We already know
that the government
doesn’t tell us
everything.
One department in particular is the BLM
(Burrow of Land Management). Wild horses
are being rounded up all the time and
they’re not going where the BLM says they
are.
Velma was the oldest of four children, 3 girls
and 1 boy. She was 5' 7" tall and weighed a
mere 110 pounds. In 1923, at the age of 11,
Annie contracted polio and became
disfigured from being in a body cast for six
months. She coped with her disabilities by
becoming strong in her academics and
spending much time working with the
animals on her parent’s ranch. She married
Charlie Johnston and while she was unable
to have children, Velma and Charlie opened
their ranch to children of friends from all
over the state. There they kept a supply of
horses for the young people. Their love for
each other became the strength and courage
that Velma would draw upon in her crusade
to stop the extermination of our country’s
great heritage, our last living symbols of the
Old West, the wild horses and burros.
(Burros)
.
Velma Johnston, better known as Wild Horse
Annie, who first inspired passage of
legislation to preserve and protect America's
Wild Mustangs and Burros. (Wild Mustangs
& Burros)
Even before Velma was born, her life would
be influenced by wild horses. Her father,
Joseph Bronn, who was saved at a young age
by milk from a mustang mare crossing the
desert. She was born in Reno, Nevada on
March 5, 1912. She later became known as
Wild Horse Annie.
WILD HORSES
WHERE ARE THEY GOING
AFTER THE ROUNDUP?
Figure 1
What made Velma so passionate about
saving wild horses was the gruesome sight
she saw as she was driving to work one day;
wild horses crammed into a truck destined
for a pet food slaughterhouse. Blood oozing
from the truck revealed a yearling being
trampled to death. (Downer) What Velma
saw in the 1905’s wasn’t too far off from
what is still happening today.
The BLM executes expensive roundups
every year. They use taxpayer’s money to
organize these roundups in the pursuit to
auction off these animals. “The BLM
encourages people to adopt these majestic
animals but the treatment they have
received over the years has frequently been
less than regal and, in far too many cases,
downright inhumane. Capture is often
torturous and thousands of horses have died
horrible deaths in the process.” (Wild
Mustangs & Burros)
Another way that the BLM has gone wrong is
the fact that cattle farms are taking over wild
horse land. The growing cattle industry has
dwindled wild horse numbers to about
30,000. “The cattle have decimated the land
while horses have always been part of the
natural balance. While cows chew cud and
put nothing back into the land, the horses
spread seeds from their mouths and manure
that keep the land environmentally sound”.
(Wild Mustangs & Burros)
The Wild Horse Annie
Act
Wild Horse Annie led a grassroots campaign,
involving mostly school children that
outraged the public and ultimately got them
fully engaged in the issue. Newspapers
published articles about the exploitation of
wild horses and burros and as noted in a July
15, 1959, Associated Press article, "Seldom
has an issue touched such a responsive
chord”. (Preservation)
The House of Representatives unanimously
passed the bill which became known as the
"Wild Horse Annie Act." The bill became
Public Law 86-234 on Sept. 8, 1959;
however, it did not include Annie's
recommendation that Congress initiate a
program to protect, manage and control wild
horses and burros. Public interest and
concern continued to mount, and with it
came the realization that federal
management, protection, and control of wild
horses and burros was essential. This would
result in enactment of the 1971 Wild FreeRoaming Horse and Burro Act.
Wild Horse Annie Act - Public Law 86-234
(Preservation)
Unfortunately these acts have been amended
by the Burns Amendment. Land for the wild
horses is being swallowed and every time
someone tries to step in to save these
creatures, special interest groups over rule
to keep the slaughtering of horses legal.
(Wild Mustangs & Burros)
References
Burros, International Society for the
Protection of Mustangs and. " The
Story of Wild Horse Annie." ISPMB
(n.d.).
Downer, Craig C. "Navada Womens History
Project." n.d.
http://www.unr.edu/nwhp/bios/wo
men/johnston.htm.
Preservation, American Wild Horse. "The
Wild Horse Annie Act." American
Wild Horse Preservation (n.d.).
"Wild Mustangs & Burros." Equine Advocates,
Inc (2015).