Wild Horse Week on Capitol Hill: Advocacy and Legislative Updates

November 6, 2019

Wild Horse Week on Capitol Hill

Last week, American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign) joined forces with Animal Welfare Action (AWA) and The Cloud Foundation (TCF) for a dynamic week on Capitol Hill. The coalition lobbied key offices and held a successful briefing sponsored by Energy and Natural Resources (ENR) Committee Chair Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) in the ENR Committee hearing room at the Rayburn House Office Building.

The goal was to highlight how Congress has been misled into believing that the so-called “Path Forward” for wild horses is a broad stakeholder compromise beneficial to wild horses. In reality, the plan threatens to lead America's wild herds toward destruction. We aim to ensure that any additional funds appropriated for the wild horse program are allocated for PZP fertility control and that funds for the surgical sterilization of wild mares via ovary removal are prohibited.

Approximately 35 staff members, representing bipartisan members of the House and Senate, attended the briefing. AWHC Executive Director Suzanne Roy, TCF Executive Director Ginger Kathrens, and AWA Executive Director Marty Irby presented facts about the plan, its taxpayer costs, its devastating impacts on wild horse and burro herds, and alternatives to mass roundups and warehousing. Staffers were particularly interested in why groups like HSUS, ASPCA, and Return to Freedom, which claim to support wild horse protection, would endorse a livestock industry plan to roundup 130,000 horses over the next decade. (That’s every horse and burro living free today, plus 45,000 more yet to be born!)

We announced the results of our new poll showing that three in four Americans oppose the roundup plan, as do more than 60 humane, horse welfare, and wild horse protection organizations.

Overall, we are encouraged by the results of our efforts to educate Congress members and correct misinformation about the plan. The attendance of so many staff members at our briefing testifies to the persistence of our supporters, who continue to be the voice for wild horses and burros, standing as the last line of defense between these national icons and doom. Special thanks to all who have called, emailed, tweeted, and Facebook messaged their elected representatives in support of truly humane management and protection of our wild herds. Extra special gratitude goes to our coalition partners AWA and TCF, and Rep. Grijalva for providing this incredible opportunity to be heard.

The Current Political Landscape

Late last week, the Senate addressed several FY 2020 spending bills, which fund federal operations, including the Wild Horse and Burro Program for the fiscal year that began on September 1, 2019. The Senate attempted to return to "regular order," debating and passing spending legislation for various agencies to negotiate with the House on compromise legislation. However, the bill, HR 3055, just passed by the Senate, is not being negotiated with the House at this time, and no one knows when negotiations might begin. When a spending bill finally passes, it will likely differ significantly from this one. One thing is clear: Congress will have to pass another continuing resolution to temporarily fund the government by November 21, or it will shut down.

The Senate-passed bill faces a rocky road ahead, which is beneficial for horses. HR 3055 funds the Interior Department and BLM, including an extra $35 million earmarked for the Wild Horse and Burro Program to increase roundups. Worse, the bill does not ensure BLM uses PZP, leading to unhealthy and genetically unviable skewing of sex ratios and more deadly helicopter roundups. Additionally, the bill did not include two amendments offered by Senator Feinstein: one to ensure the USFS doesn't sell horses rounded up on its land for slaughter, and another to push BLM to use more humane fertility control methods like PZP. Both provisions were left out of the "manager's package" of amendments and never received a roll call vote.

Our icons of the American West deserve better, and we still have a chance to deliver it to them. In the coming weeks, you will hear about CRs, budget deals, and stop-gap appropriations deals regarding upcoming attempts to fund the federal government until September 30, 2020. Each time Congress tries to agree to a deal, it is another opportunity to include protections for America's wild horses and burros with a robust program of PZP inoculations, reduce cruel helicopter roundups, prohibit surgical sterilization, and provide less funding for failed and inhumane management strategies. In a little over two weeks, Congress will again have to pass a CR, likely until late December. We will need all of your support this year to demand that Congress act to protect our cultural and natural heritage and save the wild horses and burros on public land.