What the Election Means for Wild Horses & Burros
The following is an update from the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign.
L ike many people, you may be wondering what the results of this week’s election will mean for America’s wild horses and burros. There is no minimizing the dangers facing the 45,000 mustangs and burros stockpiled in government holding facilities and the estimated 67,000 who remain on the range.
Pressure is mounting for mass roundups and the killing or sale for slaughter of captured mustangs and burros. While we don’t yet know the Trump Administration’s position on this issue, clearly the stakes are very high. We’re prepared to work with the new Administration, bringing it up to speed on how the federal government has failed our wild horses and burros and the need for reform.
But, regardless of the election’s outcome at all levels of government, our strength will continue because it comes from our supporters and the American people.
Protecting wild horses and burros is a bipartisan issue. AWHPC has worked, and will continue to work, effectively with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. AWHPC supporters themselves span the political spectrum, but we are united in our love for America’s mustangs and burros and our commitment to saving them.
There will be a great deal of uncertainty in the next few months, as Trump is sworn in, cabinet nominations/political appointments are considered and a new Congress gets organized. We will monitor this process closely and develop a strategy that takes into account new threats and opportunities, and will be ready to meet them in the coming year.
In the interim, we’ll be working to ensure that any spending bills passed by this Congress maintain the prohibition on destroying healthy wild horses and burros or selling them for slaughter.
We the People remain the last line of defense between America’s mustangs and the forces that want to destroy them. In the coming year, it’s going to take all of us – united – to wage and win the fight for the future of these cherished national icons.
Please stay strong, stay together and stay ready.
In Freedom,
Suzanne Roy, Executive Director