It is estimated that approximately 56,000 wild horses remain free on taxpayer public lands allocated to them by law across the American West.
And even worse, over 60,000 are confined in government holding facilities with many likely to spend the rest of their lives imprisoned there.
Holding facilities are often overcrowded and lacking in shelter against all weather conditions. Horses are stressed and depressed. Horses coming from roundups are traumatized, injured and even die at the holding facilities post roundup.
Roundups are brutal, especially ones using a helicopter to frighten and chase the horses. Horses in the wild do not expend their energy running for miles on end. What’s left of their natural predators would not give chase for mile after grueling mile. But a roundup by helicopter is a cruel, tormenting predator pushing them relentlessly onward into a capture trap, for miles on end.
Horses are exhausted, afraid and their family bands to which they have close bonds are broken. Those trying to escape can end up hung up on corral panels or even running headlong into them, resulting in broken legs, broken necks, even death.
There will be more roundups in 2026, including the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) plan for the largest helicopter roundup in U.S. history. This mass removal could permanently change the future of America’s wild herds. And it must be stopped.
Wild horse advocates stand between those who wish to eliminate wild horse (and burro) herds from their lawful lands and the animals which remain free.
Pressure on elected officials must be relentless to save these majestic icons of the West. Contact your two Senators (www.senate.gov) and House Representative (www.house.gov) to support legislation to preserve the wild horses and burros under the protections of the 1971 Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act.