wilson
Wilson is a 17-year-old bay from Jackie's Butte, Oregon. It is very special to us when we can bring an Oregon native home, where the scent of sage, juniper, and pine fill their senses and stir memories of being wild and free. Especially after a long journey like Wilson’s that took him to Oklahoma and Texas via the slaughter pipeline.
Wilson was betrayed three times by the humans who forced themselves into his life. First by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) that rounded him up and adopted him out via their corrupt Adoption Incentive Program (AIP). He was bailed by a private owner from the Stroud kill pen in April 2024, where a video showed he was calm and gentle as he was ridden. Who knows what was done to him by the private owner who bailed him out, but he was back at Stroud just months later, too utterly traumatized to have anyone on his back. Described as a horse who would make a good “pasture ornament", he was slated to ship from this hateful place to slaughter in two days.
On top of all this, he is blind in one eye, which must have made everything extra scary and distressing to him. When I learned this, I was reminded that the favorite Skydog mustang of Scott Wilson (@photoadvocacy_wilsonaxpe) was Jack Sparrow, who also has one eye and lives his best life wild and free. Many people have suggested naming a horse in honor of Scott to thank him for all he does for wild horses. Skilled, effective, steady with a sensitive eye, he reinvigorates and inspires advocacy even in the darkest times. So we named this beautiful boy Wilson. Donors gave generously to cover his bail, quarantine, and haul from Texas to Skydog, where he will be loved, protected, respected, and cared for, never to be betrayed or harmed by humans again.
Wilson currently has a sponsor
By committing annually to a $100/month sponsorship of a mustang or burro, you help us enormously by supporting our existing rescues so we can continue saving more. To learn more about becoming a sponsor and see which animals need them, please click the button:
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.