“SAVING AMERICA’S HORSES: A NATION BETRAYED” tells the story of how one of America’s most treasured and iconic species struggles to survive in a world where two camps claim to be saving them; one that actually does, and the other that is instead found to be brutally exploiting them, eliminating them and driving them to extinction.
SAVING AMERICA’S HORSES introduces hope as the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act and Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act which are meant to protect them are left virtually worthless, and as the Bureau of Land Management exterminates the last of America’s wild horses and burros in the wild, and thousands of wild and domestic equines are systemically mistreated, removed, and transported for human consumption abroad.
Can we preserve and protect one of America’s most iconic species before they become extinct in the wild and reverse the degradation to open rangelands caused by their removal? Can we reduce the 1% of the 9 million domestic horses deemed as surplus by curbing breeding practices? Can we reverse the negative impact that slaughtering horses takes against the US Gross Domestic Product in which live horses otherwise contribute over $112.1 BILLION to a year, by implementing responsible management practices & reabsorbing the tiny fraction of any surplus population back into the equine communities? Can we find harmony with animals and nature amongst the competing interests of agriculture, industry, energy, public land acquisition, recreation and urban sprawl?
At the turn of the century there were millions of wild horses on the open range, but independent studies of the Bureau of Land Management’s data indicates there may now be less than 15,000 in the entire United States. There are over 200 million acres of rangelands in the U.S. where these horses could roam freely, but they are quickly being eliminated by the same governmental agencies that claim to protect them. Unless action is taken, America’s wild equids will continue to vanish – a potentially catastrophic scenario for generations to come.
Resounding evidence of unspeakable cruelties, egregious violations and a lack of enforcement by the USDA in U.S. slaughterhouses led Congress to the defunding of USDA inspections in 2007. That protective language was later quietly stripped from the annual appropriations bill in Nov 2011 by the powerful pro-slaughter lobby which is working at lightning speed to reopen horse slaughter plants in the U.S. If action is not taken, the torturous agony caused to U.S. horses once they are designated as food animals will continue to escalate – a potentially devastating situation for America’s horses and to people on a global level.
SAVING AMERICA'S HORSES, the movie avoids graphic footage to ensure it is palatable for all audiences is qualified for the widest distribution possible.
In SAVING AMERICA’S HORSES, we meet Dr Nicholas Dodman – DVM, ACVA and ACVB, Co-Founder of Veterinarians for Equine Welfare (VEW), Dr Nena Winand, DVM, PhD – senior research associate in the department of Molecular Medicine, Cornell University, equine veterinarian, co-founder of VEW, and John Holland – acclaimed researcher, analyst and published author on the subject of horse slaughter, as they speak to the many toxic substances administered to U.S. horses that can cause lethal affects when ingested by humans.
We meet Twyla Francois – investigator and Central Region Director for the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition, and Henry Skjerven – former director of the debunked Natural Valley Farms horse slaughter plant in Canada, as they reflect of the dumping of raw toxic pollutants from Natural Valley Farms into major fresh water resources that provide drinking water to millions of people.
We meet Michael Blake – Academy Award Winning Screenwriter, DANCES WITH WOLVES, who shares his involvement with the BLM, their slaughter related activities and a wild horse stallion who survived them, and Paula Bacon – former Mayor of Kaufman, TX where one of the nation's last U.S. horse slaughter plants operated until 2007. Mayor Bacon was instrumental in drawing attention to the plant's numerous environmental violations and its negative impact upon the community, leading to the unanimous decision by the City's judicial board to close the plant.
We meet Chief Arvol Looking Horse – spiritual leader among the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota People, we meet Golden Globe Award Winner Ken Wahl, who highlights Grand Jury investigations, GAO and Congressional reports that reveal the illegal and fraudulent trafficking of wild horses by the BLM for the purpose of slaughter, we meet Craig Downer – wildlife ecologist and published author documenting the indigenous history of equines in North America and we meet Neda DeMayo – of Return to Freedom Wild Horse Sanctuary, and Ginger Kathrens – of the Cloud Foundation.
We also meet jockeys, trainers, policymakers and celebrity horsemen & women including Linda Gray, Madeleine Pickens, Paul Sorvino and Willie Nelson as they share a broad and balanced reflection of compelling cruelty prevention, protective conservation and preservation ethics—ways that illuminate and embody how a reverence for life can lead to paths of environmental replenishment, healing and harmonious coexistence.
Filmmaker Katia Louise together with Wild for Life Foundation’s educational program created SAVING AMERICA’S HORSES: A NATION BETRAYED as a powerful educational social action tool for people who want to engage and make a difference while promoting humane and protective initiatives that fully support the prevention of equine cruelty, inluding the preservation of wild horse and burro populations in the wild and the development of lifelong preserves and sanctuaries for ar-risk equines in need.
This monumental and pivotal body of work has raised the bar for animal welfare in the U.S., and united equine advocates globally. "Saving America's Horses - A Nation Betrayed" continues to serve as the go-to resource for journalists and news outlets seeking to find substantiated documentation and well-researched, shocking statistics regarding the illegal and fraudulent sale of equines for slaughter, and the very real possibility of their extinction in the wild. The facts, findings and statistics documented in "Saving America's Horses - A Nation Betrayed" have been featured in international news publications and syndicated news globally.
Armed with the true facts and uniting together to make our united voice heard for the horses and burros, we can educate and effect change. SAVING AMERICA’S HORSES: A NATION BETRAYED is a central tool in the anti-cruelty grassroots effort that promotes protective and humane equine initiatives with a focus on the prevention of equine cruelty, ending wild horse & burro roundups and the slaughter of America's horses and burros, with a focus on protecting and saving this indigenous species for generations to come.
Cast: Linda Grey, Tippi Hedren, Paul Sorvino, Ken Wahl and Willie Nelson.
(Theatrical Running time 91 minutes)
Opened in Theaters and qualified for Oscar consideration in Dec 2012
“Impressive" -VARIETY
"Impassioned" — Hollywood Reporter
"Outstanding" - LA SPLASH MAGAZINE
“Unpacks a multi-layered conspiracy - fueled by a parade of misinformation- against the survival and proliferation of horses” - LA TIMES
"A provocative rallying cry for justice and integrity" - THE QUAD CINEMA, NYC
Accolades and Awards: 
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SAVING AMERICA'S HORSES is a lifesaving educational program under The Wild for Life Foundation, (WFLF) a nonprofit 501 c3 charity dedicated to saving, protecting and preserving equines through education, sanctuary and rescue. WFLF informs, inspires, and empowers the public for the greater good in saving, preserving and protecting wild and domestic equines and their significant roles in our world’s ecosystem and history; for a better world now and for generations to come.
