Obama Administration Proposal Is BAD For Wild Horses - Help Secure A Moratorium On Cruel BLM Roundup

IDA opposes the Obama Administration's proposal to manage the nation's wild horses and burros, as announced by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on October 7, 2009. The plan is cloaked in the language of helping horses, but, if approved by Congress, it would destroy the fabric of wild horse society, devastate wild horse populations and lead to the elimination of more western herds.

horse-SheldonNWR_jpgThis plan continues the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) policy of serving the interests of private ranchers who graze livestock on public lands, at the expense of the wild horse and other wildlife. This policy subverts the will of the American public and the intent of Congress, which in 1971 unanimously passed the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, declaring: "[W]ild free-roaming horses and burros are living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West. . . It is the policy of Congress that [they] shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment or death; and to accomplish this they are to be considered in the area where presently found, as an integral part of the natural system of the public lands."

Since 1971, the BLM has removed over 270,000 horses from their Western home ranges and taken away nearly 20 million acres of wild horse habitat on public lands that were protected by Congress as being "necessary to sustain an existing herd or herds of wild horses and burros ... and ... is devoted principally ... to their welfare."

horse_sheldon_jpgThe policy is based on the unsupportable claim that Western ranges cannot sustain wild horses and burros. These animals make up a tiny fraction of animals grazing the range. There are an estimated 8 million livestock, but only 37,000 horses and burros, grazing on our public lands.

Thirty-two thousand wild horses who have been cruelly rounded up off the range are already held in government holding facilities, and the BLM intends to round up 12,000 more horses in FY 2010.

IDA opposes these aspects of the Obama plan:

1. Removal of most wild horses from lands that were specifically designated to sustain wild horse populations. IDA does not support moving horses from their Western ranges to stock preserves in the East and Midwest, where non-reproductive horses will live under artificial conditions. Removing horses from their natural ranges subverts the intent of Congress and the wishes of the American people. Horses are removed through cruel roundups that separate families and destroy wild horse societies.

2. Creation of wild horse preserves outside the West. IDA opposes spending $96 million in tax dollars to purchase private land to create wild horse preserves, when 20 million acres of land already owned by the public AND designated by Congress as protected wild horse habitat is available for reintroduction of wild herds.Wild horse Conquistador in pen

3. Continued roundups and intensive management of horses who are allowed to remain on the range. Secretary Salazar's proposal allows some horses to remain on the range, but would intensely manage them through sterilization, contraception and manipulation of herd demographics. The plan would decimate remaining herds, keeping their numbers so low as to threaten their genetic survival.

%u201CIt takes the wild out of wild-horse herds,%u201D says Ginger Kathrens, Emmy award winning filmmaker of the popular PBS Nature Series Cloud Wild Stallion of the Rockies. %u201CThey%u2019re families in sophisticated societies. Creating gelding herds and preventing them from reproducing is managing them toward extinction.%u201D IDA is not opposed to the limited use of immunocontraceptives, but the method must be implemented carefully so that the essential wildness and social integrity of wild horses and burros is maintained.

4. Weakens requirements for adoption of wild horses. Part of Salazar's new strategy would reduce requirements for adoption of a wild horse or burro. BLM%u2019s current adoption requirements are already lax and enable %u201Ckiller buyers%u201D purchasing the horses for slaughter to slip through without serious scrutiny.

The solution:

1. Implement a moratorium on roundups until a final plan is established. Place a moratorium on roundups, at least until accurate and independent assessments of population numbers and roundup conditions are available and a long-term solution is finalized.

2. Separately address and provide permanent sanctuary to the 32,000 wild horses currently housed in government facilities. Return as many horses as possible from government holding to the range, and facilitate the creation of sanctuaries, utilizing the horses' natural habitat, for those horses who cannot be repatriated. One such sanctuary is proposed by Madeleine Pickens, who has offered to help fund the creation of a million-acre Wild Horse Sanctuary in Nevada where these beautiful wild horses can live free and protected. This sanctuary will return these wild horses and burros to their natural habitat, and be open to the public so families and children can come and experience the freedom and beauty of these extraordinary animals.

3. Support federal grazing permit retirement. Livestock production is the most widespread and destructive activity on arid and semi-arid western landscapes. The Government Accountability Office found that the federal government spends at least $144 million annually to manage private livestock grazing operations on publicly-owned land, but collects only $21 million in grazing fees - a net loss of at least $123 million per year. Many of the permit holders are millionaire cattlemen and big agribusinesses who benefit from this "welfare ranching." Federal grazing permit retirement would support ecological restoration of public lands and keep the West's open spaces wild.

What You Can Do





Contact President Obama (using this web form) and your Senators and Representatives (using the form at the bottom of this page.) Ask them to change destructive government policies by enacting real change for America's wild horses. Instead of a policy that continues the cruel roundups and stockpiling of horses, the government must place a moratorium on all round ups, prioritize keeping wild horses wild on the range, and humanely and safely house those who cannot be returned to the range in sanctuaries within their natural habitat.

Important Note: While this form will work for most Senators and Representatives, unfortunately President Obama and some Congresspersons now require the use of their own web forms for comments. After sending this e-mail, you might get an automated message saying your Senator or Representative now requires use of his/her web form. If so, follow the instructions in that e-mail to cut-and-paste your message into the web form. Messages for President Obama can be submitted at this White House web form.

You can also call, fax, or write to the President:
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Phone Numbers:
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461


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