September 6, 2004 -- A team of wild horse experts — under the coalition banner of The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign (AWHPC) — is alerting the public to the fact that that America’s wild horses are being eradicated from public lands in violation of the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse & Burro Act, which protects wild horses as “living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West.”
Special interests have been successful in pressuring the government to systematically remove wild horses from public lands — specifically the cattle industry, which wants the horses replaced with cattle for subsidized grazing. While the aggressive removal policy currently being implemented is costing over thirty million taxpayer dollars annually, in-the-wild management -- as mandated by federal law -- would save millions of taxpayers’ dollars.
Just a hundred years ago, more than 2 million wild horses roamed the nation’s public range. Fewer than 32,000 now remain, outnumbered by private cattle by about 150 to 1 on public lands; about as many -- nearly 29,000 — will be held in government short- and long-term holding facilities by the end of this year, most of them unadoptable. The government plans to capture another 9,300 horses by February 2005, with the removal campaign costing upwards of $5,000 for the capture of a single horse, in addition to the mounting costs of long-term holding. Some Bureau of Land Management (BLM) officials have acknowledged that there is talk in Washington of a one-time 'sale' or 'kill' authority to dispose of the tens of thousands of horses currently in holding facilities.
After a public outcry in the 1970s, a federal law was passed protecting wild horses on 80 million acres of wilderness in 16 western states. But loopholes in the law rendered protection of this symbol of our national heritage ineffective: wild horses have been completely removed from more than half of their once-protected range to make room for more private cattle. They roam free now in just 10 states, with three of those states retaining only 538 horses between them. Wild horses are now completely gone from Washington, South Dakota, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and North Dakota, and at this rate, AWHPC contends, “they will soon be found in only 7 states, on less than a quarter of their legally designated areas.”
AWHPC has completed an in-the-field investigation by air and by land of Nevada’s wild horse populations and has concluded that their numbers are increasing at a rate closer to 10-12%, not 20-24% as claimed by the BLM, the U.S. agency overseeing wild horse management. Neda DeMayo and Alex Shepherd of Return to Freedom Wild Horse Sanctuary, Jim Clapp of the National Wild Horse Defense Council, and Laura Moretti and Vance Parker of The Animals Voice, all of which already represent the combined concerns of more than 1 million supporters nationwide, spent a grueling 21-day mission in the desert between July 27 and August 16 to see for themselves what Nevada’s wild horse situation truly was. The team visited 14 wild horse areas throughout the state of Nevada, and counted only 335 horses. A similar independent count ten years ago produced sightings of hundreds more animals.
Based on their investigation, the group is challenging BLM’s claims of wild horse overpopulation. Specifically, the government agency is blaming the alleged crisis on the current drought suffered by western states. The reality is that water is available on the public range, supplying wells for privately owned livestock and large irrigation systems feeding thousands of acres of alfalfa fields — indeed, cattle can be seen thriving on one side of public land fencing, while horses are left to die of dehydration on the other.
AWHPC’s goal is to obtain a moratorium on round-ups — pending an independent census of the remaining herds — and obtain the implementation of management policies that reflect the intent of federal law and the will of the American people. With the public’s help, it will urge Congress to manage wild horses IN THE WILD. The organization is coordinating a massive letter-writing campaign in support of a Congressional hearing on the issue.
Support letters should be sent to: AWHPC, P.O. Box 926, Lompoc, CA 93438 or faxed to (805) 735-3246. Emails are also acceptable and should be sent to letters@wildhorsepreservation.com.
Letters will be collected and forwarded in bulk to relevant government officials. AWHPC asks that writers be sure to include their full name and address.
The AWHPC coalition is currently comprised of Return to Freedom (The American Wild Horse Sanctuary), The Animals Voice, The American Horse Defense Fund, The National Wild Horse Defense Council, and Single Horse Rescue. To add your organization’s name to the coalition, or for more information and photos of AWHPC’s in-the-field investigation, visit the group online at www.wildhorsepreservation.com or call toll-free 1-877-853-4696.
Contact: Wendy Wilkinson
Lompac, CA
719/685-1723
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