AWHC Statement on the Death of Wild Grulla Stallion #3907

AWHC Statement in Response to Death of Wild Grulla Stallion #3907

Salt Lake City, Utah (August 4, 2015)... The American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign), like everyone else in the advocacy community, is heartbroken by the passing of this majestic stallion. His story captured the hearts of millions, and his tragic death is shining a bright spotlight on the tragedy of the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) roundup and stockpile program.

The BLM’s attempt to blame private parties for the gelding of this senior stallion is disingenuous and morally wrong. Despite more than 24,000 Americans calling on the BLM to return the senior stallions from the Sulphur Springs roundup to the wild, the agency refused.

The BLM's across-the-board policy is to geld all stallions – from those who are just 4-5 months old to geriatric stallions like Grulla #3907. Hundreds, if not thousands, of stallions have died over the last 40 years from gelding complications.

The place for this wild stallion was in the wild, not in a holding pen, and not in a breeding pen where his offspring would be sold into a flooded market where 140,000 horses a year already go to slaughter.

The blood of this heroic and majestic stallion is on the BLM's hands. The BLM needs to stop blaming others for its mismanagement of the Wild Horse and Burro Program and its failure to implement humane, on-the-range management policies.

The beautiful Grulla stallion’s story all too tragically illustrates this point: the only place for wild horses is in the wild.

The American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Preservation) (AWHC) is a coalition of more than 60 horse advocacy, public interest, and conservation organizations dedicated to preserving American wild horses and burros in viable, free-roaming herds for generations to come, as part of our national heritage.