The work we do together to change wild horse policy

The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:

My name is Holly, and I’m AWHC’s Director of Government Relations. My team and I work day in and day out to enact lasting protections for wild horses and burros at the congressional level. Because the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Forest Service (USFS) are federal agencies, Congress is the only governing body that is able to provide oversight, force accountability, and reform these agencies, making our work in Washington, D.C. essential. And your work advocating for a better way by contacting your federal legislators is a key part of our efforts.

So earlier this week, our team asked for your help harnessing support for three critical bills that could save the lives of our cherished wild herds. First, I wanted to say thank you — when supporters like you send messages to your elected officials, they listen. And when our team goes to Capitol Hill or state legislatures across the West to educate lawmakers on the issues wild horses and burros are facing, your calls for action help make our effort successful.

Once we get to sit down with these officials, we show them that there is a better way to manage these federally protected icons, including a focus on implementing humane fertility control vaccines to stabilize populations. And after many long hours fighting in Washington, D.C. and across the West, we’ve achieved some pretty remarkable legislative victories for our wild herds!

For the last two years, we’ve secured $11 million in BLM funding during the annual appropriations process to explore humane fertility control vaccines as an alternative to helicopter roundups. Recently, we worked on a historic bill in Colorado to support fertility control programs for the state’s herds.  We’ve also advocated for passage of legislation to protect California’s wild horses from slaughter. Not only that, but we’ve garnered congressional support to reform the BLM’s Adoption Incentive Program, we’ve worked with federal legislators to address practices at the U.S. Forest Service that endanger animal welfare, and we’re supporting bills such as the SAFE Act to ban horse slaughter and the Wild Horse Protection Act of 2023 to eliminate the use of helicopters.

Our Government Relations team is working around the clock to do this critical work. Will you donate whatever you can afford right now to help fuel our legislative efforts to protect America’s wild mustangs and burros?

Thank you for being in this fight with us,

Holly Gann Bice
Director of Government Relations
American Wild Horse Campaign