14 Bipartisan U.S. Reps. Introduce Veterans for Mustangs Act

In early February, U.S. Reps. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., Troy Carter, D-La, Barry Moore, R-Ala., and Dina Titus, D-Nev. introduced the Veterans for Mustangs Act, H.R. 726, with the support of eight Republicans and six Democrats. It’s picking up more support by the day, with 20 cosponsors evenly divided by party in the U.S. House – the Chamber closest to the American people.

It’s important to note the measure is backed by an unlikely group of allies including House Natural Resources Wildlife Subcommittee Chairman Cliff Bentz, R-Ore., and House Natural Resources Public Lands Subcommittee Ranking Member Joe Neguse, D-Colo., as well as former House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Ken Calvert, R-Calif., and Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., the top equine protection advocate in Congress.

The Veterans for Mustangs Act (VMA), which would amend the 1971 Wild and Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act to better protect American wild horses and burros on federal lands and provides avenues for healing American veterans with post-traumatic stress and other disorders resulting from combat. Under the Act, veterans would receive training and opportunities to engage on critical components of wild horse management efforts in the field.

The measure has been endorsed by more than 80 equine, veteran, and animal protection groups, including Veterans for Mustangs, Animal Wellness Action, the Animal Wellness Foundation, the Center for a Humane Economy, the Wild Beauty Foundation, the American Horse Protection Society, numerous American Legion Posts across the U.S., Monty Roberts (“The Man Who Listens to Horses”) and Flag Is Up Farm, Horse Sense and Healing, War Horse Creek, Devil Dog Depot Equine Sanctuary and Rescue, and Wish for Our Heroes.

Wild mustangs still roam our western lands and are a cherished part of our American Heritage. Despite being an iconic symbol of the American spirit, these majestic wild equids have been mismanaged by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which continues to round up the wild horse and burro population by helicopter, often resulting in injuries and deaths. Under the Biden Administration, the U.S. has seen more roundups and mass incarceration of wild horses than under any other Administration prior. While the agency touts helicopter stampedes as “humane,” hundreds of animals have been deliberately killed by the BLM, either during the roundups or in holding facilities, and hundreds more have been sold by unscrupulous adopters into the slaughter pipeline.

The current roundup system also bleeds the federal government of scarce tax dollars. Today, there are roughly 60,000 wild horses and burros in holding pens, and that number will likely double in the next few years, at a tremendous cost to the American taxpayer.

H.R. 726 would create a new program to address these concerns, one that offers a more humane, fiscally responsible alternative to helicopter roundups. The program would save the taxpayer billions of dollars over the next 10 years and offer a unique form of healing for our American heroes – the U.S. veterans who have proudly served our country and risked their lives – by enabling them to be trained and subsequently administer fertility control to select herds of wild horses and burros located on federal lands and to obviate the need for inhumane and costly roundups.

American service members struggle deeply with the transition from war to civilian life. More than half of the 2.6 million veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars struggle with physical and mental health problems stemming from their service. On average, 22 soldiers kill themselves every day, which sadly is a higher death rate than at the height of the Iraq war. To put this in perspective, soldiers statistically are more likely to die at home from their own hand than in war at the hands of the enemy.

Implementing humane fertility control is a way to maintain safe and sustainable population levels of wild horses where needed on our public lands. The PZP contraceptive vaccine has been recognized by the National Academy of Sciences as the most promising and cost-effective method for controlling the growth some wild horse populations. It’s a humane solution that can be administered to mares via a dart injection. A dose is $30 and is administered once a year, becoming self-boosting after five to seven years. In comparison, it costs the American taxpayers an average of $50,000 to capture and care for a mare for her entire life.

That said, H.R. 726, is just one part of the solution – and there’s much more to come with the introduction of the Restore Our American Mustangs (ROAM) Act, which will include H.R. 726 as well as a bill Rep. Titus introduced in the 117th Congress to stop helicopter roundups. The ROAM Act will also address the Bureau of Land Management’s flawed Adoption Incentive Program and restore a more science-based approach to tracking horses in their Herd Management Areas (HMA).

In the meantime, we hope you’ll join in support by calling your Member of Congress at 202-224-3121 and asking him or her to cosponsor and support the Veterans for Mustangs Act.

Marty Irby is the executive director at Animal Wellness Action in Washington, D.C., and a former 8-time world champion equestrian who was honored by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 2020 for his work to protect horses. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @MartyIrby.