NEVADA - Citing cruelty and harm to wild horses and burros, Nevada Congresswoman Dina Titus has introduced a bill banning helicopter roundups (H.R. 6635).
The practice of using helicopters to chase down federally protected mustangs and burros and remove them from the range is used by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) widely in Nevada and across the West. The process terrorizes horses and nearly every roundup includes cases of mustangs injured or killed as a result. Broken necks and legs are common, as are horses dying from the stress of being chased to pure exhaustion.
“You saw the pictures from the most recent [roundup] at the Pancake area near Ely, where they chased that little colt till he just ran down, and then they had to shoot him,” Titus said in an interview with KLAS TV in Las Vegas.
“What purpose does that serve?,” she asked. “So we need to find another method, and the first thing we can do is get rid of, outlaw, ban those helicopters.”
You can see the text of Titus’ bill here.
This is just one of the latest examples of a Member of Congress demanding the BLM address the harmful treatment of the wild horses and burros in its care.
On Feb. 7, Tennessee Congressman Steve Cohen called on BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to suspend wild horse roundups and instead manage horses with humane and more cost-effective fertility control vaccines. And last June more than 30 members of Congress called on BLM to halt its adoption program after a New York Times exposé revealed wild horses adopted via the program are being funneled into the slaughter pipeline and are at risk of being exported to slaughterhouses in Mexico and Canada.
“We are thankful to leaders such as Congresswoman Titus and Congressman Cohen standing up for our nation’s wild horses and holding the BLM accountable for the mistreatment of these animals,” said American Wild Horse Campaign Executive Director Suzanne Roy. “Roundups are inhumane and at the same time are costing U.S. taxpayers millions of dollars each year. Grounding helicopters and utilizing more humane methods of managing wild horse populations on the range, such as fertility control vaccines, would go a long way toward protecting our wild horses and burros.”
Congressman Cohen’s letter points to the 2013 National Academy of Sciences report that shows roundups are counterproductive in controlling wild horse populations because removing horses from the range merely promotes increased population growth rates among the herds that remain. Instead, the National Academy of Sciences called on the BLMto use humane fertility control to manage horse populations.
The cost to dart a mare with the safe and effective PZP vaccine to prevent pregnancy is about $220, while the agency states that the cost to round up a horse from the range and warehouse it for life is up to $50,000. The cost of BLM’s roundup plan will cost U.S. taxpayers nearly $1 billion in the first 5 years alone.
A recent AWHC report shows that the public in recent years has paid hundreds of millions of dollars to fund roundups, including:
- $53.2 million for helicopter roundup and bait-trapping operations since 2006.
- $87.0 million for short-term holding corrals since 2010.
- $333 million for long-term holding pastures since 2004.
This is despite critical reports from the National Academy of Sciences, General Accountability Office, and the Office of Inspector General that have labeled the program as costly, inefficient, and ineffective.
About The American Wild Horse Campaign
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.
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