77 Representatives Advocate for Humane Wild Horse Management in FY 2025 Legislation

Leading wild horse conservation organization praises efforts

WASHINGTON D.C. (May 6, 2024) – Today, American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign) commends Representatives Dina Titus (D-NV), Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ), Steve Cohen (D-TN), and David Schweikert (R-AZ) for leading a bipartisan effort calling for humane wild horse management in the Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) House Appropriations legislation. This effort, supported by nearly 80 representatives, signals a resolute call for change within the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s)Wild Horse and Burro Program.

The letter, submitted to the House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, requests language in FY25 appropriations legislation requiring theBLMto spend no less than 10% of the $140+-million-dollar Wild Horse and Burro Program budget to implement humanefertility controlin at least five additional Herd Management Areas (HMAs) within 120 days of the bill’s passage. The letter also calls for a $100,000 reduction in program funding for each day beyond the 120-day deadline that theBLMfails to commence field implementation of humane fertility control. This request seeks increased accountability to address the agency’s failure to comply with past Congressional directives prescribing an increase in the use of humane fertility control to manage wild horses and burros.

“The support by 77 representatives is a clear indication of Congress’ frustration with theBLM’s failure to reform its inhumane and unsustainableWild Horse and Burro Program,” said Suzanne Roy, executive director of AWHC. “AWHC is grateful for the leadership of Reps. Titus, Cohen, Schweikert, and Ciscomani in advocating for in-the-wild conservation solutions to end theBLM’s reliance on cruel and costly helicopter roundups and mass removals of these federally protected animals from their homes on the range.”

“Despite the abundance of evidence supporting the use offertility control,BLMpersists in spending less than 1% of its Wild Horse and Burro Management budget on this humane alternative,” said Rep. Titus. “I appreciate my colleagues‘ support mandating thatBLMdedicate a higher percent of its budget to proven and practical fertility treatment, ultimately keeping more horses on the range and protecting them from harmful roundups and holding facilities.”

"As a member of the House Committee on Appropriations, I’m pleased to request this language alongside 77 bipartisan House colleagues to advance efforts to reform theBLMWild Horse and Burro Program,” said Rep. Ciscomani. “This request reflects the widespread public interest in preserving America's wild horses and burros through cost-effective, humane and scientific in-the-wild initiatives."

“I am pleased that so many of my colleagues have joined in voicing concerns aboutBLM’s unsustainable management plan for theWild Horse and Burro program,” said Rep Cohen. “At the current rate of round-ups,BLMwill spend around $1 billion over five years on holding pens. The entire program needs to be revisited, but the language proposed by this letter would be a good next step.”

“I continue to be proud to help lead the efforts for this importantlegislationto protect wild horses and reduce their exposure to dangerousroundups,” said Rep. Schweikert. “This language encourages humane and cost-effective alternatives to ensure wild horses and burros can continue to thrive in Arizona and other western states. I look forward to working with my colleagues on this important issue.”

The requested language would also:

• Prohibit the use of funds for ovariectomy procedures
• Direct studies considering humane alternatives to the use of helicopters and manned fixed-wing aircraft
• Stop cash incentive payments for adoptions
• Identify HMAs and Herd Areas that could be redesignated for relocating horses as an alternative to off-range holding
• Maintain the prohibition on the sale or adoption of healthy wild horses and burros that results in their destruction.

For the last two years, Congress has directed theBLMto spend up to $11 million on the implementation of humanefertility controlprograms. Yet, the agency actually reduced the number offertility controltreatments it implemented in Fiscal Year 2023 while continuing to round up wild horses and burros en masse and stockpiling them in federal holding facilities, where over 64,000 wild horses and burros are now confined.

In FY24, theBLMplans to round up and remove over 20,000 more wild equines, and administerfertility controlto a mere 1,320 females – less than 5 percent of the estimated number of reproductive mares and jennies on the range.

Meanwhile, apeer-reviewed study published in the Vaccinesthis year affirms the feasibility and efficacy offertility controlprograms on large wild horse populations in expansive habitats. The study, based on four years of data from AWHC’s humanefertility controlprogram in Nevada’s Virginia Range, concluded that “[t]his method of immunocontraception was associated with providing an effective, humane, publicly acceptable, and practical alternative to the previous reliance on lethal, logistically demanding, or inhumane control methods.”

Thefertility controlprogram – now the largest of its kind in the world – has gained international recognition, including presentations in the last year by AWHC and its academic partner, Dr. Martin Schulman of the University of Pretoria School of Veterinary Medicine, at the International Symposium on Equine Reproduction in Brazil and the World Veterinary AssociationCongressin South Africa.

About American Wild Horse Conservation

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 horsefertility controlprogram in the world through a partnership with the State of Nevada for wild horses that live in the Virginia Range near Reno.

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