Josselyn Wolf '22 Named Wild Beauty Foundation Youth Ambassador

In her words, "Like most fortunate things, my involvement in wild horse advocacy was sparked by serendipity. My father encountered filmmaker turned wild horse advocate Ashley Avis, now one of my most trusted mentors, by chance at a Breyer convention in 2019. He introduced me to Ashley, and the rest is history. I was astounded to learn about the horrific plight of one of our nation’s most treasured icons and the comprehensive issue surrounding them. The mismanagement of horses and burros degradates the ecological sustainability of Western rangelands increasingly wastes hundreds of millions of taxpayer funds, exposes the hypocrisy of democracy’s transparency, and ultimately inflicts unnecessary brutality on a creature, similar to humans in many of its characteristics, with the primary purpose of appeasing livestock monopolies. Through my role as Youth Ambassador for Ashley’s Wild Beauty Foundation, I have had the privilege to interact with brilliant minds collaborating to correct a dysfunctional system. Recently I utilized Far Hills’ Expo opportunity to explore this issue to new depths and was able to attend the inaugural Save Our Wild Horses Conference in Washington D.C. last month. (To view my PSA from that conference, search “The Wild Beauty Foundation” on your social media platforms or peruse their blog.) Through these educational experiences, I have absorbed one encapsulating kernel of truth: horses and burros, along with other Western wildlife, have been scapegoated for too long. I feel fortunate to play a small part in illuminating this injustice."