ELSA

We were contacted by BLM Burns corrals about a mare who gave birth to twins. I was overjoyed and of course, we said yes to taking them as they are a MIRACLE, and we were told they needed supplements, extra hay, and potentially vet care. I drove to the corrals to see them last week and sat in the mud, rain, and cold talking to them, telling them that they were getting out and would stay with their mama. I fell in love and thought of all the positives for this family. What better way to show the resilience, strength, and endurance of these wild horses than this mother who ran from a helicopter while pregnant, gave birth in the corrals, and is nursing two babies. I was then devastatingly informed that the mare, Elsa, was on a list for the spay study, and instead of coming to us would be subjected to a surgical procedure to see how mares did after having their ovaries removed.

For so many reasons this is wrong. The BLM rounding up wild horses off the range and denying them loving homes to do brutal Frankenstein experiments on them instead is immoral and I believe illegal. Surely a sanctuary offer trumps doing a study on this mare.

After months of working to endlessly request that the BLM release this family and many denials from Rob Sharp, the most astonishing thing happened. The BLM Corrals at Burns, without warning and without notifying us, put Elsa, Promise, and Hope on the internet adoption separately. We checked as the internet adoption dragged on for days and the twins got a couple of bids, nothing much at all but something. And then two different ladies who bid on the babies contacted us to ask if they could come to Skydog and stay together and with us. They went for $400 each - no great public demand and way less than was being paid for horses who were flashy and colorful on the same adoption some of which went for thousands.

Of course, we said yes.

The BLM sent those three members of that family off in three different trailers, going to three different states, knowing nothing about those homes, and gave no care for them being separated. Just business as usual in splitting up families. But instead, this family of three ended up at Skydog. The adopters did a simple reassignment request which was permitted and we paid our $25 for them to come to us. Both adopters declined the $1000 that came with them from the BLM incentive program. They didn’t want the money and neither did we.

We have done many reassignments for mustangs who were adopted by other people who then asked for them to come to us before they had a title. It is a simple procedure from one approved adopter to another but the BLM has often resisted doing them because they don’t like the family reunions. They don’t like thinking of them as families at all. But we do. We didn’t do this for money - we quite simply did this for love - and to see them together. Over 85,000 people signed our petition to free the twins - and they cared too. Bonded twin babies walking in step together, climbing in the feed tub, following their loving doting adoring mother around their enclosure. #skydogelsa

Mustangs & Burros Need Your Help

In addition to supporting our work by donating, becoming a patron on Patreon, or sponsoring a Skydog, there are several important pieces of legislation to protect American equines currently moving through Congress. It only takes a few minutes to contact your Rep and Senators and urge them to support these bills:

Save America’s Forgotten Equines (SAFE) Act of 2023 (H.R. 3475 in the House / S.2307 in the Senate). This bill will shut down the slaughter pipeline that sends some 20,000 American horses and donkeys to savagely monstrous deaths in foreign slaughterhouses every year.

The Wild Horse & Burro Protection Act of 2023 (H. R. 3656) This bill will prohibit the use of helicopters or fixed-wing aircraft in the management of wild mustangs and burros on public lands, and require a report on humane alternatives to current management practices.

Ejiao Act of 2023 (H.R. 6021). To ​​ban the sale or transportation of ejiao, a gelatin made from boiling donkey skins, or products containing ejiao in interstate or foreign commerce, which brutally kills millions of donkeys primarily for beauty products and Chinese medicine.

You can Contact Members of Congress by calling the Capitol Switchboard (202) 224-3121‬, submitting contact forms on their individual websites, or sending one email to all three simultaneously at www.democracy.io

See our How to Help menu for other actions to ban zebra hunting at US canned hunt ranches, stop production of Premarin & other PMU drugs, and defund the Adoption Incentive Program.