Photo by Paloma Ianes

Republicans in the House Rules Committee on Wednesday rejected a bipartisan amendment that would have prevented the Bureau of Land Management from killing healthy, unadopted wild horses and burros.

Reps. Dina Titus, D-Nevada, Peter King, R-New York, Jared Polis, D-Colorado, Reps. Carlos Curbelo, R-Florida, and Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-New Mexico, introduced the amendment after the House Appropriations Committee voted July 19 to strip the same protective language from the Interior Appropriations bill. The bill has since been packaged into a larger appropriations “minibus” attached to HR 3354.

Reps. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, and Tom Cole, R-Oklahoma, spoke against the wild horse amendment.

On Tuesday, the House Rules Committee rejected a bipartisan amendment to prevent the return of horse slaughter to the United States for the first time since 2007. Now, neither amendment will be part of HR 3354 when it goes to the floor.

Attention for advocates must turn to the Senate. The Senate Appropriations Committee voted against horse slaughter in July, as part of the Agriculture Appropriations bill, but it has yet to act on the Interior Appropriations bill, which includes the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program.

Advocates will should continue to call their senators, at (202) 224-3121, urging them to stand strong against horse slaughter and to oppose any attempt to allow BLM to kill wild horses and burros or sell them to someone who would.