Leading Wild Horse NGO Delivers 50K Signatures to Halt Controversial Roundup

WASHINGTON (July 8, 2021)— Today, theAmerican Wild Horse Conservation(AWHC), the nation’s leading wild horse protection organization, hand-delivered the signatures of 50,000 citizens to the U.S. Department of the Interior. This was a final plea to SecretaryDeb Haalandand Acting Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Director Nada Culver tosuspend plans to round up and remove 80% of the famed Onaqui Mountains wild horse herdin Utah.

• What:Delivering 50,000 signatures to Interior Department calling for a halt to the roundup of federally-protected wild horses in Utah
• Where:18th Street Northwest & C Street Northwest, Washington, DC
• When:Thursday, July 8, 2021, 11 a.m.

As early as this Sunday, July 11, theBLMwill begin the controversial helicopter removal of over 200 of the federally-protected wild horses who live on public lands just 40 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. The high-profile herd, which is currently managed usingfertility control, is historically and culturally significant and is visited by tourists from all over the world.

The AWHC issued the following statement when delivering the signatures:

In April, the AWHC and environmental watchdog organization, Western Watersheds Project (WWP)submitted a proposalfor the management of the Onaqui horses, focusing on the need to allow time — just three more years — for the PZP fertility program currently in place in the Onaqui HMA to stabilize population growth. The plan also emphasized the need forBLMto give wild horses a more equitable share of resources by decreasing commercial livestock grazing in their habitat and asked that the entire habitat be open and accessible to the wild horses.

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. 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.