Photo of Silver King and Nia at RTF’s San Luis Obispo satellite sanctuary taken by Paloma Ianes.
Today, March 1, is National Horse Protection Day — and America’s horses need your help, right now.
Even though the Fiscal Year 2018 federal budget battles remain unresolved, all indications are that the fight for the future of wild horses and burros will be equally intense starting this spring, as the Fiscal Year 2019 appropriations begin.
After months of intense lobbying from Return to Freedom and other animal welfare groups — and thousands of calls, letters and messages from wild horse advocates like you — we’re still waiting to see whether Congressional leaders will follow the lead of Senate appropriators by rejecting language from the House of Representatives allowing the Bureau of Land Management to kill healthy, unadopted wild horses and burros, as well as House language that would allow for the revival of the horse slaughter industry.
At the same time, the president has released a Fiscal Year 2019 budget proposal that again includes lifting restrictions against BLM killing wild horses, slashing the Wild Horse and Burro program budget, and allowing the transfer of captured wild horses and burros to other government agencies without the animals retaining their protected status.
Here are three things that you can do to help America’s horses, wild and domestic:
Donate to RTF’s Wild Horse Defense Fund, which fuels our advocacy, policy reform, selective litigation and on-range monitoring of wild horse roundups, and help us continue to take the fight on behalf to Washington.
Look for opportunities to speak directly with your representative or senators at district events, which are typically listed on their websites. Tell them that there are humane alternatives to the broken system of capturing wild horses and burros, including the use of safe, proven fertility control vaccines. If you’d like help scheduling a meeting, contact us at outreach@returntofreedom.org.
Call your representative and senators at (202) 225-3121. Urge them to:
- Oppose language in the Fiscal Year 2018 budget bill that would allow BLM to kill healthy wild horses and burros;
- Cosponsor the SAFE Act (HR 113 / S. 1706), which would ban horse slaughter and the transportation of horses to slaughter.
In addition, please ask your representative to cosponsor the Horse Transportation Safety Act (HR 4040), which would ban the use of double-decker trailers for horses.
Our voices must not fall silent — because those working the undermine what few protections that wild horses and burros enjoy won’t quit.