Can we all please unite in this one simple objective, even if you do not want wild horses or burros on public land, don’t you agree that they should not be abused?

Shouldn’t every avenue possible be taken to prevent injury and death?

Shouldn’t there be an enforceable welfare policy? 

There are rumors flying around that the budget bill for the rest of fiscal year 2024, recently passed by Congress, has created an enforceable welfare standard and that roundups are being stopped. Neither is true.

The roundup schedule is published. Nearly 22,000 wild horses and burros are slated to be captured. Another 768 are targeted to be darted (using multiple substances) and 662 will be given doses of various substances after helicopter capture. More than half of all fertility control treatments will be GonaCon, a long acting hormonal vaccine that renders a mare sterile for 5-10 years (longer than the lifespan of most of the older mares being treated). The numbers will continue the trend of over 15,000 – 20,000 removed each year as outlined in the BLM 2020 plan (“Path Forward”).

Plain and simple, there is no change in direction nor any new directive to create an enforceable welfare policy that oversees how BLM handles wild horses and burros on range, during capture or fertility control and in holding facilities. It took 40 years (and relentless litigation) just to get the internal standards BLM calls CAWP. The Comprehensive Animal Welfare Program (CAWP) and Euthanasia Policy are all based on the BLM lead in charge of the daily operations determining what horses will be euthanized and how to catch and handle wild horses and burros. The 2024 budget bill has not changed anything in practice and things like club foot or being blind in one eye are still reasons the BLM person in charge can decide to euthanize a horse or burro. The 2024 budget essentially moves forward standard spending for most government programs as Congress debates other issues.

There are many layers in the law, policy and process of the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program. WHE is working hard to address the issues in all of the layers.

The fight to gain an enforceable welfare policy, a distinct layer in advocacy to protect wild horses and burros, has always been close to the heart of WHE. We are the only organization to address the lack of a welfare policy in the courts and we drove the creation of CAWP. Now, we are working hard to take this battle over the final hurdle to gain enforceable rules for wild horse and burro welfare. (learn more)

Hope Springs Eternal died 14 days after capture from hoof slough (his hooves were falling off).

The work of WHE was actually born out of a promise to a young colt that had his feet literally run off at a roundup in 2009/10 at the Calico Complex. Our founder saw him pushed hard over volcanic rock with the helicopter just feet from his back. She saw him at a facility that had no windbreaks laying on the ground in the dead of winter. BLM refused to release him into private care. He died 14 days later of hoof slough receiving no more care than butte (the equivalent of horsey ibuprofen) once every 4 days. From that day until this one, the fight to gain an enforceable welfare policy has been one of the central goals of WHE.

We need your help to bring the promise made to that baby and so many others, an enforceable welfare policy, to conclusion. We have a lot more work to do to gain progress on range and to gain protection from loopholes leading to slaughter. However, gaining an enforceable welfare policy would go a long way to reduce needless suffering and death.

If you have not sent the fast “click and send” letter yet, we ask that you send one off to your representatives. We made it easy: Just Click HERE

Thank you for taking a stand to protect and preserve our treasured wild ones.

Thank you for keeping WHE on the frontline in the fight to protect and preserve our treasured wild ones.