Saving Lives and Restoring Hope

 

WILD HORSE & BURRO PROTECTION BILL

The CA State Assembly Committee on Water, Parks & Wildlife will be hearing this resolution on 4/22/21. The CA legislature now only accepts comments/letters online & for this hearing, the submission due date is noon 4/15. Below are the procedures & a link, “Submit Position Letter," to register & submit your position letters online:

https://awpw.assembly.ca.gov/content/hearing-dates-deadlines

Also note that letters must be submitted separately to the Republican Caucus consultant at Calvin.Rusch@asm.ca.gov.

Let’s flood this Committee with letters of support to pass this important joint resolution in CA. Please also share far & wide to individuals & orgs that have a CA presence & via social media.

READ/ DOWNLOAD THIS BILL

Make Your Voice Heard
EDUCATE, & HELP STOP the ROUNDUPS

Learn More / Get Talking Points

ValueWalk: LEGISLATORS IN CALIFORNIA CONSIDERING BILL (AJR-5) TO HALT WILD HORSE ROUNDUPS

Pogosa Daily Post: Open Letter to Secretary Haaland Regarding Wild Horse Policies

Sierra Nevada Ally: Wild Horse Wars

TAKE ACTION NOW! How to Help Ban Horse Slaughter Take the pledge to End the Cruelty Watch and Share Powerful Video Alerts

ISSUE BACKGROUND

May 24, 2018, Dept of Interior mandates the Sale of Wild Horses and Burros

Countless innocent horses and burros FACE BARBARIC DEATH

Dec 18, 2017, The Senate supports protection for America's horses and burros, however, the House has been unsupportive. Until this type of division can be resolved and a meeting of the minds for the good of humanity can move forward, the future of our horses, our people and our land will remain in jeopardy.

We ask the people of America our leaders to stand strong with the horses and protect them. We cannot allow the dangerous and violent expulsion of America’s horses and burros from our lands.

Nov 20, 2017 UPDATE on FY 2018 Interior Appropriations Bill: The SENATE has voted in favor of its bill to maintain existing protections for wild horses and burros (unlike the House version). The final vote which will determine the result will take place through a Conference Committee consisting of members from both the House and the Senate - the meeting has yet to be scheduled.

Wild For Life Foundation and Saving America’s Horses commends the Senate Appropriations Committee for voting in support of PROTECTING America’s wild horses and burros from killing by the Bureau of Land Management. although it's not over, this is a HUGE WIN for America's horses and burros.

BACKGROUND - 45000 WILD HORSES:

When public outcry against the recommended killing of 45,000 wild American horses and burros reached mainstream level it caught the attention of some of the most powerful mainstream media outlets. The combination of these factors brought increased exposure to the systemic mistreatment and reckless mismanagement of the wild horses and our public lands. This in turn caused a detrimental backlash of criticism against the government and the BLM.

A recent flurry of subsequent news reports based on statements by BLM spokespersons have headlined a false positive result for America’s horses. This has effectively left the public in the dark. The public has been duped and we believe the public deserves to know that America's wild horses and burros are still in danger.

Saving America's Horses warns the public, "Don't be duped" by misleading headlines and propaganda. America's horses are NOT out of danger.

Reuters:
“BLM spokesperson, Tom Gorey, said in an email that the agency will continue its current policy of caring for unadopted or unsold wild horses and burros and will not sell or send any animals to slaughter."
“BLM is expected to formally respond to the panel at its next meeting within months.”

TRANSLATION: The fate of 45,000 Wild Horses and Burros remains under threat of extermination pending a formal BLM decision, after its next meeting, TBA spring 2017.

Huffington Post:
“The BLM will issue a formal response at the next board meeting in spring 2017."
“Despite the recommendation, the BLM will not euthanize or sell without limitation any healthy animals, agency spokeswoman Courtney Whiteman told The Huffington Post in an email.

TRANSLATION: Selling the animals ‘without limitation’ or under sale authority effectively strips their protection from abuse and slaughter. And since BLM fails to enforce its sale authority policy, countless wild horses and burros remain in danger.

Fox News:
“…we will continue with our current policy, BLM said.”

TRANSLATION: Countless wild horses and burros may continue to be killed under BLM status quo practices.

The Arizona Republic:
“BLM: We do not 'and will not euthanize' wild horses.”

TRANSLATION: The BLM uses a variety of other methods to kill wild horses.

ProPublica: The U.S. Department of Interior Bureau of Land Management (BLM) sold 1,700 captured wild Mustangs to a known kill buyer by the name of Tom Davis, who purchases horses and ships them for slaughter in Mexico. BLM approved the sales to Davis, (who also works as a livestock hauler out of La Jara, Colorado) under the guise that Davis would sell the horses for use in movies in Mexico. Reportedly the BLM began shipping “truckloads and truckloads” of horses to Davis after his neighbor and business associate, Ken Salazar, became Interior Secretary in 2009. Salazar, a fifth-generation rancher, is heavily criticized for his involvement supporting the removal of Mustangs from public lands to make room for livestock grazing. Wild horses are additionally supposed to be protected by appropriations language, passed annually by Congress, which prohibits the BLM from selling captured wild horses for slaughter.

TRANSLATION: BLM wild horses and burros go to slaughter.

 

America’s horses are NOT protected and they are NOT out of danger.