In September, RTF's Humane Witness endured another heartbreaking scene as a stallion tried for hours to rescue his family during the helicopter roundup at the Great Divide Basin Herd Management Area in Wyoming. Another cruel & costly government roundup destroying our wild horses' families, freedom and home on the range...forever. We are working every day on the national level to replace traumatic family-shattering roundups with humane, on-the-range management like we use at RTF. Join the fight.
What we've seen: LACK OF TRANSPARENCY - BLM was not including foals and weanlings in the total number of wild horses it had captured. We contacted BLM and they are now documenting and posting foal and weanling numbers. DANGEROUS CONDITIONS - Contractors set up trap sites near unflagged barbed wire fences causing fleeing wild horses to tangle with barbed wire. We are advocating for additions and improvements to BLM's Comprehensive Animal Welfare Program for Wild Horse and Burro Gathers.
RTF has been able to keep Humane Witness Steve Paige at the ongoing Salt Wells Creek/Great Divide Basin/Adobe Town herd management areas roundup in southwest Wyoming's Checkerboard region, often the sole witness as BLM has rounded up 461 adult wild horses and 121 foals through September. As one 9-year-old visitor said once when asked how he felt about the roundups, "It's like going to prison for something you didn't do." Donate to the Wild Horse Defense Fund today so roundups don't go unseen.
Our model restores habitat on rangelands, ends horse slaughter, reforms BLM's Wild Horse & Burro Program saving millions in taxpayer dollars/year by putting Return to Freedom's On & Off the Range Management Model in action. Builds a coalition of sanctuaries nationwide to respond to on the ground emergencies and care for entire herd groups and natural families forever--preserving historic strains, behavior, lifestyle, and lists the wild horse as native species connecting us to our equine history.
