Talking Points

Please use these points when speaking with elected officials, the media and others about this issue.

The wild horses and burros of the West are under siege. For 39 years, the law enacted to protect them has been distorted, misrepresented and ignored by the Bureau of Land Management – the agency entrusted to protect these animals.

The BLM is misleading the public and Congress. The roundups are not about protecting wild horses and burros and the environment so much as they are about further opening public lands to cattle ranchers and other private interests who seek to gain from the horses’ removal.

Rounding up wild horses and burros puts them at risk. During the roundups, the animals are mercilessly chased down by trucks and helicopters. Some are injured and die in the process.

Secretary Salazar’s proposal would essentially manage wild horses and burros into extinction. He plans to aggressively capture and sterilize wild horses, and move tens of thousands of these free-living animals into captivity in the Midwest and Eastern United States.

Independent studies show that fewer than 15,000 horses and burros remain in the wild, while more than 34,000 are already confined in BLM holding pens.

The round up and confinement of wild horses and burros is a taxpayers’ nightmare. Last year, Congress gave the BLM $67.5 million to round up and hold wild horses and burros. Secretary Salazar’s plan would dramatically increase taxpayers’ burden.

Wild horses and burros must be allowed to remain free. These animals should not be captured, sterilized or sent to slaughterhouses or captivity.

Now is the time for Congress to act. Senators and Representatives need to reject Secretary Salazar’s proposal and enact legislation that truly protects wild horses and burros.

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