browser icon
You are using an insecure version of your web browser. Please update your browser!
Using an outdated browser makes your computer unsafe. For a safer, faster, more enjoyable user experience, please update your browser today or try a newer browser.

action alert: 2014 BLM wants to slaughter horses. Ask Congress to pledge to save them

Posted by on February 18, 2014

http://act.wildhorsepreservation.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=16554

Tell Congress: Sign the Pledge

Dear wild horse advocate

With the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) holding space and budget maxed out, 2014 is a dangerous year for America’s wild horses and burros.

This is why we’re embarking on a new effort to pressure more members of Congress to stand with us in our fight to Keep Wild Horses Wild.

We’re taking the first step today by announcing the “Keep Wild Horses Wild Pledge.” By signing the pledge, members of Congress agree to oppose any initiative to slaughter federally-protected wild horses and burros and support the implementation of reforms recommended in the National Academy of Sciences report.

Common sense, right?

So, what are you waiting for? Tell your representatives in Washington to sign the pledge.

With your help, we’ll expand support for our movement in the halls of Congress and give the horses the protection they need at this perilous moment.

The timing could not be more critical. The BLM’s allies in the ranching industry have already begun to make moves to open the gates of long term holding facilities – where 50,000 wild horses and burros are stockpiled – to slaughter kill buyers.

We need legislative support and we need it now. Contact your representatives and ask them to join us.

We’ll be in touch with more ways you can get involved in this campaign soon. Until then, thanks for your support!

– Suzanne Roy

American Wild Horse Preservation

The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign is dedicated to preserving American wild horses and burros in viable free-roaming herds for generations to come, as part of our national heritage.

Tell Congress: Sign the Pledge

 

With the Bureau of Land Management’s holding space and budget maxed out, 2014 is a dangerous time for America’s wild horses.

Help us deliver the protection wild horses need right now by asking your representatives in Washington to sign the “Keep Wild Horses Wild Pledge.”

By signing the pledge, members of Congress agree to oppose all efforts to slaughter federally-protected wild horses and support the important reforms suggested in the National Academy of Sciences report on the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program.

By building support for our cause in Congress, we’ll keep the BLM and its allies on the defensive and raise the pressure on them to embrace long overdue reforms to Keep Wild Horses Wild.

The timing could not be more critical, as the rancher allies of the BLM are making their moves to open the gates of the BLM’s long-term holding facilities — where 50,000 wild horses are stockpiled – to slaughter kill buyers.

So, what are you waiting for? Please urge your representatives to sign the pledge.

Subject: Please sign: wild horse pledge
As
a constituent, I’m writing to ask you to sign a pledge to reform the
Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) wild horse roundup program.

Sign the pledge → http://wildhor.se/MfPRg7

Please consider these very important facts:

The BLM operates a wild horse roundup program that removes thousands of
federally-protected wild horses each year from public lands by
helicopter stampedes.

Today, as a result of this program, more wild horses are in federal
government warehousing than remain free in the wild. And taxpayers are
on the hook for nearly $80 million every year to manage these 50,000
captured wild horses and pay for additional BLM wild horse round ups.

All of this is ridiculous when you consider there are safe, cost
effective and proven alternatives — such as fertility control — that
allow for wild horses to be managed on the range, reducing the need for
an expensive and unsustainable roundup and stockpiling cycle.

The BLM paid over $1 million for a review of its program by an
independent team of scientists at the National Academy of Sciences
(NAS), which found among other things:

– Tools already exist for BLM to address many challenges as an
alternative to rounding up and stockpiling wild horses.

– Roundups are likely to keep the population at a size that maximizes
population growth rate, which in turn maximizes the number of animals
that must be removed and processed through holding facilities.

– Considering all the current options, [porcine zona pellucida (PZP)
vaccines and GonaCon™ vaccine for females and chemical vasectomy for
males] either alone or in combination, offer the most
acceptable alternative to removing animals for managing population
numbers.

Despite these findings, which the BLM paid for, and repeated assurances
from the BLM and Interior Department that they’re open to reforms, no
progress has been made to make this program more fiscally and
logistically sustainable.

In fact, it’s getting worse. The BLM is actually cutting back on its use
of proven and humane fertility control. Meanwhile, with holding
facilities at capacity and tight budgets, the BLM’s allies press for
slaughtering America’s federally-protected icons. Already, the BLM has
sold 1,700 wild horses to Tom Davis, a known kill buyer. According to a
ProPublica investigation at least 1,000 of these horses remain
unaccounted for.

This is unacceptable. We can manage wild horses on the range and reduce
the need for roundups and stockpiling and eliminate the risk of wild
horse slaughter.

Please stand with the American taxpayers and our wild horses and burros.

Sign the pledge → http://wildhor.se/MfPRg7

Thanks for your consideration.

Share This

Comments are closed.