Here at AWHC, we’re feeling the holiday spirit and that’s because of you.
Our incredible AWHC community is the greatest gift of all this season, and with it we have accomplished some of the most historic and unprecedented achievements in wild horse advocacy ever. Together, with our growing community of more than 700,000 wild horses defenders, we are showing that nothing is impossible when we speak as one.
We’ve talked a lot about our progress on the range, in Congress and in the courts, but today we want to share the stories of some of the precious lives we’ve helped to save by working together this year.
Our community is made up of everyday people coming together from all walks of life united to protect wild horses and burros. Time and again, you’ve shown up to help wild horses and burros. You’re always there when they need a helping hand.
We have a lot of work ahead of us — both to hit our fundraising targets before our EOY deadline this year, and to prepare for the challenges of the year ahead. However, we wanted to take a moment right now to celebrate our “herd” — YOU are the reason for the success of our work.
For the lives you’ve helped us save this year, thank you. There’s nothing we can’t achieve when we come together.
We have a truly game changing opportunity before us in these last few days of the year, but we’re going to need your help to make it happen:
The Opportunity: A generous donor has just pledged to match every single donation made up to $125,000 before the end of the year. This represents the largest matching gift in AWHC history — and we can put it toward sprinting right into next year’s important work, if we can meet this one condition before midnight on the 31st.
The Condition: Together, we need to raise $125,000 in grassroots donations to unlock this generous matching gift. Our wild horses are counting on us.
We have a chance to exceed 2019’s end-of-year fundraising total and gallop past our $75,000 Giving Tuesday goal, but in order for that to happen, we need everyone to pitch in and work together to take full advantage of this amazing generosity.
If you have saved your payment information with FastAction, your contribution will go through immediately on clicking a link.
Together, we’ve made tremendous progress this year. We made history with the first wild horse protection legislation introduced in Congress in more than a decade. We obtained the support of over five dozen members of Congress in the fight against brutal surgeries for wild mares. We have broken all records with our groundbreaking fertility control program for mustangs in Nevada, which is setting a worldwide standard. And perhaps most importantly, the momentum you created with HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of phone calls, emails, and letter-writing has grown our scrappy horse-loving grassroots movement into the powerhouse it is today.
We also have significant challenges to overcome in 2021: with 90,000 wild horses and burros in the crosshairs for removal within the next 5 years if we don’t keep up this work. We need to pull out all the stops, Meredith.
Today is our most critical fundraising day of the entire year. We’ll rely on funds raised today to fuel our programs, staff, field equipment, lobbying and legal work into next year when the stakes could not be higher.
What we raise today, determines the strength of our work tomorrow, Meredith. So — for the love of our wild horses and burros — I’m asking personally if you’ll make a gift of any amount right now to ensure your donation has more impact than ever before.
Your donation today will be put to work, immediately — we have no time to lose. 2021 is gearing up to be a pivotal year for our wild horses and burros and we cannot afford to take our foot off the gas for even one day.
When you make a donation to support AWHC, here’s where your money is going in 2021:
Education and Advocacy — Often, we’re the only observers onsite at federal wild horse and burro roundups. We’re showing the world what our government is doing to these national icons, and we’re building the grassroots army necessary to finally win the battle for their protection.
In The Wild Management — Our humane fertility control program for Nevada’s Virginia Range mustangs continues to break all records as the largest humane wild horse management program in the world. Our team in Nevada is showing that humane management works and is leading the charge to make roundups and slaughter a relic of the past.
Legislation — We’re developing increasing numbers of champions from both sides of the aisle in Congress to speak up for wild horses and burros. Thanks to our work, dozens of Senators and Congresspeople have spoken out against cruel surgical sterilization and in favor of humane management, and the House passed a historic amendment to require funding for fertility control as an alternative to cruel and costly roundups.
Litigation — AWHC and the coalitions of animal welfare groups we’ve formed have won over 90% of the cases we file. We’ve filed multiple lawsuits and successfully brought about a federal injunction to halt the surgical sterilization of mares in Oregon, and we’re prepared to take legal action again to protect wild mares in Utah from this same cruel plan.
We know these are challenging times and for many of us the holidays are not the same this year.
But now, more than ever, we’re reminded that we’re all in this together. We can’t think of a better, more passionate, or more generous community to be in this with; that’s why we’re SO excited to share this amazing news with you:
Right now — on the eve of Giving Tuesday — a generous donor has stepped up in a huge way and pledged to match ALL AWHC donations up to $50,000 made between now and midnight tomorrow.
We won’t sugarcoat it: wild horses and burros are facing unprecedented threats to their very existence on our western public lands. But at the same time, we are truly making unprecedented progress. In Congress, we’re gaining increasing support from both sides of the aisle speaking up for wild horse and burro protection. In the field, we’re proving without a shadow of a doubt that humane wild horse management works. And every single day, new supporters just like yourself are joining the cause and growing our voice.
Now we must carry this work into 2021!
Our wild horses and burros don’t have corporate lobbyists and PACs to advocate on their behalf. They have us: Together, we give them a voice and we give them a fighting chance.
We will never stop fighting. Your donation helps us lobby for legislation to prevent the slaughter of horses, and powers our legal team to make roundups a thing of the past. It gives our team the resources and tools it needs to document roundups and our volunteers the equipment necessary to dart horses with fertility control to prove there is an ethical, cost-effective way to manage wild horses that doesn’t include inhumane roundups and slaughter.
If you’re anything like us, you’re checking out great #CyberMonday deals and getting a jump-start on your holiday shopping.
Did you know that whether you’re shopping for holiday gifts or regular items on Amazon, you can help keep wild horses wild, Erica? By using our nonprofit link (here!), a portion of your purchases will go toward our work to ensure wild horses and burros Stay Wild.
And if you haven’t checked it out yet, you can find everything from calendars to coffee, clothing and prints to make the perfect gift for the animal lover in your life (or, just treat yourself!). Go wild with your gift-giving this year and a portion of the proceeds will go toward the fight to keep wild horses and burros wild!
Go wild with your gift-giving this holiday season!
This Black Friday, use your shopping dollars to protect wild horses and burros! When you purchase any of our special 2020 items below, a portion of the proceeds go directly toward the fight to keep wild horses wild!
It’s that time again: The holiday season is just around the corner which means we’re just ONE WEEK from #GivingTuesday, one of the single most important days for charitable giving in the United States, and for us at AWHC.
I won’t lie, our ability to hit our annual fundraising goal — and successfully execute the programs, lawsuits and lobbying our wild horses and burros rely on each year — depends on a successful, and impactful, #GivingTuesday this year.
But I’m not asking you for a donation today. I will next week and I REALLY hope you can chip in when it’s time. Today, I’m asking you to use your powerful voice. Will you speak up for wild horses in need before the holiday giving season is upon us, and we lose the attention of those in charge of managing our national icons?
Here Are Two Actions You Can Take in Under 5 Minutes, Right Now:
1. Co-Sign This Bi-Partisan Anti-Surgical Sterilization Letter to the BLM:
A veterinarian manually reaching into a mare’s abdominal cavity via the vaginal canal, blindly locating the ovaries, severing them with a rod and chain device, and pulling them out is NOT the answer.
Even the National Academy of Sciences advised that this BLM-favored procedure is “inadvisable for field application” due to the possibility of bleeding and infection. That’s why we’ve filed multiple lawsuits — and secured a federal injunction — to STOP the BLM from galloping ahead with this inhumane surgery on wild mares.
After celebrating the historic passage of an amendment in the House of Representatives that would require the BLM to spend $11 million implementing humane PZP fertility control programs, we hoped the Senate would follow suit. Instead, its draft funding bill not only does not earmark funds for humane fertility control, it actually increases funding by $14.2 million for the roundup and warehousing of wild horses and burros in mass feedlot-like holding facilities.
We know there’s a better way, but we have to speak up and demand it from our leaders in Congress. Already this week hundreds of us have been making calls, sending emails, and forwarding these actions to our friends and family. Let’s keep up the pressure:
2. Call the Capitol Hill Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask to be connected to your two Senators and one Representative. You will likely be asked to leave a message. Simply say,
“I’m [Name] from [City/Town] and as Congress works on a final FY21 spending bill, I’m calling to ask that you please do all you can to ensure that $11 million in funding to implement PZP fertility control is retained in the final spending package. PZP is a humane way for BLM to manage wild horses and an alternative to cruel roundups. Thank you.”
We have big fights ahead that will not come easy, or cheap.
Next week we will be announcing an exciting, ambitious #GivingTuesday goal to match the ambition of our fights ahead in 2021. I very much look forward to telling you about it, and am grateful for your voice today and every day
BREAKING: Wild Horse champions in Congress are speaking up and we urgently need you to join them!
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is pushing full steam ahead — for the fifth time — with a cruel, dangerous and invasive plan to surgically sterilize wild horses. They propose using a risky and outdated procedure the National Academy of Sciences called “inadvisable for field application” and veterinarians call “barbaric.”But here’s the good news: 58 wild horse champions in Congress are fighting back and so can you.
This week, these 58 Congress members, led by Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Representative Dina Titus (D-NV), submitted a bipartisan letter to Interior Secretary David Bernhardt opposing this terrible plan.
The surgical sterilization procedure at issue is known as “ovariectomy via colpotomy.” It involves a veterinarian manually reaching into a mare’s abdominal cavity via the vaginal canal, then blindly locating the ovaries, severing them with a rod and chain device known as an ecraseur, and pulling them out. When infrequently performed In domestic mares, the procedure requires extensive pain relief and aftercare that simply cannot be provided to wild, untamed horses.
Because it is so risky, the National Academy of Sciences advised that the procedure is “inadvisable for field application” due to the possibility of bleeding and infection. But the BLM intends to gallop ahead with the inhumane surgery anyway.
With our coalition partners, we’ve filed multiple lawsuits and secured a federal injunction that previously stopped the BLM from surgically sterilizing wild mares in Oregon, and we’re ready to stop this cruelty again.
This support from Congress comes on the heels of the historic House amendment to direct $11 million of the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program budget to implement humane PZP fertility control as an alternative to traumatic roundups and surgical sterilization. We are building momentum toward real change!
Thank YOU for helping to keep that momentum going!
You’ll remember the joy we felt just months ago when — after months of lobbying, thousands of calls and emails and ads — the U.S. House of Representatives passed a game-changing amendment requiring the BLM to spend $11 million to implement humane PZP fertility control programs as a step toward ending cruel and costly wild horse roundups.
We had high hopes that the Senate would follow suit, but it’s currently headed in the wrong direction and we need to urge an immediate course correction. The draft funding bill released by the Senate Appropriations Committee not only does not earmark funds for humane fertility control, it actually increases funding by $14.2 million for the roundup and warehousing of wild horses and burros in massive feedlot-like holding facilities.
We still have time to get things back on track: The Senate can still fund fertility control in its final bill and House leadership can negotiate in committee to keep its bipartisan wild horse protection amendment in the final bill. None of this will happen unless you reach out to your Senators and Congressperson today!
Urgent: Contact Congress TODAY
Please Contact Your Two Senators and One Representative Today:
Call the Capitol Hill Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask to be connected to your two Senators and one Representative. You will likely be asked to leave a message. Simply say,
“I’m [Name] from [City/Town] and as Congress works on a final FY21 spending bill, I’m calling to ask that you please do all you can to ensure that $11 million in funding to implement PZP fertility control is retained in the final spending package. PZP is a humane way for BLM to manage wild horses and an alternative to cruel roundups. Thank you.”
We know that there’s a better, more scientific, and more humane way to manage wild horse populations. We’ve proven it time and time again. Now we need to reach out to our federal legislators TODAY and urge them to do everything they can to ensure the humane management of our wild horses.
This bipartisan measure would represent a powerful step toward ending the current costly and cruel practice of rounding these animals up with helicopters and incarcerating them in holding pens for life. Will you speak up today?
We are on the cusp of a giant breakthrough in the fight to protect our nation’s wild horses and burros. Now let’s keep the momentum going.
Thank you for taking action!
Suzanne Roy
Executive Director
American Wild Horse Campaign
The ongoing political horse race has the entire country on edge, but regardless of the outcome of this election, you can count on our commitment to protecting the horses that matter:
Our majestic wild horses and burros will always embody the true, enduring spirit of America. They remind us every day of all that’s wild, free and beautiful about our country… and that’s worth holding on to.
No matter the administration or final composition of legislatures, we’ve got our work cut out for us: The past year has seen a terrifying onslaught of BLM- and Big Ag- backed measures that place our wild horses in peril. From the unprecedented roundup numbers and the continued plan to use barbaric surgical sterilization procedures on wild mares, to selling horses off for $1 in California — our wild horses need our help.
Our wild horses and burros can count on us to show up and fight for their protection and freedom regardless of who is in the White House, the Senate or any other position of leadership. We will continue to work with whomever it takes to make that a reality.
And we can’t do that without you.
The next days, weeks and months are sure to be chaotic and politically charged, but regardless of what happens, we must keep our eyes on the horizon and keep our work in the courts, on Capitol Hill and in the field focused on our mission: Doing everything in our collective power to keep our wild horses and burros safe, wild and free.
Right now — as we make plans and gear up for a new year, what may be a new Administration, and new opportunities to work to protect our wild horses and burros, we rely heavily on our ability to budget and forecast into the future. Recurring monthly gifts — from as little as $5 a month — are one of the most helpful and important ways we keep our programs sustainable and strong. Will you become a monthly donor today?
Thank you and stay strong during this unsettling time.
You’ve seen and heard a lot about this year’s brutal wild horse and burro roundups from us — but have you ever wondered what it would be like to observe one for yourself?
I used to, and that’s why I headed out to Utah to the Sulphur HMA. I wanted to observe for myself, but more importantly, I wanted to share the experience with you to give the full picture of exactly what we’re fighting to end — and why.
Watching this video isn’t easy. But it’s important to understand what’s at stake — and why we’re calling for a moratorium on roundups and an investigation into the BLM’s rampant animal welfare violations and failure to implement fertility control as a humane alternative to brutal roundups. I’m personally asking that, after you watch the video, you consider chipping in $15 to our Roundup Fund so we can put an end to these brutal practices as quickly as possible.
Please note: this video contains upsetting images of violence against wild horses.
AWHC’s roundup program — observing, documenting, reporting and holding BLM accountable — is a top priority for us. Often, we’re the ONLY ones in the field speaking up for those who cannot.
The freedoms, lives, health and well-being of the iconic wild horse and burro herds we love so dearly depend on our continued vigilance and effort, and we won’t let them down. Are you with me? Watch our video first to see what a day at a roundup entails, and then please chip in to help us keep up this important work.
The Red Desert Complex roundup is set to break all the wrong records.
The majestic wild horses and burros who call 705,500 acres of public land in the Red Desert Area of southern Wyoming home are firmly in the BLM’s crosshairs, now running in fear instead of free.
Five herds — and more than 2,400 wild horses – are, as of this week, being brutally chased down, separated, terrorized and rounded up in the largest wild horse helicopter roundup in the program’s history.
We must speak up, show up, and take action, Meredith. Will you sign and then share our emergency petition — now at 13,000 individual voices — demanding an immediate moratorium on roundups and a Congressional investigation into the BLM’s rampant animal welfare violations and failure to heed Congress’ directives to implement fertility control as a humane alternative to brutal roundups?
Photos by Lynn Hanson for AWHC
We’re doing EVERYTHING in our power to intervene when and where we can to protect our wild horses. In the field, in the courts, on Capitol Hill and online with emails like this and the launch of nationwide petitions and ads shared and seen by tens of thousands of people.
We’re also demanding that Secretary of Interior David Bernhardt retract the wild horse policy decisions made during the unlawful tenure of William Perry Pendley as head of the BLM. These include a shocking plan to round up 90,000 wild horses and burros over the next five years — virtually every one of these animals living free today — and efforts to codify the agency’s ability to subject wild horses to dangerous and invasive sterilization surgeries and sell them without limitation on slaughter.
Progress cannot come soon enough for our imperiled wild horses and burros but it IS being made, every day, by people like you. By all of us.
The BLM’s plan to roundup approximately 2,400 wild horses from the Antelope Hills, Crooks Mountain, Green Mountain, Lost Creek, and Stewart Creek Herd Management Areas (HMAs) is a stark reminder of who this public agency is working for. It’s not the American people, who overwhelmingly support wild horse protection. It’s the livestock industry: At the same time as BLM helicopters bear down on the wild horses in these five iconic Wyoming herds that have called the Red Desert Complex home for CENTURIES, the agency is permitting 20,995 privately-owned sheep and 9,753 cows to graze in this same public lands habitat.
The BLM plans to reduce the wild horse population to the “Appropriate” Management Level (AML) of just 480-724 within the complex, leaving just 1 horse per every 1,500+ acres. Three of the HMAs will have just 65 or fewer horses remaining when the roundup is over.
On the heels of the most aggressive roundup season we’ve ever seen, we can’t let this continue.
We recently learned some truly shocking news, and we’re emailing you now so together we can take swift, collective action to protect Utah’s wild mares before it’s too late.
Against public and congressional opinion, common sense, science, and multiple lawsuits and federal injunctions, the BLM is planning to move ahead with implementing the barbaric surgical procedure, ovariectomy via colpotomy, on wild mares, this time targeting the federally-protected wild horse herds of Utah’s Confusion Herd Management Area (HMA), 90 miles northwest of Delta.
This marks the FOURTH time the agency has tried to get this cruel procedure off the ground, at the urging of the livestock industry. We’ve been fighting this tooth and nail from day one – with legal efforts, congressional pressure and modeling safer, more scientific alternatives for sterilization. We cannot give up now.
It’s unacceptable for the BLM to once again attempt to proceed with this gruesome sterilization procedure that involves a veterinarian cutting into a mare’s vaginal wall, placing a hand and arm through the vagina in the abdominal cavity, manually (and blindly) locating the ovaries before severing and removing them with a rod-like chain tool called an ecraseur. It’s not only cruel and inhumane, it’s also an unnecessary waste of our taxpayer dollars, particularly when a more cost-effective and humane control alternative exists with the PZP birth control vaccine. In fact it’s ready RIGHT NOW to deploy on the range.
We already have champions in Congress speaking up against this abuse. Last summer, Senator Cory Booker spearheaded a sign-on letter to Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, expressing concerns over the proposed surgical sterilization experiments planned by the agency. Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) quickly followed suit in the House and sent a bipartisan letter to the Secretary signed by 30 members.
AWHC — backed by tens of thousands of supporters like you — worked with Congress and partners this year to win a historic legislative victory in the House of Representative with the passage of an amendment that would direct at least $11 million of its annual operating budget for its Wild Horse and Burro Program to implementation of the humane and proven PZP vaccine. We have momentum on our side and we know we can stop this — we’ve done it before — but it’s going to take all of us speaking up right now.
Will you join us?
Grace Kuhn
Communications Director
American Wild Horses Campaign
DON’T MISS THIS LAST CHANCE TO STAY WILD TONIGHT!!
It’s here! Our Annual Stay Wild Benefit is TONIGHT and we would absolutely love for you — and your friends, and family — to join us before it’s too late.
We, along with our very special guests, like Lukas Nelson and LP have been hard at work putting together a VERY special night to remember and you won’t want to miss it.
Your ticket to Stay Wild will bring you across the West to see our programs in action and meet real wild horses living free, while entertaining you along the way with fantastic musical performances, celebrity appearances and insights from wild horse advocates in America — we’re SO excited to kick off October on such a high note!
Can you join us tonight?
WHEN: Oct 1, 2020, Pre-Show with DJ Amara: 4:45 PM, PDT, Main Event: 5:00 – 6:00 PM PDT
WHERE:Online — you can even join us in your PJs!
WHY: To raise funds for AWHC and our ongoing work to Keep Wild Horses Wild
We hope to celebrate with you tonight.
— Team AWHC
PS — Can’t make it? That’s OK, you can still support wild horses tonight — and gain something wonderful for yourself! — by checking out our truly amazing silent auction. Don’t just take it from us… see for yourself by watching this message from our special guest this evening:
A Heart-Wrenching Scene at the Diamond Complex HMA
Earlier this week, our team set out to observe yet another devastating roundup, this one at the Diamond Complex in Nevada, where the BLM plans to roundup 1,225 innocent wild horses, permanently removing 1,165 of them from their home on the range. In just one day, we watched as 126 horses lost their freedom, and three lost their lives.
The scenes were both heart-wrenching, and unacceptable. At AWHC, we pride ourselves for our ability to document these roundups in order to keep the BLM accountable, but as lovers of wild horses, watching scenes like the one captured in the video below never gets easier. Nonetheless, we know how important BEING THERE, and bear witness to this heart-wrenching mistreatment of our wild horses and burros. We will never stop showing up, and doing everything in our power to keep them wild and free.
If you have a minute, please take the time to watch this video, chip in any amount you are able to afford today to our Roundup Fund, and share this with your friends. We can’t keep letting the BLM get away with this violence and need to make ourselves seen and heard.
Please note: this link contains upsetting images of violence against wild horses.
Tell the Forest Service to STOP Roundups Amid Red Flag Fire Warnings
What they’re doing right now is completely unconscionable.
Last week, we contacted you about the ongoing reckless management practices being carried out against the Devil’s Garden wild horse population in California’s Modoc National Forest. As if selling and shipping horses to whoever will buy them for just $1 — — with no oversight, or safeguards in place –isn’t bad enough, it gets worse…
Right now, in the middle of record-breaking heat and wildfires, in unhealthy air quality conditions and while under a red flag fire warning,Modoc National Forest officials are STILL using helicopters to run down and round up desperate wild horses, as they are forced to run for miles struggle to breathe in the smoky conditions.
This latest — and most egregious practice — joins a LONG and growing list of completely reckless management practices carried out by Modoc National Forest leadership that more than 10,000 of us have spoken up against sending letters, making calls and sharing on social media — including:
Selling horses for $1 apiece, with no agency-wide system to vet potential buyers and lax policies such as allowing one individual to purchase up to 24 horses a day;
Providing free – or heavily subsidized – transportation to private individuals who purchase large numbers of horses using in part, federal funding;
Allowing Modoc staff to make their own determinations on to whom to sell horses and which buyers are eligible for free transportation based on a “case by case basis.”
We can’t sit back and let this gross disregard for the welfare of our wild horses go uncontested, or continue under the radar.
Will you speak out NOW by signing this petition to demand that the Forest Service cancel the roundup due to these unsafe wildfire conditions and work instead to manage the Devil’s Garden wild horses humanely in the wild?
In case you missed our announcement last week, we wanted to take this opportunity to express our excitement for our annual Stay Wild Event on Oct. 1! We decided to bring the wildness right to your screen with a creative twist to a virtual event that you won’t want to miss.
This year, we’ll bring talented performers, influencers, and top wild horse advocates in America into your homes for an exceptional evening of charity and entertainment. We really hope that you’ll be able to join us.
WHEN: Oct 1, 2020, Pre-Show: 4:45 PM, PDT, Main Event: 5:00 – 6:00 PM PDT
WHERE: Virtual
WHY: To raise funds for AWHC and our ongoing work to Keep Wild Horses Wild
We hope you stay safe and well this weekend and as always, thank you for your support in helping our wild horses stay free and wild!
When we began to realize that COVID-19 wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon, aside from the sadness for those who are suffering first hand from the pandemic, I began to worry for the horses who rely so heavily on all of us responsible for speaking up for them.
Every year, AWHC hosts our Stay Wild event, which not only gives us a rare occasion to celebrate all things wild horses, but also allows us to financially prepare for the next year’s fight for freedom. It’s also an event that our entire team looks forward to.
The idea of not being able to host this year’s event in person was so disappointing. And so we asked ourselves, how can we make this work? We decided to bring the wildness right to your screen with a creative twist to a virtual event that you won’t want to miss.
This year, we’ll bring talented performers, influencers and top wild horse advocates in America into your homes for an exceptional evening of charity and entertainment. I really hope that you’ll be able to join us.
WHEN: Oct 1, 2020, Pre-Show: 4:45 PM, PDT, Main Event: 5:00 – 6:00 PM PDT
WHERE: Virtual
WHY: To raise funds for AWHC and our work to Keep Wild Horses Wild
You will be taken on a journey through the West, given an inside look at our programs and introduced to our very special guests!
This is our largest — and only — big ticket event of the entire year. We rely on the proceeds of this event to fund the critical programs, equipment, veterinary and fertility control supplies and technology that we use all year round in the field to protect, treat, and manage the wild horse and burro populations we love so dearly. We really hope you (and your friends!) can make it, but if you cannot please consider donating any amount you’re able to afford, to our roundup fund here, or check out our silent auction when it opens on September 21!
100% of the proceeds from each item purchased goes directly to the American Wild Horse Campaign.
I hope you can join us for this one-of-a-kind event. I know I’m looking forward to it especially right now when we are so much in need of a good celebration!
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.
We’re thrilled to announce that the American Wild Horse Campaign is hosting its 3rd annual Stay Wild benefit, an action packed hour to celebrate — and most importantly, benefit — our wild horses and the real wild West!
We will bring the wild to you (virtually, of course) with breathtaking footage of wild horses and burros, a knock-your-boots-off silent auction, big name musical guests, a signature cocktail (if you care to imbibe), and special appearances from celebrities, AWHC staff and board members, and influencers from around the country.
WHEN: Oct 1, 2020, Pre-Show: 4:45 PM, PDT, Main Event: 5:00 – 6:00 PM PDT
WHERE: Virtual
WHY: To raise funds for AWHC and our work to Keep Wild Horses Wild
We’ll take you on a journey across the West to watch our programs in action and introduce you to our special guests!
You won’t want to miss this event. It’s our largest — and only — big ticket event of the entire year. We rely on the proceeds of this event to fund the critical programs, equipment, supplies and technology that we use all year round in the field to protect, treat, and manage the wild horse and burro populations we love so dearly.
Even if you can’t make the event, our one-of-a-kind silent auction is open to everyone and is packed with unforgettable experiences, art, jewelry, food and beverages! The auction opens for bidding on September 21, 2020, but you can preview the items and get your wish list going now!
100% of the proceeds from each item purchased goes directly to the American Wild Horse Campaign.
We hope you can join us in celebrating our wild horses, and we encourage you to invite your friends, family and colleagues to take part also by forwarding this email!
For our wild horses,
Suzanne, Grace and the whole AWHC family
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.
The BLM’s summer assault on our wild horses and burros is still mounting — already more than 3,200 wild horses and burros have been run down and rounded up, 19 have been tragically killed. At the same time, historic legislation is waiting to be championed in the Senate, which means we have no time to waste.
Advocating for the protection of wild horses and public lands on Capitol Hill can be a long and challenging process. That’s why when we make progress, it’s important to give credit where credit is due and keep up the momentum by asking more lawmakers to join the fight.
Here’s how you can help continue this critical momentum towards protecting wild horses and burros: We’ve created a new series of digital ads both thanking our wild horse champions in the House and Senate, and encouraging those Senators who still need to step up and do the right thing. We’re calling on key legislators to protect wild horses from cruel and inhumane helicopter assaults and dangerous surgical sterilization methods, before it’s too late.
We’ve already passed the wild horse amendment in the House of Representatives, now we need the Senate to pick up the ball and do its part to save thousands of wild horses and burros. It’s up to all of us to remind our Senators that we are here to speak up for our wild horses who have no voice, and we’re not going anywhere until they’re protected, wild and free. Will you join the chorus of calls for protection?
Thank you for stepping up today to protect our wild horses and burros.
