As Americans make plans to celebrate the Independence Day weekend, the US Government is considering the mass murder of thousands of wild horses. On Monday June 30th, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) at their Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board meeting announced a proposal that involves the phasing out of long-term holding facilities where they house some 22,000 wild horses that they removed from the range. Though they can only find adoptive homes for some 2000-3000 wild horses each year, the BLM has continued for decades to remove horses by the tens of thousands. Faced with budget cuts and more horses than they can afford to care for, their “solution” to years of mis-management is to simply kill them. With additional round ups scheduled this year, up to 30,000 wild horses could face the bullet.
It is a perverse irony that this plan was announced at a time when Americans are celebrating freedom and our hard won independence. Wild horses have long been considered a living symbol of freedom. And perhaps more than any other species, they embody the rugged and indomitable spirit that gave birth to this nation. They have survived centuries of change and have been forced by industry and urbanization into the most remote and inhospitable areas of the west. But they have adapted and survived. These horses are our horses, they are our spirit. We need to be their voice.
Return to Freedom is working with other national organizations and key lawmakers to identify a solution-based proposal that protects America’s wild horses. We will keep you apprised at every turn and let you know how you can help support this critical effort. In the meantime, please take the time this week to contact the BLM, the media and your Congressional representatives who are in their home districts for the 4th of July Congressional Recess. We need to send a loud and clear message that the American people do not support this egregiously unethical proposal to murder some of our last remaining wild horses.
• Please call or write to your Representative in the House and both of your Senators. You can find your Congressional representatives at www.congress.org.
• Please write a letter to the editor of your local paper, calling attention to the plight of the American wild horse
• Please write to BLM National Director Jim Caswell:
1849 C St NW
Washington, DC 20240