Please Save Our Wild Horses from Their 'Protectors'

I received the following e-mail from the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign  an organization I've been helping for years.  (I can't get all the links to activate, so you'll need to visit their web site via the link in the first sentence.)  Please, if you can, help in any way you can:  donations, calls to your federal legislators, calls to the White House.  We're losing a battle we shouldn't have to be fighting and the horses are losing their lives. No one is stopping the Bureau of Land Management in their campaign to eradicate OUR wild horses and burros on OUR  public lands.  They're pimping OUR lands to private interests such as cattlemen and the oil, gas, and mining industries.  Are we really so desperate that we'll give up anything for money?  Especially considering how the government wastes our money  -  like spending hundreds of millions of our tax dollars to round up and stockpile horses that would cost us next to nothing to allow to roam free, as the law says they should.  How does it feel to be ignored by your own representative government?  Just who are they representing?  Please let them know how you feel. __________________________________________________________________________________________________ As we write this email, helicopters are scouring the beautiful Red Desert, chasing and capturing every last horse in a more than one-million-square-mile area known as the Wyoming Checkerboard. Today is expected to be the last day of this devastating Bureau of Land Management (BLM) roundup in which more than 1,200 wild horses will lose their freedom and families.  We’ve been fighting this assault on Wyoming's wild horses in and out of court for more than two years -- now we need your help to see this through. At least 13 wild horses have died in this unnecessary roundup, including young colts who crashed into panels and broke their necks, and elderly, arthritic and injured horses who were forced to run in pain and terror for miles in a traumatic helicopter chase before being “euthanized” by a bullet to the head. These are just some of the tragedies … all the wild horses were unnecessarily victimized by this rancher-driven roundup. In the end, the BLM removed 50 percent more wild horses than originally planned. This devastating action contradicts Americans’ strong support for wild horses and violates legal requirements for actions on public lands. We urgently need your help to right this wrong. We can’t stop now.  First we fought in court against the backroom deal the Wyoming ranchers cut with the BLM. Then we fought to stop this roundup. The District Court denied our injunction request. We strongly believe that decision was wrong. We need to prepare to appeal the Judge’s final ruling, which, based on her decision on our injunction motion, does not look good for the horses. We cannot let this travesty go unchallenged. If the BLM gets away with this in Wyoming we can expect more of these illegal actions against the wild horses in other western states. Would you please join us in this last stand for Wyoming’s wild horses? Every donation makes a difference. With gratitude, Suzanne Roy & the AWHPC Team The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign is dedicated to preserving American wild horses and burros in viable free-roaming herds for generations to come, as part of our national heritage. The Campaign is endorsed by a national coalition of more than 60 organizations. AWHPC's founding organization Return to Freedom (RTF), is a national non-profit dedicated to wild horse preservation through sanctuary, education and conservation. RTF's American Wild Horse Sanctuary is based in Lompoc, CA. You are subscribed to the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign email list.Click here to unsubscribe.