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How Our Taste for Meat is Killing America’s Last Wild Horses

September 17, 2014 by Leave a Comment


The News

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

photo: Catoor Livestock image

During a typical roundup, the BLM uses low flying helicopters to chase the terrified horses into traps. According to Edita Birnkrant, the Campaigns Director for Friends of Animals, “Families are torn apart during the roundups, separating foals from their mothers, and the captured horses are imprisoned in squalid holding facilities where their fates are unknown.

“Today, over 47,000 horses are being held captive, and the BLM is poised to use tax dollars to kidnap the remaining 30,000 on behalf of the meat industry. According to FOA, six states have already lost their wild horse populations.

Freedom to captivity (photo: Elyse Gardner)

From freedom to captivity (photo: Elyse Gardner)

In an effort to protect the remaining horses, Friends of Animals and the Cloud Foundation have petitioned the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) to list them as “threatened” or “endangered” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and the organizations are prepared to pursue legal options if the USFWS does not comply.

Your Turn

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.



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TheirTurn.net Comments

  1. Brenda Robinson says:

    Wipe out the beautiful wild horses so farmers can have more cows to kill for humans to consume? This is not right. Leave the horses alone. There, unfortunately, is more than enough beef in the world.

  2. Rita Whiteley says:

    this is just one of the many things this country is doing to animals that is just unaccseptable to my eyes these horses have a home here and im sure there is enough grass to go around for the cow and the cow mans money to do this to horses for big money men well its wrong on so many levels i dont know where to start , let these horses go to be what they are horses they run they eat a little grass and are a beautiful thing to see moving across the land let them stay please ,, thank you

  3. Thomas Carter says:

    Save the Horses!

  4. Marc says:

    I had no idea this was going on. Horrible!

    1. Brenda Welch says:

      This is horrible & needs to be stopped

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