Wild Horse Advocacy Groups Urge Haaland to Promote Safe Management Methods

Washington, DC (February 22, 2021)—On the eve of U.S. Rep. Deb Haaland’s historic confirmation hearing for Secretary of the Interior, the American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign), theAnimal Welfare Institute(AWI), and several other leading wild horse advocacy groupssent a letterto the New Mexico congresswoman applauding her nomination, and respectfully requesting that once confirmed, she direct the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to stop pursuing dangerous surgical sterilizations on wild horses.

Haaland’s confirmation hearing before theSenateCommittee on Energy and Natural Resources is scheduled for Tuesday. The fullSenateis expected to vote on her confirmation in the coming weeks.

Since 2016, theBLMhas pursued multiple schemes to surgically sterilize wild horses as a form of population management including a procedure called ovariectomy via colpotomy, despite objections from the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). In its comprehensive report on wild horse and burro management, the NAS explicitly advised against performing ovariectomies as a form offertility controldue to the risks of prolonged bleeding and infection. The procedure can cause pain, evisceration, hemorrhaging, and even death.

In 2018, a federal court sided with AWHC, AWI, and The Cloud Foundation andblocked the BLMfrom conducting ovariectomies on a herd in Oregon. However, in October, theBLMannounced that it would proceed with a management plan to ovariectomize wild horses in the Confusion Herd Management Area in Utah, marking the first time that the agency would conduct ovariectomies on federally protected wild horses. In response, AWHC filed itsthird lawsuitagainst theBLM’s relentless pursuit of this procedure.

Haaland, who would be the first Native American to serve as a Cabinet secretary, has been a vocal critic of theBLM’s efforts to surgically sterilize wild horses, along withdozens of federal lawmakersin the House and Senate.Veterinarianshave also criticized the use of ovariectomies on wild horses due to the risks involved, andnational pollingshows that Americans overwhelmingly oppose theBLM’s plans to ovariectomize wild horses.

Currently, theBLMspends less than 1% of its Wild Horse and Burro Program budget onfertility control, but spends approximately $60 million annually rounding up horses from the range and keeping them in long-term holding facilities for the rest of their lives — “a shortsighted approach that has failed to successfully manage populations on the range and which comes at enormous taxpayer expense,” wrote the horse advocacy groups in their letter.

Haaland has supported the robust implementation of proven and safefertility controlmethods to manage wild horse populations. She co-authored an amendment to last year’s Interior appropriations bill directing theBLMto use the PZP immunocontraceptive vaccine, which has helped successfully manage herds for decades.

"The vast majority of Americans want our nation’s wild horses and burros protected and humanely managed on our Western public lands,”said Brieanah Schwartz, policy counsel for the AWHC."Subjecting wild mares to invasive, painful, and risky sterilization surgeries is far below the humane standard that Americans demand for these iconic animals. We look forward to secretary-designate Haaland’s confirmation and working with her to prohibit theBLMfrom using this inhumane procedure.”

“We support Congresswoman Haaland’s vision for the safe, humane management of our nation’s wild horses,”said Joanna Grossman, Ph.D., AWI’s equine program manager and senior advisor.“The Trump administration’s aggressive efforts over the last few years to use unsafe and outdated procedures on wild horses runs counter to theBLM’s mandate to protect these beloved animals. It’s time for theBLMto abandon its gruesome sterilization plans and adopt a proven strategy.”

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TheAmerican Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign)(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.

TheAnimal Welfare Institute(www.awionline.org) is a nonprofit charitable organization founded in 1951 and dedicated to reducing animal suffering caused by people. AWI engages policymakers, scientists, industry, and the public to achieve better treatment of animals everywhere – in the laboratory, on the farm, in commerce, at home, and in the wild. Follow us onFacebook,Twitter, andInstagramfor updates and other important animal protection news.