moose, SMOKEY, SPYDER & QUINN

This remarkable rescue came in two parts with a miracle right in the middle of it. In early May 2021, we were contacted by a kill pen in Kansas about two yearlings branded in 2020. They were adopted out by the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Adoption Incentive Program (AIP), which pays adopters to keep the animals for one year before they receive title and ownership. Moose and Smokey, both untitled, were dumped two weeks after adoption. It is a federal offense to sell mustangs during the 12 months period before the BLM issues their titles to their adopters. We were horrified and put in the paperwork for their reassignment to Skydog Oregon.

A few weeks later, we found out about another pair of untitled yearlings, Spyder and Quinn. Adopted in April, they surfaced in the kill pen in May. Sadly, these two had strangles, a bacterial infection in horses similar to strep throat in humans. Extremely contagious, they had to stay in quarantine for three months. It was touch and go whether they would make it. When they were finally well enough to travel to us, we were able to read their brands. They’d been adopted and dumped by the same couple as Moose and Smokey.

These four came so close to having their lives completely snatched away from them. They had to face the worst when they were only babies. It is painful to imagine their confusion and fear from the moment they were taken from their mothers. They’d known the trauma of roundup, losing family, being adopted by criminals who could care less about them.  They had never experienced human kindness. And two of them literally fought for their lives in quarantine. When we realized these four little boys knew each other, reuniting them meant everything.

Thanks to Janelle, they were gentled and their terrible hooves were trimmed them before they became any more cracked and split. It was good to watch their skinny little bodies gain weight with nutritious food and begin to look normally proportioned. As they moved from the barn onto roomy pastures, they reveled in stretching their legs, running, and playing. We introduced them to my husband’s mare, Winnie, who took all four under her wing - reminiscent of darling Magnolia and the four Warm Springs foals she raised. We turned the five of them out together so she could school them on being part of a wild herd with all its complex social dynamics. They adore Winnie and she loves being auntie to all four rambunctious boys.

The AIP adopters were reported to the BLM. The bureau is supposed to investigate, fine, ban offenders from adopting any more animals, and hand the case over to law enforcement. Unfortunately, we know there are repeat offenders in this corrupted program. It just gets worse as more people don’t even wait for title or the second incentive payment before selling the animals for their meat price. We have joined a lawsuit against the BLM with the American Wild Horse Conservation (@freewildhorses) to whom we have provided piles of titles as evidence that the AIP is a “pay to slay” program.
#skydogmoose #skydogsmokey #skydogspyder #skydogquinn

Mustangs and 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.