Click photo to go to Sports Illustrated, photo Sports Illustrated, Michael Clevenger and Christopher

Update, 05/24: Today, in a letter to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, 120 lawmakers requested language be included in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s budget that permanently bans tax dollars from being used in the process of horse slaughter. More HERE.

While the world debates the photo finish at the Kentucky Derby yesterday, the “win by a nostril” of Mystik Dan over Sierra Leone and Forever Young, let’s take a few minutes to talk about horse slaughter. 

Remember each one of those gorgeous race horses that made the cut to race in one of the highest profile races in the country, represents tens of thousands that don’t. Many that don’t make that cut end up in bad situations and often, sadly, in the slaughter pipeline. Each of those incredible horses was once a baby, pulled immediately off his mom so she would go back into heat so she could be bred again, was nursed by a “nurse mare.” The foal belonging to the nurse mare was, more than likely, considered “industry byproduct” and discarded. (In order to be listed on the breed registry, a mare must be “live covered” by a stallion. Thoroughbred registry does not recognize artificial insemination and mares are bred, as fast as possible, to try to get another high stakes prospect out of her womb.

The New York Times has just released a documentary called “Broken Horses” that addresses the issues in the horse racing industry.

For every “field of 20” horses that make the Kentucky Derby each year, the “by product” of the racing world is astoundingly shameful. This is not just a “US” problem. 

So why is a wild horse and burro organization talking about horse racing? Because there is a place in US law where the Thoroughbred and the Mustang meet, horse slaughter. 

When the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act passed, our wild ones were protected from being sold to slaughter. When wild horses were first placed into private care it was through a “foster system” where protections under the law were carried by that horse for a lifetime. In 1998, the fact that wild horses were being funneled out of the system and sold for slaughter came to light when a court case landed in Reno federal court demonstrating that BLM employees themselves were engaged. We do not know why the animal welfare organizations dropped the suit. Soon after, the Burns Amendment was introduced into an Omnibus spending bill and “sale to slaughter” was legalized (the provision has been defunded, but not repealed, during every budget debate since 2005 when the provision took effect).

Once title is transferred during adoption or sale, a wild horse or burro now loses the protection afforded by the Act. After title transfers, BLM is no longer the responsible party under law and a “once wild one” is simply another domestic under law.

The Save America’s Forgotten Equines Act (SAFE) is a domestic animal welfare bill that, if passed, would protect all equines from being trafficked for the purpose of slaughter for human consumption. From the broken down Thoroughbred to the “horse with no name” that was born free, this law would close many of the loopholes nationwide.

Please remember when you reach out to your lawmakers they are not experts in the field of public lands and wild horses, they are in politics. They also appear to be unaware of where the line for wild horses and burros crosses from a public lands issue into domestic law (the title transfer). As a wild horse and burro advocate, it is a good idea to to send letters or make appointments that discuss each subject individually to avoid confusing your lawmakers. Simple messaging that points directly to a specific action is the goal when talking to your lawmakers.

Even though the SAFE Act has more cosponsors than it would take to pass this bill this year, the US House of Representatives is more focused on delisting grey wolves and removing protections, approving the use of lead ammo that causes countless deaths from lead poisoning, removing the new “Conservation Lease” rules, etc. 

However, if SAFE does not pass this session, the bill will need to be reintroduced in 2025 with the next two-year session of Congress. SAFE has been at the “top of the list” with numbers of cosponsors year-after-year, yet cannot seem to rise to the level of priority to go to a full vote in Congress as politics continually shifts priorities.

Can you call (202) 224-3121 (the House switchboard) this week and ask to be connected to your rep? Simply ask that they do everything in their power to bring HR 3475, the SAFE Act, to a vote. You can explain why this bill is important to you. A total of 468 seats in the U.S. Congress (33 Senate seats and all 435 House seats) are up for election on November 5, 2024. You can even go so far as to tell them your vote depends on how they treat SAFE.

Our team is working overtime this weekend on addressing longstanding issues in on range management.

In the U.S., the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) currently manages 188 Herd Management Areas (HMA). An overly vast majority have never, in 50 years, had any management plan created (Herd Management Area Plan or HMAP), only removal plans.

Our recent court win at Pancake has opened a door closed to advocates for decades to begin to address long standing issues in on range management.

The win at Pancake has already impacted the other cases we have active in the court system. The most urgent matter concerns BLM beginning a “scoping period” for an HMAP at Blue Wing just as we head into final briefing on the case. The scoping period is extremely data-poor compared to all other scoping periods and (one can only assume) was simply done to try to appease the court before a ruling. The Blue Wing case deals with several subjects (including First Amendment and lack of analysis in the roundup plan) as well as the HMAP.

While we work hard on behalf of the horses and burros at Blue Wing, we have an action item for you as well. 

Our welfare team also carries litigation to gain an enforceable welfare policy. We will update you on our team actions, the case and the roundup schedule next week.

We need your help to continue to document, expose, work toward reform with lawmakers and litigate. Our wild ones deserve to live free on the range and free from abuse.

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