12/ JUNE 2021 THE RIDER


Katherine Heigl, Animal Wellness Groups, Join to Save Wild Horses


More than 90 groups, businesses, and rescues


and 1,100 individuals call on President Joe Biden to


stop the BLM’s roundup of iconic equines


By Marty Irby President


Richard


Nixon probably signed as many landmark environ- mental bills as any of our U.S. chief executives. He signed into law the


Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act. He also signed into law the Wild Horse and Free-Roaming Burros Act, saying it embodies “the best judgment of both the Con-


gress and the executive branch.” He added that it “permits the establishment of ranges for their use” and “makes the killing or mo- lesting them a Federal crime,” prohibiting their sale or that of their re- mains.” He captured more than


just a legal summation when he wrote the following in his signing statement: “‘WE NEED the tonic


of wildness.’ During the past several months, many thou- sands of Americans, partic- ularly


children, have


concurred in Thoreau’s plea with an outpouring of con- cern for the preservation of wild horses and burros on


Shutterstock royalty-free stock photo ID: 626098412)


‘Unforgettable’ held at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, USA on April 18, 2017. (Photo:


Katherine Heigl at the Los Angeles premiere of


our Western ranges. The 11- year-old son of one Con- gressman felt deeply enough on the issue to himself tes- tify before the House of Representatives and count- less personal letters–many from young people-have come to the Congress, to the Federal land management agencies, and in my own mail. I take special pleasure today, therefore, in signing strong new legislation to protect these noble ani- mals.” Now 50 years later, his


stirring words are long for- gotten by many of today’s government bureaucrats and more than a few sitting members of Congress. Just


this week, President Biden’s budget


includes record


spending for roundups and removals of these horses from our public lands. I imagine that an 11-


year-old boy who testified before Congress – Gregory Gude, son of Representative Gilbert Gude of Maryland – would be deeply disap- pointed in what’s been re- vealed this month. It’s been a boon for kill buyers who line their pockets from the slaughter of the wild horses and burros that have been rounded up via helicopter chase and incarcerated in mass holding facilities – well over 50,000 held cap- tive today. Once in holding, the


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options are few, and many of these majestic icons are ‘adopted out’ to homes that would domesticate them and utilize them as working animals – or so we thought. The New York Times’ re- cent investigation into these alleged adoptions has re- vealed that many of the horses thought to be adopted are actually being funneled straight


into the horse


slaughter pipeline – shot in the head with a bolt gun, and ultimately ending up like slabs of meat on foreign dinner plates – a savory dish for the French and Chinese to sink their teeth into. And while Animal


Wellness Action (AWA), the Center for a Humane Econ- omy (CHE), and the Animal Wellness


Foundation


(AWF) has been working for the past three years to ensure the protection of our wild horses and burros, we’re doubling down in light of the most recent news.


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like the National Cattle- men’s Beef Association (NCBA) want nothing more than to eradicate the wild equids on the range so that they can utilize the lands to graze cattle on the tax- payer’s dime, paying little more than a few bucks a year for grazing permits. In April, we were joined by more than 70 groups in a let- ter to Secretary Deb Haa- land – the first American Indian sat in the President’s Cabinet – calling for a freeze on grazing permits. There’s been no response from Haaland despite the media contacting the Secre- tary’s Office and the White House who declined to comment. The lack of response


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from the Biden Administra- tion, combined with Haa- land’s testimony before the House Appropriations Com- mittee on April 20th that the Dept. of Interior is “in agreement with the plan of the previous Administra- tion,” in continuing to erad- icate the wild horses and burros on public lands, has amounted not only to a ter- rible offense against wild horses and burros but the millions of horse advocates who expected anything but the continuation of the sta- tus quo from this Adminis-


tration. This week we part-


nered with actress Katherine Heigl to help stop the mass round-up and removal of perhaps 80 percent of the famed and beloved Onaqui wild horses of western Utah. Our billboards draw atten- tion to plans to reduce the herd size by 80 percent, and our


new microsite,


www.SaveTheOnaqui.org, details why this herd is so special and undeserving of this attempt to draw down their numbers so dramati- cally.


Heigl, who lives in


Summit County and keeps horses at her ranch in the Kamas Valley, said in a re- lease this week from AWA, CHE, and AWF on the As- sociated Press’ website: “With their historic


place on the public lands of Utah, the Onaqui horses are living treasures that con- tribute to the beauty of the Great Basin Desert, as well as the economic vitality of nearby communities. In- stead of cruel helicopter roundups, I call on the Bu- reau of Land Management to leave the Onaqui horses on the land, manage them humanely with fertility con- trol, and limit livestock grazing to protect


the


ecosystem.” The roundup is sched-


uled to begin July 12 and will result in between 300— 400 of the 500 horses being permanently removed from their Herd Management Area (HMA) – around 80 percent of the herd. We’ve appealed to


Secretary Haaland to turn around this situation and to no longer keep this program on auto-pilot. We’ve also asked the President – long a champion of horses and who came into office just a year after the Wild Horse and Burro Act was enacted – to intervene. We were joined by more than 90 groups, rescues, and busi- nesses; and more than 1,100 individuals in a letter to the President calling for Biden to immediately place a moratorium on


the


roundups. So many groups are deeply disappointed that this Administration is at- tempting to liquidate so many herds and allowing them to go to slaughter. Join us today in the ef-


fort to protect the icons who blazed the Western Frontier by clicking here to add your name to the roster. 11-year- old Gregory Gude was brave enough and willing to take the time to testify be- fore Congress to protect the horses half a century ago, and we should be too. Marty Irby is the exec-


utive director at Animal Wellness Action in Wash- ington, D.C., who was named as one of The Hill’s Top Lobbyists for 2019 and 2020 and was recently hon- ored by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, II for his work to protect horses. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook @MartyIrby.


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