Per U.S. government data, at the turn of the 19th century there were over 2 million wild horses and burros on America's public lands. However, according to the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) own 2020-2021 estimate, the actual number of wild horses and burros on the open range has drastically declined by more than 96%. Truth be known, this drastic decline was caused by The BLM, which is the same government agency that is charged by Congress to protect America’s wild horses and burros. In fact, according to the BLM’s most recent submitted report to Congress, BLM 2020 WHB Report, the BLM fully intends to severely diminish their natural presence in the wild to less than 98%.
As revealed by the BLM 2020 WHB Report, the BLM is complicit in their methodical plan of genocidal intent to wipe out the last 1.3% of America’s precious wild horses and burros through escalated violent roundups and permanent sterilization. (It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what happens when you sterilize the last 1.3% of any population.)
An extraordinary amount of evidence confirms that horses never totally died out in America although horses and burros were previously thought to have disappeared from the continent roughly 10,000 years ago. Substantial evidence demonstrates that the Equus species survived the ice age in America, the evidence of their continued presence has become too conclusive to deny.
The History of the America's Wild Horses:
As documented in SAVING AMERICA'S HORSES A NATION BETRAYED, horses are in fact indigenous to North America. Through our history books we have learned that a variety of mixed breed DOMESTICATED horses were brought into North America by the Spanish, and that some escaped horses from those expeditions survived in the wild across parts of America. In today's world we oftentimes hear the BLM and other groups refer to the horses that continue to survive in the wild as "feral". As such they are then erroneously regarded as intrusive, exotic animals. However as E. caballus, we have since learned that they are not feral after all.
A 2008 report by *Jay F. Kirkpatrick, Ph.D. and Patricia M. Fazio, Ph.D. brings to light many of these facts, as well as molecular biology and studies based in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) that prove E. caballus originated approximately 1.7 million years ago in North America and that E. caballus is genetically equivalent to the modern day horse.
Jay F. Kirkpatrick, and Patricia M. Fazio have stated, "Based on fossil records, genus equus originated in North America about 4 million years ago and spread to Eurasia by crossing the Bering land bridge 2 to 3 million years ago. Following that original emigration, there were additional westward migrations to Asia and return migrations back to North America, as well as several extinctions of Equus species in North America."
"The wild horse in the United States is generally labeled non-native by most federal and state agencies dealing with wildlife management, whose legal mandate is usually to protect native wildlife and prevent non-native species from having ecologically harmful effects. But the two key elements for defining an animal as a native species are where it originated and whether or not it coevolved with its habitat. E. caballus can lay claim to doing both in North America. So a good argument can be made that it, too, should enjoy protection as a form of native wildlife."
* Jay F. Kirkpatrick earned his Ph.D. in reproductive physiology from the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University, has studied fertility control for wild horses. He is the director of the Science and Conservation Center at ZooMontana, in Billings. Patricia M. Fazio, a research fellow at the Science and Conservation Center, earned her Ph.D. in environmental history from Texas A&M University. Her interests include reproductive physiology, the monitoring of wild horse ranges, and the evolution of equids.
The Threat of their Extinction has Become a Crisis Situation
Today's wild horses of America are losing their once protected native homes on America’s public lands and are now under extreme threat of extinction in the wild.
Statistics show that vast numbers of wild equines are disappearing from the American West. In the 19th century, more than 2 million wild horses, but as reported there exists independent analysis of the Bureau of Land Management’s own data which indicates there may be fewer than 15,000 wild horses roaming freely/ untouched on public lands.
America’s wild horses have been denied any type of status or protection in the US. They are instead labeled “feral” which allows them to be legally harassed, shot, rounded up and hauled off to slaughter.The BLM says that horses and burros are treated humanely during roundups. However, expert witness, Katia Louise, director of SAVING AMERICA'S HORSES A NATION BETRAYED, and founder, president and executive director of the Wild For Life Foundation has provided substantiated documentation and testimony to government officials proving just the opposite.
"Horses and burros sustain a multitude of injuries that occur during and as a direct result of the roundups including deep lacerations, abrasions, trachea injuries, and serious muscle skeletal injuries including fractures, broken necks, broken limbs, pelvis and spinal injuries. These injuries are ignored by roundup crew members. These injured and exhausted wild horses and burros are then crammed into trailers where they suffer further injuries including head trauma, ruptured eye globes, and shipping fever (a painful condition caused by aggravated stress and a lack of rest, water and food), and many of the equines go down and are then trampled by the others. Many horses and burros suffer languishing deaths during and as a result of the roundups. New born foals and weanlings often also suffer from multiple hoof sloughs where their hooves literally fall off while trying to keep up with their mothers during the roundups; surviving foals are force weaned too young; lacking the ability to eat or drink, these baby horses and burros languish in a slow cruel death."
More about the Indigenous Lineage of the Horse in North America
Many people don’t even realize that the genus EQUUS, today’s horses and burros are GENETICALLY THE SAME as those that lived in the U.S. before their presumed extinction. However, modern day horses and burros – both wild and domestic are in fact indigenous to North America. Incontrovertible and indisputable fossil records and molecular biology evidence confirms that today’s Genus Equus (HORSES, BURROS and ZEBRAS) originated and co-evolved with the habitat of North America.
Mitochondrial-DNA analysis has established irrefutable evidence confirming that modern horse, E. Caballus is genetically the same species which was reintroduced in 1519 by the Spaniards. (Source: Jay F. Kirkpatrick and Patricia M. Fazio, Natural History magazine, May 2008)
Genus Equus, otherwise known as the modern day horse, donkey (ass) and zebra are the only survivors of the previously diverse family of 27 genera. Well established Paleontological evidence shows that Equus Lambei , otherwise known as the Yukon Horse is the most recent Genus Equus in North America prior to extinction and no evidence exists for the origin of E. Caballus anywhere, except North America.
Why is this important?
As a native species, wild horses compliment the natural environment of North America. They are in truth recognized by scientists for restoring rangelands, boosting biodiversity and helping to the return of a wide variety of plants and invertebrates to the lands where they roam. Scientists and conservationists have indeed found that the re-introduction of wild equines to open lands is a positive way to restore ecosystems and wildlife. Wild horses have been found by scientists for successfully rejuvenating vast landscapes in Britain.
In current times America's historic Mustangs find themselves targeted for extinction on their quickly disappearing and threatened Native home lands. As the remaining number of Wild Horses in the U.S. nears extinction, education and appreciation through the protection of Mustangs and Burros in the wild and natural sanctuary environments becomes tantamount to their survival as a species. America’s Wild Horses cannot be reproduced once they are gone.
Wild Horse and Burro Issue Background:
The 1971 Wild Horse and Burro Act is supposed to protect America’s wild horse and burro population from cruelty and harassment, however there is no enforcement of the law and the BLM has not been held accountable for the enumerable atrocities they have caused, and which continue to this day.The BLM misleads the public by saying that wild horses and burros are over populating, starving and dying of dehydration out on the range, and they use this misinformation to justify their removal and killing.
The mislabeling and eradication of wild horses and burros on America’s public rangelands is a demonstration of ‘special interests’ and ‘government agency’ support for the competing economic value of commercial livestock and reveals certain agency defiance of their mandate to protect wild horses and burros, a native wild species known to have no economic value.
Horses and burros are routinely labeled as an “invasive species” to justify their extermination. Without the enforcement of strong safeguards to protect wild horses and burros on tribal reservations and U.S. public lands they will continue to be targeted for violent expulsion through roundup, slaughter and even hunting.
The BLM claims to care for and protect our wild horses and burros on the range and in captivity, by touting the laws which are supposed to keep them safe from cruelty, harassment and death. However, in truth America's horses and burros need protection from the BLM. The mislabeling and eradication of wild horses and burros on America’s public rangelands is a clear demonstration of BLM's support for the competing economic value of commercial livestock and the BLM's defiance of their mandate to protect wild horses and burros.Without a census, the BLM claims that the there around 90,000 too many wild horses and burros on the public lands. Based on the same, they have accelerated their cruel helicopter roundups this year. Without protective intervention, the BLM intends to continue conducting their aggressively cruel roundups while at the same time implementing a combination of barbaric ovariectomies and permanent chemical sterilization activities as well.
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WFLF supports recognition of wild horses’ and burros’ rightful NATIVE status in the U.S. as WILDLIFE as it would yield protection for them under the law and likely force a new category for management considerations.
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Historical Cultural Relationships
These majestic icons have also helped to shape an important part of American’s History. The rich and colorful heritage shared between horse and man on the North American continent is deeply rooted in the close association of America's indigenous equines, and the early horses brought to North America by the Spaniards, and Native American horses whose legacy has been documented for centuries.
Spanish explorers also brought numbers of horses to North America during their expeditions. Genetic studies into some of the bloodlines of descendants of these horses have suggested that some are indeed associated with the acclaimed Colonial Spanish breeds which have been preserved through Registered Breeding Programs. However, not all wild mustangs have these markers. Studies done on some Mustangs in New Mexico for example have indicated the Spanish marker was indeed found in at least one DNA report, however it was nearly drowned out by scores of other markers.
"The original horses brought to America by the Spaniards actually represent a very rich cross-section of breed types. Everything from Clydesdales to Irish and Shetland Ponies were brought from Spain to the Caribbean islands, where populations were increased before export to the mainland. In the case of North America the most common source of horses was Mexico as even the populations in the southeastern USA were imported from Mexico rather than the Caribbean. The North American horses ultimately came from this somewhat non-selected base." - Philip Sponenberg, DVM, PhD
Conquistadors first used the horses they brought to search for gold, then they used the horses to target Pueblo tribes including the Navajo and the Apache for slavery. Eventually, during the Rebellion of 1680, the Pueblo tribes drove the Spaniards out of their homelands and back to what later became Mexico and Texas.
Despite the violent exploitation and mass killing of America’s Mustangs and the U.S. government’s denial of their indigenous lineage in North America, the history of America's horses' uninterrupted existence over time has indeed survived through traditional Native American ceremonies. Their sacred legacy has been preserved by numbers of traditional tribal people and spiritual leaders whose ancestors were forced to flee from encampment of the U.S. government prison camps and mass assimilation. Only in recent times after the ban of Native American religious ceremonies was lifted by the U.S. government, has the celebration of Native American sacred ways revealed what many now believe to be the cohesive existence of North America’s historic and indigenous equines.
With reference to the Navajo Nation for example, a look back into history around the year 1868, when the Navajo Treaty was signed with the U.S. Government, we learn that there were approximately 80,000 horses and burros on the Navajo reservation at that time. However, significant developments in the way life would be governed for the Navajo people took a toll on both the people and their horses. In the beginning of the 1880’s, the US government mandated an abolishment of the Native American ceremonial practices and spiritual beliefs; in essence their connection and celebration of their own heritage became illegal for them to acknowledge.
Over time valuable minerals were sought by the US Government, and U.S. councils were created such as the BIA, to represent the Navajo people and their interests in land and livestock matters. Mirroring Bureau of Land Management (BLM) activities on public lands, grazing permits were developed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in 1930 and it was established that the majority of the Navajo land would be held in trust by the BIA. During this same time period, U.S. Government mandated the mass-killing of horses and livestock owned by the Navajo people. U.S. Government officials were known to come onto the reservation and shoot horses and sheep, often right at their owner's homes. The carcasses were left to rot.
An Urgent Call for Unity
WFLF is calling on all Nations of people, all groups, from all walks of life to come together, to put their differences aside and join together in a show of unity on behalf of the horses & burros in America and around the world. What's happening in the U.S. is happening in other countries as well, and in some countries it's even worse. Achievement of federal protection for equines in America will help pave the wave for equine protection around the world. We are all connected in this great world that we share. Together we can make a real difference, today and for generations to come.
You can show your support for unity on behalf of the horses and burros in America, and around the world with a simple pledge. If you find yourself moved to do more, we welcome you to share your inspiration and discover other ways that you can make a difference. Join the SAVING AMERICA'S HORSES United Voice for Change today. Stand in truth, help stop the suffering and the killing. Say no to roundups and slaughter today. Take a Stand.
Learn more:
www.SavingAmericasHorses.org
Stand with Us ~ Stand With The Horses
SAVING AMERICA'S HORSES in the lifesaving & educational program under the Wild For Life Foundation (WFLF). The program strives to raise awareness and save lives through its Wild Horse and Burro Preservation Mission and its Anti-slaughter Mission, in order to protect America's wild & domestics equines, as part of the natural ecosystem and educate people about the need for their protection and preservation.
www.WildForLifeFoundation.org
The NTHC (formerly known as Northwest Tribal Horse Coalition) was initially just a handful of tribes from the Northwest region of the US. However, their movement rapidly expanded through the support of the DOI and USDA-APHIS. In 2009 the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) was targeted by the DOI and together they held a joint conference and established a pro-slaughter resolution which remains the active policy today. Per their pro-slaughter resolution, the tribes of NCAI declared opposition to any/all anti horse slaughter acts and support for the DOI & USDA-APHIS' push to allow tribes to open horse slaughter plants within their jurisdiction. 
As exposed through the documentary film, “SAVING AMERICA’S HORSES: A NATION BETRAYED”, Agriculture and Forestry have threatened tribes with a loss of livestock grazing permits if they fail to implement management policies. In a statement made for the Confederated Umatilla Journal, a newspaper of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation; Range, Agriculture and Forestry Program Manager Gordy Schumacher warns Tribes that grazing permits are at stake. “Without implementation of a management policy by the end of 2011, livestock grazing permits may have to be canceled,” says Schumacher.
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