AWHC RELEASES “BEST & WORST OF 2019 FOR WILD HORSES”
Slaughter and Betrayal Top the List
Davis, CA (January 6, 2020).... The American Wild Horse Campaign today released its Best and Worst of 2019 for Wild Horses list, recapping a tumultuous year that saw wild horses scapegoated by federal officials seeking to divert attention away from the true causes of public lands degradation and sold out by large corporate animal welfare groups seeking to curry favor with Congressional appropriators.
On the positive side, public opposition to wild horse slaughter led to passage of new legislation in California, Congress’ imposition of a ban on the U.S. Forest Service’s sale of wild horses and burros for slaughter, and the Trump Administration’s pledge to pursue only non-lethal methods of wild horse management.
Click below to read about the highs and lows in 2019 for the wild horses and burros of the American West.
The Best and Worst of 2019 for Wild Horses
The Best
1. Congress prohibits Forest Service from killing healthy wild horses and selling them for slaughter.
2. California passes bill to better protect wild and domestic horses from slaughter.
3. State of Nevada reinstates humane fertility control program for historic Virginia Range mustang herd. Program is now the largest of its kind in the world.
4. Trump Administration takes lethal management off the table.
5. House Energy and Natural Resource Committee members -- led by Chairman Raul Grijalva -- take steps to rein in funding for plan that would devastate mustang and burro populations.
6. Congress members step up for wild horses.
The Worst
1. Livestock industry/animal welfare groups collude on mass removal and warehousing plan that makes slaughter more likely over the long term.
2. New BLM director scapegoats wild horses, seeks to weaken laws protecting them.
3. New BLM adoption and sales program is dumping captured wild horses and burros, endangering their welfare.
4. Increasing numbers of BLM wild horses and burros showing up in kill pens.
5. BLM roundup abuses pile up as famous wild horse herds lose their freedom.
6. BLM again fails to utilize humane management tools.
Click here for full Best & Worst of 2019 for Wild Horses List
The American Wild Horse Campaign (AWHC) is the nation’s leading wild horse protection organization, with more than 700,000 supporters and followers nationwide. AWHC is dedicated to preserving the American wild horse and burros in viable, free-roaming herds for generations to come, as part of our national heritage. In addition to advocating for protection and preservation of America’s wild herds, AWHC implements the largest wild horse fertility control program in the world through a partnership with the State of Nevada for wild horses that live in the Virginia Range near Reno.
