Response to House Interior Appropriations Committee Markup of FY 2018 Interior Bill

Washington, DC (May 15, 2018)…Moments ago, the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee passed itsFiscal Year (FY) 2019 Interior spending billon to the full Appropriations Committee. Included is funding for the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM's) Wild Horse and Burro Program.

As was the case last year, the bill maintains prohibitions on theBLM's destruction of healthy horses and burros and their sale for slaughter.

While this is good news, we do expect that Rep. Chris Stewart (R-UT) will again offer an amendment in full committee to strip these longstanding protections for wild horses from the FY 2019 Appropriations bill.

Last year, the full Appropriations Committee—ignoring the wishes of the overwhelming majority of Americans—adopted Rep. Stewart's slaughter amendment without a recorded vote. Fortunately, the Senate ultimately rejected the House position and, in March,the full Congress passed a FY 2018 Omnibus spending bill that included protectionsfor wild horses against killing and slaughter.

We remind House Appropriators of the American public’s strong opposition to the mass killing and slaughter of America’s iconic wild horses and burros. We further remind these members that humane and scientifically-recommended methods of population management exist, but theBLMcurrently spends zero percent of its budget implementing them.

We again call onCongressto uphold the will of the American people and the recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences by maintaining the ban on killing and slaughter of America’s mustangs and burros. Instead,Congressmust require theBLMto utilize humane and scientifically proven birth control while simultaneously addressing the extinction-level population limits imposed by theBLMon the nation’s cherished and federally-protected wild horse and burro herds.

SUPPORTING INFORMATION:

• Myths and Facts
• 2017 National Poll
• National Academy of Sciences, “Using Science to Improve the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program: A Way Forward”
• National Academy of Sciences Key Findings
• New York Times OpEd on Importance of Protecting Predators