Wild Horse Populations Under Attack in United States

STUDIO CITY, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES – Substantial evidence indicates that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) intends to eliminate wild horses and burros from America’s public landscape. Countless American wild horses and burros are systemically mistreated and removed from their legally protected homes in the wild by the BLM despite U.S. policies which mandate their protection and preservation on public lands. Unless and until the BLM is stopped, the future for America’s majestic horses and burros will continue to be in jeopardy. The stakes could not be higher; their very survival is at stake and time is running out.

North Americans have a special link with the wild horses, especially the mustangs that roamed and surprisingly to many people still are in large numbers across North America. There are herds of wild horses in the Alberta foothills of the Canadian Rocky Mountains.

Protecting the wild horses has become the goal and passion of many people.

Seeing wild horses in nature is a very special privilege. Unless something is done soon, for far too many it will likely become more myth that reality that wild horses are still here today.

“Contrary to the BLM’s claims that wild horses are overpopulating, statistics show that vast numbers of wild equines are disappearing from the American West,” states Katia Louise, President of the Wild for Life Foundation, and Director, Saving America’s Horses. “In the 19th century, more than 2 million wild horses roamed the West, but independent analysis of the Bureau of Land Management’s own data indicates that there may now be less than 15,000 wild horses roaming freely on public lands.”

There are over 200 million acres of range-lands in the U.S. where these horses could roam freely, but they are quickly being eliminated by the same governmental agencies that claim to protect them. Unless action is taken, America’s wild equids will continue to vanish – a potentially catastrophic scenario for generations to come.

Wild horses are labeled as “feral” by proponents of slaughter in denial of paleontological evidence showing that the horse evolved on the North American continent over 50,000,000 years ago. With human encroachment on natural habitats a constant feature of our modern world, America’s wild and historic Mustangs are quickly losing their Native home lands. As the remaining number of Wild Horses in the U.S. nears extinction, the need for their legal protection becomes tantamount to their survival as a species. America’s Wild Horses cannot be reproduced once they are gone.

Congress states that “wild free-roaming horses and burros are living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West; that they contribute to the diversity of life forms within the Nation and enrich the lives of the American people; and that these horses and burros are fast disappearing from the American scene.” Under public law “wild free-roaming horses and burros are to be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death; and to accomplish this they are to be considered in the area where presently found, as an integral part of the natural system of the public lands.”

Wild horses are also labeled as “destructive” or “invasive species” by the livestock industry as a means to justify their removal. However, the reintroduction of horses to range-lands can in truth rejuvenate the environment. As evidenced through their successful returned to landscapes in both Britain and the Oostvaardersplassen of the Netherlands. Studies of these conservation grazing practices reveal that the re-introduction of wild equines to the woodlands and pastures has in fact successfully restored the natural environment and wildlife.

While USDA Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, publicly claims to be against horse slaughter, the USDA has been rallying tribal leaders to support the reopening of horse slaughter in the U.S. However, Katia Louise brings to light a startling recent report which exposes the USDA’s distribution of misinformation provided to the American tribal leaders. This well-substantiated report entitled In Truth Wild Horses on Native Land and Tongue, reveals evidence of meetings held by the USDA with tribal leaders for the purpose of getting them to distribute ‘misinformation’ to their congressional delegations about horse slaughter and the removal of America’s wild horses.

As part of a larger pattern, just a few weeks ago strikingly similar actions to the USDA’s activities in support of horse slaughter were revealed when the BLM denied having any knowledge or involvement related the sale of America’s wild horses and burros to slaughter. In a recent Federal Report which shocked the Nation it was reported that the BLM’s largest buyer of wild horses was in truth sending them to slaughter.

Can we preserve and protect one of America’s most iconic species before they become extinct in the wild? The Wild For Life Foundation (WFLF), says the answer is YES; a resounding YES!

“Never before has there been a need so great for people to ban together for the protection of one of our most precious and historic natural resources, the horse,” said Ms. Louise. “Regardless of why, we as a culture, are so repulsed by the thought of consuming horse flesh, and the reasons are many; if we fail to uphold our fundamental moral and social responsibilities, we are in effect dooming the fate of our own humanity.

“Most people don’t have any idea that America’s wild horses are disappearing and going to slaughter,” added Ms. Louise. “Armed with the true facts and uniting together to make our united voice heard for the horses and burros, we can educate and effect change.”

In an effort to save, protect and preserve wild and domestic equines, as opposed to the promotion of horse slaughter and widespread roundups throughout the American West, Wild for Life Foundation’s President, Katia Louise is calling on members of the public who care about the horses to join in a united stance for the horses with WFLF Saving America’s Horses Coalition by going to WFLF and clicking on the join button, which will continue to raise awareness and provide ongoing education on this critical issue. Ms. Louise says, “Making your voice heard will ultimately bring this unjust, cruel and barbaric practice to an end.”