Wild Horse Wipeout
A Wildlife Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM Fund for Horses
June 2021

We challenge the federal government to not only stop rounding up America’s wild horses and burros, but also to free all of the wild horses and burros stockpiled around the country and return them to their native habitats.

Wild Horse on  Hill, by Carol Walker

There can be absolutely no doubt that the enemies of America’s wild horses, aided and abetted by the federal government, have a clear and alarmingly effective agenda which they have been conducting over many years. Their goal? The great wipe out of America’s wild horses. Tragically, it appears to be well within their grasp.

Who are these deadly enemies? Welfare cattle ranchers are highest on the list, plus these four major federal land management agencies who administer 606.5 million acres of public land. They are —

• The Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
• Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)
•  National Park Service (NPS) in the Department of the Interior (DOI)
• The Forest Service (FS) in the Department of Agriculture.

In 2019, federal officials said there were 90,000 wild horses left on public lands. They reported the same number in 2020, and are reporting it again in 2021. This raised alarm bells. So we sought substantiation from a trustworthy source, and contacted Wildlife Biologist and Wild Horse & Burro Expert Craig Downer for clarification.

Downer responded:

Yes it’s very suspect about how the numbers remain more or less the same year after year. As I understand their plan, they actually plan to reduce the wild horses and horses and burros to just 26,600 which is a travesty. They are making a mockery of the WFHBA and want to be considered as heroes for doing so. We must fight to expose this wrongdoing and reform the whole program.

Since the federal government has been lying for more than two years about the number of wild horses, how few in truth are there?

The number 26,600 shocked us because the BLM stated recently they will essentially manage America’s wild horse population until there are as few as 45,000. Tuesday’s Horse »

If the federal government through its agencies are successful, and virtually wipe out our American herds, are our wild horses lost forever?

We asked Downer if the horses and burros who have been removed and incarcerated across the country could be safely returned to public lands.

Yes, I believe they can be put back and should be but in areas where they will be truly protected along with their habitats.

Our goal is this. We challenge the federal government to not only stop rounding up America’s wild horses and burros, but also to free all of the wild horses and burros stockpiled around the country and return them to their native habitats.

Wild and Free-Forming Horses and Burros Act of 1977 (WFRHBA)

The Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 (WFRHBA), an Act of Congress (Pub.L. 92–195), was signed into law by President Richard M. Nixon on December 18, 1971. The act covers the management, protection and study of “unbranded and unclaimed horses and burros on public lands in the United States.”

We believe that the federal agencies in charge of managing America’s wild horses and burros are violating the substance and intent of the WFRHBA, so we are putting the matter into the hands of attorneys to discover if we can take legal action, demanding reparation and restoration. This may have been tried already but we do not mind doing it again, with our own lawyers.

Get Involved

We are putting together a campaign to commence in late August or early September, so stayed tuned for that. We will need every one of you, and everyone you know.

If you have excellent social media skills and the time to give, please contact us here. Twitter stars please apply.

We are also looking for teachers to create a lesson plan regarding the history and national value of our wild horses and burros, and the freedom they represent. Think Velma Johnston aka Wild Horse Annie.

Let’s put on a show for our wild ones that would make Wild Horse Annie proud.

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