The Mustang Project

Senate Appropriations Bill Approved - Does Not Include Sterilization or Destruction for Wild Horses And Burros

6/17/2018

The FY 2019 Interior, Environmental Appropriations Bill was approved by the Senate Committee on Appropriations. Unlike the Appropriations Bill passed by the House, this bill did not contain language that called for sterile wild horse and burro herds on public lands, or mass destruction of wild horses. The bill was approved 31-0.

THANK the following Senators on the Appropriations Committee for not introducing any amendments endangering our wild horses and burros on public lands.

They can be found here.

This is good news, but the next step is for the full House and the full Senate to pass the Appropriations Bills presented to them by their committees. It is likely the bill presented to the House will pass the way it is with language encouraging sterilization of wild horses and burros. It's also possible that someone in the Senate may introduce an amendment proposing the same idea, or even introduce language to destroy "excess" horses, as was proposed last year.

It's very important to contact your Congressmen/women and Senators telling them you do not support ANY language in the Budget that would allow for destruction of healthy horses or for the creation of non-reproducing herds of horses and burros in the wild.

You can find your representatives here. It seems like a never ending cycle of contacting our government officials, but it's important to know that it does make a difference. We are the only thing standing between the wild horses and total destruction. Every voice counts, so make sure you are counted!

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Will Wild Horses be Managed to Extinction?

6/10/2018

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Sheldon Mare and Foal

Last year Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah) proposed an amendment to the 2018 budget that would have allowed for the destruction of healthy, unadopted, wild horses and burros. This would have led to the massive killing of horses and burros on the range and in long and short term holding. This language went all the way through the budget process where it was finally removed by the Senate, where the original language was restored, and funding was not made available for the destruction of our wild horses and burros.

The 2019 proposed budget has the following language, which is the same language that was passed last year:
“Appropriations herein made shall not be available for the destruction of healthy, unadopted, wild horses and burros in the care of the Bureau or its contractors or for the sale of wild horses and burros that results in their destruction for processing into commercial products.”

Due to outrage by the public - that would be your calls, your emails, and your faxes - Rep. Stewart seems to realize that outright, massive slaughter of our wild ones is not acceptable to the majority of Americans. So he’s taking a different approach this year. This year he proposed an amendment that adds language to the bill that states:

“. . . the Secretary of the Interior may hereafter manage any group of wild horses or burros as a non-reproducing or single-sex herd, in whole or in part, including through chemical or surgical sterilization.”

On Wednesday, June 6, 2018, the House Appropriations Committee approved the fiscal year 2019 Interior and Environmental Appropriations Bill on a voice vote of 25-20.

Although PZP may be utilized, it’s more likely they will resort to more permanent forms of sterilization such as gelding stallions. It also means they could perform widespread field spays on mares. This procedure is rare in domestic horses due to the high possibility of internal bleeding, and surgical complications. Mares are hospitalized for about a week post-surgery. Unlike cats and dogs that are spayed in a sterile environment, spaying a horse in the field adds the increased risk of infection on top of surgical complications, making this a risky procedure at best.

What this means is that BLM could “manage” wild horse and burro herds so that they become EXTINCT in a matter of 20 or so years. With no new foals being born, once existing horses die off, the herds will cease to exist. That is if they haven’t zeroed out all of the herds before then. BLM has just announced plans to zero out the Seaman & White River Herd Area in Nevada over the next 10 years.

This was not the intent of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971:
“Congress finds and declares that wild free-roaming horses and burros are living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West; that they contribute to the diversity of life forms within the Nation and enrich the lives of the American people; and that these horses and burros are fast disappearing from the American scene. It is the policy of Congress that wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death; and to accomplish this they are to be considered in the area where presently found, as an integral part of the natural system of the public lands.”

Since this proposed bill language is more palatable to lawmakers, and even many of the public than mass killing, and would appear to be a “solution” to the “overpopulation” of wild horses and burros, it has a very high probability of passing. Make no mistake, this is part of a concerted effort to eradicate wild horses and burros from public lands. This assault on our wild horses and burros as well as other native wildlife will never end unless cattle and sheep grazing is discontinued on our public lands.

What you can do:
Please contact the Senators on the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee and tell them to:

Oppose any amendments that would allow BLM to manage wild horses and burros as same sex herds or sterilized herds. Spaying mares is dangerous, especially for wild mares.
Oppose any language that removes protections from horses that are transferred to other government agencies.
Place a moratorium on wild horse and burro roundups. Cattle and sheep outnumber horses and burros on public lands up to 50:1, yet horses and burros are blamed for range degradation. Our tax dollars are subsidizing grazing permits and used to eradicate wildlife to protect cattle and sheep on public lands. Tax dollars are used to remove horses from the wild then pay ranchers to care for horses on private land.

The following Senators are Committee Members:

CHAIR Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) 202-224-6665
RANKING MEMBER Sen. Tom Udall (New Mexico) 202-224-6621
DEMOCRAT MEMBERS:
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (California) 202-224-3841
Sen. Patrick Leahy (Vermont) 202-224-4242
Sen. Jack Reed (Rhode Island) 202-224-4642
Sen. Jon Tester (Montana) 202-224-2644
Sen. Jeff Merkley (Oregon) 202-224-3753
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (Maryland) 202-224-4654
REPUBLICAN MEMBERS
Sen. Lamar Alexander (Tennessee) 202-224-4944
Sen. Roy Blunt (Missouri) 202-224-5721
Sen. Mitch McConnell (Kentucky) 202-224-2541
Sen. Steve Daines (Montana) 202-224-2651
Sen. Shelley Moore Caputo (West Virginia) 202-224-6472
Sen. Marco Rubio (Florida) 202-224-3041
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (Mississippi) 202-224-5054

Please call these Senators, especially if you reside in their state.
Or if you prefer to write a letter and fax it, click on the button below (no fax machine necessary):

Fax Senators

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America's Horses in Peril

9/10/2017

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Photo by Marilyn Gregory

The lives of America's horses are in the balance, their fate in the hands of the US Senate.

Amendments introduced by House Representatives to prevent horse slaughter from returning to the US and prevent the slaughter of tens of thousands of wild horses in government holding facilities and out on the range were blocked by the House Committee on Rules, and therefore did not go to the full House for a vote.

Special interest groups are pushing hard to bring back slaughter to the US and remove all of the wild horses from public lands, even though 80% of Americans oppose slaughter and support managing wild horses in the wild!

Please contact your Senators IMMEDIATELY, and let them know you:
DO NOT want horse slaughter inspection to be funded in the US;
DO NOT want protections removed from wild horses transferred to other government agencies;
DO NOT want healthy, adoptable wild horses to be destroyed by any method.
Remember, this is YOUR tax dollars, and you need to make your voice heard on how your taxes are used.

Use the link below to find your Senators' fax numbers. Faxes are just as effective as a phone call. Don't have a fax machine? No worries. Create a letter in Word or convert to a PDF file, attach the file, and send! There's no charge. For a Sample Letter to your Senator, click on the links below.

Once the horses are gone from the wild, they will be lost forever. Horse slaughter is a predatory business, and does not provide a humane death.

Fax Senators

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Last Chance for America's Horses - Speak Up NOW

8/27/2017

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Reps. Dina Titus (NV), Peter King (NY), and Jared Polis (CO) have introduced an amendment to the Interior Appropriations bill that counteracts the amendment introduced by Chris Stewart (UT) allowing the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to destroy healthy unadopted wild horses and burros. The Stewart amendment passed the House Appropriations Committee by voice vote. As it stands now, the Titus-King-Polis amendment MUST pass the full House in order to restore protections for our wild horses and burros, and prevent funds being used for their destruction. If the amendment does NOT pass, all wild horses and burros in short and long term holding, as well as out on the range, are in danger of being destroyed (SHOT!) by our government.

Reps.Vern Buchanan (FL), Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA), Ed Royce, CA), and Earl Blumenauer, (OR) introduced an amendment to the Agriculture Appropriations bill that would prevent the USDA from funding horse slaughterhouse inspectors. Similar language did not pass the House Appropriations Committee, but the Udall-Graham Amendment passed the Senate. Because there is no federal ban on horse slaughter, each year language to prevent funding for horsemeat inspections is needed to prevent horse slaughterhouses from opening on US soil. The passage of the SAFE Act would ban horse slaughter in the US.

Lastly, there is still language in the Interior Appropriations bill that allows BLM to transfer wild horses and burros to other government agencies without protections afforded under the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act:

What you can do: Please act NOW!! Call 202-224-3121 to be connected to your representatives.

Contact your Congressman/woman and tell them to support:
The Titus-King-Polis Amendment to restore the prohibition on destroying our wild horses and burros.
The Buchanan-Roybal-Allard-Royce-Blumenauer Amendment to prevent the funding of horse meat inspections.

Contact your Senators and tell them to oppose any language allowing wild horses and burros to be transferred to other government agencies without their protection under the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act.

Tell both your Senators and Congressperson to support the SAFE Act.

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Call Your Senators and Speak Out for Our Wild Horses

7/30/2017

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This is our last chance to speak out to protect our wild horses!! The Senate Appropriations Committee will be marking up their version of the Interior bill. Right now, an amendment in the House version of the bill allows for HEALTHY wild horses and burros to be killed by BLM or their contractors. The Interior bill also contains language that allows the transfer of wild horses and burros to other government agencies, and when they are transferred they lose their status as wild horses and burros, opening up the door to being sold for slaughter. The Senate Committee could be meeting as early as this week, so it's important to contact them ASAP. Contact information is below. Without our input, our horses WILL be destroyed by the government and they WILL be transferred to agencies that will send them to slaughter.

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Some Good News

7/22/2017

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Noah, one of the Sheldon Horses at The Mustang Project

FINALLY, some good news!! The Senate Appropriations Committee passed the Udall-Graham (Coons-Feinstein-Reed-Collins-Shaheen) Amendment which would prevent the USDA from funding horse slaughterhouse inspections. Similar language did not pass by a vote of 25-27 in the House Appropriations Committee. What this means is the Senate and the House now have to work together to reconcile the two bills (one from the House and one from the Senate). So now is the time to contact both your Congressman/woman and your Senators and let them know you support language in the Agricultural Bill that does not fund horsemeat inspection, which would pave the way to open horse slaughterhouses in the US. Since Congress takes a recess in August, please contact your representatives at their home offices.
There's still work to do, and we can't let up just yet, but this shows that we need to keep reaching out to our legislators to let them know we don't support horse slaughter in the US.

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Amendment Would Allow Healthy, Unadopted Wild Horses to be Destroyed

7/19/2017

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CALL!!! FAX!!!! TWEET!!!! EMAIL!!!! DO IT NOW!!!!!!
An amendment introduced by Rep. Chris Stewart (UT-02) passed in the House Interior Appropriations bill removing the language that prevents funds to be used "for the destruction of healthy, unadopted, wild horses and burros in the care of the Bureau of it's contractors." The fact that the amendment added that funds could not be used "for the sale of wild horses and burros that results in their destruction for processing into commercial products INCLUDING FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION." is of little consolation for all of the horses and burros in holding and out on the range that will now be subject to destruction by the government. What this means is the government can shoot all of the horses as they round them up for any reason.
There ARE alternatives, but this HAS to be defeated before real solutions can be explored. BLM has mismanaged the Wild Hores and Burro program, creating a "crisis" situation, and their goal is total eradication of our mustangs and burros in the wild.
It's time to call your Senators as they will be voting on this issue next week. Please call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and an operator will connect you directly with your senators.
Let them know you do NOT support the destruction of America's wild horses and burros in government holding or on the range (public lands), or the removal of their wild horse and burro status when transferred to other agencies.
Also ask them to support the Udall-Graham amendment preventing the funding of USDA horsemeat inspections.
Time is of the essence, and if we don't speak out now, America's horses, both wild and domestic, are in peril of going to slaughter right here on US soil. We can't let this happen!!

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Action Alert - Interior Appropriations Bill to go Before Full Appropriations Committee Tuesday, July 18th. Urge Your Congressman to Keep Our Wild Horses Safe!

7/15/2017

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Ziggy, one of our Sheldon horses in sanctuary.

UPDATE from the July 12th House Appropriations Interior Committee Meeting: The language that would have allowed BLM to destroy any and all wild horses and burros in holding and on the range was NOT included in the House Appropriations Bill. However, there is still language in the bill that allows the transfer of wild horses and burros to any government agency upon request, and upon transfer they lose their status (protections) under the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act (see text below).

“SEC. 114. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary of the Interior may transfer excess wild horses or burros that have been removed from the public lands to other Federal, State, and local government agencies for use as work animals: Provided, That the Secretary may make any such transfer immediately upon request of such Federal, State, or local government agency: Provided further, That any excess animal transferred under this provision shall lose its status as a wild free-roaming horse or burro as defined in the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act: Provided further, That any Federal, State, or local government agency receiving excess wild horses or burros as authorized in this section shall not: destroy the horses or burros in a way that results in their destruction into commercial products; sell or otherwise transfer the horses or burros in a way that results in their destruction for processing into commercial products; or euthanize the horses or burros except upon the recommendation of a licensed veterinarian, in cases of severe injury, illness, or advanced age.”

Unfortunately we know that this is a way for agencies that are anti-wild horse and burro to back-door them to slaughter. Because the reality is, if they lose their status as a wild free-roaming horse or burro, there are no protections, however minimal, for them. And we also know that there is no accountability for what happens once the horses and burros leave BLM.

This bill will go before the full House Appropriations Committee TUESDAY, JULY 18th. It’s quite possible that an amendment to this bill will be presented to reintroduce the language allowing BLM to destroy all horses and burros “. . . for which an adoption demand by qualified individuals does not exist to be destroyed in the most humane and cost efficient manner possible”. That would mean that every single one of America’s wild horses and burros are in danger of being shot, or sold for the purpose of slaughter! We cannot underestimate the determination of those who would like to see the destruction of all wild horses and burros in holding and on the range.

PLEASE contact your Congressman NOW.
Call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to your representative.

To find out if your representative is a member of the Appropriations Committee, click here. https://appropriations.house.gov/about/members/

If your representative is a member of the Appropriations Committee, it’s especially important that you contact them. Tell them to oppose any amendments to the Interior Appropriations Bill on TUESDAY, JULY 18th that would allow for the destruction of wild horses and burros in holding or on the range, and to maintain wild free-roaming horse or burro status for animals transferred to other agencies.

If your congressman is not on the Appropriations Committee, it’s still important to contact them. Tell them that you, along with 80% of Americans do not support horse slaughter, or the destruction of healthy wild horses and burros in government facilities or on the range. Tell them to oppose any 2018 Budget language that would allow this to happen.

Let them know that you support alternative management strategies for our wild horses and burros, and these strategies must be pursued to resolve the crisis created by decades of mismanagement of the Wild Horse and Burro program.

2 Comments

Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board has Temper Tantrum

9/24/2016

4 Comments

By now you may have heard something to the effect that BLM is planning to euthanize all of the 45,000 wild horses and burros currently in long and short term holding. This would not be surprising because this is not a new idea from BLM. Over several months in 2008, BLM discussed euthanasia as a way to reduce the numbers of animals in holding. The discussion proposed euthanizing horses over 20 at the time of round up and offering younger horses for adoption for just 30 days before euthanizing them.

This time, however, it wasn’t actually BLM, but the BLM’s National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board that proposed, “To follow the stipulations of the Wild Horse and Burro Act by offering all suitable animals in long and short term holding deemed unadoptable for sale without limitation or humane euthanasia. Those animals deemed unsuitable for sale should then be destroyed in the most humane manner possible." For sale “without limitation” essentially means horses can be purchased directly for slaughter. Everyone on the board, with the exception of Ginger Kathrens - who has spent decades studying and documenting the horses of the Pryor Mountains - voted in favor of this recommendation at their last meeting on September 9th.

Ben Masters, known for his film Unbranded (funded by the Mustang Heritage Foundation), chairs the Adoption committee for the advisory board along with Ginger Kathrens, June Sewing, and Fred Woehl. Ben laments the fact that his attempt to get horses adopted through his film “failed to make a significant dent in the short and long term holding pens”. He feels that BLM should make it easier for people to obtain horses by doing away with that pesky “red-tape paperwork-filled” adoption process, and sending horses to more frequent adoption events to make them sale-authority eligible quicker. This would make more horses at risk of being bought for slaughter, something he claims he is against. He also thinks that AMLs should be studied only AFTER “population growth has been successfully suppressed.” Isn’t that backwards? June Sewing, the executive director of the National Mustang Association, was quoted by the Elko Daily Free Press as saying “I would like to see them put some more pressure to get more funds to do more gathers.” Really?

No doubt in reaction to all the bad publicity they must be getting, Neil Kornze, head of BLM, announced that they would NOT be following the Advisory Board’s recommendation to euthanize all of the horses in holding, or to offer them for sale “without limitation”. Ben Masters may have gotten one thing right when he said, “The publicity and outrage our recommendation will [create] could FINALLY make congress realize what a tremendous disaster the WH&B program is and get some funding and attention to address this massive problem.” The fact is that the BLM has grossly mismanaged the Wild Horse and Burro Program. This disaster is of their own creation, and the best advice they can get is to kill all of the horses in holding so they can make room to round up more horses.
Rather than suggesting or even entertaining viable, long-term alternatives to roundups, and in response to the BLM canceling the spay experiments, the Advisory Board basically threw a temper tantrum.

Current BLM management practices have actually contributed to higher rates of population growth, while reducing the genetic viability of many herds. The BLM needs to get serious about accurately determining the number of horses on the range as well as appropriate, not arbitrarily low AMLs, and stop blaming range degradation on the horses who are vastly outnumbered by cattle and sheep. This needs to be done before there can be any management plan put into place. It’s a real no-brainer, but they can start by studying herds such as the Montgomery Pass herd that maintain a stable population. The current goal of “static to decreasing population levels” through sterilization will only lead to the eventual elimination of wild horses on the range, not “healthy horses on healthy range lands”.

When BLM discussed euthanasia in 2008, they discussed other solutions. One of them was paying “livestock operators who allow non-reproducing wild-horses to be maintained on their allotments. BLM would buy livestock permits with the objective of managing the allotment(s) for a non-reproducing herd.” They also discussed “putting horses on public lands that did not exist in 1971 . . . Because they would be non-reproducing herd[s] the intent of the law would be followed. The horses would still be considered as wild free-roaming wild horses.” Why hasn’t this been explored further? This could help alleviate some of the overcrowding in holding, and put horses back out on the range. If it’s necessary to change the laws to make this happen, then it’s time to change the laws.

But the reality is that the mission of the BLM – to regulate grazing on public lands – is at direct odds with protecting our wild horses and burros. BLM’s mission also has a detrimental impact on bison, apex predators, and any other wildlife ranchers deem to be in conflict with grazing livestock. But it’s just not fiscally responsible to subsidize ranchers to graze livestock on public lands while at the same time spend tax payer money to kill wildlife on those same public lands and remove the horses then pay other ranchers to warehouse them. It’s high time to seriously talk about removing cattle and sheep from public lands, reintroducing predators, and allowing the ecosystems to get back into balance, which would help keep wild horse numbers in check naturally. BLM and ranchers could explore eco-tourism as a way to offset potential loss of revenue if necessary.

This is a far better solution than endless roundups and the threats of sterilization and death. It’s better than managing them into extinction. And it’s better than the false choice presented by the Advisory Board: either sell the horses without limitation, which would subject them to being sent to slaughter, or to prevent that, euthanize the horses, because that would be more “humane”.

Please write to your elected officials and let them know you are tired of the way BLM has been managing the Wild Horse and Burro Program, and want them to come up with better solutions, including getting accurate counts, creating more realistic AML's, removing livestock from public lands, reintroducing predators, buying livestock permits, and putting horses on public land not existing in 1971.

4 Comments

Letter to the BLM WHB Advisory Board

9/7/2016

1 Comment

I would like to comment on the proposed research projects “to develop new or improve existing population growth suppression methods for wild horses.”

Altogether there are eight different research projects ranging from 6 months to 4 years in duration that involve finding ways to evaluate, assess or develop permanent sterilization for wild mares.

According to the Panel to Assess Spay Techniques for Mares in Field Conditions (9/24/15), Dr. Pielstick has performed colpotomies on 188 mares with only 2 fatalities. Some of those mares were from the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge, and in 2014 we received 8 of those mares, all in their 20’s, along with 8 intact mares. We also received 36 vasectomized studs (however we had two foals born this year, so the vasectomies are not 100%). In addition we received 19 geldings.

We’ve observed that the spayed mares continue to be receptive to studs, and the intact mares continue to cycle into heat, and because neither group of mares are bred, the studs fight constantly over the mares. No doubt it does not help that the ratio of mares to studs is 1:2 (not including geldings), but the fact that the mares do not conceive, there is no lull in the breeding cycle as there would be if the mares were bred, creating instability within the herd. Currently we’ve separated the mares and studs/gelding to create peace among all the horses.

Trap-neuter-return of feral cats (where cats are spayed/neutered, then returned to their colony) is being used by animal care and control agencies because it has been proven to reduce and eventually eliminate feral cat colonies in communities. It is not necessary to spay/neuter the entire colony to get this result. The sterilization and re-release of mares follows this model and will lead to the extinction of many herds, due to suppressed reproduction and a reduction of long term herd health. The goal of all this research is to reduce the number of horses on public lands over time through permanent sterilization, with extinction being the ultimate goal.

Some herds are already below genetic viability (less than 150 horses).

Permanent sterilization of mares will reduce genetic viability and long term health of the herd, much more so than the reduction of intact studs.

According to the National Academy of Sciences 2013 report, there is no scientific basis used by BLM to determine the number of horses on the range, nor does BLM actually know how many horses are on the range, or what appropriate AMLs are for each HMA.

Manipulating herd genetics, reproduction and dynamics was not the intention of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, which was enacted to preserve wild horses and burros on the land where they were found, and keep them free from slaughter and harassment from man.

Finding real, viable solutions would require focusing on getting more accurate population counts, along with developing realistic AMLs based on the horses/burros being the PRIMARY users of the HMAs. The second half of that equation would be focusing on reintroducing predators wherever possible in order to maintain stable populations naturally.

The research to find “new and improved” permanent sterilization for wild mares is not only unnecessary because there is no wild horse or burro overpopulation, but it is redundant, has already been shown to be detrimental to herd health, and will result in the eventual elimination of wild horses from our public lands.

Respectfully submitted,

Tracy Mohr, founder
The Mustang Project
P.O. Box 1161
Corning, CA 96021

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Senate Appropriations Bill Approved - Does Not Include Sterilization or Destruction for Wild Horses And Burros

Will Wild Horses be Managed to Extinction?

America's Horses in Peril

Last Chance for America's Horses - Speak Up NOW

Call Your Senators and Speak Out for Our Wild Horses

Some Good News

Amendment Would Allow Healthy, Unadopted Wild Horses to be Destroyed

Action Alert - Interior Appropriations Bill to go Before Full Appropriations Committee Tuesday, July 18th. Urge Your Congressman to Keep Our Wild Horses Safe!

Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board has Temper Tantrum

Letter to the BLM WHB Advisory Board

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