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With the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) chasing and trapping horses on public lands and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service refusing to intervene, activists with Friends of Animals (FOA) will, on Monday, engage in civil disobedience to disrupt, protest and raise awareness of the government’s reckless roundup of America’s wild horses. The direct action will take place at a location in Rock Springs, Wyoming being disclosed only the media.

Edita Birnkrant, Friends of Animals

During the most recent roundup in Wyoming, the BLM kidnapped 179 horses, tearing apart families and killing three horses in the process. The government is clearing the land of horses on behalf of cattle ranchers, who covet the public land for grazing.

In addition to engaging in civil disobedience, FOA plans to sue the government for its failure to list the quickly vanishing horses as “threatened” or “endangered” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), a designation that represents the best hope for their survival. Wild horses have already been exterminated in six states.

Our insatiable appetite for meat is killing America’s remaining wild horses, but passionate advocacy groups from around the country are moving mountains to protect those who remain.

For decades, the U.S. government’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has been rounding up America’s horses because they graze on public land coveted by powerful cattle ranchers. The BLM uses “rangeland health” to justify the roundups, but the 30,000 some odd horses who remain pose no threat to the land compared to the millions of cows and sheep who graze on it.

photo: Catoor Livestock image

From freedom to captivity (photo: Elyse Gardner)

America was built on the backs of horses. They are a national treasure, and we must do everything in our power to protect the few who remain. Please take action today.