Recently, the Bureau of Land Management gathered up more than 1,200 wild horses in a 24-day roundup that resulted in the death of more than a dozen horses, including foals and older horses that were chased for miles by helicopters before dying from exhaustion or becoming injured. They were then killed with a bullet to the head.

Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell is the person who currently oversees the Bureau.

That abuse is just as tragic as the suffering of many domestic horses. Powerful economic interests lie with the cattle ranchers and the oil/gas industries. It is costing U.S. taxpayers $120,000 per day to hold at least 48,000 horses in holding pens in the West. (Information from Front Range Equine Rescue and The Cloud Foundation.)

In 1971, legislation was unanimously passed by Congress that mandated that such horses (and burros) be preserved where they were found. The public must stop the roundups and be concerned with saving the wild horses — an American heritage.

Dawn Smith, Salem