American Wild Horse Conservation Applauds Rep. Steve Cohen for Opposing Wild Horse Roundups

American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign) applauds Representative Steve Cohen for opposing cruel and costly wild horseroundups.

WASHINGTON (February 8, 2022) — Today, Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN)called onU.S. Bureau of Land Management Director Tracy Stone-Manning and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to suspend the rounding up of federally protected wild horses and burros from western public lands.

In a letterto Stone-Manning and Haaland, Congressman Cohen said theBLM’s plan to round up 22,000 wild horses and burros this year “comes at great risk to the animals and taxpayers” and urges the agency to “suspend all roundup activities until appropriate range assessments have been completed, animal welfare concerns have been addressed, and a robust fertility control vaccine plan has been implemented.”

Suzanne Roy, executive director of the American Wild Horse Conservation, praised Congressman Cohen for standing up for our nation’s wild horses and U.S. taxpayers.

“With new leadership overseeing the BLM and the Department of Interior, we hope for new approaches that are humane and cost-effective, instead ofroundupsthat merely repeat the mistakes of the past,” Roy said. “We’re thankful to Congressman Steve Cohen for taking leadership on this issue and advocating for change. He is working in the best interest of wild horses and the American public, which wants to see these animals treated humanely and preserved on the range.”

Congressman Cohen has been a dedicated leader for the protection and preservation of the nation’s wild horses and burros, championing efforts to oppose massroundupsand encourage the agency toward humane management strategies to keep these animals in their federal habitat.

Congressman Cohen’s letter notes that BLM has usedroundupsfor years, and he points to the National Academy of Sciences report that showsroundupsare counterproductive in controlling wild horse populations because removing horses from the range merely promotes increased population growth rates among the herds that remain. Instead, the National Academy of Sciences called on the bureau to use humane fertility control to manage horse populations.

The cost to dart a mare with the safe and effective PZP vaccine to prevent pregnancy is about $220, while the agency states that the cost to round up a horse from the range and warehouse it for life is up to $50,000. The cost ofBLM’s roundup plan will cost U.S. taxpayers nearly $1 billion in the first 5 years alone.

In addition, theBLM’s current management approach too often leads to the injury and death of protected wild horses.

Congressman Cohen acknowledgedBLM’s plan to use more fertility control than in the past this year as a way to manage wild horses, but said it is not enough.

“The vaccine program must be much more robust in order to obtain positive results, achieve management goals, and avoid compensatory reproduction,” Congressman Cohen said.

A recentAWHC reportshows that the public in recent years has paid hundreds of millions of dollars to fundroundups, including:

• $53.2 million for helicopter roundup and bait-trapping operations since 2006.
• $87.0 million for short-term holding corrals since 2010.
• $333 million for long-term holding pastures since 2004.

This is despite critical reports from the National Academy of Sciences, General Accountability Office, and the Office of Inspector General that have labeled the program as costly, inefficient, and ineffective.

About The American Wild Horse Conservation

TheAmerican Wild Horse Conservation(AWHC) is the nation’s leading wild horse protection 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.

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