Leading Wild Horse Conservation Organization Applauds Bipartisan Effort to End Horse Slaughter with SAFE Act Reintroduction

Leading Wild Horse Conservation Organization Applauds Bipartisan Effort to End Horse Slaughter with SAFE Act Reintroduction

Ahead of AWHC’s Day of Action for National Horse Protection Day, the reintroduction of the SAFE Act marks a critical step toward safeguarding America’s horses from slaughter.

(WASHINGTON D.C., February 27th, 2025) – Today, the nation’s leading wild horse conservation organization, the American Wild Horse Conservation applauds U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) and Reps. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill) for reintroducing the Save America’s Forgotten Equines (SAFE) Act, which would permanently protect American horses from commercial slaughter. 

The SAFE Act would expand the Dog and Cat Meat Prohibition Act which was passed in 2018 as part of the Farm Bill to include equines. It would prohibit the commercial slaughter of horses, both domestic and wild, in the United States and would end their foreign export to slaughter. 

“AWHC welcomes the reintroduction of this important bill at this critical time as we gear up for a national day of action to celebrate National Horse Protection Day on March 1st,” said Suzanne Roy, executive director of AWHC. “The SAFE Act is a crucial step in ensuring that no horse—wild or domestic—ever faces the brutality of slaughter, and we urge Congress to pass this lifesaving legislation.”

On March 1st, the organization is leading a movement to gather 50,000 signatures on a petition to the government demanding a halt to helicopter roundups. 

Wild horses are particularly vulnerable to entering the slaughter pipeline due to the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) mass roundup and removal program. This program, costing taxpayers $150 million annually, has created a holding crisis, with over 66,000 wild horses and burros confined in federal holding facilities and more wild horses confined than free in the wild. 

In an attempt to mitigate this crisis, the BLM established the Adoption Incentive Program (AIP), offering $1,000 to individuals who adopt unhandled wild horses or burros. However, an AWHC investigation exposed widespread fraud and abuse within the program, which was highlighted in a front-page exposé by The New York Times.

The reintroduction of the SAFE Act represents a vital step forward in protecting America’s iconic wild horses and ensuring they are never sent to slaughter.

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‍American Wild Horse Conservation (AWHC) is the nation’s leading nonprofit wild horse conservation organization, with more than 700,000 supporters and followers nationwide. AWHC is dedicated to preserving the American wild horse and burros in viable, free-roaming herds for generations to come, as part of our national heritage. In addition to advocating for the protection and preservation of America’s wild herds, AWHC implements the largest wild horse fertility control program in the world through a partnership with the State of Nevada for wild horses that live in the Virginia Range near Reno