Submit Your Comments to the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board

TheBLMWild Horse and Burro Advisory Board ismeeting on July 9 -11in Boise, Idaho. In recent years, theBLMWild Horse and Burro Program has deteriorated, with the agenda of achieving the virtual extinction of wild free-roaming horses and burros for the benefit of subsidized livestock grazing gaining ground.

Here are some of the issues facing our wild horses and burros now:

• A cattle industryplan– endorsed by the Humane Society of the United States, ASPCA, and Return to Freedom – that would result in the virtual elimination of wild free-roaming horses and burros frompublic landsover the next ten years.
• BLMpursuit of the cruel and invasiveovariectomy via colpotomy experimentson wild mares in Oregon despite a warning from the National Academy of Sciences that the procedure was “inadvisable for field application” due to risk of bleeding and infection, the decision by two major research institutions to disassociate with the project, andfederal lawsuitsthat have stopped the project in its tracks twice before.
• Roundup abuses includingviolationsof animal welfare guidelines at theroundupsthemselves, use of emergency excuses to conductroundupswithout public input or disclosure, and abuse of the euthanasia protocols to kill horses with recoverable, non-fatal conditions.
• Inhumane conditions in holding facilities, such as the Hines Corrals in Oregon, resulting inhigh death rates of captured horses, and heartless policies that now prohibit the placement of special needs horses, such as the mareElsa and her rare twins, with Skydog Sanctuary.
• Turning the reins ofpublic landsmanagement over to thelivestockindustry, withBLM staff instructed to no longer enforcegrazing restrictions as well as the firing of whistleblowers who protest these policies.

The Advisory Board is supposed to represent all stakeholders. The largest stakeholder is the public, which overwhelmingly supports the protection and humane management of wild horses onpublic lands, but is often left out of policymaking on the wild and burro horse issue.

There are alternatives to more massive removals and barbaric sterilization surgeries that rip the ovaries out of wild mares. Foremost is committing more funding to comprehensive PZP fertility control programs and reducing privatelivestockgrazing onpublic lands.

What You Can Do

1. Attend the meeting in Boise:Details here.

2. If you can't attend, submit your comments to address:whbadvisoryboard@blm.govPlease include “Advisory Board Comment” in the subject line of the email.

(Before including your address, phone number, email address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment—including your personal identifying information—may be made publicly available at any time.)

Thank you for using your voice to speak up for our wild horses and burros.