Nevada is home to the largest population of wild horses in the nation. It's also the site of taxpayer-funded roundups and removals that endanger the lives of these animals, particularly when helicopters are used.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) recently conducted a wild horse roundup in the Pancake Complex northeast of Tonopah, Nevada. With the help of helicopters and other extreme measures, the BLM removed 2,054 wild horses from public land¹.

According to the BLM website, the bureau "gathers and removes wild horses and burros from public lands to protect the health of the animals and health of our nation's public rangelands²."

To many others, these tactics are violent and unnecessary.

Roundups are especially dangerous when conducted using helicopters that drive fleeing wild horses over long distances, often over rough terrain. Once trapped in pens, panicked family bands and herds are torn apart, separated them by gender and age³.

After capture, wild horses that are considered less adoptable, because of their older age, may be released back onto the range, with the mares treated with fertility control.

Some of the horses will be adopted by private citizens, but far more will spend the rest of their lives in government holding facilities before eventually being handed over to kill buyers.

Roundups have cost the American taxpayer $53.2 million since 2006⁴. In one poll, 74% of American voters across the political spectrum said they do not want public tax revenue going to the BLM's helicopter roundups of wild horses and burros⁵.

At least 75% of Americans oppose the BLM's current plan to remove 19,000 wild horses from western public lands. Further, 88% of those polled want stronger federal protections to be established for wild horses and burros on public lands, preventing future roundups.

Congresswoman Dina Tutus introduced the Wild Horse and Burro Protection Act⁶ to eliminate the use of helicopters in BLM gathers, employ more cowboys, and explore humane alternatives to protect these icons of the American West which remain a source of pride for Nevada residents.

Sign the petition and take a stand for wild horses and support the Wild Horse and Burro Protection Act.

More on this issue:

1. Martha Cruz, 3 News (16 February 2022), "Over 2,000 wild horses captured as largest federal roundup ends in Nevada."
2. Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Department of the Interior (2022), "Wild Horse And Burro Gathers And Removals."
3. Return to Freedom (2022), "The Bureau of Land Management calls them "gathers"; others call them 'roundups.'"
4. American Wild Horse Campaign (25 January 2022), "Report: U.S. Public Paying Hundreds Of Millions To Fund Wild Horse Roundups."
5. American Wild Horse Campaign (3 March 2022), "3 Out of 4 Americans Oppose Inhumane Helicopter Roundups of Wild Horses."
6. Rep. Dina Titus, 117th Congress (7 February 2022), "H.R.6635 - Wild Horse and Burro Protection Act of 2022."