Help Stop the U.S. Government's Barbaric Sterilization of Wild Horses

Wild horses embody the American character like no other animal. Thesemagnificent creaturesrunning wild in the West capture the very best of our independent and free spirit. Yet, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the U.S. agency charged with “managing” America’s wild horses and burros, plans the roundup, captivity, slaughter, and more recently, sterilization of these wild mares, all for the sake of makingmore room for livestockon public land.

TheBLMhas continuouslymaintainedthat such measures to control wild horse populations are justified, insisting that theroundupsare necessary to preserve ecological balance. However, there are only33,000 wild horses left, while millions of cattle and sheep move into their homes. As Suzanne Roy, director of the American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Preservation),puts it, “We don’t have an overpopulation of wild horses. We have an overpopulation oflivestockon our public lands.”

Wild horses run for their lives as a government helicopter chases them out of their homes on public land to make room forcattle grazing. The horses will be sold off to buyers, many forhorse meat.

BLMis planning massive barbaric, archaic, and dangeroussterilization experimentson captured wild mares. In thesehorrifying procedures, 100 mares, the majority of whom may be pregnant, will be subject to a procedure called “ovariectomy via colpotomy.” Theprocedureinvolvesa veterinarian making an incision in a mare’s vaginal wall, placing his hand and arm through the vagina into the abdominal cavity, manually (and blindly) locating the ovaries, then severing them with a rod-like chain tool (known as an “ecraseur”). The painful procedure will subject mares to the risk of infection, hemorrhage, and evisceration (intestines coming through the incision), and cause mares in the early to mid-stages of pregnancy to abort their fetuses. It is absolutely unconscionable for a government body to proceed with thesehorrifying and dangerous experimentsthat endanger the lives of these horses and their babies.

American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Preservation) recently released shocking video of some of these procedures, exposing the brutal realities of what is happening to these animals. The information is vital if we are to protect America’s iconic wild horses, but we warn that some of the footage contains graphic material.

This is no way to treat an American icon. You can stand up for wild horses and tell theBLMthat these barbaric procedures should not be utilized in a petition here. Of course, when it comes to protecting public land and its inhabitants, we must also take a look at how our daily actions impact these government decisions. If there were not such a demand for hamburgers, there would be less need for cattle grazing lands. We can all help protect wild populations by leaving meat off of our plates. Learn more about how ourfood choices impact wild horses here.

Originally posted by One Green Planet