What is CAWP?
After over 40 years of a mandate from Congress to manage wild horses and burros humanely for the American public the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issued IM-2015-15, the Comprehensive Animal Welfare Policy, known simply as CAWP.
CAWP was placed into roundup contracts in the fall of 2015. The initial protocol was to be reviewed and revised after one year. This "beta test phase" was intended to refine metrics used to determine the policies effectiveness.
The agency did not issue this beta test protocol because they were finally catching up on a backlog of paperwork, they issued it because of intense litigation.
Wild Horse Education
22
Laura Leigh, the founder of Wild Horse Education, is the only person to bring the issues of abuse at roundups into a courtroom. She was told these cases would be impossible to win. She won case after case until the implementation of the beta phase of CAWP.
This work is central to the mission of this organization; if you have no policy for humane handling how can you assert any action you take is in the best interest of the horse?
The first case brought against abusive practices was at the Triple B Complex in 2011. The case won the first Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction in history against these practices. Case after case, area after area, WHE ran the roundup road and won.
In 2016 the year began with progress that quickly disappeared under politics.
Our Litigation
Comprehensive
Animal welfare policy
Screen capture from video showing chopper skids hit horse. This video was the key element in the first court ruling against abusive practices at roundups
Right: A mare and her injured foal at holding. On this day BLM euthanized two foals claiming they were deformed with "fallen hocks," a pre-existing condition. These foals were run 14 miles.