Mares and foal in Onaqui Mountains in Utah (photo: Carol Walker)

Opinion by Debbie Coffey, V.P. & Dir. of Wild Horse Affairs, Wild Horse Freedom Federation

Sadly, as many of you know, Return to Freedom, ASPCA, HSUS, Humane Society Legislative Fund, and the little known American Mustang Foundation (formed by lobbyists in 2016), threw their hats in the ring with many pro-horse slaughter livestock industry organizations, including the National Cattlemen’s Association, on a proposal titled “The Path Forward for Management of BLM’s Wild Horses & Burros” that is really a road to extinction for America’s wild horses & burros on public lands.

Return to Freedom agreed to the roundup of 15,000-20,000 wild horses & burros per year for 3 years, fertility control for 90% of the mares remaining on the range, AND sex ratio skewing of 70% stallions to 30% mares.

Return to Freedom is now touting this plan as a “non-lethal” management plan.

This is delusional.

How will Return to Freedom and these livestock industry organizations find good homes for up 60,000 of America’s wild horses & burros in only 3 years? Most sanctuaries are full. Most of these wild horses & burros will ultimately end up in the slaughter pipleline or being shipped overseas to meet horrendous fates in remote areas.

Return to Freedom signed onto a plan that allows for cruel sterilization procedures on wild mares.

Who will benefit from this plan?

Follow the money. This extremely expensive and ill-advised plan to roundup and remove 15,000 – 20,000 wild horses & burros in 2020 will cost $15 – $20 million and storing them in holding facilities will add $30 million for just one year to the BLM’s budget.

Many of the organizations that are signatories on this plan may try to raise funds to obtain land for a “sanctuary” and then get paid by the BLM to warehouse same sex herds of non-reproducing wild horses & burros. After these wild horses & burros die, these organizations will likely have paid off the land using the money from the BLM, and they will then own the land. Easy way to become a land baron.

All the while, this plan allows the livestock industry to continue its unabated rampage on public lands, since the livestock industry made absolutely no concessions.

Many of these wild horses & burros will end up being slaughtered, instead of living out their lives on their natural habitat. This is NOT a “non-lethal” management plan.

And, if this plan is approved, how could unnecessary sterilizations or the removal of almost all, if not all, of America’s wild horses & burros from their Herd Management Areas on public lands, in any way be considered to be a “return to freedom?”

Wild Horse Freedom Federation, along with many other wild horse & burro advocacy organizations with nothing to gain, ask our supporters to:

Call your Senators today and tell them:

I oppose the plan to roundup and remove 130,000 wild horses and burros from our public lands. I oppose sterilization of wild mares. I oppose sending wild horses and burros to slaughter.

How to Contact Your Senators: https://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

#WildHorseWeek

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