AMERICA’S WILD HORSES ARE DISAPPEARING
Since the 19th Century, the number of U.S. Wild Horses has decreased by 98%. At the current rate, they may all be gone in as little as a decade. The 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse And Burros Act designated special public land sites as habitat for Wild Horses and burros. But since then, more than 270,000 Wild Horses and Burros have been removed from these sites by our government. Land that was voted to be sanctuary for wild horses and burros is now primarily used for government-subsidized cattle grazing – livestock living on the public land set aside for wild horses now outnumber wild horses and burros by 50:1
ROUND-UPS
Every year, the federal government uses helicopters to stampede thousands of federally protected wild horses into pens to remove them from public lands so that private commercial interests – mainly industrial ranching and mining companies, can turn a greater profit. While this cruel practice has gone on for over 40 years, few people are aware because it occurs in remote regions, out of public view. Today, there are more than twice as many wild horses stockpiled in government holding facilities as there are remaining wild. Maintaining these horses costs taxpayers more than $80 million per year.
A MORE HUMANE, LOWER-COST ALTERNATIVE
We can end the stockpiling of wild horses by using a humane fertility vaccine program to control wild populations. This would cost taxpayers just 6% of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) budget as opposed the whopping 70% of the budget we currently pay just for maintaining wild horses in government facilities.
HORSE SLAUGHTER
Despite Americans’ overwhelming opposition to horse slaughter, last year more than 160,000 American horses were sold to Canada and Mexico for slaughter. Many of these were federally protected wild horses sold by the BLM to “kill” buyers sold them for slaughter. Ironically, our tax dollars we pay the BLM to protect our wild horses are also paying for round-ups and the slaughter of wild horses. Although horse slaughter was made illegal in the US in 2006, in 2011, corporate ranching and mining interests urged politicians to lift the ban quickly and quietly to avoid public debate. Horse slaughter is horrifically cruel and the methods used to kill horses rarely result in quick, painless deaths. Additionally, horses are often trucked to Mexico or Canada without food, water or rest in dangerously overcrowded trailers in which they are often seriously injured or killed before they reach their destinations.
HORSE MEAT IS TOXIC
Horse meat is unsafe for human consumption because horses aren’t raised for food. De-wormers, fly treatments, and painkillers full of highly toxic chemicals banned for human consumption are given daily to horses on the track, in the show ring, and on the ranch.
HOW TO HELP STOP HORSE ROUND-UPS AND SLAUGHTER: CONTACT YOUR SENATORS AND CONGRESSMEN AND LET THEM KNOW WHAT YOU THINK.
Call, e-mail, or mail them your thoughts or say, “I don’t want horse slaughter or the export of American horses across borders for slaughter in other countries.” Click on the links below to find your local elected officials:
TO TAKE MORE ACTION Contact The Bureau of Land Management (202) 208-3801
FOR MORE INFO: wildhorsepreservation.org
Stockpiled
Safe