Range — and this Spring we will celebrate the three-year anniversary of this groundbreaking program!
On the range, we use Porcine Zona Pellucida (PZP) immunocontraception — a scientifically-proven fertility control vaccine given to female horses through an injection via remote darting with an air rifle. The vaccine creates an immune response that prevents fertilization without impacting the horses’ hormonal systems, thus preserving their natural behaviors.
This year our program reduced the foaling rate on the Virginia Range by 44%! This achievement has been critical in demonstrating to lawmakers and the BLM that fertility control is an effective tool for reducing population growth and a viable alternative to costly and cruel helicopter roundups for the management of America’s wild herds.
Protected Nevada’s Wild Horses
Earlier this year, a resolution was introduced in the Nevada State Senate that called on Congress to fund brutal helicopter roundups of at least 40,000 of Nevada’s wild horses and burros — that’s nearly every wild horse and burro living in Nevada today!
We quickly mobilized political and environmental opposition to the resolution, SJR 3, and were successful in killing it in the Natural Resources Committee. The outcome was an important show of support by this key legislative committee for humane wild horse management and a significant defeat for the coalition of livestock operators, hunters, and commercial wildlife trappers behind the mass roundup resolution.
Amplified Our Voice
Our movement to save America’s wild horses and burros grew by leaps and bounds this year. Public outrage over the plight of these iconic animals grew, and so did the number of lawmakers on Capitol Hill demanding reform. So many of you joined the fight to preserve the freedom of our wild horses and burros on the public lands they call home, and for that, we are so grateful.
We have much progress to make in 2022, but we know we can always count on supporters like you to lobby your elected officials, support our critical legal work, and raise awareness across the country about the threats America’s wild horses and burros continue to face.
This fight is a marathon, not a sprint, and we know that we can count on you to stand with us all along the way. Together, we will make real progress for our cherished wild horses and burros in 2022.
So stay ready and stay tuned! We wish you and your loved ones a happy and healthy New Year!
With Gratitude,
Suzanne Roy Executive Director American Wild Horse Campaign
We have less than 24 hours until our year-end fundraising deadline and we still have a ways to go if we want to hit our $125,000 goal.Right now we are tracking at $96,467 — $28,533 short of where we need to be to finish 2021 strong!!
BUT, we have an exciting update → Our generous donor wants to help us hit our goal and unlock their $100,000 matching gift so badly, that they’ve agreed to TRIPLE all donations that come in before midnight tonight up to $100,000.
We know we’re asking for a lot during this last week of the year. But it’s because the stakes are so high and we need the resources to keep the fight going.
At this very moment, our wild horses and burros face an existential threat: the BLM’s plan to slash wild herds across the West to the “99 percent extinction-level” that prompted Congress to protect these animals 50 years ago!
Our work in 2022 could not be more important and we need your support to make it happen. We’re just HOURS away from the opportunity to unlock $100,000 before we close the books on 2021.
The cost to vaccinate a single mare with a PZP vaccine is just $30.
But instead, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) spends millions of taxpayer dollars to brutally round up our wild horses and burros by chasing them with helicopters and confining them in pens, robbing them of all that wild horses hold dear — family and freedom.
Far too many of these beloved animals are entering the slaughter pipeline through the BLM’s disastrous Adoption Incentive Program, as exposed by our investigation earlier this year.
On Nevada’s Virginia Range, where a population of state-managed wild mustangs is threatened by extreme habitat loss, we’re operating the largest PZP fertility program in the world for wild horses.
And our work there has reduced the foaling rate by 44% while allowing these animals to remain free as nature intended. This data is incredibly useful as we prove to lawmakers and the BLM that there is a better alternative to the agency’s current approach to managing our wild horse populations.
Did you know that it costs only $30 to dart a single mare with a PZP vaccine — a scientifically-proven way to reduce population growth while keeping wild horses wild? That’s the difference your $30 contribution can make for wild horses who need our support now more than ever.
By using this method, we are showing the public and our elected officials that there is a better way to manage wild populations. PZP fertility control is a humane and cost-effective alternative to subjecting wild horses and burros to brutal helicopter roundups year after year, holding them in crowded pens, and forcing them to undergo dangerous sterilization surgeries.
We operate the world’s largest humane fertility control program for wild horses on Nevada’s Virginia Range. And we’re coming up on the three-year anniversary of this groundbreaking program, which has successfully reduced fertility on the range by over 40%! We were able to achieve this milestone because supporters like you chipped in $30 for every mare that we’ve vaccinated, Meredith.
And don’t forget → Thanks to a generous donor, every gift made now through tomorrow at midnight will be 2x MATCHED. That means your $30 gift today helps not 1, but TWO HORSES!
The success of our PZP program has been so critical in our fight to protect wild horses because lawmakers and the public are starting to see there is a humane alternative to capturing and removing these wild animals from their homes on our public lands.
Your support helps us continue to provide the cold, hard, scientific evidence that lends legitimacy to our calls for more humane management of our wild horses and burros.
This year, more than 17,000 wild horses and burros were brutally chased by helicopters and forced into holding facilities, costing these innocent animals their families, their freedom, and in some cases — their lives. We know there’s a better way, and we can continue to fight for it with your support!
We wanted to make sure you got Suzanne’s email from earlier today. We’re using every tool at our disposal to make roundups a thing of the past.
How? Well…
Our trained volunteers go out into the field to document roundups when they occur — making note of animal welfare violations and bringing them to the attention of the public and authorities.
Our legal team is working with a prestigious university to make animal welfare violations at roundups enforceable by law.
Our government relations team is working with legislators on Capitol Hill and secured $11 million in funding in House and Senate legislation to redirect BLM funds away from helicopter roundups toward humane immunocontraceptive fertility control vaccines.
Our science division continues to fund initiatives that provethere is a more humane way to manage wild horse and burro populations and advance technology for implementing humane management programs in the West.
And, our advocacy work is constantly mobilizing supporters and action takers like yourself to speak up on behalf of these innocent animals, calling for much-needed reforms to the BLM’s Wild Horse & Burro Program.
Apologies for all the emails from our team this week — we know it can be a lot, but it’s only because there is so much on the line for wild horses and burros in 2022.
This year was a hard one for our cherished wild herds. Families were broken apart, freedom and lives were lost. Over 17,000 wild horses and burros lost their homes on our public lands. As bad as it got, it only strengthened our resolve to fight harder.
The silver lining to this tragic story is that our advocacy has helped to publicize the severity of this situation, leading to growing public outrage. We’ve seen hundreds of thousands of Americans come together and demand an end to the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) costly and inhumane roundup program and Congress has joined in demanding these necessary reforms.
So, now is our moment. We must capitalize on this momentum and continue our fight to make roundups a thing of the past.
2021 was a year full of highs and lows — and we’re so grateful that through it all, you stood by our side in the fight to protect wild horses and burros.
One of our biggest accomplishments was our investigation into the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Adoption Incentive Program (AIP), which resulted in a front-page New York Times exposé, elevating the tragedies of the AIP to a national level.
As one of AWHC’s lead investigators into the AIP, every single day, I identify and track new BLM mustangs and burros in kill pens across the country. After months of investigation, we confirmed that the titles of the horses and burros we were rescuing matched those of animals adopted through the AIP.
Time and time again in this investigation, we’ve identified adopters who have collected the AIP cash incentives, then dumped the horses and burros they had adopted at slaughter auctions as soon as the money cleared their accounts.
Our Rescue Fund was key to this investigation as it allowed us to support our rescue partners in pulling wild horses and burros from kill pens. This not only saved these innocent animals’ lives but also gave us access to information — including titles and brand numbers — that helped us connect the dots to expose the program.
Since uncovering and exposing this slaughter pipeline, we’ve made some impressive strides! Congress has taken notice of this problem, and our Government Relations team is working with elected officials on solutions to better protect our wild horses and burros from slaughter.
After the New York Times exposé, the BLM announced a list of reforms to the Adoption Incentive Program. But, these reforms did not go far enough, so we filed a lawsuit. This week, government attorneys informed our lawyers that the BLM would be unveiling a new Adoption Incentive Program in the new year, and we will be watching closely to see if meaningful reforms are forthcoming.
Meredith: Supporters like you make these important initiatives possible — our investigative work to uncover this slaughter pipeline, our rescue fund to help save the AIP’s victims, our Government Relations work on the Hill, and even our litigation against the BLM. None of this would be possible without your help.
Just a few short weeks ago, we commemorated the 50th Anniversary of the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 — the foundational law passed unanimously by Congress intended to protect wild horses and burros from capture, branding, harassment, and death.But even as we marked this historic anniversary, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) was conducting the largest wild horse roundup in history – with an astounding 4,000+ of these iconic animals targeted for capture in Wyoming.
The Wyoming roundup was just one of many in 2021, making this a very tough year for wild horses and burros.
The worse things get for these beloved animals, the more support we gather for ending the cruel and costly management practices that threaten their future. This leads to some crucial opportunities in 2022 to enact real, meaningful change for wild horses and burros.
But to seize these opportunities and guarantee change for these magnificent icons, we need the resources to carry on our fight on the Hill, in courts, and in the field.
2022 is our moment. The BLM has new leadership in place, with Tracy Stone Manning serving as the first confirmed director in nearly six years. AND, thanks to our Government Relations team, legislation passed in the House and Senate this year to divert $11 millionaway from roundups and toward humane fertility control programs.
With our groundbreaking fertility control program in Nevada, we’ve proven that there is a better, more humane way to manage wild horses and burros — and science is on our side.
From every single one of us here at the American Wild Horse Campaign, we wish you and your family a very happy and joyous holiday season.
Your support and dedication have helped us to make great strides this year, and for that wethank you. The perseverance of our amazing herd of AWHC supporters is emblematic of the same strength we see from the majestic wild horses and burros we continue our fight to protect.
As we all begin our holiday celebrations with the ones we cherish most and look to the year ahead, I wanted to share a story with you today about one of our beloved family bands on Nevada’s Virginia Range.
Leeto was seen back in 2020 by one of our observers as a bachelor stallion. But when he was spotted most recently, Leeto was leading a band of 4 mares and 4 foals!
One day, the youngest colt in Leeto’s band, Rover, got stuck behind a fence. The youngster was scared and cried out as he couldn’t figure out how to get past it. When his mother noticed Rover was stuck, she also cried out for help. Leeto and another mustang in the band, Hiker, ran to their aid.
Hiker brilliantly showed Rover the opening of the fence. When he was just about to go around it, Leeto and the mare called out to the foal, and he instead found the lowest point of the fence and jumped over it, running to meet his family once again.
Once the band was reunited, they stopped for a moment of relief and then soon headed back up the mountain.
It’s stories and moments like these that empower us to keep up the fight. These inspiring animals show us how to persevere in even the toughest of situations. We are taking the lessons from the wild with us into the new year and in our continued fight to preserve the freedom of these beloved icons.
On behalf of everyone at AWHC, we are grateful to you for being part of our herd. Our very best wishes to you and your loved ones, the happiest of holidays — and a healthy and joyous New Year!
As we enter the holiday season and 2021 comes to an end, we wanted to tell you just how grateful we are for all that American Wild Horse Campaign supporters have helped us to accomplish this year.
Whether you sent messages to your legislators on behalf of our cherished wild horses and burros or donated to one of our life-saving programs like our Rescue Fund — we are so grateful for your continued support.
Today, I wanted to share with you some of the most impressive victories that amazing supporters like yourself helped us to accomplish this year:
As 2021 comes to a close, we hope you join in celebrating these victories with us.
We are so grateful for your advocacy, financial support, passion, and dedication to protecting the wild horses and burros we all love. Many battles lie before us in the new year as we work toward a better future for these magnificent animals, but with you on our side, we know we will prevail.
All of us at the American Wild Horse Campaign wish you and your loved ones (human and non-human) a very happy and restful holiday season.
— Suzanne
Suzanne Roy Executive Director American Wild Horse Campaign
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 — the foundational law passed unanimously by Congress to protect wild horses and burros from slaughter, harassment, or capture on the public lands they call home.
But the promise of this law that conveyed on our magnificent wild horses and burros the very same level of protection as the American bald eagle remains unfulfilled.
As I write this, over 3,100 newly-captured wild horses are standing in holding pens after being rounded up from lands across the Wyoming Checkerboard — as part of the largest roundup in U.S. history. When it’s over in February of next year, half of Wyoming’s wild horses will be gone from our public lands — forever.
That’s why, in the lead-up to the 50th anniversary of what should be a celebration of historic and lifesaving protections for our cherished wild horses and burros — we are still fighting for their future. This week, our team joined with our friends at the Animal Welfare Institute and other wild horse advocates at the U.S. Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C. to rally and present the signatures of 70,000 Americans who oppose the devastating Wyoming roundup.
Advocacy efforts like these are so critical in our fight to protect America’s wild horses and burros. When we come together and make our voices heard — our federal officials listen. With your help, we’re sending the message loud and clear that American taxpayers want their dollars to go toward humanely protecting our iconic wild mustangs and burros — not brutally rounding them up, separating them from their families, and robbing them of their freedom.
Your voices propelled our Government Relations team to success in securing House and Senate legislation redirecting $11 million in funding in the Fiscal Year 2022 Appropriations bill away from cruel roundups toward humane in-the-wild management of wild horses and burros.
Important advancements like these are only possible thanks to the support of donors like you.
The fight to protect these cherished icons never stops — so long as the helicopters continue to fly, our fight to end these cruel tactics will continue. We’re thankful that dedicated supporters like you are in this fight with us.
Thank you for your continued support,
Suzanne Roy Executive Director
American Wild Horse Campaign
To everyone who acted on behalf of wild horses and burros yesterday and sent messages to Director Stone-Manning and Secretary Haaland to enact further protections for these innocent animals: Thank you.
While our team was on the ground in Washington, D.C. rallying against the tragic roundup happening now in Wyoming that is expected to cut the state’s wild horse population by half, supporters like you made your voices heard loud and clear as we called for further protections for our beloved equines. Thank you, for being their voice.
But, on the eve of the 50th Anniversary of the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 — the foundational law protecting wild horses and burros on our public lands — we must keep the momentum going and demand further federal action to protect them.
We’ve seen — over the last year especially — that the protections currently in place for wild horses and burros are not enough. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) continues to brutally round up and remove these animals from the lands they call home, costing them their freedom and separating them from their families forever.
And as we discovered through our investigation into the BLM’s Adoption Incentive Program earlier this year: Many of these animals will be sent to kill pens where they will meet a grim fate — a byproduct of the disastrous Adoption Incentive Program that has funneled “truckloads” of wild horses and burros into the slaughter pipeline.
But with the new year comes new BLM leadership, new opportunities to implement humane management, and the same unwavering perseverance from our team here at AWHC in our fight to preserve the freedom of America’s wild horses and burros.
Did you know December 13th marks the National Day of the Horse?
This very special day was designated by Congress in 2004 as a day to commemorate the contribution horses have made to the economy, history, and character of the United States.
AND, in just two short days, it will be the 50th Anniversary of the signing of the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 — the original law that is supposed to protect wild horses and burros from slaughter, harassment, or capture on the public lands they call home.
On this year’s Day of the Horse and in the lead up to this historic anniversary, we’re taking action to protect and preserve the freedom of our beloved wild horses and burros:
This morning, our team joined with our friends at the Animal Welfare Institute and wild horse advocates at the U.S. Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C. to present the signatures of 70,000 Americans in opposition to the devastating roundup happening right now of nearly 4,000 wild horses from Wyoming’s Checkerboard region.
Tracy Stone-Manning, the first confirmed Bureau of Land Management (BLM) director in nearly six years, is now at the helm of the mismanaged agency. She has a formidable task ahead to reform the cruel and costly Wild Horse and Burro Management Program.
Now is the time to let Director Stone-Manning and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland know how many Americans are counting on their leadership to provide the protections our wild horses and burros so badly need. We must make our voices heard — loud and clear — now!
The winter holidays are such a wonderful time of the year. As we spend our time with loved ones and friends, gift-giving and celebrating what’s to come, we wanted to share with you some of the lesser-known, but most powerful gifts you could give to our cherished wild horses and burros this holiday season.
Legacy gifts, stock and bond donations, and Donor-Advised Funds (DAF) are some especially helpful ways to fuel our work to keep wild horses and burros wild.
Special gifts like these help our amazing team implement the best possible programs to protect wild horses and burros. So, as you are planning what gifts you will give this holiday season, consider making one to keep our cherished wild horses and burros in the wild where they belong.
Wishing you and your family a safe and happy holidays,
Suzanne Roy Executive Director
American Wild Horse Campaign
From each and every one of us at the American Wild Horse Campaign, I want to thank you for your dedication and support this Giving Tuesday.
When we asked if you would step up for wild horses and burros on our biggest fundraising day of the year, you responded with the generosity and passion that defines this incredible community.
Thanks to you, not only did we hit yesterday’s $75,000 goal — we far surpassed it! Your generosity helped us to exceed our highest Giving Tuesday goal ever and raise a record-breaking sum towards our fight to keep America’s horses and burros wild and free on the public lands they call home.
Photo by: Kimerlee Curyl
We know that this was no easy feat, and we are unbelievably grateful for your support. We hope you celebrate this amazing success with us and know just how important you are to our growing herd.
The hard work is unfortunately never done, but it’s made more powerful, heartfelt, and hopeful because of you and your commitment to our cause. Your generosity this Giving Tuesday will go far in 2022 as we:
Rescue more victims of the Adoption Incentive Program (AIP) like the Elkhart 8;
Fight in our ongoing lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for the termination of the AIP;
Continue to lobby and secure victories like the $11 million in BLM funding towards reversible immunocontraceptive fertility control;
And so much more in our fight to preserve the freedom of America’s wild horses and burros and make roundups a thing of the past.
There will be more battles ahead in 2022, but in the meantime, from all of us here at the American Wild Horse Campaign: Thank you again for your generosity and support this Giving Tuesday.
Suzanne Roy Executive Director
American Wild Horse Campaign
We worked with Congress to direct one-third of the funding earmarked for roundups to the implementation of humane fertility control instead.
