BIRDIE

Since we started Skydog we have had our fair share of miracles but we are never less grateful and amazed when another one appears. This is Birdie. She is the 3rd mustang we saved on Giving Tuesday. This mare was in Texas with a horse trader who was talking about getting rid of her in a pretty graphic way. We paid for her and our hauler picked her up. Something about her walk and eye and casual demeanor made us sit up and have the weirdest feeling about her…

To understand this better we must first explain who Buddy is and why Skydog was started. He was Clare’s original mustang and when they would ride he would stop and sigh and look out and she would get this overwhelming message from him “find my family, help my family”. I know it sounds a little crazy, but this entire sanctuary was founded on that feeling from her beloved Buddy. One of the first things we did was find 3 mares from his herd in Little Humboldt NV and we brought them back to him the year we started. Champ ran off with them a while ago and Buddy didn’t mind and we knew we had done our best. Well, something in the way this mare walked and her essence reminded us of him and yesterday her brand came back and she is from Little Humboldt, rounded up one day apart from Buddy in 2004. Finally, after 17 years apart, we found his family or the closest thing to that. Birdie is settling in very well and none of the horses are pushing her away. She’s not worried or upset so it’s a good start. Luckily Buddy is the leader of this herd so they take their cues from him, so all is peaceful and well. #skydogbirdie

American Mustangs and Burros Need Your Help

In addition to supporting our work by donating, becoming a patron on Patreon, or sponsoring a Skydog, there are several important pieces of legislation to protect American equines currently moving through Congress. It only takes a few minutes to contact your Rep and two Senators to urge them to support these bills. You can Contact Members of Congress by calling the Capitol Switchboard (202) 224-3121‬, submitting contact forms on their individual websites, or sending one email to all three simultaneously at www.democracy.io

Save America’s Forgotten Equines (SAFE) Act of 2025 (H.R.1661 in the House and S.775 in the Senate). This bill would amend the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, commonly known as the “Farm Bill”. There are several important provisions for animals in that omnibus federal law, including the Cat and Dog Meat Trade Prohibition Act. It is currently illegal to slaughter, transport, possess, purchase, sell, or donate dogs and cats, or their parts, for human consumption. The SAFE Act would extend the ban to equines and shut down the slaughter pipeline that sends some 20,000 American horses and donkeys to savagely monstrous deaths in foreign slaughterhouses every year.

The Wild Horse & Burro Protection Act of 2023 (H. R. 4356) The bill would eliminate the use of helicopters in rounding up wild horses and burros, and require a study into alternative methods for humanely gathering the animals.

See our How to Help menu for other actions to ban zebra hunting at US canned hunt ranches and stop production of Premarin & other PMU drugs.

A bill from the previous 118th Congress that we hope will be introduced again this session:

Ejiao Act of 2023 (H.R. 6021). To ​​ban the sale or transportation of ejiao, a gelatin made from boiling donkey skins, or products containing ejiao in interstate or foreign commerce, which brutally kills millions of donkeys primarily for beauty products and Chinese medicine.