In 1971, President Nixon, signed into law bold legislation called the "Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act" (WFRHBA) which made it a federal crime for anyone to harass or kill “wild” horses or burros on federal land. In addition, this law set the groundwork for additional studies of the animals' behavior and habitats and established the ability to set aside public land for use as herd management areas (HMA's) in the Western states. Authority for maintaining Public Lands and subsequently, the management of America’s wild horses and burros fell to the Bureau of Land Management and the US Forest Service, both agencies are under the Department of the Interior.

In the intervening years Congress has acted intermittently to enact laws that have served to undermine the intent of the original law and thus chipped away at the protections afforded to wild horses and burros under the WFRHBA. This has emboldened the BLM and USFS to act with impunity regarding the welfare of our wild horses and burros.

According to the National Academy of Sciences who issued a “Scathing Rebuke” of the BLM in 2013, "How Appropriate Management Levels (AMLS) are established, monitored, and adjusted is not transparent to stakeholders, supported by scientific information, or amenable to adaptation with new information and environmental and social change." And yet, the BLM and USFS have conducted countless helicopter roundups of wild horses and burros removing them from their legally designated land. Helicopters operated by livestock companies are routinely captured on camera flying low over herds of terrified wild horses and burros, sometimes touching the animals, knocking them down and injuring them. Terrified horses break legs and necks trying to escape, foals have died or broken their legs while being chased (Refer to the I-Team online video of a foal with a broken leg trying to run away from a helicopter during a roundup at the Pancake Complex in NV – January 14, 2022 https://www.8newsnow.com/i-team/i-team-video-shows-helicopter-chase-wild-horse-with-broken-leg/). The BLM does not stop there, they also kill animals they deem too thin, old, blind etc. (Refer to BLM gather reports). The BLM and USFS allow only limited public viewing of the roundups, the few advocacy groups that are allowed to watch can only do so from several miles away. At such a distance, wild horse and burro abuses cannot be seen or documented. If what the BLM/USFS is doing is humane and legal, why all the secrecy?

Wild horses and burros removed from their legally designated land being managed primarily for privately-owned livestock are at risk for slaughter. Through the BLM’s Adoption Incentive Program, the adopter receives $1000 to “adopt” them. One year later, the BLM issues a title, and the adopter is free to do with the animals as they wish. The adopter-owner can now sell the wild horses and burros to kill pens or ship the horses to slaughter in Canada or Mexico. (Refer to: Wild horses Adopted Under a Federal Program Are Going to Slaughter): https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/15/us/wild-horses-adoptions-slaughter.html )

In addition, any wild horse or burro over the age of ten or having been passed over at adoption events (either in-person or online) at least three-times can be purchased for $10. The purchaser will receive the title which means these horses can be sold to kill pens or shipped to slaughter in Canada or Mexico.

Wild Horses and burros not immediately shipped to slaughter are “warehoused” in holding facilities operated primarily by livestock companies. The cost is passed along to the American Taxpayers. Some of these holding facilities are so big they require a permit for a Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) and the conditions are inhumane. For example, the BLM Delta Facility housing Utah’s Onaqui herd no longer allows public viewing of the wild horses and burros due to the squalid conditions and the recent tragedies, i.e., horses breaking their legs when forced to run through knee-deep manure, mares miscarrying their unborn foals etc. The latest holding facility approved by the BLM in Indian Lakes, Nevada will house 7,600 wild horses and burros on 398 acres. While our wild horses and burros are “warehoused,” privately-owned livestock will roam free on their land.

The majority (80%) of Americans demand that the wild horse and burro herds be humanely and scientifically managed on public lands, not warehoused in taxpayer-funded feedlots. Our wild horses and burros deserve to roam free and not be displaced by privately-owned cattle and sheep which are far more destructive to public lands. Furthermore, we call for the Department of the Interior to immediately STOP the BLM/USFS-roundups of wild horses and that the BLM and USFS be investigated for the mismanagement, harassment, abuse and deaths of our wild horses and burros. Given that the BLM plans to capture more horses this year than ever before, at least 19,000 wild horses and burros across ten states, there is no time to lose!

I urge President Joseph R. Biden and Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland to address the mismanagement of our wild herds immediately and put a STOP to wild horse and burro roundups until the Wild Horse and Burro Program is thoroughly investigated!