Four years ago, when the United States Forest Service (USFS) was intent on selling the Devil's Garden wild horses to kill buyers for $1, Governor Newsom stepped up and signed Bill AB128, which strengthened protections for both domestic and wild horses from slaughter in California, into law.
Now the Devil's Garden wild horse herd, once California's largest wild horse herd, needs his help again.
Recently, in yet another brutal helicopter roundup, almost 350 wild horses, including foals, were removed from their federally protected wild horse habitat in the Devil's Garden Plateau Wild Horse Territory just so private ranchers can continue to graze thousands of cattle and sheep on this public land at taxpayer expense.
Even worse, a revised management plan for the Devil's Garden wild horses will continue these roundups and use a vaccine known to sterilize mares to control what remains of the herd. While the USFS calls this a management plan for the horses, we call it an extinction plan as it will reduce this herd to dangerously low levels.
Time is running out to save the Devil's Garden wild horses who are integral to California's history and heritage.
Please sign this petition asking Governor Newsom to once again intervene on behalf of the Devil's Garden wild horses. The USFS must withdraw the revised management plan and replace it with one that includes cost-effective, scientifically proven, and humane alternatives that preserve and protect this herd for future generations.
The Petition will read as follows:
PETITION
Dear Governor Newsom,
We're respectfully requesting your help to protect what was once California's largest wild horse herd.
In 2018, when the United States Forest Service (USFS) was intent on selling the Devil's Garden wild horses to kill buyers for $1, you courageously stepped up and stopped this plan by signing AB128 into law.
We continue to be grateful for supporting AB128. Sadly, however, these iconic horses need your help again.
At the end of November, the USFS completed yet another helicopter roundup of the Devil's Garden wild horses in the Modoc National Forest. Almost 350 horses and foals were removed from their federally designated habitat, leaving fewer than 400 horses. These operations are not only brutal and traumatic for the horses but also expensive for the American public who overwhelmingly want wild horses to remain on public lands.
If that's not bad enough, the USFS is about to implement a revised Territory Management Plan (TMP) that could lead to the extinction of the Devil's Garden wild horses. Besides keeping their population to unscientifically low numbers, the TMP prioritizes more roundups and the use of GonaCon, a fertility control vaccination with a reputation for causing sterility in mares. It also eliminates valuable acreage in the Middle Section of the Devil's Garden Wild Horse Territory (Territory).
As in the past, the USFS is pandering to local ranchers who have invested almost $2 million in funding for the development of the TMP so they can continue grazing thousands of cow/calf pairs and sheep in the Territory for pennies a month.
As you did with AB128, we ask that you work with California state and federal legislators and demand that the USFS withdraws the revised management plan and replaces it with one that prioritizes cost-effective, scientifically proven, and humane alternatives that preserve and protect the Devil's Garden wild horses for future generations. These include:
- increasing the number of wild horses permitted to live on the Territory;
- replacing helicopter roundups and GonaCon with PZP, a fertility control vaccination with a history of being safe and reversible;
- restoring the Middle Section; and
- reducing private livestock grazing and removing pasture fencing.
Thank you, Governor Newsom.
For more information, contact info@chwha.org