Moonshadow & Rapunzel

I’m not sure if there is anything worse then watching a video of 25 horses at a Texas kill pen when you can only take two. All were bought Sale Authority (SA) last summer via BLM adoption events in Oklahoma and dumped six months later. Each one of them needed help, so I focused on the ones who were in the most need.

A black mare was so thin, weak, and lethargic, she had gone down several times at the kill pen.  She was tired and did not appear to have much fight left in her, so I chose her.  She certainly would have gone down in a crowded trailer to Mexico - and that was unbearable to imagine. I named her Moonshadow as she has a white star. She was born in the Carson City correctional facility after her mother was rounded up from Goshute, Nevada. She landed at the kill pen when she was only five years old. Her information shows her being shipped to three different adoption events before she was finally sold SA for $25.

Moonshadow seemed close to another mare, whom I named Rapunzel for her long mane. Rounded up from Maverick Medicine HMA in Nevada, she was born in 2020, so she was only 6 when we found her. They both look so scared, I can’t imagine what their short lives have been like with so much loss and fear. We moved these two girls to Quarantine ASAP to get them on a good refeeding plan and medical attention. We knew they’d need to spend at least 45 days there to be healthy and strong enough for the haul to Oregon. I keep visualizing them fat, glossy, and happy running the hills with their herd. 

By the end of the day, all 25 horses were bailed, but 11 of them still needed safe haven. That’s the hardest part of this whole thing. There just aren’t enough quality placements left to take the huge numbers of animals being funneled into the slaughter pipeline by the BLM. We frequently work with trustworthy organizations to help them save more mustangs and burros. Donations were generous for Moonshadow and Rapunzel, so we sent funds to Wild Horse Rescue to assist them in taking 5 geldings from this group.

In saving their lives, we are also collecting more evidence against the Sale Authority sell off by the BLM. Once the corrupt Adoption Incentive Program (AIP) was shut down, they turned to Sale Authority to use middlemen to get rid of as many federally protected animals as possible. The same people who profited from abusing the AIP  are doing the same with SA. We wil show them that this change in policy will not be tolerated.

#skydogmoonshadow  #skydograpunzel

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.

Ejiao Act of 2025 (H.R. 5544). 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.

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.