Too many times we see relentless pursuit of solo wild horses, almost like a sport. It needs to stop.
The fight to directly stop abuse on and off the range is a distinct layer in the ongoing battle to protect and preserve our wild horses and burros. This should be the first step, the simplest step, in real reform. Instead, we meet resistance to change and the continued adherence to practices…that can be manipulated for ease of agency personnel present in the entire Wild Horse and Burro Program remains on full display. We need changes NOW.
BLM is supposed to manage our wild ones humanely according to current law and consistent reminders from Congress. But adding “you need to comply to internal welfare standards” (called CAWP) into Appropriations is simply massaging words and is meaningless as we see time and again in practice. It amounts to nothing more than public relations messaging provided by big lobby groups to try to whitewash incorporating full funding for “Path Forward.”
Congress must add a line item to the budget to fund formal rulemaking for welfare standards for wild horses and burros or simply hold the agency accountable to the process BLM never undertook to create policy for animal welfare. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) published a Federal Register notice on Jan. 9 about proposed rulemaking that aims to strengthen regulations on the public handling of wild and exotic animals for exhibition.
If the government can find time and money to create enforceable welfare policy for animals bound for slaughter, import of animals and exhibiting exotic animals … they can find it for our American heritage, protected wild horses and burros.
You can learn more about the fight to directly impact abuses in an article published yesterday HERE.
Wildfires over 1000 miles away blow smoke into active roundup zones where air quality is in the extreme hazard zone with smoke so thick you can barely see the chopper when the lights flash. BLM has no enforceable air quality standard.
Yesterday we asked that you take a survey. The response has been encouraging. The survey is intended to demonstrate that you want to participate in active rulemaking and that you have strong opinions and information related to the welfare of wild horses and burros. We will publish the results before the end of the year and add them to our team outreach and use them in our active litigation to gain an enforceable welfare policy.
Time's up
After you take the quiz, we ask you to take action!
Roundups during foaling season cause undue hardship in the chaos and foals often pay a horrific price (this foal had been separated and then raced to rejoin family as the chopper pushed the family in a panic and the baby was trampled, initially rising but limping. Over the next couple of days foals died. But because BLM fails to do record keeping as outlined in internal standards, we will never know if this one survived.
Please join us in sending a letter to your representatives to demand that they create a budget line item solely for rulemaking for welfare standards on range, during capture and holding facilities.
We are asking you to try to find the time to place a call to your representatives before the recess. You can find numbers and a sample script, HERE.
Thank you for helping us get the spotlight back on abuse as we work hard to stop abuse.
We must push hard in this last leg to gain an enforceable welfare standard. We need to work together to get the pressure on; with vigilance and unbroken action we can push through to this crucial last step.
Over this holiday season our team members are in the field covering roundups and working at the table and in the courts. The next large roundup begins on December 28th and runs through the end of February at East Pershing, just north of Clan Alpine, where wild horses just released back to the range will be in danger again because BLM fails in collecting real data, setting real boundary lines and creating actual management planning (we are in the courts now on those very same subjects). East Pershing targets 2,875 wild horses as part of a backdoor settlement deal with no release planned.
Our wild ones should live free on the range with the families they hold dear. Our wild ones should also live without abuse. WHE carries ongoing litigation to push BLM into open public process to create an enforceable welfare standard for our treasured wild ones.
Thank you for keeping us in the fight!