UPDATE - 09/19/2016After an enormous public outcry, the U.S. government has said last Wednesday that it has no plans to euthanise the large share of 45 000 wild horses. Tom Gorey, a spokesman for the bureau, said in an email that the agency will "continue its current policy of caring for unadopted or unsold wild horses and burros" and will "not sell or send any animals to slaughter", according to Reuters.
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ORIGINAL ARTICLEIn breakingnews heartbreaking for animal activists around the world, the United States government has just recommended that 45 000 horses and donkeys need to be killed in order to make more room for beefmegafarms - and the American taxpayer will fund this project.
Source: AWHPC
The National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) voted to euthanise all wild horses and donkeys in government-run holding facilities throughout the United States, reports The Dodo.It is a huge step backwards for animal welfare protection in America.
Source: AWHPC
Holly Hazard, senior vice president of programs & innovations at the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) claims that the BLM has mismanaged their responsibilities as of late. She said in a press release:
The decision of the BLM advisory board to recommend the destruction of the 45,000 wild horses currently in holding facilities is a complete abdication of responsibility for their care.
Source: AWHPC
The horses, born to run free, are taken out of their natural habitats to make room for cattle farms to accommodate the ever increasing demand. There are alternatives to euthanisia, such as humane fertility control, according to Hazard, but the government has ignored these suggestions for the past 20 years.
Source: AWHPC
Even though the BLM claims it does not send wild horses to slaughter, most of the animalsauctioned off end up being slaughtered before they even had a chance to be rescued.
Source: AWHPC
According to In Defense Of Animals (IDA), today in the wild there are less then 50 000 horses. The group delivered a shocking truth in a press statement:
With wild horse populations critically low, the planned slaughter amounts to a genocide.
Source: AWHPC
Until last week, there were experiments in place by the BLM to sterilise the horsesthat wereinhumane and had the potential to cause severe injury. The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign(AWHPC) explained that one of these methods includedrestraining female horses while a veterinarian reaches into her vagina, makes an incision in the vaginal wall and manually twists and severs the ovaries with a tool with a chain on the end of it.
Source: AWHPC
After much pressure from animal rights groups and American wild horse activists, the government finally dropped these experiments. It was breaking news last week and everyone thought they were going to implement more humane methods of sterilisation.But instead came the gut-wrenching news that they recommended to just kill all the horses.
Source: AWHPC
The date and method has not been decided yet, but there is still time to do something to save these wild horses. To put an immense amount of pressure on BLM, email them and say that what they're proposing is wrong, [email protected]. Then you can add your voice to the petition.
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