Photo taken at RTF’s San Luis Obispo satellite sanctuary by Emily McGahee.
We’re expanding our letter-writing campaign for wild horses!
We started the year asking wild horse and burro supporters to send a letter to the new chair of the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn. Now we’re expanding our campaign to include the rest of the subcommittee.
For the cost of a few stamps, you can help ensure critical protections for America’s wild horses and burros, allowing us to focus on humane solutions.
Why is this subcommittee important? — The House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee (along with its counterpart in the U.S. Senate) plays a key role in controlling how much money is spent on the Bureau of Land Management’s Wild Horse & Burro Program. During the last Congress, wild horse advocates were forced to expend considerable lobbying and grassroots effort to stop lethal proposals for wild horses that came out of the House. That’s required us to lobby members of the Senate down to the wire to ensure that the final bill included prohibitions against government agencies from using taxpayer dollars to kill healthy, unadopted wild horses and burros or selling captured animals to slaughter.
If we can secure protective language early in the Fiscal Year 2020 appropriations process under new House leadership, it will allow us to focus less on playing defense and more on pro-active solutions to keep wild horses on their rightful rangelands — solutions that are science-based, humane and in keeping with the sentiment of the vast majority of Americans.
Why letters? — Old-fashioned personal letters and postcards remain an effective way to get the attention of lawmakers who are deluged daily by electronic form letters and phone calls. In addition, many members of Congress only allow their constituents to contact them through their websites and use software that filters out electronic form letters.
What do I write? — Urge the members of the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee to:
- Include language in the Fiscal Year 2020 Interior appropriations bill opposing the mass killing, sale to slaughter or permanent sterilization of wild horses and burros by the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service;
- Support safe, proven and humane solutions for on-the-range wild horse management.
What’s the most important thing to remember when writing my letter? — Please represent America’s wild horses well by keeping a positive tone to your letter — and let the subcommittee members know why the protection of America’s wild horses and burros matters to you.
To whom should I send letters? —
Rep. Betty McCollum, Chair, House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, 2256 Rayburn HOB, Washington, DC 20515
Rep. David Joyce, Ranking Member, House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, 2463 Rayburn HOB, Washington, DC 20515
Rep. Chellie Pingree, House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee member, 2162 Rayburn HOB, Washington DC 20515
Rep. Derek Kilmer, House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee member, 1410 Longworth HOB. Washington, DC 20515
Rep. José Serrano, House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee member, 2354 Rayburn HOB, Washington, DC 20515
Rep. Mike Quigley, House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee member, 2458 Rayburn HOB, Washington, DC 20515
Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee member, 2442 Rayburn HOB, Washington, DC 20515
Rep. Brenda Lawrence, House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee member, 2463 Rayburn HOB, Washington, DC 20515
Rep. Mike Simpson, House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee member, 2084 Rayburn HOB, Washington, DC 20515
Rep. Chris Stewart, House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee member, 2242 Rayburn HOB, Washington, DC 20515
Rep. Mark Amodei, House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee member, 104 Cannon HOB, Washington, DC 20515
How can I learn more? — Check out our January 2019 Advocacy Outlook Webinar here.
Donate to RTF’s Wild Horse Defense Fund, which fuels our advocacy, lobbying, selective litigation and on-range monitoring of roundups