Reports show that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) rounded up a record number of wild horses and burros in 2022. More than 20,000 were forcefully taken from taxpayer funded public lands.
No thanks to Congress over the past years for providing increased funding for roundups and emboldening the BLM to plan for the use of fertility control methods that are untested, dangerous and even deadly.
The BLM intends to gut herds by another 20,000 during 2023.
For decades, the government has given into a small special interest group – public land ranchers – for the management of taxpayer funded public lands. The government must use science to manage public land resources and stop catering to what’s commonly called the “good ol’ boy” network.
The BLM has targeted one of the largest wild horse herds remaining in Nevada. The Clan Alpine herd is located about 40 miles outside Fallon, NV. They estimate that just over 1,700 wild horses live in and around the designated Herd Management Area (HMA).
The BLM is gearing up to remove horses down to a randomly chosen management level of approximately 612-979 wild horses. This size range was determined years ago to allow for massive livestock grazing that has overrun the area even before the BLM was founded in the mid 1940s.
TAKE ACTION
Wild horse and burro supporters must not give in to fatigue or hopelessness as the mismanagement of America’s wild horses and burros has continued for decades. The “wins” may seem few and far between, but doing nothing will remove these iconic animals forever. Massive public pressure ensured the passage of the 1971 Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act.
Contact your federal elected officials to let them know you want safe, humane management for wild horses and burros on the range; an end to brutal and unnecessary roundups, and the increased use of safe/proven/humane population control via PZP as well as more public private partnerships to keep America’s horses wild and free on the lands designated to them by law.
- To reach your Senators: www.senate.gov
- To reach your House Rep: www.house.gov