WE ARE ENCOURAGED — THANK YOU!

With your compassion and generosity, we’ve raised just over $200,000 towards our fundraising goal.

Thank you — your support means the world to the wild horses and burros who depend on us.

Our July 1 target isn’t a final deadline — it’s a vital milestone to ensure that our sanctuary can stay strong through an increasingly uncertain year. The wild horses and burros at Return to Freedom’s sanctuary — and those still facing danger on the range — are relying on our staff and our Return to Freedom community to meet this moment.

Here’s why the urgency is real:

Funding Sources Are Shrinking

Foundations and donors large and small across the country are pulling back support, citing fears of a volatile economy and an uncertain financial future. This is impacting some of our most reliable revenue sources, leaving a widening gap we must urgently fill.

Uncertainty with Federal Programs

Like all federal agencies, the BLM is facing uncertainty. With nearly 65,000 wild horses and burros incarcerated in government holding facilities costing $100 million a year, lethal methods are a real concern. Although for decades we have presented proven, non-lethal, cost-saving, humane solutions to manage wild horse and burro populations on the range, the agency has yet to implement these changes in any effective and meaningful way. Has time run out? Even BLM employees are in the dark. The current political climate is only increasing the instability of wild horse and burro protections. Now more than ever the horses need us!

📆 We have $300,000 left to reach our July 1 goal. It is essential now so that we can continue our work with strength and urgency — and to weather the economic and political headwinds we’re facing right now.

This May, we celebrated Spirit, the Kiger mustang stallion who was the muse for the animators of DreamWorks’ “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron” — and who has lived at Return to Freedom’s sanctuary since 2003.

Now 30, Spirit is a powerful global symbol of freedom and resilience. At his recent birthday celebration, we heard story after story from visitors who came from all over the world, who found strength in Spirit’s legacy — the legacy of the American Mustang — overcoming adversity and finding hope. Every day, Spirit and his friends at the sanctuary remind us why we fight so hard to protect these majestic animals.

But keeping Spirit and nearly 500 wild horses and burros fed and healthy takes more than admiration. It takes you.

Fixed costs like hay, feed, medical care, and shelter are a constant and always needed each and every day. Your support today means everything and ensures that Spirit’s legacy lives on — and that all of our sanctuary residents remain healthy, safe, and protected.

Right now, the SAFE Act (H.R. 1661) is back in Congress. This important, bipartisan legislation would finally place a lasting ban on horse slaughter in the United States and on the export for slaughter abroad.

We continue to work with other rangeland stakeholders and a growing number of lawmakers to urge Congress to press the Bureau of Land Management to implement proven, safe, and humane fertility control for wild horses and burros.

At a time when nearly 65,000 captured wild horses and burros are living in off-range government holding — including 26,000 languishing in often overcrowded corrals — it’s critical that we act fast to push for non-lethal solutions.

RTF is leading the charge, but advocacy takes time, legal expertise, lobbying, and public awareness — all of which require funding.

Donate to RTF’s Wild Horse Defense Fund

to help us lobby in Washington, D.C., keep alive critical litigation, and build grassroots support for more humane wild horse management and passage of the SAFE Act!

RTF President Neda DeMayo recently spoke at the 2025 Environmental Media Association Impact Summit, highlighting Return to Freedom’s pioneering work in regenerative holistic land management with wild horses and burros. Typically, regenerative land management has been used for livestock and agriculture, but under the guidance of global leaders in regenerative holistic management, RTF has successfully implemented transformative grazing practices, revitalizing over 1,000 acres of depleted grasslands with wild horses and burros, and is now ready to expand.

For 28 years, RTF has protected historic wild horse bloodlines and pioneered humane, science-based population management — helping herds thrive while balancing ecosystem health.

As actor, director, and activist Sosie Bacon shared, “RTF is a large part of what our future could be like on public lands — a future that would mutually benefit humans and animals.”

You are shaping that future.

Help us expand our impact — on and off the range.