Animal Wellness Action and The Wild Beauty Foundation have justreleased a short film produced by Ashley Avis, the director ofDisney’s 2020 film “Black Beauty” urgently pleading with PresidentJoe Biden to intercede and stop the cruel helicopter roundup of thepopular and beloved Onaqui wild horse herd in western Utah. Thefilm precedes a “Wild Horse and Burro Freedom Rally” to be heldtoday, Friday, July 9th, at 10:00 a.m. near the WhiteHouse as a last resort to raise public awareness of the plight ofthe wild horses, who face a devastating BLM operation beginningJuly 13th that will send the majority of the herd to anuncertain future, including the possibility of slaughter in foreignmeat plants.
The Washington, D.C. event follows a rally the groups held withactress Katherine Heigl, the Jason Debus Heigl Foudation, the CloudFoundation, and Red Bird’s Trust, on the steps of the Utah statecapitol in Salt Lake City, Utah last Friday. Following the rally,leaders from the event traveled to the Great Basin Desert west ofSalt Lake City, home to the Onaqui horses, and there documentedwith photos and video the healthy condition of the horses and theabundant forage, contradicting the Bureau of Land Management’sfalse narrative that the horses are overpopulated, starving, anddestroying the vast Onaqui range.
Numerous leaders of the groups involved will speak to rallyattendees on Friday. Press should plan to arrive at the event at10:00 a.m.; protestors should plan to arrive at 9:45 and meet infront of St. John’s Episcopal Church at 1525 H Street NW,Washington, D.C., 20005. A billboard truck with video aimed atgetting the President to stop the roundups featuring Brownie Scoutsfrom across America will be on display inside the Beltway near theWhite House today.
“President Biden can either go down in history as the man whosaved the Onaqui or the man who let them be rounded up byhelicopter chase, purged from their home, and doomed them with aone-way ticket to slaughter in Mexico or Canada,” said MartyIrby, executive director at Animal Wellness Action, and one of TheHill’s Top Lobbyists for 2019 and 2020, who was recently honored byHer Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, II for his work to protecthorses. “We are so grateful for the tremendous work of AshleyAvis, Winterstone Pictures, and The Wild Beauty Foundation on thisfilm that will be displayed Friday on a giant billboard truck withscreen near the White House and National Mall.”
“This is our last chance to save these iconichorses,”said Ashley Avis, director of Disney’s BlackBeauty film and president of The Wild BeautyFoundation.“The Onaqui are arguably the mostfamous herd in the entire country. If you have children, or afamily, and you want to see wild horses in the wild— you may likelygo here. But if something isn’t done now, instead of wildhorses— living symbols of freedom galloping across the plains— wewill see livestock in their place. Wild horses cannot be lostto history. Please, President Biden, intercede.”
“With thousands upon thousands of calls and emails to the BLM,Congress, and President Biden, the American people have spokenoverwhelmingly in support of the federally-protected Onaquihorses,” said Scott Beckstead, director of campaigns for theCenter for A Humane Economy. “In its arrogance, the BLM hasthus far ignored the public’s will and instead is bent on appeasingcommercial livestock grazers. It will fall upon our president tostep in and do the right thing to protect these American icons, buthe must do so quickly before the helicopters take to the desertsky.”
"It's time for President Joe Biden to face the voting public andexplain why his Administration continues to stonewall the Americanpeople on wild horse protection," said Cameron Ring,president of Andromeda Pictures. "The Onaqui wild horsesin Utah are a national treasure that must saved."
Background:
Descended from horses used by pioneers and native tribes in thelate 1800’s, the Onaqui horses are known for their robust beautyand their ability to thrive in the harsh environment of the GreatBasin Desert of western Utah. They are a favorite among wild horsephotographers and enthusiasts and are believed to be the mostpopular and photographed wild herd in the country. Tourists fromall over the country, and even the world, travel to Utah to viewand photograph their favorite animals, including stallions withnames like Charger, Goliath, Buck, Moondrinker, with glimpses ofthe herd’s elder statesman, Gandalf (also known as “Old Man” bysome), being the most coveted prize.
But the Onaqui horses are facing a grim future. On July 12, theBLM will use helicopters to chase, trap, and remove most of themfrom their home range on Utah’s Great Basin Desert. Helicopterroundups of wild horses are notorious for their cruelty and thesuffering they inflict on the animals. Horses will be chased formiles in the summer heat to the point of utter exhaustion, and somewill sustain injuries or even be killed. There are new foals andelderly horses in the herd who will be in jeopardy of being leftbehind, wounded, or even killed during the terror, chaos, andconfusion of the stampede into the traps. From there the horseswill lose the two things that mean the most to them – theirfamilies and their freedom. They will be shipped by truck to BLMcorrals where they will languish in barren feedlot conditions,awaiting an uncertain future. After being sorted and separated, theBLM will offer the animals for adoption, a process that poses agrave threat to their lives, as it has been recently reported thatthe BLM’s wild horse and burro adoption program is sending horsesto their deaths in foreign slaughter plants.
The BLM claims there is insufficient forage for the horses ontheir HMA, yet the agency has allocated wild horses only between 9and 15 percent of the resources on public lands, while livestockare allocated between 85 and 91 percent. Livestock greatlyoutnumber the horses currently on the HMA, yet the agency hasannounced no plans to reduce or eliminate private grazing, andcontinues to follow the direction of adiabolical planmisleadingly deemed the “Path Forward,”that calls for theroundup and eradication of tens of thousands of wild horses andburros on federal lands at acost of up to $5 billion to theAmerican tax-payer, according to the most recent Acting Director ofthe BLM.
The roundups are also planned for tens of thousands of wildhorse and burro herds across the western United States, as the BLMheeds the wishes of the livestock industry and scrambles to removeas many wild equines as possible. Unless that is, they arestopped.
In April,a coalition of more than 70 groups sent a letterto Secretary Haalandcalling for a freeze on grazing permitsand an elimination of livestock grazing on all wild horse and burroHerd Management Areas. There has been no response fromHaalanddespite the media contacting the Secretary's Officeand the White House, who declined to comment.
The lack of response from the Biden Administration, combinedwith Haaland's testimony before the House Appropriations Committeeon April 20th that the Dept. of Interior is "in agreement with theplan of the previous Administration," prompted a second letter inMay directly to the President himself.Signed by more than 90groups, rescues, and businesses, and more than 1,100 individuals,the letter called for Biden to immediately place a moratorium onthe mass helicopter roundups. There has since been no response fromthe White House.
Visit the campaign websiteatwww.SaveTheOnaqui.orgfor more details on therally and future events.
Advocates can alsocontactaction@animalwellnessaction.orghere withfurther questions or comments.
Animal Wellness Action (Action) is a Washington, D.C.-based501(c)(4) organization with a mission of helping animals bypromoting legal standards forbidding cruelty. We champion causesthat alleviate the suffering of companion animals, farm animals,and wildlife. We advocate for policies to stop dogfighting andco*ckfighting and other forms of malicious cruelty and to confrontfactory farming and other systemic forms of animal exploitation. Toprevent cruelty, we promote enacting good public policies, and wework to enforce those policies. To enact good laws, we must electgood lawmakers, and that’s why we remind voters which candidatescare about our issues and which ones don’t. We believe helpinganimals helps us all.
The Wild Beauty Foundation is dedicated to protecting thehorses of our time, by bringing unique awareness to the key issuesboth wild and domestic horses are facing today. WBF seeks toilluminate the antiquated nature of devastating wild horseroundups, the existence of mass holding facilities, the reality ofslaughter, and the heartbreaking seperation of bonded equinefamilies. Our platform is devoted to including advocates of allages through strong, powerful, and elegant messaging. We feelstrongly that the voices of tomorrow are essential to leaving alegacy for the horses of today.Through our unique entertainmentplatform, WBF will launch educational programs for children, createfilm series, provide grants, conduct Ambassador Horse “meet andgreets,” as well as perform “boots on the ground” rescues of horsesin need. Every life matters.
Attachments
- Save_Onaqui
- KH_Rally2
Marty IrbyAnimal Wellness Action12028215686marty@animalwellnessaction.org
