An Unwavering Commitment Thanks to Our Supporters, Return to Freedom Has Maintained a Voice in the Fight to End Slaughter Return to Freedom has backed a horse slaughter ban since our nonprofit organization's inception in 1997. Because of the generous support of our Wild Horse Defense Fund donors, RTF is able to work on its own and in collaboration with animal welfare organizations in the effort to pass a federal ban. RTF spotlights the link between horse slaughter and government wild horse management. Though most horses shipped to slaughter are domestic horses, an unknown number are wild horses that fall through the cracks after being captured in government roundups and then adopted out or sold outright to private owners. The first federal bill aiming to ban horse slaughter was introduced on Valentine’s Day of 2002 by Rep. Connie Morella, R-Md. (the lobbyist who wrote that bill, Chris Heyde, has since joined our advocacy team). Later that year, our founder and president, Neda DeMayo spoke about horse slaughter and wild horse protection at a Horse Protection Conference hosted by the City of New York’s Bar Association. Since then, RTF has directly lobbied lawmakers, spoken at events and conferences, worked to educate the public, generated tens of thousands of letters and phone calls to Congress, provided testimony to congressional committees, and galvanized celebrity support, all in support of a slaughter ban. RTF has also lobbied successfully for the continued inclusion of language in annual Interior Department appropriations bills barring the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from selling captured wild horses and burros without restrictions against sale to slaughter as well as Agriculture Department appropriations language barring the hiring of horsemeat inspectors. The latter has acted as a de facto ban, keeping horse slaughterhouses closed in the United States since 2007. Some other important milestones: 2013: RTF joined as a plaintiff in a lawsuit to prevent the Valley Meat Co. from slaughtering horses in Roswell, N.M., helping end the effort to open the plant. 2017: RTF gathered the support of celebrities for a sign-on letter in opposition to a budget proposal that would have allowed the BLM to euthanize healthy, captured wild horses and burros as well as to sell them without restrictions against slaughter. The letter was part of what was part of an all-hands-on-deck lobbying effort by RTF, animal welfare and wild horse advocates that resulted in senators rejecting euthanasia and unrestricted sales. 2019: RTF and animal welfare groups successfully advocated for the BLM to drop a change increasing the number of wild horses that could be sold, which would make it easier to sell the animals for slaughter. That same year, RTF successfully lobbied for the inclusion of funding bill language barring the U.S. Forest Service from selling horses or burros to slaughter. When the agency attempted to take advantage of a loophole and sell hundreds of wild horses from California’s last large herd to slaughter, RTF filed suit, delaying the sales until congressional appropriators took action. 2022: RTF helped launch the Final Stretch Alliance to End Horse Slaughter, bringing animal welfare and horse industry organizations together to push for an end to slaughter. At the same time, RTF has played a role in the rescue and rehoming of more than 3,000 horses that might otherwise have fallen into the foreign slaughter pipeline. RTF's American Wild Horse Sanctuary currently oversees the care of nearly 500 rescued wild horses and burros. | 
