PETITION CLOSED
PETITION TARGET: U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
UPDATE (4/29/2021): The Bureau of Land Management gathered more than 300 wild horses from Nov. 29 to Dec.9, 2020. Five wild horses died as a result of the roundup, including a horse with a broken neck and a foal euthanized for a foot injury, as well as three mares deemed to be in poor health condition. The agency planned surgical sterilizations for 17 mares for this spring — but then two animal welfare groups sued.
The lawsuits from the American Wild Horse Campaign (AWHC) and Return for Freedom alleged that the sterilizations are inhumane, unnecessary, and a violation of federal law, and are still pending in state and federal courts.
So BLM’s Public Affairs Specialist Lisa Reid couldn’t say much. But what she did say was that the sterilizations are no longer happening.
“The Bureau of Land Management does not intend to surgically sterilize wild mares using ovariectomy via colpotomy under the agency’s October 2020 Confusion Herd Management Area Decision,” Reid told Lady Freethinker via email. “The BLM will continue to evaluate effective and humane ways to manage and protect wild horses and burros on public lands.”
Lady Freethinker is overjoyed that these dangerous and potentially deadly sterilizations will no longer take place on Utah’s wild mares. Thank you so much to the 31,911 people who signed our petition demanding humane treatment of these beautiful and iconic animals!
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Wild mares are in grave danger. U.S. Government officials plan to shove a foot-long metal rod into their vulvas before severing their ovaries with a chain, all while the helpless horses stand awake conscious.
This brutal practice is called ovariectomy via colpotomy, and the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will use it to surgically sterilize hundreds of wild mares in Utah’s Confusion Herd Management Area.
In one study about this unsafe surgery’s effects on wild mares, two horses died. One bled to death, while another grew ill and aborted her unborn foal. Yet another mare required multiple blood transfusions to survive.
This dangerous surgery may also induce hemorrhaging and evisceration — an extremely painful condition in which the horse’s intestines protrude through the incision — according to the United States Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management.
Safer sterilization alternatives exist. The noninvasive Porcine Zona Pellucida (PZP) vaccine preserves natural horse behaviors while controlling their population, according to wild horse advocacy nonprofit, The Cloud Foundation.
The BLM will begin gathering their wild horses soon. We must act now before the surgical sterilizations start. Innocent horses’ lives depend on us.
Sign this petition urging U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to halt the brutal plan to surgically sterilize wild mares in Utah.
