[Speaker 1]

Welcome to this emergency town hall by Unchained TV for wild horses and burros in crisis. Americans cherish their horses. These magnificent beings help build our nation.

 

They remain iconic symbols of freedom, resilience, and the untamed spirit of the American West. Yet, few people realize that our country’s wild horses and burros are now facing a dire emergency. One unfolding largely out of public view.

 

I am talking about wild horse roundups conducted with our tax dollars by the Bureau of Land Management. Don’t take my word for it. Watch right now and I hope this will inspire you to help because this is unconscionable.

 

It must end. So, so, that is the problem. And now you’re going to meet people who are fighting to achieve the solution.

 

I want to start with Edita Bernkrant of New York Class. Years ago, you went and protested against the Bureau of Land Management and what they are doing. Tell us your thoughts on why this is happening.

 

[Speaker 10]

You know, it’s so heartbreaking to see what our own government is doing to wild horses who should be living wild and free on our public lands. The photo behind me was a wild horse band, a picture I took in Nevada. What’s going on is a travesty.

 

There’s such a visceral hatred of these wild horses. I’ve been in several of these Bureau of Land Management meetings where ranchers have testified, Bureau of Land Management themselves. There is a visceral hatred of these wild horses.

 

They are blamed for degrading the lands when the truth is, our federal public lands should be refuges for these wild horses and all wildlife. But instead, they’ve been turned over to cattle and sheep ranchers who use them as feedlots. That’s what’s degrading the lands.

 

And instead of protecting wild horses who, as you pointed out, helped build this country, where would we be without horses, right? What’s going on is we’re wasting hundreds of millions of dollars. And I’ve been dragged out of these public meetings, disrupting them, calling out the Bureau of Land Management, calling out the ranchers who run the show there.

 

So the people in charge just hate these wild horses and they want them dead because they are privileging the ranching industry. So the free range meat, so-called free range meat that people pay a lot of money for, the collateral damage is wild horses are being rounded up, killed, and thrown to the trash heap. And we also did civil disobedience at one of these grotesque holding pens where these wild horses have been ripped from their families and are just thrown in a prison, a barren prison, and no one knows what their fate will be.

 

And horses are herd animals. To rip them from their family is brutal. It’s heartbreaking to see what they go through.

 

And then in some cases, they break their spirits. They turn them into domesticated horses. We have an overpopulation of domesticated horses.

 

We need to keep wild horses living wild and free. And I’m disgusted that the government is still doing the wrong thing here. And we’re wasting hundreds of millions every few years, 100 million a year at least, just to keep these wild horses kept prisoner, ripped from their families instead of on our lands.

 

I can’t hear.

 

[Speaker 1]

I want to play one of your protests.

 

[Speaker 14]

Stop the pay. BLM is to blame. Stop the roundup.

 

Stop the pay. BLM is to blame. Stop the roundup.

 

Stop the blame. BLM is to blame. BLM lies.

 

Horses die.

 

[Speaker 15]

BLM lies. Horses die.

 

[Speaker 1]

So that was one of your many protests. And we’ve got people from all aspects of this wild horse and burrow rescue effort. I want to go straight out to Suzanne Roy.

 

You are a person who has been, your name has been associated with wild horses and burrows for many years, running the American Wild Horse Conservation Organization. It hasn’t gotten better over the years. It’s gotten worse.

 

I am told now that up to 73,000 wild horses are languishing in government holding pens. What the hell is going on here? And unmute.

 

We can’t hear you. Just, yeah, get rid of all that and just, yeah, we’ll come back to you. We’ll come back to you.

 

Yeah, put those away. Thank you. Let’s go to Amelia.

 

Amelia, what is going on?

 

[Speaker 2]

Absolutely. Yeah. The Bureau of Land Management rounds up wild horses by the thousands every year and spends our taxpayers to warehouse them in federal holding facilities.

 

These roundups in these holding facilities separate wild horses from all they hold dear, from their family, from their freedom, and they rip them from the homes they’re ecologically and legally supposed to roam. We advocate for protecting wild horses in the wild and ensuring that they stay wild as the American public wants. 80% of the American public wants wild horses protected and not warehoused in holding.

 

We stand to advocate for keeping them wild, keeping them with their families, and keeping them free on our public lands where we all want them. These holding facilities, they are really bad places for these horses. We see disease outbreaks.

 

If you look a couple of years ago at Canyon City in Colorado, over 120 horses died from a disease outbreak because they did not vaccinate the horses in time. You look at other holding facilities where horses are dying from diseases like strangles where they get infections and die. It’s really top to bottom, an inhumane way to manage wild horses.

 

There’s a better way to do this, and we stand ready to work and advocate for that and continue to rally our 800,000 supporters to speak up for our wild herds and our wild horses. The pain and suffering doesn’t end when the helicopters do. We then see horses funneled into the adoption pipeline and funneled into slaughter auctions.

 

Then our iconic American wild horses and burros are ending up in slaughter across the foreign borders. It’s just top to bottom, a mismanaged backwards program that needs to change.

 

[Speaker 1]

And look at this little injured foal. I mean, it is absolutely heartbreaking to see this, especially when the American public is not in favor of this. The American public, taxpayers, look at the comments coming in.

 

This is so sad. Horses want to run free. People are really, really upset about this, and yet it continues on because our government, and it’s a bipartisan problem.

 

We don’t get into politics here, partisan politics on Unshade TV. Let’s just say it’s been happening in Democratic administrations and Republican administrations. It’s been happening for decades.

 

No matter what anybody says, it continues, and it’s got to stop. I mean, we are, first of all, driving wild animals into extinction, and yet it’s infuriating to me that this continues even though the American public is overwhelmingly against it. So I want to bring in some folks.

 

Should we give Suzanne a try? Suzanne, try one more time. Okay, cannot hear you, so I don’t know what’s happening.

 

I apologize, but we’re going to keep moving forward. Maybe I’ll bounce you out and come back. So let me bring in some women that I ran into by accident who are doing heroic work.

 

I stumbled upon this instant message group, this chat on Facebook, BLM Mustangs, Burros, Donkeys, Mules, and Domestics. I got involved because every day they’re rescuing horses and burros who are about to go on the kill truck for the ride to slaughter in Mexico, every day, every five minutes. These heroic women are working around the clock with little sleep to make this happen.

 

So I want to start with Jill Robertson-Fuoco. I’m unmuting you. Jill, tell us what you do and how you do it.

 

[Speaker 11]

Okay, I started this about five years ago, and I got into it through Facebook. A friend introduced me to what was going on with the wild horses and burros, and now I’ve been trained by this friend. She’s no longer in it, but I put up fundraisers for BLM Mustangs and burros that are in kill pens that have a limited amount of time.

 

Usually they get about seven days, sometimes less. In this chat here that you’re showing, we fundraise and raise their bail and sometimes also raise their transport costs. It’s huge amounts of money that we have to raise.

 

It’s a lot of stress, a lot of pressure to get these animals out before their ship date. A lot of times we have to pay for board of these horses while they’re sitting there being fundraised for, and it’s never ending.

 

[Speaker 1]

Let me ask you about this horse right now. I looked at it last night getting ready for this emergency town hall, and I saw this poor horse with this giant cut, and I know you are trying to raise money. Tell us about this particular horse.

 

Take a look at this, people. Look at the cut on the side of this horse. This is disgusting.

 

Tell us, Jill.

 

[Speaker 11]

He is shipping to Mexico on the 21st. This is an Arabian stallion, unknown age, open cut and skin hanging. The kill pen will not do anything for this horse.

 

No vet will come out to help this horse. They have given me excuses as to why, but he’s not aggressive, and they say he’s wild, so they can’t really do anything for him. But I’m in the process of trying to find out what his bail is.

 

I have to direct message the kill buyers, and I have to wait until they respond.

 

[Speaker 1]

This is an example, people, if you’re watching, because I see some of the comments. People are like, solutions. Somebody said, we want solutions.

 

We all want solutions. I hate to tell you this, but the solution is to donate. The solution is to donate.

 

I want to bring in the two other women and thank you for everybody else’s patience. We’re going one at a time to try to get the story told. Michelle Brower, I’ve dealt with you.

 

You are Sweetgrass Rescue for North American equines. Folks, if you see that QR code, that goes to her donate page. I hope that you will grab a shot of that and donate whatever you can, because they really need help.

 

These women are working selflessly around the clock to rescue these animals. As soon as they rescue a group, then another group comes in. Instead of having whatever, 40 people on their thread, on their chat, if they had 400, everybody could give 10 bucks and we could save these animals.

 

Right now, it’s like a desperate plea for so many. Michelle, tell us how you find these horses and how you rescue them.

 

[Speaker 8]

Before I start that, I just want to point out to people that you’ve seen the videos of the horses on the landscape, that this landscape is not suitable for cattle. I am referencing Eric Movar of Western Watersheds here. I just want to make that point.

 

The cattle should be in the Midwest, in Florida, in places where there’s actual grassland. Where I’m finding the horses is through social media. We actually have one person that I network with who pretty much tracks all the mustangs and burros who are landing in the kill pens.

 

As soon as she can, she puts up their ship date and their bail. We take it from there. Jill is really good at finding homes for them, which we usually like to have before the fundraiser starts.

 

She also arranges transport when needed. My advocacy is really to help educate and advocate and fundraise if needed for wild horses and for domestic horses. My mission has been completely eclipsed by the urgency of the fundraisers needed for the mustangs and burros that are getting dumped by illegitimate adopters.

 

[Speaker 1]

I’m going to jump back to you. I want to go to Jenny Sloan. Jenny, we keep putting this photo up of this horse on the right.

 

Look at the cut on this horse’s face. This is unconscionable. This is happening left and right.

 

These animals coming in brutalized by our government, by the Bureau of Land Management. You took this horse in. Will you tell us that whole story and how that poor being is doing?

 

[Speaker 5]

She’s actually doing really well. She came from a lot in Arkansas. Jill and the other ladies, everybody posted her information and I contacted one of the groups that I work with.

 

We were able to go get her. The hardest thing is actually working with the kill pins, working with them. That horse had to stay at the pin for over a week before we were allowed to come get her.

 

By the time we were able to get her, the wound was already scabbed over. It was already in the process of being infected and all the things. By the time my husband drove down there and got her and got her back here, we got her to the vet literally yesterday.

 

The vet was able to clean her up, was able to get her treated with antibiotics. At that point, she is sick. She’s snotty.

 

She’s coughing. On top of that, she has this horrific wound who is mostly healed at this point. The vet had to dig it open and clean it out and get all the infection and things out of it.

 

My job is when they come in like this is to try to get them so they can understand that not everybody in the world is as horrible as those places. Ironically enough, what happened is what the kill pin told us is that an adopter put a halter on her at the facility and left it on her. It had been on her for however long, a year.

 

Her face grew into it. The kill pin put her in the chute and they removed it. They removed it, I guess, as an act of compassion.

 

I don’t know why, but they did. The wound that you’re seeing was the result of them removing it. It should have probably been removed by a vet under sedation and medication and all those things, but it didn’t happen that way.

 

Needless to say, she is healing. She is improving. She will ultimately go west to one of the organizations that I work with.

 

She will very likely be rewilded at the end of this process.

 

[Speaker 1]

How fantastic. Now, we want to get to all the nuances, but I do want to go back to Amelia Perrin of the American Wild Horse Conservation, such an incredible organization. I want to talk a little bit before we move forward, and we’re going to get to in defensive animals in a second.

 

What is happening with legislation? Because we did pass a Wild Horse and Burrows Protection Act back in 1971 during the Nixon era, and our horses are supposed to be protected by the Wild, Free, Roaming Horses and Burrows Act of 1971. Yet, the problem is, despite these legal protections, and this is right off your website, the Federal Bureau of Land Management spends more than $150 million each year to cruelly remove and confine tens of thousands of wild horses and burrows using helicopters.

 

That’s a disconnect. Then, they basically banned horse slaughter in the United States through a technical maneuver, but now they’re just being shipped to Mexico, which is even more cruel. What can be done?

 

[Speaker 2]

Yeah, absolutely. The 1971 law protects wild horses and burrows as integral parts of our natural western landscape, but unfortunately, that law has been weakened over the years due to commercial interests and private interest dictating policy. We see things like the 2004 Burns Amendment, which allowed for the Bureau of Land Management to implement a sales program and actually took away any protections for slaughter for wild horses and burrows.

 

What that means for us every year is that we have to advocate for wild horses to maintain the ban on wild horse slaughter in Congress every single year. What can we all do about this? What can everyone watching do about this is please continue to advocate to your legislators that wild horses and burrows must be protected from slaughter, but not only that, they must be managed in the wild.

 

We need to stop spending so much money on this roundup and holding complex and instead flip that and manage these wild horses in the wild where they belong. There’s some really great bipartisan solutions that are being put forth in Congress right now, such as Dena Titus’s Wild Horse and Burrow Protection Act, which would eliminate the use of helicopters for roundups over a course of a two-year period, but the key part there is that it would immediately make cameras on every single helicopter used for federal roundups, which would bring an unseen level of transparency and accountability for these roundup contractors. And then there’s other things like advocating for managing horses in the wild using humane fertility control and the appropriations process. And then there’s other bills that like the SAFE Act that would ban, protect domestic and wild horses across the board.

 

[Speaker 1]

Wait, how does the SAFE Act work? Because the SAFE Act is super important. What?

 

[Speaker 2]

Yes, it is. Yes, that was great.

 

[Speaker 1]

The SAFE Act, I mean, the worst part of all this, I mean, it’s all bad. It’s all horrific. And the worst part is the idea that, oh, we were so nice to ban slaughter in the United States, so let’s just ship them all to Mexico and Canada, which just exacerbates the cruelty.

 

They’re on these rides without water, without food, opener trucks. It’s extreme cruelty. Why isn’t the SAFE Act something that everybody can get behind?

 

Is it because of the meat industry’s tremendous control over Congress?

 

[Speaker 2]

There’s huge influence of private industry in Congress. And I think that it does play a role in any of these animal, just general animal protection bills, wild horse protection bills and domestic horse protection bills. And so this is something that we’ve really rallied around and a lot of domestic horse organizations have rallied around to supporting the SAFE Act.

 

And we keep getting a lot of co-sponsors on that and a lot of broadband support for this, which the SAFE Act would ban officially closed slaughterhouses in the United States and then ban the export of horses to Canada and Mexico for human consumption. And so this would be, this would take down a huge industry and it would be a really great step in protecting our wild horses and domestic and wild horses from the cruel, cruel fate of slaughter, which again, we all stand very strongly against. We don’t want our wild horses slaughtered.

 

We want them protected on our federal lands. And unfortunately, the Bureau of Land Management’s adoption and sale programs have funneled these horses directly from the holding facilities to the slaughter pipeline through the adoption incentive program, which AWHC has been investigating since 2020. And ultimately our litigation ended that program.

 

So then now the sales program where people can buy horses for $25, get immediate ownership to them, and then put them right in the kill pens without any protection or accountability for protecting them from slaughter, which by the way, every one person that signs adoption or a sale contract with the Bureau of Land Management signs that they have no intent to sell this horse to any person or organization that will process the horse into commercial slaughter.

 

So there’s just no accountability measures in place right now. There’s no accountability measures within the adoption incentive program, which gave people $1,000 to adopt a wild unhandled horse at Borough and led to thousands. We documented 2,100 at least in the kill pens and confirmed through our investigative Freedom of Information Acts that 70% of those were actually adoption incentive program horses.

 

[Speaker 1]

So wait a second. I got to ask you, I mean, this is insane. There’s widespread corruption in our government.

 

They have an adoption program. And this is what I’ve been learning from these ladies. And we’ll go to them again.

 

And they basically flip them. You’ve heard of flipping houses. This is flipping horses.

 

And they take them on the cheap from these adoption, via these adoption programs. The BLM has to know, because if you have the same people coming back over and over again, duh, they’re flipping them. And yet the government looks the other way.

 

My final question to you, can’t you sue to stop this?

 

[Speaker 2]

So we did sue to stop the adoption incentive program. And we did put a halt to that program and terminated it. There are other ways that we are advocating for accountability within the government.

 

And we’re working directly with lawmakers to make sure that there are humane welfare standards and that there are these compliance inspections done at, you know.

 

[Speaker 1]

But I need a new lawsuit. They’re obviously still doing it. We’ve got thousands of horses flooding into the kill slaughter pipeline.

 

Why can’t we, can we sue again? I think the idea is to keep suing.

 

[Speaker 2]

Yeah, absolutely. And we take part in strategic litigation that we know we’re going to win. The worst thing we can do is sue and lose and set a bad precedent for wild horses across the board.

 

So we are continuing to evaluate all of this information, compile this information. And so, you know, anyone out there that has any information about a wild horse in borough, please send it into us. We have a database where we track all the wild horses that we can identify and continue to evaluate all of our options to fight this.

 

I think the landscape is changing with the end of the adoption incentive program. And so we’re currently looking at what is possible here. What is the best course of action for our wild horses?

 

And what is one that is going to set us up to like win and win for generations to come? And so that’s kind of how we’re looking at this and making sure that we can step up for our wild horses through congressional action, through laws being passed, through potential litigation, and through our advocacy efforts. People can’t care about this if they don’t know about this.

 

And one thing we know is when we reach new audiences, they are enraged, like all of us, and are ready to take action. And so those are our key areas. We are working in Congress, we are working boots on the ground, and we are working in the courts to make sure we get lasting protections for our wild horses in boroughs.

 

[Speaker 1]

Wow, amazing work. Thank you so much. I just don’t understand if the 80 percent of the American public is outraged by this, how we can’t somehow get bipartisan buy-in to stop it.

 

And to me, it’s that our government has been co-opted by the meat and dairy industry, by the ranchers. And this is so upsetting. Lisa Levinson, you have been extremely patient, but In Defense of Animals is doing other work along with your organization, Amelia.

 

In Defense of Animals is trying to get people involved. Can you tell us how IDA is trying to be part of the solution, Lisa?

 

[Speaker 13]

Sure. Yes, IDAs, we’ve been involved for many years. I think actually some of the people who started their own organizations to protect horses did start working under IDA for our wild horse in borough campaign, which is very strong, and we’re so delighted that we can continue this program.

 

We’ve been promoting and advocating for the SAFE Act to pass that once and for all. However, it’s been a struggle, as many people have talked about. And we’re also really excited to begin helping some of the people that we’ve heard speak about helping the animals who are directly in the kill pens.

 

So there’s lots of strategies. One is to work legally, which we’re doing with the legislation, and then also to work with people who are boots on the ground trying to save horses from the kill pens. So we’re really interested in doing an appeal to help them to raise some funds so that we can stop this terror that’s going on for wild horses.

 

[Speaker 1]

And it really is terror. I want to go to Madhu Anderson. You have actually watched the roundups and you happen to live in Wyoming.

 

I want to ask you about the emotional impact on you as an American citizen, as somebody who, you know, has to pay taxes just like we all do. I’m outraged, but I haven’t seen it with my own eyes. What was the emotional impact when you saw it with your own eyes?

 

Unmute.

 

[Speaker 6]

Yes, thanks, Jane. Yes, I do live in Wyoming, and I have lived in Wyoming more than 10 years. I have, like, on my camping trips and hiking, I have seen so many wild horses, horse herds, and they are beautiful.

 

Definitely, they run for miles every day, and I saw them playing in the river waters. It’s gorgeous, beautiful to see them. And then I live just a few blocks from a wild horse holding facility and a BLM regional office, BLM field office, which is in Rock Springs, too.

 

It’s heartbreaking to see them confined like that. There is no shelter on the Rock Springs facility. And of course, they are, again, away from their family members.

 

So, I will share briefly about my experience. In August 2024, there was a wild, a white fountain HME area where the roundup was occurring, and I registered with BLM. Like, you have to register, you have to give your name and your email address, and then you can go and see this roundup because they’re going to email you the location where you’re going to meet them.

 

So, I went and attended this, and I was an observer for four days. It started on the August 15 and ended on the August 19 in 2024. It was the most horrific thing which I’ve ever seen in my life.

 

I have seen these horses so wild and free, and then I saw them in distress being chased by helicopters. So, according to these horses, these helicopters are some giant monster, some animal which is chasing them, and they feel so scared. I have seen little foals, like baby horses.

 

They couldn’t even keep up with the band. It was a nightmare. I had never seen anything like this in my life, and I had nightmares.

 

I still have nightmares. All this footage just stays in my head, which I’ve seen. So, I said, like, why is BLM doing this thing?

 

What is the reason BLM will do something like this when these horses, when people from all over the world come to see horses? Like, if you go in my town in Rock Springs, like, most of the hotels and restaurants have these big posters of wild horses in the wild. So, I say, like, when you promote this tourism, how can you put these horses in these little holding facilities?

 

And then I found out BLM has something called AML. It’s called Appropriate Management Level. That’s the number of, that means that amount, that number of horses, only that number of horses are allowed in a specific land.

 

So, like, in 240,000 acres of White Mountain HMA, HMA is Herd Management Area, where BLM is allowed to control the horse population. BLM says that on 240,000 acres of land, only 205 horses are allowed. All the other horses are excess, too many, because they are degrading the rangeland.

 

That was, that’s what BLM was claiming. But at the same time, there are thousands of cattle, cows and sheep grazed on the same land. BLM, actually, these horses, these wild horses compete with these cattle’s food because they eat the same food.

 

Cows and sheep eat the same food as the horses. So, to work in the interest of the ranchers, the BLM wants to remove all these horses. In fact, they are just saying this AML number, they reduce the number.

 

There is no logic behind this number change. There is no logic. How come 240,000 acres of this vast land and only 200 horses are allowed on that land?

 

It’s all insane.

 

[Speaker 1]

Thank you. You really summed it up, your experience. I want to try to go back to Suzanne Roy.

 

Roy, let’s give you a shot one more time. Unmute.

 

[Speaker 7]

How’s this?

 

[Speaker 1]

Great. What’s your take on all this? Because you’ve been watching this for years.

 

It’s not getting any better. It’s getting worse.

 

[Speaker 7]

Well, the system is very difficult to change, but I would challenge that it hasn’t changed at all. Because what we have is a stronger movement than we had 15 years ago. I went to my first roundup on my birthday 15 years ago.

 

And I, like everyone else here, was just shocked at what I saw. And one of the most tragic things was I saw a stallion charge the bars of the pen, break his neck, and die. They don’t die immediately either.

 

The BLM says they do, but they don’t. Dragged onto a trailer with his poor mare standing over his dead body for two hours before they hauled him off. So the horror of the situation, it does continue.

 

But what we have is we have a stronger movement than we have had ever before. We have slaughter is off the table. I recently met with the Deputy Secretary of Interior.

 

Another of our people has met with the director of the BLM and in Congress. They are all saying the same thing. Slaughter is not an option here.

 

[Speaker 1]

Well, slaughter in Mexico though. There’s slaughter in Mexico.

 

[Speaker 7]

Well, okay. So there’s the legality of slaughter, which is allowed, as Amelia said, under the Wild Horse Act. But every year Congress passes a ban into the procreation bill to make it illegal to sell wild horses for slaughter.

 

[Speaker 1]

But it’s being violated.

 

[Speaker 7]

Okay. But if it would legalize, Jane, those 64,000 horses in holding, they would literally open the gates and the hill trucks would come right to the gates, load them all, and they’d all be in Mexico. What’s happening now is they’re using loopholes to funnel horses through the system into the slaughter pipeline.

 

So we have the adoption incentive program, as Amelia said, paying people $1,000 to adopt up to four horses a person. And it was being defrauded left and right. The horses were being flipped into the slaughter pipeline.

 

AWRC was able to shut that down. Now it’s shifted to the sales program. So a new investigation is necessary.

 

The documentation has to be compiled. So this is maybe a couple thousand horses going into the slaughter pipeline versus if that ban were lifted, 64,000 horses would be in Mexico tomorrow. And what I’ve seen in my years of working on this is the bipartisan support in Congress has significantly increased.

 

And many offices will say we get more mail on this than almost anything else. They know that people care about this issue and they know that slaughter is not viable. So we’re literally the line that stands between the horses in massive doom.

 

So that’s important to understand. The other thing that’s important to understand is that we now have a proven solution. We can use fertility control.

 

We can use birth control to keep wild horses in check with the environment without removing them from the range and shattering their families and taking away their freedom. And so that is the recognition of that alternative, which AWRC has really promoted and shown to be effective, including in public science. Congress recognizes that there’s an alternative and they’re building pressure on the BLM to implement it.

 

And just this year, the BLM National Advisory Board, Wild Horse and Burrow Advisory Board, that represents cattle industry, trophy hunting, wildlife management, wild horse and burrow advocacy, the range of interest in this issue, they recommended unanimously that BLM begin fertility control now to stop talking about it, stop continuing the approach that’s failed for 40 plus years and start implementing birth control instead of these helicopter roundups.

 

So things take time. You know, Jane, in animal rights, I’ve been in animal rights a lot.

 

[Speaker 1]

Let me just say this. First of all, I appreciate your optimism because as far as I’m concerned, looking at this situation, it’s a giant bleep show and it’s getting worse because now we have, according to Dr. Riley, who we’re going to go to next, we have 73,000 now. It was 64,000.

 

And now you’re saying, Dr. Riley, it’s going up. So I want to ask you and let me introduce this. First of all, this is a very complicated issue, but I want to try to simplify it so people understand.

 

Dr. Riley recently asked the Department of Justice to do an investigation into the cruelty and abuse of Bureau of Land Management, wild horses and burrows. And so she did a whole in-depth report, which I read, but I’m just putting up a little bit of it, which shows that there are many deaths with the roundups. The condition at the holding facilities is horrible.

 

There’s animals dying. There’s thousands of horses being sold to slaughter in violation of the rules themselves. And the government knows all about it.

 

They’re looking the other way. There’s widespread corruption. So I love Suzanne’s optimism.

 

Let’s go to Dr. Riley and get your thoughts on where we’re at.

 

[Speaker 3]

We’re at an enormous crisis stage right now with the wild horses. There’s no question about it, going to slaughter. I’ve had many conversations with Holly Waddell, who is the director of the wild horses and burrows sales program.

 

And last I talked to her about two months ago, there were 70,000 that she had in holding. And a couple of days ago, I looked up the numbers and now it’s up to 73,000. So quick action is not going to help.

 

What we are trying to do, and I work with Mike Jenkins, who’s with Equus Calibus. One thing that we’re trying to do is start at the root level. And one lawsuit has been filed.

 

Another lawsuit is about to be filed against Interior and the Department of Agriculture regarding all the illegal fraudulent issues that have gone on through the years, which has caused the horses to lose their land. Now, I’ve been working very hard with some senators. I’m getting some pushback from some, and I’m getting some possibilities with the other.

 

We’re at such a crisis stage now that the SAFE Act has failed for the last 13 years. It’s passed the House twice, and it’s died in the Senate. And right now, the way the SAFE Act reads is that they want to tag it, as one senator’s staffer put it, they want to tag it on to the farm bill with the inability to slaughter cats and dogs, which was passed the last farm bill.

 

Senator Rubio and Senator Gillibrand got the cats and dogs added on, and they want to just tag this on to the farm bill. But the real problem, which has occurred over the last 13 years, six and a half sessions Congress, is that the cattlemen own the Agriculture Committee and the House and the Senate. They, through their PAC funding, which is Political Action Committee funding, the cattlemen put in 100 percent of the politicians that they back who are anti or pro-slaughter, they’re anti-horse, they want the public lands, they want to increase the subsidized leases for their cattle and their sheep.

 

They are blocking it. It cannot get out of the Agriculture Committee. The way bills work is they’re introduced to the House and Senate, they go to, they’re assigned to a committee, the committee assigns a subcommittee.

 

And then, so the SAFE Act sits in subcommittee of the Agriculture Subcommittee. It just sits there and it goes nowhere.

 

[Speaker 1]

I get it. I get it. Every single issue that we face when it comes to animal agriculture, follow the money.

 

The meat and dairy industry have co-opted our government. So if you’re upset about this, don’t eat animals because that’s why the wild horses are being driven off the land. The cattle can be on there.

 

That’s part of it, Jane.

 

[Speaker 3]

It’s a big part of it. That’s part of it. But we’ve got two lawsuits that go to the root level for the federal land management.

 

And then what I’m working on is getting the SAFE Act done now, which would mean- Susan, let me just say something.

 

[Speaker 1]

You just said that it’s languishing in committee. So how are we going to get it done when it’s stuck in committee? That’s what I was just about to get to.

 

I mean, that’s the point is that it’s a dead end. Exactly. That’s the problem is that supposedly we have a legislative process.

 

Supposedly our representatives work for the people, 80% of whom Democrat, Republican, Independent don’t want to see wild horses chased off the public lands. And yet, guess who controls the agriculture committee? The ranchers and the agricultural interests.

 

[Speaker 3]

But there’s a way to get the SAFE Act through quickly. And that is using a discharge petition, which I’ve been working on. I’ve got some support from a couple representatives.

 

I’ve got some support from a few senators who are considering it. Senator Kennedy from Louisiana two weeks ago used the discharge petition to try to get the barrowed owls, who are the BLM is also- Yeah. They want to kill millions of owls on top of everything else.

 

So I’m working hard to get a discharge petition for the SAFE Act. Unfortunately, one of the leaders of the SAFE Act in the Senate, he just thinks that it is going to tag along with the farm bill. Well, God knows the farm bill is over two years overdue.

 

Exactly. You’re proving my point.

 

[Speaker 1]

I am fighting with- I appreciate your fight. I appreciate your fight. And I thank you and keep fighting.

 

I want to get back to what people can do now. And here’s what you could do. You could donate, you can share this video out, you can get involved.

 

And this is where I want to go back to the actual animals whose lives are on the line right now. And I want to urge everybody to try to join this group on Facebook. It’s a chat group on Facebook, BLM Mustangs, Burros, Donkeys, Mules and Domestics.

 

You can also just donate directly to Sweetgrass Advocacy for North American Equines. If you put your phone on the QR code right there, that’ll take you right to Sweetgrass Advocacy for North American Equines. They are rescuing horses and burros left and right, left and right.

 

So I urge you, everybody, while you’re watching now, just snap a photo of it or just go on your phone and go in there and donate and get involved. I want to tell you that there’s a lot of joy when a rescue happens. I happen to be involved in a couple and I want to show you the burros who were rescued.

 

You can rescue a lot of them or very little because it turns out that they are so cheap at this point that they go for basically a couple of hundred bucks here and there. So check this out. This was a group of burros that we rescued.

 

Nothing you could buy that makes you feel as good as knowing that these lives are… There they are, rescued burros. Look at these babies.

 

They were saved by this group. One, two, three, four, five. And they’re looking and they jump and they say six.

 

And there you go. And they’re going to live safe, happy lives because they were rescued by this group. And look at these.

 

Tell us about this rescue. Would you do me a favor? And you’ve been very patient, Nicole.

 

Tell us about the rescue of those and other animals. I’m going to unmute you. Go ahead.

 

[Speaker 12]

Thank you, Jane. This group of burros was posted and we were told they had to be revealed. They couldn’t be held like others.

 

So basically they were noting them as a direct ship that they weren’t fully bailed that day. And these are mama and baby pairs in that group that were rescued. And unfortunately, one of the mothers did pass away.

 

She was really thin and weak. So the baby’s now getting all the medical attention, hoping that the baby survives. But I mean, how can you take a group of mama and babies, young babies, still nursing and tell them, oh, they’re going to be direct shipped across the border if they’re not fully bailed and you’ve been off the lot.

 

I mean, it’s just heartbreaking for any animal to, you know, be put up like that. Injured, sick, any of them. I’ve done several, you know, urgent medical cases recently.

 

And it’s just heartbreaking. You know, we need help. We need home.

 

We need rescues. We need donations, rescues, you know, nonprofits. We have to.

 

That’s how we manage the animals. It’s how we take care of them. It’s how we help each other in the rescue community.

 

But it’s just, it’s tragedy and it’s, you know, a safe act has to be passed to continue for the horse’s lives.

 

[Speaker 1]

Thank you so much. You guys are my heroes. And I wanted everybody to see firsthand who we’re dealing with here so that people feel confident about donating.

 

You know, I did some deep background checking out when a horse was rescued and they say they’re shipping to this group. I is legit. I urge you all take a photograph of this QR code or just go on there and donate.

 

And then there’s another way you can get involved. And it’s a little complicated, but I urge everybody to do this. Okay.

 

So I’m giving you a second to take a picture of that. Every cent you give to, um, sweet grass advocacy for North American equines goes directly to getting these horses right off the slaughter truck. And, um, it’s, there’s no better feeling than when, you know, the thread goes, yay.

 

Now this thread, and again, you know, people are like, well, why don’t you have this? Why don’t you have that? Why do you, well, these are a bunch of women who are just doing this out of the goodness of their heart.

 

Uh, they don’t have a team of, you know, people who are designing social media for them. Um, here’s an example of a horse right now they’re raising funds for. And so the idea is that you can help by going to this sweet grass, uh, advocacy for North American equines, and you can also join this chat and you’ll see one horse after the next come up.

 

Now, how are you going to join this chat? This is where it gets a little tricky, but I wrote a little, uh, description here. You can friend Jill Robertson Fuoco on Facebook, and then you can private message her that you want to join the Facebook chat to save Mustangs and Burros.

 

Jill is right here right now on this emergency town hall, and we’re going to go back to her so that she can explain, um, oh, she dropped off, but you know what, uh, Michelle, you are a sweet grass advocacy for North American rescues. Can you, um, can you explain how people can get involved?

 

[Speaker 8]

Um, through social media, um, you can, uh, you know, friend Jill, uh, there are posts, um, there are a lot, there are a lot of groups, um, and I can share the posts with at least 10 different groups who then share them with their members, uh, so that would be the most expedient way to get involved. And, um, you can also message me, and, um, I can network you in and answer any questions that you have.

 

[Speaker 1]

And I’m writing this down, uh, because I have the, I have the, uh, website on the written intro, but you can also go to, correct me if I’m wrong, sweetgrassadvocacyfornorthamericanequines.com.

 

[Speaker 8]

Yes, we have a website. Um, it shows a lot of the horses that we’ve rescued. It shows our mission, um, and it has the donor link.

 

[Speaker 1]

You know, again, this, I want to thank everybody for being part of this. It’s a slow process because there’s so many people, uh, who are doing different things. So let’s bring in, uh, Lindsay Baker, who is our host at Unshade TV, who has done numerous stories on this.

 

Lindsay, uh, when you see these animals, uh, it’s so heartbreaking. And I know that’s one of the reasons why you got involved the way you have. Um, what would you urge people to, how would you urge people to donate and share out and get involved?

 

[Speaker 9]

Well, you know, I think it’s so important, particularly this time of year, um, when we maybe spend money on things that we could avoid spending money on and give the money to organizations that are helping get this through, helping to end horses going through this horrific treatment, barrels going through this horrific treatment. I think we can all step up a little bit. I plan to step up.

 

Um, I’ve been working and I, and I would love to hear from Craig too, because he’s one of the people I’ve interviewed a lot about this. The thing is it’s twofold. Well, it’s multiple, but we have to get the BLM and the government to stop cutting back the land, cutting back the land.

 

They were supposed to be allotted since 1971. Um, there was an act passed for the wild horses and barrels. I don’t know if you’ve covered this yet, but that has to be enacted because these horses and barrels continue to come through.

 

And it’s because we are not doing the right thing. I also want to urge the organizations to pull together. Now donate and work together.

 

There’s a lot of ideas. There’s a lot of solutions, but we need to crystallize because we are going to lose the most precious. These horses, not only are they important because of their heritage and they worked for us, they made this country what it is, one could argue, but because it affects the environment, it’s a big, big risk to the environment.

 

So for so many reasons, I think this will be one of my numbers. There’s so many good causes, but this will be one of my number one organizations, uh, situations where I donate and to support this fully.

 

[Speaker 1]

I’ll be honest with you. One of the reasons I’m holding this town hall is that I got caught up because I looked at the faces of these animals who are five minutes away from going on a truck to be shipped to Canada, have their throats lit. And I couldn’t say no.

 

And I started donating and donating. And then I realized, no, we need more people. No one person could do this alone.

 

And I certainly can’t do it, but it’s really, really hard. And I will also say that when the good news happens and you’re able to, uh, do something like this and rescue a whole bunch of boroughs, I’ll never forget this. The feeling that I had being involved in this rescue and seeing those animals get off the truck, these innocent beings, there’s nothing, there’s nothing I could buy.

 

Okay. That makes me as happy as seeing that. And that’s why I’m saying people donate.

 

Uh, we need help. These women who are doing this around the clock, you see them, they’re on this town hall. Now they are doing this just out of the goodness of their heart.

 

And they also donate themselves. I see it and they don’t have the money and they say I’m tapped out, but I’m donating anyway. And I’ll tell you, you just, you know, $50 here, $25 there.

 

A lot of times it’s like, if we don’t get $75 in the next five minutes, XYZ horses going to slaughter. And so there’s the clock is ticking. And when you get involved and you seen you go, okay.

 

Uh, or there’s matches. People say, I’ll, I’ll put up a hundred dollars who can match me and you get involved. And together as a group, we rescued these animals.

 

Of course we want long-term solutions, but you know what they say, when you save a life, you’ve saved the world for that life. I want to bring in Craig Downer. We have your videos, your great documentaries on, on Shane TV.

 

Um, you know, we, we have these big legislative, uh, goals and then we have the individual goals of rescuing the individual animals minute by minute. Give us your thoughts.

 

[Speaker 4]

Yeah. Thank you. Yeah.

 

I think it really is a crisis. I’m so glad you’re doing this program, bringing all these lovely ladies that are, have a heart and compassion to take action. It’s very impressive.

 

Uh, I’m so wildlife ecologists that specialize in their order and their family. I recognize him as deeply rooted return natives in, uh, and Keystone species in North America. I just want to say, I want to promote this, uh, bill, uh, House of Representatives 10587, which is the volunteer federal grazing permit surrender act bill, because it’s a very intelligent way of free, uh, freeing up the habitat and the resources for the horses and burros.

 

So I urge you to contact your representative and senators about supporting that.

 

[Speaker 1]

But no, again, what’s it called?

 

[Speaker 4]

Well, it’s something like volunteer federal grazing permit surrender act and it’s 10587 in the house. So it’s been introduced by representative white, I think from Washington and others. So it’s a very intelligent way and it’s been tried before.

 

And I just want to say that I think we have to really, yeah, it would allow public lands ranchers to surrender their grazing permits and open it up for wildlife, including the wild horse and burros. So it would allow, instead of having 85% of the, uh, grazing forage going to cattle and sheep, we go, uh, to the wild horses and wildlife.

 

[Speaker 1]

And so why would the ranchers agree to that?

 

[Speaker 4]

Well, some of them would, because they would get a compensation. That’s not, but according to the bill, they would get a fair market compensation. So it isn’t necessary, but it would be an incentive.

 

And I think many of these ranchers that I’ve talked to, not the huge corporations, but the more, the less wealthy ones would go for this. And it would allow many of these areas to be, as the law says, devoted principally to the welfare and benefit of the wild horse and burro. So that’s my dream.

 

I just wanted to get that in there and that I stand for a more, um, natural, respectful way of, uh, creating self-stabilizing herds, uh, once we have complete habitats. But I certainly don’t believe in giving up on the wild free roaming horse and burros act. We must stand for, uh, the true, true implementation of its meaning and, and just insist on it because gee whiz, if 80% of the public believe in this, then we’re not a bunch of wimps.

 

We, we have power and we just have to learn to insist that the law be enforced and implemented. It’s a wonderful law. And I think it would make such a wonderful difference in America.

 

[Speaker 1]

Well, I’m sorry to see that Suzanne dropped off. Cause I was just going to say that this is what we have to coordinate. I see everybody proposing different laws.

 

Um, let me go back to Dr. Wiley. But what I’m saying, let me just say this. Okay.

 

The days of people writing down a bill and, and writing a letter, those are gone. It has to be a campaign such as, uh, organizations like PETA do where you call, you go like this and you hit, hit, hit, and it sends it out to senators and Congress members and everything else. People aren’t, if you’re relying on people to sit there and write letters, forget about it, as they say.

 

[Speaker 4]

Well, the Western Watersheds greatly backs Eric Movar. They, they greatly backed the, this bill, uh, to surrender the, uh, permits, volunteer surrender. So that’s Eric Movar and they have a lot of sway.

 

Yeah, they have a lot of sway, you know, so they’re, they’re like Pierre, Pierre also, they have a lot of sway. They’ve done great reports, you know, uh, and, and, and they’re using this drought thing and then there’s a scapegoat in the wild horse and burrows. That’s obscene.

 

[Speaker 1]

That’s a big lie. Okay.

 

[Speaker 4]

That’s a big liar. Pierre did an expose on that.

 

[Speaker 1]

Um, I’m going to jump in.

 

[Speaker 4]

And so did, uh, cow deal.

 

[Speaker 1]

All right. I’m going to mute you because I’ve got to jump in. Um, and what I want to say is we’re hearing good ideas, a lot of good ideas, but one thing that I’m not seeing and that I think would be great.

 

And Dr. Riley, I’d like you to work, uh, jump in on this is what about a coordinated approach? I see all these, there’s various bills now, various lawsuits, various things. I mean, how do we coordinate with all the groups?

 

You know, that the bad guys they’re, they’re organized and they get together and they sit in a giant conference room and they say, this is what we’re going to do. Whereas it seems like we animal lovers, everybody’s trying their own thing. Now on this one, uh, emergency town hall, we’ve had really good top organizations and on the ground rescuers.

 

Is there a way to get them together? So that his bill and your bill and the other bill that there’s a coordinated approach, because I can tell you that if 80% of Americans are mailing their representatives that they want this done, there’s a certain point where it overwhelms the, um, agricultural and the industrial and the financial interest, because these people know at the end of the day, they do have to go up for reelection. And so, you know, it has to be absolutely overwhelming.

 

And that’s what I think we could achieve if all of these groups got together. Dr. Riley, what are your thoughts?

 

[Speaker 3]

I agree with you a hundred percent. Um, we, our group just did a national mailing. Uh, it’s, you can still do it.

 

Um, as it went to, for, for an executive order to president Trump asking for the safe act to be to pass or end slaughter, um, to be honest, and I’m going to be real honest here. I, what I see is that there’s too much drama between the two groups and that we need to focus more on our mission. All of our mission is, is saving the horses, stopping slaughter and keeping the horses safe, period, end of story, stopping the BLM, hopefully rewilding the 70,000 or so that are in holding at the moment, not letting them land in auctions where they get hurt, they get sick, they die, but the organizations need to get together and work together.

 

Our, our, my organization is pro bono and I work with Mike Jenkins. He’s pro bono. Um, some of the other organizations, salaries.

 

[Speaker 9]

Okay.

 

[Speaker 1]

Again, to your point, we don’t want to critique any other organizations. The first rule is don’t critique another organization. I deal with this constantly in the animal rights world in general.

 

It’s like everybody wants to be the top hero, but the point is that I think if we all come together and maybe have not on camera, a, a summit where, where all of the email lists are coordinated under one thing and, and, you know, PETA has developed a way that people, no matter what I’m doing, when I get a PETA action alert, I go, I’m stopping what I’m doing because I can literally go like this on my phone, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop.

 

And I send letters to a whole bunch of senators and members of Congress and heads of corporation. We need to get high tech and we need to unite all the horse groups, every single email list and send it out because that I think would overwhelm the agricultural interests. But is that going to happen?

 

Is everybody going to participate? I don’t know. There’s, you know, there’s a lot of people operating in their silos, not to critique anybody, but it’s hard to get everybody together.

 

Michelle, you want to say something?

 

[Speaker 8]

Um, well, I don’t have any specific solutions, but I’m an environmental activist and I’m involved in the, uh, you know, this crisis and the issues and the problems are the same. And I am advocating for the environmental agencies to collaborate with the wild horse advocacies and the anti-slaughter advocacies. Um, you know, it just, it just makes sense, you know, in terms of the legalities and, uh, the resources.

 

So that’s the only input I have on that.

 

[Speaker 1]

Yeah. Well, thank you. And again, your organization is, and I want to put it up, anybody who wants to help.

 

It’s so simple, really. You just look at this QR code, grab a picture of it and donate whatever you can, 50, a hundred, 25, 10, and a monthly donation would be incredible. If you start on monthly donations, you know, uh, it, it’s the price of a cup of coffee and you can that 10 or $15 or $20 can save a horse or two or three a month.

 

So I urge everybody, please take a photo of that QR code and get involved. There was nothing you could buy that feels as good. And you know what?

 

You can do it for your holiday shopping gifts. This is what I do. I say, I rescued a horse in your name.

 

I rescued a donkey in your name. And you know what, if they don’t like it, tough, tough, I could care less. It’s that or no gift at all.

 

Um, you know, we’ve been talking for more than an hour. I want to do round Robin. I think we’ve covered a lot.

 

We’ve covered legislation. We’ve covered the, the problem, obviously. And we’ve covered the immediate solution, rescue these horses that are coming into the slaughter pipeline, as well as the long-term solution of legislation.

 

Um, let’s get final thoughts from everybody. And, um, I will start with the very patient Jenny Sloan.

 

[Speaker 5]

Thank you. I, you know, I’m, I’m so far out of this loop with the legalities of everything, because I’m the one that’s actually doing the work of taking care of many of these horses. Um, we, you know, we’re the ones that get them out of the actual pipeline.

 

So I understand the process of having to go through and get the bills passed and, but it doesn’t help the ones right now. They’re here right now. They’re here today.

 

Uh, they’re, they’re sitting there. They’re waiting there. They don’t have food.

 

They don’t have water. They don’t have shelter. They’re sick.

 

They’re snotty. They’re days away from being crammed on a, uh, an over, over crammed trailer. Uh, it’s, it’s, we don’t have time to wait for the legal process to happen in a lot of cases.

 

And that’s why people like Jill reach out to people like me. I literally can go there tomorrow and pick them up and get them safe and get them to the next stop and the next stop. And I’ve worked with a lot of these other people and that’s what’s happened.

 

That’s what we do. Uh, but it is urgent. It’s, we can’t be patient with their lives anymore.

 

If there’s too many of them, it’s every day, every day, there’s 20, 30, 40, 50 more Mustangs sitting in facilities within a hour radius of my home and they’re sitting there and they’re waiting to, to go somewhere. So that is on my end, that’s what I feel is the urgent thing that, that I appreciate the legislation and I appreciate the, the, the, all of those pieces, but there is the immediate, the animal that is in front of us is here now. And those are the ones that need help.

 

[Speaker 1]

And I’m going to put up this, the one that is the focus today. One of many, but look at this Arabian stallion with a cut and this Arabian stallion will go to slaughter. Several hundred dollars is not raised in the next couple of days.

 

And imagine getting this horse, getting on a truck pack with other horses and riding without food or water to Mexico with this injury and then having his throat slit. That’s why I donate. And that’s why I’m urging all of you to donate again.

 

Just take a picture of that. Go on right now, become a monthly donor. It’s a, you can see that QR code.

 

You just click. We vetted this organization. This is a good organization.

 

Sweetgrass advocacy for North American equines. There’s also heart of the wild, but this one, um, they’re both great, but this one, we have the QR code today. So you know what, if, if 15 people, 20 people watching this sign on and they go there and donate that horse might make it through and might not go to slaughter.

 

So I’m begging. That’s how it’s gotten. I’m begging.

 

[Speaker 5]

The other thing real quick, just to throw in there is it. Yes. Money is vital.

 

Yes, it is. But having an end result for these animals, they need homes. They need people.

 

They need, they need an end result too. So otherwise we just ended warehousing them again. They need a place to go.

 

So if an average horse person has room for one more, they need to step up in that regard as well, because there can’t just be 10 people that keep taking all the same horses over and over again. They, they, there needs to be places for them to go. Once we do rescue them, that, that is a huge component too.

 

[Speaker 1]

So we’re getting so many people commenting, uh, you know, uh, we are losing them. Everybody wants to help. And it is daily.

 

It’s even more than daily. It’s hourly. And here’s the, here’s the one that, uh, Craig was talking about.

 

Voluntary Grazing Permit Retirement Act. Is this the one, Craig?

 

[Speaker 4]

Yeah, that’s the one.

 

[Speaker 1]

Okay. Great. Because people are asking.

 

[Speaker 4]

Oh, I see. I had a different number then. There, there it is.

 

[Speaker 1]

But again, again, we, we have to get together and would you be able to suggest an off camera conference where all the people that we’ve gathered, but others too who run organizations and sanctuaries would be willing to do a zoom meeting and, and, and figure this out, like one email blast to all the legislators. Yes, absolutely. I think that’s really necessary.

 

Listen, we can argue till we’re blue in the face of, do we, do we feel that it’s need needed birth control or not? I’ve heard arguments on both sides. Let’s not go down into that vortex.

 

What we want to stop is the horrible transportation of these animals to Mexico and Canada. Let’s, let’s aim for that. The safe act as well as, and they’re not mutually exclusive, the voluntary grazing permit retirement act.

 

I think that those are two really smart solutions that have come out of this. And if we can meet and say, we’re not going to argue about all the inside baseball stuff that these groups always end up arguing about. I remember 20 years ago, they were arguing about the birth control or not.

 

Forget about it. Let’s focus on two items, two items that are maybe achievable and go for that and then get everybody’s email lists and have it done in a coordinated way. All right.

 

I’m going to give Lindsay Baker her final thoughts right now. Unmute.

 

[Speaker 9]

Well, I love exactly what you’re saying. I love the multi-pronged approach. I love the idea of us coming together.

 

I also love the idea of becoming a monthly subscriber, even if it’s only $10 a month, because we forget over time, but we set it up, Hey, 17 to $20 a month is one of your streaming networks. Come on. We can stop watching the reruns of some dumb show and actually make a difference for these animals.

 

I mean, it doesn’t take that much and sharing, sharing this out, talking about it, getting more people involved, but that zoom call, I think is very key because just like you, Jane, I’ve been doing these stories. I’m not like you doing this part, but I’ve been doing it since 2016. And I’ve interviewed many, many, many people, more people than are here today, all great intention, all doing great work, but we need to come together for solutions.

 

And I would say that’s the key. Let’s support now the immediate problem and let’s come together for more solutions. Excellent idea.

 

[Speaker 1]

And, and that we’ve achieved something because one of the reasons why I hold these town halls is that a lot of times what comes out is an idea. And I do feel that there’s a lot of silos in the horse rescue. First of all, there’s so many horse rescue groups.

 

I was shocked when I went looking for heart of the wild rescue, I, there’s a bunch that have similar names and in every state, there’s people, good people rescuing these horses, rescuing these horses. Imagine if all came together and we combined our email lists and we, and we sent out a email to all of them saying, click, click, click, click. And, and that would be something that would go into the inboxes of the president of the Senate of the house.

 

And that would be very, very powerful. So now I’m who’s been overlooked. And I apologize, Nicole Shoal, unmute and give us your final thoughts.

 

[Speaker 12]

Well, honestly, we have a system failing every animal, not just horses, donkeys, but all animals that they claim, you know, they’re protecting. So honestly, we all, as a group, you can care about animals, be their voice. They can’t talk like we can step up, be there for them, advocate, bring the awareness.

 

[Speaker 1]

That’s all I can really do either way. And you have an incredible organization as well. I’ve donated to your organization and will continue to do so.

 

But again, no individual can do it alone. I, I, I, I held this, I held this town hall because I said, I can’t, I’m tapped. I mean, but then you see the faces and you go on that, on that instant message group, that chat, and you see more of the faces.

 

And it’s like, how can I not? How can I not this horse? And that donkey it’s, it’s truly overwhelming, but that’s why I say together, if we all pitch in, we can do it.

 

We can do it because it is a pipeline, but it’s not infinite. It’s overwhelming, but it’s not infinite. And if there’s enough people donating, then those horses can be saved because these women, they work like hell around the clock to save these horses.

 

Okay. A final thought from, uh, who do we got? Madhu, Madhu.

 

Oh, that’s not Madhu. Hold on. Madhu.

 

[Speaker 6]

Yeah. Hi, Jane. Um, yeah, I also think that, uh, the cruelty starts from when the roundup starts, uh, as I have witnessed this cruelty with my own eyes, um, uh, animals, um, horses getting separated from their families, dying with, um, uh, injured leg, leg injuries or breaking their legs or crowding of overcrowded pens, et cetera.

 

So I believe that another way people can help is if you go on the BLM website, you can always find out when the next schedule roundups are roundup is going to happen, whether it’s in California, Nevada, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, wherever, and make a call, please. You can call BLM directly and tell them to stop that particular roundup because it’s cruel to the animals. And, um, it is, it is cruel.

 

It is costing the taxpayers a lot of money. We can also, um, participate in the public comment periods because BLM does open public comment, uh, periods for certain roundups and we can always speak up against them there because cruelty starts from the minute the helicopter starts and it is the most horrible way of treating wild horses.

 

[Speaker 1]

Oh, so awful. I mean, I love everything you say. I doubt, I mean, it’s always good to protest.

 

I had seen these protests for years. Um, political pressure will get to them, but, um, they, they have a tendency to be because they’re so controlled by the industry, uh, they, they pretty much, you know, I mean, I think it’s good to protest, but I think the legislative solutions, uh, are, are absolutely key. All right.

 

Uh, final thoughts from Michelle, did you give, you did your, give your final thought, right?

 

[Speaker 8]

Um, yeah, pretty much.

 

[Speaker 1]

Okay.

 

[Speaker 8]

Well, no, you know, I, I do want to say something that, um, I, yes, my link is up for the donations, but I’m sharing with Nicole, um, because we work together and, um, and we support each other. And so you, if you’re donating to me, you’re donating to her as well.

 

[Speaker 1]

Excellent. Thank you so much, Craig, your final thought.

 

[Speaker 4]

Yeah, I think this is really wonderful to see how many people really care and have such great empathy for the wild horses at Burroughs for being so victimized. And I just want to say that I, I do too really feel for these individual animals. It’s really important not to forget the individuals, just like us, they’re sentient beings and with extraordinary, uh, abilities and conceptions.

 

But I want to say that, um, I do hold on to the vision of the Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burroughs Act that these millions of acres on the BLM, and let us not forget the US Forest Service lands was designated principally for their welfare and benefit, not for the welfare and benefit of the ranchers that already, uh, graze most of our public lands. So why are these fat cats getting even more and they’re being bullies? So I think we have to hold true to the true intent of the, of the law, and that the fact that this is honoring the, the true nature of the wild horses at Burroughs.

 

And it’s, it’s a real, a real rarity in, among humanity that we’re saying, hey, let’s let them be themselves and be their natural selves and play their wonderful God-given role in, in our world. You know, that’s so important for all of us. So let’s not give up on this because things can change.

 

This whole world is coming to kind of a crisis stage. And I think that’s an opportunity for major changes because people are going to come clean and they’re going to see there’s new ways of life. Like we don’t have to eat so much meat and dairy products or any at all.

 

We can eat vegetables and fruits and, uh, you know, there’s just radical changes that need to be made so we can restore harmony to our interrelationships here on earth. And that’s what the Wild, Free, Roaming Horses in Burroughs Act really is trying to do. Thank you.

 

[Speaker 1]

Thank you. Excellent points. Um, has everybody, did you do your final thought, Anne?

 

[Speaker 3]

Uh, basically my final thought was that I U.S. Horse Welfare and Rescue will organize a Zoom meeting to invite all the leaders of all the organizations together to see if we can, um, collectively beat the ranchers and get these horses seen.

 

[Speaker 1]

I love it. And what an incredible way to end. Fantastic.

 

Because we have an action point and I want to thank you, Dr. Riley, for making that commitment. I hope you will allow me to attend as well as, um, Lindsay Baker from our team and that everybody who was on this emergency town hall will be able to attend and we can all work together and, and combine our email lists and do a national campaign. And that’s, that’s really what we need.

 

I mean, I, I think that if that comes out of this town hall, it will have been well worth it. Um, I want to thank you and for Dr. Riley for agreeing to arrange that.

 

[Speaker 3]

And, um, one second, can Jane, can you get me the emails, the email of all the people? Absolutely. I will.

 

And then I, well, there’s a lot of other rescues and advocates. Yes.

 

[Speaker 1]

It’s probably going to take a month to gather all the emails. And what we can do is all of us start collecting all the emails that we know, right. And together, if we all collect various emails of the organizations and then invite them, um, this happened just recently with another aspect of the animal rights movement.

 

And it was very successful. Um, we, we have strengthened numbers. We’ve been operating in silos.

 

We need to get together. That’s the outcome of this emergency town hall. And I feel that that makes it very successful.

 

Thank you everybody for being a part of this. And remember for those watching at home, the bottom line is very simple. You can be part of this.

 

You can be part of the solution. You can be part of history, donate, grab that QR code that is on your screen right now and just donate what you can. If you can become a monthly donor, that would be extraordinary.

 

And I don’t ask anybody to do something that I don’t do. I have donated repeatedly to this organization and will continue to do so along with heart of the wild and some of the other groups. So please join me together.

 

We can save lives. Thank you so much for being part of this emergency town hall. And we will do an update after we have the meeting that Dr. Riley is going to, uh, arrange. Thank you everyone. Thank you. Thank you.

 

[Speaker 4]

Thank you.

 

[Speaker 1]

Thank you.