Katherine Heigl, Horse Advocates Take Utah Capitol by Storm with Rally to Save Iconic Onaqui Herd from President Biden’s Roundups
For Immediate Release:
July 2, 2021
Contact:
Deniz Bolbol • 650.248.4489
deniz@thecloudfoundation.org
Katherine Heigl, Horse Advocates Take Utah Capitol by Storm with Rally to Save Iconic Onaqui Herd from President Biden’s Roundups
State Capitol Event Seeks to Prevent the Roundup of Onaqui Herd by Federal Bureau of Land Management
SALT LAKE CITY, UT – Today, actress Katherine Heigl, joined by Animal Wellness Action, the Center for a Humane Economy, the Jason Debus Heigl Foundation, Wild Horse Photo Safaris, the Red Birds Trust, and the Cloud Foundation held a wildly successful “Wild Horse and Burro Freedom Rally” at the Utah State Capitol to raise public awareness of the plight of Utah’s famed Onaqui wild horses, who face a devastating mass helicopter roundup beginning July 12 that will send 80 percent of the herd to an uncertain future. Heigl and leaders of the groups involved spoke to rally attendees, before traveling directly to the rangeland where the Onaqui wild horses live wild and free. On July 1, President Joe Biden’s Bureau of Land Management, doubled-down in a press release announcing they will proceed with the roundups.
In May, Heigl, a Utah resident, and co-founder of the Jason Debus Heigl Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to animal welfare, joined the campaign to prevent the eradication of most of the treasured Onaqui herd in the Great Basin Desert. The horses, beloved far and wide by wild horse enthusiasts, tourists, and photographers, are scheduled to be rounded up by helicopter and incarcerated in private holding facilities by the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and U.S. Dept. of Interior (DOI) led by Secretary Deb Haaland, a former Member of Congress from New Mexico.
“We’re pulling out all the stops in pressing President Joe Biden to stop the roundup and eradication of the iconic Onaqui wild horses in Utah and call on the president to implement a course correction before it’s too late,” said actress Katherine Heigl, who lives in Summit County where she keeps her horses.
“With over 52,000 wild horses and burros currently in government facilities, it's time to stop round ups and focus on a robust humane fertility control program utilizing PZP,” said Erika Brunson, philanthropist, and member of the Global Council for Animals. “Currently only 1% of the population is addressed which is ludicrous.”
“The Onaqui wild horses and burros are protected by federal law. Cattle and sheep are not,” said Scott Beckstead, director of campaigns for the Center for a Humane Economy. “The Bureau of Land Management must stop misleading the public about wild horse populations and be honest about the impact of commercial livestock in degrading our public lands.”
“The buck stops with President Biden, and he can either leave a legacy of saving the iconic Onaqui wild horses or be known as the leader who eradicated them with draconian helicopter roundups, the choice is his,” said Marty Irby, executive director at Animal Wellness Action who was recently honored by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for his work to protect horses. “We call on the president to use his power of executive order and the authority vested by the American people to cancel roundup set for July 12th – it’s not too late to stop this egregious injustice.”
“Having spent the past three years filming wild horses and traversing the vast Western United States— the purported, general, blanket misinformation that wild horses are “starving” or are “unable to sustain on the land” is frankly absurd,” said Ashley Avis, director of Disney’s Black Beauty and founder of the Wild Beauty Foundation. “This is a result of a collective machination fueled and funded by special interests to prioritize tax subsidized livestock grazing, and to forcibly remove wild horses off our public lands. None of this is in the interest of the vast majority of Americans, and if something isn’t done soon, wild horses will potentially face extinction."
"We are calling on President Biden to stop the Onaqui roundup and allow the community-based birth control program to humanely manage the herd on the range," said Deniz Bolbol, Advocacy Director for The Cloud Foundation. "Putting more wild horses in government holding facilities is not sustainable and is not supported by the majority of Americans."
“The BLM says there are too many wild horses at Onaqui, even while it authorizes three-and-a-half times the cattle grazing as the 474 wild horses take,” said Erik Molvar of Western Watersheds Project. “Our field monitoring shows that parts of Onaqui where cattle predominate - including lands where wild horses have been fenced out - have been grazed down to bare dirt, while the areas far from water where the wild horses graze are in much better shape. The Onaqui range can easily support today’s population of 474 wild horses and maintain healthy wildlife habitats; the problem is the BLM is adding far too much cattle grazing to the mix.”
