Last week, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Oregon released a revised Environmental Assessment for its plan to surgically spay wild mares in the Warm Springs Herd Management Area (HMA).

After widespread opposition from veterinarians and the public, Colorado State University dropped out of this brutal plan. Instead of canceling its plans, or seeking a new university to partner with, the BLM is planning to push on and conduct barbaric surgical sterilization experiments on wild mares. However, this time no one will be ensuring that the mares are cared for as the “animal welfare observations” aspect of these experiments has been eliminated!

The BLM's plan is to round up 100% of the horses and burros in the Warm Springs HMA, primarily using helicopters.
Surgically remove the ovaries of over 100 mares!
Permanently remove 685 horses from their homes on our public lands.
We can't let this happen! The surgery that the BLM wants to perform is an archaic procedure that uses a rod-and-chain-like tool to manually twist, sever and remove the mares' ovaries. You can see the archaic procedure in this video: https://youtu.be/kh8mMYOq3Sk

Veterinarians say the surgery carries a high risk of pain, bleeding, infection and evisceration (intestines protruding through the surgical incision).  That's why the National Academy of Sciences concluded it was “inadvisable for field application.”

But the BLM doesn't care. Instead the agency is galloping ahead with performing this surgery on mares who are three years of age and older. Most of them will be pregnant and many will abort their unborn foals as a result of the procedure. 

The deadline for the BLM to receive comments is Sunday, September 2. This petition will be sent to the BLM on Saturday, September 1. You can also contact  FastAction at https://secure.everyaction.com/nyaLJ240406KkXVahCL-VQ2

To leave comments for the BLM directly, the address is Wild Horse Spay Feasibility Research Project Lead, Bureau of Land Management, Burns District Office, 28910 Hwy 20 W, Hines, Oregon 97738. Please remember the comments must be received by the BLM office no later than September 2!!

Thank you!!