We, the undersigned, demand an immediate halt to the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) inhumane wild horse roundups. Forcing highly social, terrified horse bands to run for miles via low-flying helicopters in extreme temperatures is inherently cruel, legally negligent under the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, and entirely unnecessary.

The BLM heavily relies on the narrative that mustangs are starving and ruining the range to justify these costly gathers. However, public land data tells a completely different story. Commercial cattle and sheep outnumber wild horses on federal lands by a staggering 30-to-1 ratio. Private livestock dominates 155 million acres of public range and stands as the primary driver of ecosystem collapse in 33% of degraded allotments. Wild horses are a factor in less than 1%.

It is unacceptable that tax dollars are being weaponized to purge wild herds from their legally designated habitats solely to protect the subsidized grazing profits of private cattlemen. Furthermore, we refuse to tolerate a system that rounded-up horses are pushed into -  a broken adoption framework that routinely funnels them to slaughter.

We call on our elected officials and the BLM to:

1)  Immediately cancel all scheduled helicopter gathers.
2) Rebalance land use by scaling back private livestock grazing allocations in overlapping Herd Management Areas.
3)  Transition completely to humane, sustainable, on-range herd management using PZP fertility vaccines.

Our public lands belong to the American public—not the commercial livestock lobby. Protect our wild herds.