Urge Congress to Say NO to BLM Wild Horse

Budget Increase
Take Action Today! Hold BLM Accountable
American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign

The Fiscal Year (FY) Appropriations process begins on Capitol Hill, and starting tomorrow Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Director Bob Abbey will testify before two key committees to justify their FY 2012 budget request, which includes a $12 million increase for the costly and cruel wild horse program.
Of the total wild horse program budget, 70 percent (nearly $53 million) will be spent to round up and remove wild horses from their homes in the West and to warehouse nearly 50,000 mustangs in holding facilities. Under the Obama Administration, and for the first time in history, our government warehouses more wild horses in holding facilities than live free on the range. Yet, the BLM wants to roundup 15,000 more horses over the next two years!
Secretary Salazar, a fifth-generation rancher, has continued the BLM's policy of favoring cattlemen and sheep ranchers over wild horses. The BLM authorizes 5-15 times more privately-owned livestock than wild horses on the small percentage of BLM lands designated by law as wild horse habitat. This unsustainable policy continues at great cost to taxpayers and to the mustangs themselves.
Since federal legislators place a priority on hearing from their constituents, please enter your zip code below to see if your Senators and/or Representative are members of either of these committees. If so, a sample letter will come up for you to personalize and submit. Your letter will be faxed, but to increase the chances that your voice is heard, please also follow it up with a telephone call.
It's time for Congress to say no to business-as-usual at the BLM.

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Here is a list of appearances by Secretary Salazar and Director Abbey:

Wednesday March 2 Salazar testimony before Senate Natural Resources Committee.
Thursday March 3 Salazar testimony before House Natural Resources Committee.
Tuesday, March 8 Abbey testimony before House Energy and Natural Resources Committee; Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands

The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign (AWHPC) is dedicated to preserving the American wild horse in viable free-roaming herds for generations to come, as part of our national heritage. Supported by a coalition of over 40 organizations, its grassroots campaign seeks:

    * A suspension of roundups in all but verifiable emergency situations while the entire BLM wild horse program undergoes objective and scientific review;
    * Higher Appropriate Management Levels (AML) for wild horses on those rangelands designated for them;
    * Implementation of in-the-wild management, which would keep wild horses on the range and save taxpayers millions annually by avoiding the mass removal and stockpiling wild horses in government holding facilities.