American Wild Horse Conservation Commends Rep. Dina Titus for Bold Leadership on Blue Wing Wild Horse and Burro Protections

American Wild Horse Conservation Commends Rep. Dina Titus for Bold Leadership on Blue Wing Wild Horse and Burro Protections

Washington, D.C. (June 6, 2025)  — American Wild Horse Conservation (AWHC) applauds Congresswoman Dina Titus (D-NV) for her strong stand against the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) proposed Herd Management Area plan for the Blue Wing Complex in Pershing County, Nevada.

In a letter sent on June 4th to BLM Acting Director Jon Raby, Rep. Titus called out the agency’s “outdated, inhumane status quo” and urged BLM to end helicopter roundups, reevaluate long-stale population limits, and invest in humane, scientifically supported fertility control.

“The continued reliance on helicopter roundups is not only cruel and costly, it’s ineffective,” said Suzanne Roy, Executive Director of AWHC. “We thank Rep. Titus for calling on the BLM to implement humane, fiscally responsible solutions that protect the wild horses and burros who are a vital part of our Western heritage.”

The Blue Wing Complex spans 2.48 million acres but has seen its wild equine populations slashed while livestock grazing continues at nine times the allowable wild horse and burro population. BLM’s current plan calls for the removal of at least 330 wild horses and burros and relies heavily on helicopter captures, despite evidence of preventable deaths and extreme stress endured by the animals.

Rep. Titus specifically urged the agency to:

• Eliminate helicopter roundups and implement humane alternatives.
  
  
• Expand use of fertility control vaccines like PZP, which account for less than 4% of the current program budget.
  
  
• Reevaluate the Appropriate Management Levels (AMLs) last set in 1994.
  
  
• Restore zeroed-out Herd Areas and keep wild equines on the range.

“AWHC is proud to stand with Rep. Titus in calling for common-sense reforms that are better for the animals, better for the land, and better for taxpayers,” added Roy. “This is the kind of leadership the American public supports.”

Polling consistently shows that over 80% of Americans oppose the slaughter and mistreatment of wild horses and burros and support humane, on-range management.

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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 horse fertility control program in the world through a partnership with the State of Nevada for wild horses that live in the Virginia Range near Reno.