Celebrity Supported Social Media Campaign Launched to Defend America's Mustangs from Slaughter

New Social Media Campaign Aims to Defend America’s Mustangs from Trump Admin Slaughter & Extinction Plan

#ImWithTheBand Launched Today with Celeb Endorsements & 3.8 Million Reach

Davis, California (May 30, 2017)... #ImWithTheBand, the American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign)’s new social media campaign, launched today, is going viral with celebrity endorsements from music legend Carole King and television actor Wendie Malick, and a day one reach of nearly 4 million people.

#ImWithTheBand seeks to harness the power of the people to save America’s historic and beloved wild horse families (known as bands) in the face of the Trump Administration’s lethal budget plan. The Administration seeks to slaughter tens of thousands of these federally-protected icons and drive their wild populations down to virtual extinction levels, but cannot do so without Congress’ approval.

“Our #ImWithTheBand campaign aims to show Congress that the American people will not stand for the brutal destruction of our iconic mustangs and burros,” said Suzanne Roy, Executive Director of the AWHC. “By standing with our wild horse bands, we are telling Congress that America’s wild horses and burros are part of the history and culture of the American West. They must be protected and preserved, not cruelly rounded up and sold for slaughter.”

Others Joining the Band include award-winning director Kip Andersen of Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret; Petrine Mitchum, author of Hollywood Hoofbeats, which chronicles the history of the horse in American cinema; Road Ranger USA, the Midwest service station and convenience store giant and AWHC founding sponsor whose logo is a mustang; and AWHC coalition partners the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group and the Nevada based group, the Pine Nut Wild Horse Advocates.

AWHC created a new website StandWithTheBands.org to serve as the hub for the social media effort. Visitors to the site can Join the Band by creating their own “backstage pass” to share on social media, tweet at key members of Congress and the Administration, email their elected representatives, learn more about the issue and the wild horses and photographer behind the images, as well as watch a just-released educational video.

Polls show that nearly 3 in 4 Americans support protecting wild horses and burros on our public lands and 80 percent of Americans oppose horse slaughter. AWHC is calling on Congress to honor the will of the American people by rejecting the Administration’s request to overturn a ban on slaughtering federally-protected wild horses and burros. Congress should instead direct the agency to follow the recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences to implement scientifically proven fertility control to humanely manage sustainable numbers of wild horses and burros on our Western public lands.

The American Wild Horse Conservation (AWHC) (formerly known as the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign) is dedicated to preserving the American wild horse in viable, free-roaming herds for generations to come, as part of our national heritage. Its grassroots mission is endorsed by a coalition of more than 60 horse advocacy, humane and public interest organizations