As we wrap up our celebrations of US independence, the wild horses and burros who symbolize our nation's freedom are facing a monstrous threat. The Department of the Interior is planning to ax decades-old legal protections so that 46,000 wild horses and burros now held captive by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) can be sold to slaughter. If these sick plans succeed, wild equines deemed to be "excess" — without any scientific evidence — could even be gunned down on the range. Up to 92,000 wild horses and burros are in the firing line. Please act now to prevent the mass murder of American wild equines.

The President's budget request to Congress revealed these inhumane and unnecessary plans. The BLM has corrupted its duty to protect wild lands and the animals who live there by allowing ranchers to overgraze cows and degrade natural habitats, while blaming the greatly outnumbered wild horse herds for the damage. Solutions have long existed that would allow the peaceful co-existence of ranchers and wild horses and burros on the range. These include restoring the acreage the government has removed from wild equine herd areas since 1971, readjusting the BLM's arbitrary population targets, and increasing the use of safe, reversible fertility control.

The National Academy of Sciences and 40 animal organizations including In Defense of Animals have long recommended birth control vaccines to help manage wild herds, but the BLM minimizes their use. Instead, the Agency uses a cruel system consisting of roundups and removals that traumatizes and warehouses captured wild animals. The system is costly and dysfunctional.

In the coming weeks, Congress will take up the budget request and decide the fate of our nation's wild horses and burros. Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke is telling Congress that the BLM has run out of options to reduce wild horse population numbers. He's been stating everything but the facts. Killing off wild horses and burros is no solution to the BLM's mismanagement.

What YOU Can Do

1) Please make three simple phone calls. Calls to Congress are essential to give voice to the voiceless and prevent the mass slaughter of our nation's wild horses and burros. They send a powerful message that we're watching and we care!

Find your two US Senators and your one US Representative's numbers here. State your name, your town or city, and telephone number. Be courteous and respectful. You may wish to say:

• I oppose the BLM's budget provision that would allow wild horses and burros to be sold for slaughter or killed in the wild.
• Wild horses and burros are a vital part of our heritage. They deserve to live free, not to be vilified and destroyed because of government mismanagement.
• Congress must maintain the ban on killing wild equines. It's time for the BLM to conduct on-the-range management that is humane and sustainable.

2) Set a reminder to call again next week.

3) Submit the form on the right-hand side of this page which will send our letter to all three of your federal legislators. Please note that is alert requires a U.S. based address.