Over 1300 Wild Horses In Wyoming Slated for Capture and in all Likelihood, Slaughter

Good Sunday morning, one week before Christmas Eve. I awoke to find out that the Bureau of Land Management is once again mis-managing America's wild herd. These horses will be captured, and some will be killed or horribly injured in the process. Because they are wild, most will end up in the slaughter houses in TX or IL, or perhaps be transported to Mexico or Canada to their slaughterhouses.

I've vacationed many times in Wyoming. It is a beautiful wilderness. For now, I cannot return.

I maintain that the wild horses are part of our heritage as American's. I can't stand by and watch this happen silently. So here, one week before Christmas, I offer up this sad news.

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The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is relying on a brand new population estimating method to justify the removal of 1,349 horses from the Adobe Town-Salt Wells Herd Management Areas (HMAs) in Wyoming. After horses were rounded up from the area just last year, only 861 were estimated as remaining on the range. Using their new estimating method, BLM later increased their population estimate by about 800% for the Salt Wells HMA alone! This stunning discrepancy is of great concern as it brings into question the ‘standard’ population calculations that BLM has been using for decades to manage our wild herds, and opens the door to equally drastic population adjustments for other herds.

The amount of forage allocated to private livestock on the public lands in question is more than ten times the amount of forage allocated to wild horses, even though by law HMAs are to be ‘devoted principally’ to wild horses. The absolute minimum estimated cost of the round-up and annual containment of the captured horses is over $4 million.

Please protest this gross waste of tax-dollars and mismanagement of our natural resources:

- Mail your comments before December 21 to BLM, Rock Springs Field Office, 280 Highway 191 North, Rock Springs, Wyoming 82901-3447. Do not let BLM’s refusal to accept email comments discourage you from speaking out. If you do not have time for a letter, a simple postcard registering your objection will do. Make sure to include your name and signature, and this reference number: WY-040-EA07-37.

- Please also alert Wyoming to the fact that continued mismanagement of its wild horse herds will hurt tourism in the state. Contact the Office of Wyoming Travel and Tourism, I-25 at College Drive, Cheyenne, WY 82002 - phone: 800.225.5996 - fax: 307.777.2877 – contact via web form

- Our Wyoming supporters should also contact their US Representative and two US Senators to protest such disregard for their state’s heritage (locate your federal legislators at www.congress.org).

On behalf of the horses, thank you for your support.

The AWHPC Team
American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign
www.wildhorsepreservation.org