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

New Social Media Campaign Aims to Defend America’sMustangsfrom 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 legendCarole Kingand television actorWendie 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’slethal 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 withoutCongress’ approval.

“Our #ImWithTheBand campaign aims to showCongressthat the American people will not stand for the brutal destruction of our iconicmustangsand burros,” said Suzanne Roy, Executive Director of the AWHC. “By standing with our wild horse bands, we are tellingCongressthat 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.”

OthersJoining the Bandinclude award-winning director Kip Andersen ofCowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret; Petrine Mitchum, author ofHollywood 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 theSalt River Wild Horse Management Groupand the Nevada based group, thePine Nut Wild Horse Advocates.

AWHC created a new websiteStandWithTheBands.orgto serve as the hub for the social media effort. Visitors to the site canJoin the Bandby creating their own “backstage pass” to share on social media, tweet at key members ofCongressand 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 nearly3 in 4 Americans support protecting wild horses and burroson ourpublic landsand80 percent of Americans oppose horse slaughter. AWHC is calling onCongressto 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.Congressshould 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.

TheAmerican 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