Wild Horse and Burro Protection
Dear Friends:
I'm a little prejudiced when it comes to
horses. I have always loved them. I
currently have about 68; 25-30 were rescued
directly from slaughter. I got involved 8 years
ago, when AWI first made me aware that American
horses are being slaughtered and shipped
overseas for human consumption. It's a
shame horses - or any animal - be treated this
way when horses are the foundation of America.
Horses were a way to travel to get to where we
are today, and it is our job to protect
them.
The Bureau of Land Management
(BLM), the agency in charge of protecting wild
horses, has been rounding them up at an
alarming rate, supposedly for their own
good. Sadly, there are more wild
horses in holding pens than in the wild.
Something is wrong with that, so we must act
now before the BLM has managed these
magnificent animals into extinction.
Folks, please join my family and friends at the Animal Welfare Institute to see how you can help with this important American cause.
-- Willie Nelson
******
For decades, America's wild horses have faced tremendous pressure from the government, ranchers, the livestock industry, state wildlife agencies and others who do not support the protection of these iconic animals on Western rangelands. The situation turned catastrophic when the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced that it was considering mass slaughter of wild horses in holding facilities as a means of balancing its books. Then a new proposal was offered by Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar to simply create additional holding facilities in the Midwest and East. The BLM seems incapable of protecting and maintaining these national treasures on the public lands that are their home. Yet, the answer is simple: wild horses need less intervention by the BLM, more non-lethal management when necessary, and more freedom to roam their legal and traditional ranges.
Until the BLM’s Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros program is subject to a comprehensive review and restructuring, AWI recommends the following:
- The Senate must urgently pass the Restore our American Mustang Act (S. 1579). A companion bill easily passed the House of Representatives, but is awaiting action in the Senate.
- Congress must direct the Bureau of Land Management to implement a moratorium on wild horse and burro roundups until a comprehensive review of all aspects of the wild horse and burro management program is completed.
- Congress must request the National Academy of Science to conduct a comprehensive review of the wild horse and burro program and offer recommendations to improve the program. This review would include the creation of a credible and scientifically rigorous census methodology and the development and implementation of a standardized method, considering biological, ecological, behavioral, and genetic factors, to determine how many wild horses western rangelands can support.
- Congress must direct the BLM to restore wild horses and burros confined in holding facilities to the nearly 20 million acres of habitat from which they have been illegally removed since 1971. By returning horses to the wild, the federal government will save millions of dollars a year.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
- Send an email to President Obama and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar calling for a moratorium on all roundups until the wild horse program has been evaluated from top to bottom.
- Next, send an email to your U.S. Senators urging them to cosponsor the Restore our American Mustang Act (S. 1579) to help clean up the BLM’s wild horse program.
- Sign up for eAlerts at AWI to stay informed on what is taking place.
LEGISLATION
On August 5, 2009 Senator Robert C. Byrd (D-WV) introduced S. 1579, the Restore our American Mustang (ROAM) Act in the U.S. Senate. S. 1579 is identical to the version recently approved by the U.S. House or Representatives.
On July 17, 2009 the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 1018, the Restore our American Mustang Act sponsored by House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall, Representative Ed Whitfield 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 108th 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 U.S. 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 roundup 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.
The Honorable Ken Salazar
Secretary of the Interior
U.S. Department of the Interior
1849 C. Street N.W.
Washington, DC 20240
Photos © Ginger Kathrens/http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/
Last Updated: August 9, 2010
