SENATE SAYS NO TO KILLING HORSES

The Senate has made it clear to the Bureau of Land Management that appropriations will not be available for the destruction of healthy, unadopted wild horses and burros. Appropriations bill H.R. 2996 was passed by a vote of 77 to 21 on Friday.

Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA), who proposed the mandate, told the Senate, "We are also down to just a few herds of horses... The idea of wild spaces with wild horses is something that is really part of our heritage. And we want to make sure that heritage isn’t lost, that we are being responsible in terms of the way the land is being used for multiple purposes...that the horses themselves are being treated faily... And none of that right now is being done... The congressional research service as well as the government accounting office has suggested major changes to the program..."

Senator Landreiu goes on to suggest the creation of public/private sanctuaries where horses could “roam freely in a healthy way” and that they could become "ecotourist opportunities for some of the states and communities...” H.R. 2996 is now assigned to a conference committee of senators to work out differences in the versions of the bill that each chamber approved. It will then go for President Obama’s signature.

Original verbiage in the well known “Wild Horse Annie Act” of 1971 clearly states the intent of congress, deeming wild horses and burros as “an integral part of the natural system of the public lands.” Years of amendments have altered this act to the point where there are no effective protections remaining. Several law suits have been filed against wild horse gathers by various organizations and individuals in the past few months. Evidence of accelerated activity by the BLM and other agencies may indicate an effort to gather as many animals as possible in advance of the vote on the R.O.A.M. Act.

Wild horse and burro advocates will be on the lawn of Capitol Hill Tuesday, Sept. 29 in support of the Restore Our American Mustang Act ( ROAM Act S.B. 1579) which has Passed the House Vote and assigned to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Advocates will be meeting with Senators to assure the act comes out of committee and is allowed a Senate Vote.