I am writing as a constituent to urge you to include a specific line item in the FY 2027 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill directing and funding the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to complete, formalize, and implement a set of formal and enforceable rules as a foundation for the Comprehensive Animal Welfare Program (CAWP) for the Wild Horse and Burro Program.
The Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act turns 55 years old this year. It is long past time that wild horses and burros have enforceable welfare rules. A main tenet of the Act is humane management. Yes for 55 years the agency balks at creating enforceable standards that include public participation.
Recently released internal BLM emails—disclosed only after years of FOIA requests and litigation—confirm that the agency has failed to carry out the very welfare reforms it promised Congress, the courts, and the public. These records show that BLM never conducted a single meaningful review of the CAWP gather standards issued under its 2015 Instruction Memorandum and never properly used the CAWP Gather Assessment Tool to evaluate training, measure effectiveness, or ensure compliance by staff and contractors. Despite public assurances that CAWP was being reviewed and “formalized,” leadership instead allowed the assessment tool to be quietly deleted by 2018 without a single program-wide review.
This pattern of neglect and misrepresentation has real-world consequences for animals and for public trust. The FOIA emails and extensive field documentation from advocates show that most injuries, illnesses, and deaths at roundups are preventable and stem from management choices, not inevitability. BLM has also failed to incorporate basic equine welfare safeguards—such as air quality and heat index thresholds—into its standards, and has excluded independent veterinarians, outside experts, and the public from any meaningful role in defining humane treatment or evaluating gathers. These failures directly undermine Congress’s intent in the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act and erode confidence in BLM’s stewardship.
The lack of fully implemented and enforceable welfare standards as part of leaves both animals and taxpayers exposed: animals suffer avoidable harm, while Congress and the public cannot verify that appropriated funds are being used in a humane, accountable manner.
To address these problems, I respectfully request that you champion a clear FY 2027 line item that:
- Directs BLM to complete and formalize enforceable welfare standards as part of CAWP as binding regulations covering gathers, transport, and all on- and off-range holding facilities, with deadlines and reporting requirements to Congress.
- Provides dedicated funding for:
- Comprehensive, science-based welfare standards (including heat index and air-quality thresholds, facility design, and handling practices).
- Transparent, routine assessments of gathers and holding facilities, using a restored and modernized assessment tool with public reporting.
- Meaningful inclusion of independent veterinarians, welfare experts, and public stakeholders in developing and reviewing CAWP standards.
- Conditions a portion of Wild Horse and Burro Program funding on demonstrated implementation of CAWP requirements and submission of annual CAWP review reports to the Appropriations Committees.
True transparency is essential for restoring public trust. For that reason, I also urge you to ensure that any CAWP-focused line item includes requirements that:
- Members of the public, press, and qualified observers have meaningful, safe, and reasonably close access to observe helicopter and bait-trap roundups.
- Holding facilities (short- and long-term) are subject to regular, announced and unannounced inspections, with reasonable public access to view animals and facility conditions timely post-capture.
BLM leaders themselves have acknowledged in past congressional testimony that accountability to a comprehensive animal welfare program is essential to maintain public confidence and avoid a crisis in trust. The newly disclosed emails show that, without clear direction and resources from Congress, that accountability will not materialize on its own. A focused FY 2027 line item is necessary to finish what was started in 2015, restore integrity to the program, and ensure that humane treatment and transparency are more than just talking points.
As your constituent, I ask that you:
- Support and introduce language in the FY 2027 Interior appropriations bill to fund and direct the completion and implementation of CAWP regulations as outlined above.
- Publicly call on the Department of the Interior and BLM to release a concrete timetable for CAWP rulemaking, stakeholder engagement, and implementation, and to provide Congress with regular progress updates.
Americans derive a deep sense of pride from seeing wild horses and burros free on our public lands, and they expect their government to treat these animals humanely and honestly, in full view of the public eye. I hope you will seize this opportunity in the FY 2027 budget to align the BLM’s practices with that expectation and to protect both these iconic animals and the public trust.
Thank you for your attention to this matter and for your service. I would appreciate a written response outlining the steps you are willing to take to ensure that CAWP regulations are finally completed, implemented, and made transparent to the public.
