Where Wild Horses Roam Safely
A look inside Skydog Sanctuary, a refuge of freedom for mustangs and burros
“To see a band of horses run, and feel the ground beneath your feet shake, is an experience and a privilege we should cherish and protect for future generations,” implores Clare Staples, owner of Skydog Sanctuary. Located near Bend, Oregon and Malibu, California, Skydog is a refuge for wild mustangs and burros who have endured and survived treacherous conditions, some rescued when they were awaiting slaughter in a kill-pen due to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Although they are barred from euthanizing the horses directly (a longstanding rule that President Trump has proposed changing), wild horses sold to private buyers sometimes end up being exported for meat anyway.
BLM facilitates inhumane roundups by helicopter, forcing wild horses to run miles into exhaustion or even death, then entraps them in tight quarters. The freedom they were born with is suddenly stolen, and families are ripped apart forever. The reason behind these roundups is to provide more space for cattle farmers and livestock — in other words, supporting the beef industry means supporting the horse meat export industry, too.
Wild horses have long been the iconic emblem of freedom in the American West. At Skydog, one can witness them running in…
