Wild Horse and Burro Protection

Please visit the Compassion Index - AWI's Legislative Action Center  to find your federal legislators and see how much compassion they show on important animal protection measures currently before Congress.  The CI also allows you to contact your legislators on these issues.

Legislation

Act Now:  Click here to send an email to your legislator in support of H.R. 1018, the Restore our American Mustang Act sponsored by House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall and Representative Raul Grijalva.

Background

The Animal Welfare Institute is strongly opposed to changes made to the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act during the 108^th Congress that will require federally protected wild horses 10 years of age and older or not adopted after three tries to be sold without restriction.  The Burns amendment has only one outcome – slaughter.  This runs counter to the will of the American people and of Congress as plainly expressed in the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act itself.

From its inception in 1971, the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service's (FS) Wild Horse and Burro Program has failed to protect horses and burros in their charge.  Instead, the BLM has operated in a manner that promotes the interests of livestock grazing operations over those of wild horses and burros.   Wild horses and burros have been managed based on political considerations rather than on sound scientific management policies.  As a result, wild horse and burro populations and their herd areas have dramatically declined in number and size to the point that many herds are no longer self-sustaining and genetically viable. At the same time, livestock, which vastly outnumber horses and burros, remain on the public lands causing serious environmental degradation.  To make matters worse, a recent economic study indicates the federal livestock grazing program runs at a loss of a minimum of $128 million each year after subtracting fee receipts. The full cost is likely to lie in the range of one half to one billion dollars each year.

The Burns amendment coupled with BLM's mismanagement of the wild horse and burro program jeopardizes the future of these "living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West."  Action is essential to reverse the trend.

AWI would like to suggest several steps to improve the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program.  Except for the first two items, each of the points are already covered by the Act, but not implemented by the BLM and FS.

• US Congress should repeal Amendment 142 (Burns) of the 2005 Omnibus Appropriations Bill which authorized "sale authority" for the BLM and FS.
• US Congress should swiftly pass the Restore our American Mustang Act (ROAM) and the Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act (PECA), which will ensure no horses are sold to slaughter in the US or exported for slaughter.
• The BLM and FS should establish Appropriate Management Levels (AMLs) that ensure the long-term genetic viability of wild horse and burro herds.
• The BLM and the FS should redraw herd management area and territory boundaries to re-establish the historic ranges of America's wild horses and burros taking into consideration the year long biological needs (seasonal movements and distribution patterns) of wild horses and burros.
• Fences and gates used to rotate livestock, but which prohibit wild horses and burros from roaming freely within their herd areas and territories, should be removed.
• The BLM and FS should review its forage allocation process and remove inherent biases against wild horses and burros.
• The BLM and FS should conduct a candid programmatic review of the Wild Horse and Burro Program and other land-management programs and policies to address the agencies' inherent bias against wild horses and burros.
• Wild horses and burros for whom no prospective adoptive homes exist should not be rounded up and removed from the range.  Those currently in BLM holding facilities who have not been adopted after three attempts or who are 10 years of age or older should be returned to their original herd management areas or territories or to other designated areas.
• The BLM and FS should identify large expanses of public lands and/or combinations of public and private lands (e.g., checkerboard lands) – suitable for wild horses and burros and explore entering into contractual arrangements with ranchers to phase-in a voluntary buy-out of grazing permits on public lands for the mutual benefit of both ranchers and wild horses and burros. 
• All BLM and FS actions affecting wild horses and burros should be in compliance with relevant laws and regulations (Wild Horse and Burro Act, National Environmental Policy Act, etc.).

The Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burro Act, as written and intended, is a sound piece of legislation.  If the BLM and the FS were to implement the Act and manage the herds as originally intended, wild horse populations could sustain themselves with minimal federal oversight.

Please write the Secretary of Interior opposing the Bureau of Land Management's overzealous wild horse round-up policy. Again this year, the BLM plans to round up far more horses than they admit are adoptable.  Urge them to act responsibly and stop rounding up our national treasures.  Federally protected wild horses are being slaughtered everyday because too many are being removed from their land.

The Honorable Ken Salazar
Secretary of the Interior
US Department of the Interior
1849 C. Street N.W.
Washington, DC 20240