Seeking meager shade in blistering heat in BLM holding facilities July 2024.
As the year 2024 heads toward a close creation of an ENFORCEABLE welfare policy is still absent on the agenda of BLM leadership and in Congress.
The looming shutdown (as the spending bill hangs in limbo) gives you a chance to call your reps and ask the bill be amended to include a line item to find the finalization of an enforceable welfare policy.
Click HERE to send a letter directly to your lawmakers.
The single most headline-grabbing issue, abuse, is not being addressed directly by the agency or Congress. We still witness the use of evasive language in Congress that sits agenda over direct action to prevent abuse.
2024 was a record year for roundups. Just in the month of July more wild horses and burros were captured than in entire years (2013, 2014, 2015).
Abuses were rampant. Air Quality and Heat Indexes were so bad that if this happened at a for-profit business workplace laws would have prevented operations or employees would have sued. Intense and rough ropings were allowed to increase and escalated in a public display where a horse was even jerked and dragged violently by a rope and then kicked in the face. At facilities, the death rate of burros rose to incredible numbers where 1 in 5 captives died in just 6 weeks.
Regulations define “humane” like this:
§ 222.60 Authority and definitions.
(5) Humane treatment means kind and merciful treatment, without causing unnecessary stress or suffering to the animal.
(6) Inhumane treatment means causing physical stress to an animal through any harmful action or omission that is not compatible with standard animal husbandry practices; causing or allowing an animal to suffer from a lack of necessary food, water, or shelter; using any equipment, apparatus, or technique during transportation, domestication, or handling that causes undue injury to an animal; or failing to treat or care for a sick or injured animal.
In practice, BLM basically defines humane as “whatever the person in field thinks is humane depending on how fast they need to capture animals” and standards can be ignored.
This is simply not “ok.”
Eye punctured in chute
99% of respondents to a survey want to be able to comment on an enforceable welfare policy.
What would happen if there were enforceable welfare rules? Would the program crumble? Would the cost be prohibitive? Would national security be risked? Or would we simply have a mechanism to stop unnecessary pain and suffering?
Why is it so hard to get an enforceable welfare policy?
Creating concise and enforceable welfare rules must be addressed directly. In a few short weeks roundups will resume without any enforceable welfare policy.
PLEASE send the letter. Click HERE to send a letter directly to your lawmakers.
Better yet, call your reps and ask they create a funding amendment.
You can use this sample to write one of your own or as a script to call your representatives. You can call the switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to your representative.
Dangerous air quality and excessive roping during heat waves
End-of-year funding is critical. Over a third of our entire annual budget is raised this time of year and is the single most determining factor in deciding just how much we can take on in the coming year.
Please, help us continue the battle and expand our reach.
WHE has a 10K match through the end of the year to keep our team running and precedent setting litigation alive (every case we have brought to conclusion in 2024 has walked away with a desperately needed win). We must take litigation already active to conclusion and launch additional cases to protect and preserve our wild ones in 2025.
A SPECIAL 5K bonus match has been added just for the boots-on-the-ground reporting team! If you make your contribution a monthly contribution that lasts at least 3 months, your contribution will be TRIPLED!
Categories: Wild Horse Education
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