Wild Horse Nation,
As the days tick away until Congress votes on the fate of tens of thousands of wild horses and burros, it’s seemingly business as usual with our federal government.
The Bureau of Land Management busied itself capturing more wild horses. A report from Washington on America’s horses failing to advance the conversation was released. And Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke readied a “summit” on wild horses — without advocates on the guest list.
None of this is good news for wild horses, but we cannot be discouraged or look away. There’s no time for that. It is critical for advocates to act – right now.
Please call your representative and senators, and urge others to do the same.
We are expecting an amendment to be offered to the Interior Appropriations bill when it goes to the full House that would restore protective language for wild horses. As it stands, those protections would be stripped away under the current version because of a different amendment, passed by the House Appropriations Committee in July, which would allow BLM to kill healthy unadopted wild horses and burros.
The Senate Appropriations Committee should also take up its version of the Interior bill in September. This makes calls both to the House and Senate critically important.
For more information on current legislation and other actions you can take, please click here.
Other recent news:
- BLM captured and removed 125 wild horses, including many foals, during a two-day helicopter roundup at the Bible Springs Complex in Utah. One horse was euthanized, and family bands torn apart. More roundups are planned for the weeks and months ahead, including a 6,700-horse roundup in Nevada.
- Secretary Zinke is preparing to huddle at a “wild horse summit” in Utah with, among others, Rep. Chris Stewart of Utah, who introduced the amendment allowing BLM to shoot healthy horses, and representatives of the livestock industry. Wild horse advocates aren’t invited. Read RTF’s press release blasting the event here.
- The General Accountability Office released a report on America’s horses that presented little new information and made no recommendations. Congress should be holding BLM accountable for mismanagement and mandating a change to humane, sustainable on-the-range management, yet it continues to fail the test of leadership on wild horse issues. Read the report and RTF’s statement here.
Roundups like the one in Utah are always tragic events, but the threat of Congress allowing BLM to shoot healthy wild horses makes the capture of each one more heartbreaking still – and drives us to keep doing all that we can all we can to battle on their behalf.
Join us in the fight for the future of wild horses, before it’s too late.
Neda DeMayo and the RTF Team