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Thursday, November 29, 2007
Stalled
It was New Mexico law
enforcement agents that began investigating the selling of wild horses to slaughter in 1992. This investigation centered around
the direct participation of BLM employees and contractors selling wild horses for slaughter with both the knowledge and approval
of BLM managers. Their scheme involved the use of satellite ranches and horse sanctuaries to hide the horses for profit operation.
(1)
The Grand Jury investigation into illegal wild horse slaughter began with two BLM employees: Mr. Galloway and Mr.
Sharp, both working under the direction of Steve Henke, currently still employed by BLM as a District Manager in Farmington,
New Mexico.
In 1995, the Grand Jury issued subpoenas intending to inventory more than 1,200 horses at a BLM sanctuary
in Bartlesville, OK but a Department of the Interior lawyer in New Mexico, Grant Vaughn, wrote a letter telling the prosecutor
that his agency could not comply with the subpoenas and efforts to access any information about these facilities was successfully
thwarted. (2)
Over ten years later, a different investigative report has just been released by Valerie James Patton,
which includes some serious questions surrounding BLM sanctuaries in Bartlesville, OK and the more than 8,000 geldings these
sanctuaries now hold.
Ms. Pattons Investigative Report centers around an anomaly of exclusive gelding exports from
the Santa Teresa Livestock Port of Entry between New Mexico to Mexico, where USDA export records indicate record breaking
levels of geldings have been, and are still being sent to Mexico under a non-slaughter status. The current total of these
non-slaughter geldings shipped into Mexico has now reached over 3,000 for this year alone.
Her report on the possible
illegal shipment of these horses compares the Texas export numbers of non-slaughter geldings with the Santa Teresa Ports export
numbers, notes that Santa Teresa does not send any other kind of horse through their port under a non-slaughter status and
asks hard questions about what Mexico is doing with these geldings that are now numbering into the thousands, as they are
obviously not for breeding purposes.
Furthermore, her report states that the only currently known source for such a
continuous supply of geldings is BLM sanctuaries. The report gives significant treatment to statistics, numbers, locations,
interviews, newspaper articles, government connections between U.S. and Mexican officials, and as the evidence mounts, a powerful
case is presented which demands an official investigation into the both the source and the destination of these non-slaughter
geldings.
Except it looks like that is going to be very difficult..
Her report also includes the results of
a recent on-site investigation by Animals Angels investigators who were denied access to Santa Teresas facilities and what
little information New Mexico officials offered turned out to be false - these officials included USDA employees. Yes, this
is the same USDA that flipped Congress the finger when they voted to withdraw funding for horsemeat inspections in efforts
to shut down the American horse slaughter trade in 2006.
In another AP news article by Martha Mendoza published in
1997, Trails End for Horses: Slaughter, over 200 BLM employees were cited as adopting wild horses and burros with most unaccounted
for and some employees acknowledging they were sent to slaughter while Pascal Derde, the proprietor of Cavel West Slaughterhouse
in Redmond, OR, reportedly "displayed a sheaf of BLM certificates for horses he recently butchered".
Gabriel Paone,
a Department of the Interior ethics official was quoted as saying there was nothing wrong with BLM employees adopting wild
horses and then selling them for profit. "Theyre not doing this as public officials." Paone said. "Theyre doing this as private
citizens."
In an article by American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign, The Story Behind The Burns Amendment, a plan
is outlined showing which way American wild horses were headed. A few years ago, a Montana rancher proposed to send 10,000
wild horses to Mexico, the second largest horse meat supplier in the world, for his private enterprise craftily dubbed the
"Sonora Wild Horse Repatriation Project."
Apparently, the boldness of this proposal created so much opposition it was
ultimately defeated - perhaps an even craftier enterprise was needed to move our horses into Mexico.
The political
consequences of openly killing wild horses and burros was foreseen during the July 1998 Field Hearing held in Reno, NV (see
Year of the Horse II) as John Balliette, Contractual Natural Resource Manager, Eureka County, NV stated, I also urge you to
be cautious with euthanasia, especially for large reductions. Personally, I would view putting thousands of horses down as
a terrible waste of a resource. I also believe the first time several hundred horses are euthanized in one spot, a political
firestorm will follow.
Needless to say, Mr. Balliette was correct but it didnt take several hundred to do it.
In
November 2004, the Burns Amendment was slipped in and became a reality for our wild horses and burros in 2005. Forty-one wild
horses were slaughtered in an Illinois slaughter plant, some of the first sold under this new For Sale Authority and public
outrage caused BLM to temporarily suspend sales between April 25 thru May 19, 2005.
BLM also rewrote and strengthened
the adoption contracts before resuming sales but considering past historical violations, even by the agency itself, as well
as no true legal consequences to those who violate these contracts due to Congress continuing to give BLM the authority to
sell them unconditionally, there is little hope that violators will actually be prosecuted if our horses and burros end up
hanging from a hook.
According to Ms. Pattons investigative report, the shipment of unusually high numbers of non-slaughter
geldings sent through Santa Teresa, New Mexico to Mexico began on August 16th, 2005 just three months after BLM resumed selling
our wild heritage to sealed bidders.
Advocate and watch dog groups have been requesting details about the For Sale
Program but meaningful answers have not been forthcoming and the BLM only publicly provides a running total of the wild horses
and burros that they sell.
So here we sit..
Unprecedented numbers of wild horses and burros have been swept
off public lands authorized by completely absurd assessments, BLM cut adoption events over the last few years during a time
when they needed this outlet most, the cost of capturing and holding our wild horses and burros in these mysterious sanctuaries
continues to skyrocket and suddenly we find New Mexico in the news - again!
Yet Congress sits stalled refusing to investigate
the Wild Horse & Burro Program or demand accountability, refusing to repeal the Burns Amendment, and refusing to open
an investigation into these non-slaughter geldings being exported from New Mexico at record levels.
Some speculate
these geldings are being shipped to Mexico as unwilling participants in a popular form of Mexican entertainment called Horse
Tripping, as illustrated in the header photo. Even so, most horses used for these events end up in Mexican slaughterhouses
once the ropes have cut their flesh too deeply or their legs finally brutally break.
The Humane Society of the United
States has recently released a video on the reality of Mexican Horse Slaughter, often performed by repeatedly stabbing a knife
into the horses spinal cord until it is paralyzed, though not unconscious for its slaughter. There is little question the
final destination of the majority of these non-slaughter geldings will share the same fate of those so graphically depicted
in this video.
In 1998, Mr. Balliette also recommended a sale authority that would be sunsetted once the numbers on
the range and in the adoption pipeline were brought down to manageable numbers before more politically correct population
control methods were again employed.
Maybe Congress is waiting, as Mr. Balliette suggested, until a sufficient amount
of Americas wild horses and burros have been disposed of before bringing the vote to the floor. or maybe they will never repeal
it - after all, its only the majority of the American people who so passionately love wild horses and burros and have showed
their overwhelming support time and time again for mandating their protection but does anyone in Washington care?
Tell
Congress to stop stalling and protect
OUR WILD HORSES AND BURROS
!NOW!
Non-Slaughter Geldings To Mexico
In
efforts to bring awareness to the weekly shipments of these Non-Slaughter Geldings being sent to Mexico from New Mexico for
over two years now, the American Herds Hot News Section will now display their weekly exported totals until -we pray -these
shipments are investigated and finally brought to a halt.
(1) Horses to Slaughter - Anatomy of a Cover Up with the
BLM (1997-04-01) http://www.peer.org/pubs/whitepapers_id.php?row_id=14(2) Mendoza, Wild Horses Criminal Case Shut Down, http://igha.org/BLM12.htmlPosted by Preserve the Herds at 12:00 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Closing
The Deal
The governments continued lackadaisical attitude toward the mustangs makes it necessary for private conservation
groups to constantly remain alert and follow the administration and enforcement of the law. Otherwise, the horses traditional
enemies will succeed in slowly but surely eliminating them. -The Politics of Extinction by Lewis Regenstein, 1975.
So
how long have a handful of individuals been trying to eliminate wild horses and burros from the American scene? As far back
as their American history goes
In fact, there is so much available evidence clearly showing inappropriate and often
illegal activities against wild horses and burros, only the illiterate could be convinced otherwise.
In his book, Wild
Horses: Living Symbols of Freedom, wildlife ecologist and author, Craig C. Downer states how it began, It was the White life
style which caused the mustangs demise, along with that of the buffalo.The horse allowed the Indian to withstand the White
settlers and, so, the horse came to be regarded as part of the whole Indian problem. A prejudice against wild horses has remained
as a part of the tradition to this very day among ranchers and farmers as well as others in the West.
Mr. Downer asserts
the 18th century saw the pinnacle of wild horse populations, estimated then at nearly 10 million strong but by the turn of
the 19th century, their numbers had been reduced to 2 million and in the late 1950s, when Wild Horse Annie began creating
public awareness for the plight of the wild horse, it was estimated their numbers had been gutted to a paltry 25,000 throughout
the West. (1)
When public love and outcry sparked Congress to pass the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act in 1971,
those still prejudice against the wild ones have been seeking to overturn their federally protected status ever since.
In
1973, legal proceedings were initiated by a New Mexico cattleman who unsuccessfully tried to overturn their federal protection
in Kleppe vs New Mexico (June 17, 1976).
Betsy A. Cody, Specialist in Natural Resources produced a report for the Congressional
Research Service on Wild Horse and Burro Management, which stated, In 1984, BLM started to allow individuals to adopt large
numbers of animals for free. Approximately 20,000 horses were adopted while this fee-waiver program was in effect and several
thousand of these animals reportedly ended up in glue or pet-food factories.(2) The program was stopped in 1988 due to public
outcry.
Karen Sussman, President of the International Society for the Preservation of Mustangs and Burros (ISPMB) submitted
a Report to the Subcommittee on National Parks and Public Lands June 5, 1998, that stated, Regulation changes proposed in
1984 allowed BLM to gather an unprecedented number of wild horses during the two year period that the rule changes were pending.
Another
1984 regulation was implemented known as fee-waivers/mass adoptions which allowed 100 or plus horses to be given to adopters.
Ranchers adopted them and turned around and sold many to slaughter after title passed.
During these years, with BLMs
approval, several attempts were made to allow BLM to sell unadoptable horses for slaughter by initiating language, which never
got out of committee in Congress. The Range Omnibus bill which included the slaughter provision made it to the floor of Congress
but was defeated.
The Government Accounting Office (GAO) released their audit and report in August 1990 of the BLMs
Wild Horse and Burro Program titled, Rangeland Management, Improvements Needed in the Federal Wild Horse Program, which included
scathing indictments of wild horses being regularly sent to slaughter and unfair treatment by BLM.
American Wild Horse
Preservation Campaign provides a Link to a 1997 report released by the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER),
Horse Slaughter -Anatomy of a Cover-Up, which explicitly details BLM abuses, wild horses and burros going to slaughter and
a complete lack of accountability in the wild horse and burro program that many believe still continues today.
The
PEER Horse Slaughter Report states: BLM has tolerated and in some instances facilitated the routine and illegal trafficking
of wild horses to slaughter. The agency has obstructed efforts by its own law enforcement officers to expose commercial theft
of wild horses, fraudulent adoption schemes and fictitious "sanctuary" herds not only to avoid embarrassment but also to maintain
the flow of horses off the range.
The BLM began a crackdown on wild horse-to-slaughter operations in 1993 under former
Director Jim Baca. BLM investigators began compiling evidence documenting:
*
theft of wild horses during BLM
sponsored "gathers" or captures;
*
"black booking" or phony double branding of horses so that duplicate branded
horses could disappear without a paper trail;
*
manipulation of wild horse adoptions where one person holds
the proxies for a group of supposedly separate adopters and the horses all end up at slaughter;
*
use of satellite
ranches to hold horses for days or weeks as stopping points on the way to slaughter;
*
fraudulent use of wild
horse sanctuaries--ranches subsidized by the federal government to care for unadoptable wild horses deemed excess and
removed from the range--as fronts for commercial exploitation.
Lawyers from the Department of Justice also urged that
the case be dropped because the tolerance within BLM for the horse to slaughter trade was so widespread that it would be unfair
to single out any one person for prosecution.
Associated Press reporter, Martha Mendoza also did a series of articles
on the travesty occurring, such as Wild Horse Criminal Case Shut Down, which involved additional investigative reporting that
found a long-standing history of cover ups, abuses and wild horses and burros being sold for slaughter.
Bill Sharp,
who worked for the BLM before retiring in 1994 was quoted as saying, "If I really was worried about intent then I probably
wouldn't have adopted out any horses, because I believe 90 percent of these horses go to slaughter."
While evidence
piled up that indeed, Americas wild horses and burros were routinely being sent to slaughter with many BLM employees actively
participating, looking the other way or being too afraid to speak out, the Grand Jury Investigation was successfully slammed
shut in 1996 without any of the hard won evidence ever being heard.
Congress responded by turning a blind eye to this
day, they have failed to demand any investigation or accountability of these allegations and have failed to require BLM to
submit biannual reports on the Wild Horse and Burro Program, as required by law, since 1997.
In July 1998 Congressional
Subcommittee Hearing in Reno, Nevada (see last post, Year of the Horse II), the Honorable Delegate from the Territory of American
Samoa, Eni Faleomavaega, continued to press for answers; there are allegations that thousands of horses are being slaughtered
and there are further allegations that BLM could not even account for some 32,000 adopted animals, and that even BLM employees
may have been participants and may even have profited in the slaughter of thousands of wild horses.
His questions,
and ours, have never significantly been addressed.
The prosecuting attorney for the derailed Grand Jury investigation,
Alia Ludlum, stated, "I believe that my investigation was obstructed all along by persons within the BLM..I think there is
a terrible problem with the program and with government agents placing themselves above the law."
And so, with improprieties,
abuses, and illegal activities against wild horses and burros being sanctioned and covered up at the highest levels, Larry
Johnson, Director of Nevada Bighorns Unlimited and currently serving on the 2007 Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board, stepped
up to the plate.
In March 2000, Mr. Johnson submitted statements in concert with BLM under a Wild Horse Attachment
to a Senate Subcommittee on Energy and Natural Resources to urge their support for The Restoration of Threatened Watersheds,
citing wild horses and burros, not livestock, were one of the major threats to both watershed health and wildlife and as such,
funding was needed to drastically reduce their populations across the West.
The Nevada Commission for the Preservation
of Wild Horses was also cited by jubilant anti-wild horse supporters as being the key factor in convincing Congress that their
removals were truly a necessity in Nevadas 2000 Public Land Policy Update (pg.17).
In October 2001, armed with Congressional
approval and funding, BLM proceeded to launch the most aggressive removal campaign ever implemented, rounding up over 70,000
of our wild horses and burros over the last six years.
With the Sales Authority waiting in the wings, BLM officials
successfully escaping federal indictments, prosecution or any accountability at all, years of frustrated efforts to strip
federal protection of Americas wild horses and burros was finally rewarded - our Land Lords just sat back to wait..
Photo
taken from BLM Internet Adoption Website http://www.blm.gov/#9259 Two Year Old Mare - Captured 1/17/06 Sand Springs East HMA, NV
(1) Report prepared by
the ISPMB, Subcommittee on National Parks and Public Lands, June 5, 1998.
(2) GAO RCED-90-110 Rangeland Management,
Improvements Needed In Federal Wild Horse Program, pg. 31
http://archive.gao.gov/d23t8/142041.pdfPosted by Preserve the Herds at 12:22 PM 0 comments
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Year
Of The Horse II
The second big event that happened in 1998 was a Congressional Subcommittee Hearing of National Parks
and Public Lands held in Reno, Nevada on July 13th titled, Field Hearing on Range Issues and Problems with the Wild Horse
and Burro Act and Its Implementation.
It was here that a handful of men began laying the groundwork to amend the Wild
Free-Roaming Horse & Burro Act to include a Sales Authority clause to allow them to be slaughtered as well as exploring
all possibilities for disposing of America's excess wild horses and burros.
The need to grant BLM the authority to
slaughter Americas wild horses and burros was openly discussed by many with testimony citing them as merely feral like alley
cats and that BLM needs to be able to manage them as livestock, a position supported by then BLM Director, Pat Shea.
Nevada
rancher, Demar Dahl, offered this practical insight by stating, We eat them. The horse is a resource.I love good horses, but
there are a lot of horses that are just to be eaten and that is their best use..And I can tell you right now, there are a
lot of wild horses, BLMhorses with a BLM freeze iron under the brand, that go through the sales to the killer plants today.
And any horse sales that you want to go to where they put killer horses through, you will find a number of wild horses.So
it is happening already, we just need to recognize it.
John Balliette, Contractual Natural Resource Manager from Eureka
County, Nevada stated,Some real double standards exist when it comes to sale authority. Each year our country sells thousands
of privately owned horses for slaughter. But the mere mention of sale authority of ''wild'' horses with the possibility of
slaughter is offensive to some. Horses are the only large ungulate on Federal lands that are not harvested for consumptive
purposes. If harvesting one large ungulate is acceptable, why is harvesting horses unacceptable? Horses must be viewed as
are other large ungulates on Federal lands, a renewable resource that can be effectively managed by harvesting excess numbers.
Senator
Dean Rhoads, Chairman of the Senate Natural Resources Committee for the Nevada Legislature and a rancher himself led the charge
to implement a Sales Authority with such statements as, I usually do not go to the sales yard so I have no idea who buys them,
but I assume that some of them are bought by people that take them home and break them. Others are probably bought that ends
up in the slaughterhouse. But that is just the thing that we have been doing for centuries.
Nevada Lincoln County Commissioner
Rey Flake reminded everyone that Ranching on public lands is also a legacy of the west and presented this vision to Congressional
representatives for his model of what the Wild Horse & Burro Program should look like, We need to consider the idea of
having one or two herds of horses in each state.
Senator Rhoads supported Commissioner Flakes statement by affirming
the idea for a few public-viewing centers citing we would probably put up some vistas and interpretive centers and so forth
then also added, Then you could remove all the other horses from the west on much of our grazing lands.
The following
individuals all testified and supported a need to introduce legislation to allow BLM to sell excess and unadoptable wild horses
and burros or explore all means to dispose of or destroy them:
Utah Congressional Representative James Hansen, Nevada
Congressional Representative Jim Gibbons (now Nevada Governor), NV Legislative Senator Dean Rhoads, NV Assemblyman John Carpenter,
NV Elko County Commissioner Anthony Lesperance, Ph.D, NV Lincoln County Commissioner Rey Flake, NV Eureka County Natural Resources
Manager John Balliette, National Wild Horse Association Field Director David C.J. Tattam, Arizona Game & Fish Department
Director Duane L. Shroufe, and NV Rancher Demar Dahl.
Current Nevada Senator John Ensign, who introduced S. 1915, a
bill to amend the Horse Protection Act to prohibit shipping, transporting, moving, delivering, receiving, possessing, purchasing,
selling, or donation of horses and other equines to be slaughtered for human consumption, and for other purposes, was also
present as a Congressional Representative at this 1998 Field Hearing.
Representative Ensign made no comment throughout
the proceedings regarding the selling of Americas wild horses and burros for slaughter. His statements were limited to,How
much of the policy is actually being directed based on pure emotionalism? How much of the policy is being directed on what
is truly best for the environment, best for the animals in the long-run for the overall part of the population, and truly
how are we getting to where we are going.?
As politicians and cattleman lined up to testify against the wild horses
with arguments that ranged from how their excessive numbers destroy the range and riparian areas, strip the forage for their
livestock, and threaten true wildlife species such as bighorn sheep, they never failed to grind the ever popular axe of wild
horse and burro management costing the taxpayer a fortune by being nothing more than a Federal welfare case - (Representative
Jim Gibbons).
Utah Representative James Hansen stated, If any public land program could be called a subsidy, this would
be it.
While these cattleman were arguing against the costs of the Wild Horse & Burro program and how public land
is really their land, USDA Records shows in 1998, almost $2.7 million dollars was handed out in federal subsidies in Nevada
and exceeded $62 million dollars between 1995 and 2005 for Nevada ranchers and farmers alone. This does not take into account
that a rancher is currently paying less than $1.35 per month per cow to graze them on public lands -1/10th the cost of private
grazing fees.
USDA federal subsidies records also shows NV Senator Dean Rhoads of Rhoads Trust Dean & Sharon have
personally received $500,875 dollars between 1995 and 2005.
This Field Hearing was conducted one month before the Nevada
Draft Management Plan for Wild Horses was introduced (see last post, Year of the Horse I).
During this field hearing,
Cathy Barcomb, Administrator for the Nevada Commission for the Preservation of Wild Horses reported to these Congressional
Committee members that the Draft Management Plan for Wild Horses for Nevada was due out in August adding, ..a lot of people
that are in this room helped us write the plan and I think it is a good compilation from Nevada.
Posted by Preserve
the Herds at 5:53 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Year Of The Horse - Part I
The year 1998
was a big one for our wild horses and burros -two major events happened that laid the groundwork for the most stunning change
in wild horse and burro policy since the passage of the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act.
Of course, this change
would be the Unconditional Sale of our herds commonly known as the Burns Amendment and now carried out by BLM under the term
Sale Authority.
However, as is commonly believed, there was nothing stealth about it selling our wild heritage was
well planned and coordinated long before it was slipped in the day before the Thanksgiving break.
In August of 1998,
Nevada Ecological Consulting, Inc. presented the Draft Nevada Wild Horse Management Plan for Federal Lands to the Nevada Department
of Conservation and Natural Resources/Commission for the Preservation of Wild Horses in response to Bill 211, enacted
by the Nevada Legislature in 1997 requiring the Commission to develop a plan for managing wild horses in Nevada.
There
were sixty-five participants that provided input for this plan as well as nine public meetings held throughout the state.
The
Plan discussed a large array of issues on wild horse and burro management but almost none of the solutions presented to maintain
wild horses and burros as integral components of public lands have gone any further than the drawing board. The emphasis seemed
to be on what to do with the wild horses and burros once they had been removed from the range, not providing the critical
habitat requirements necessary to keep them from being removed.
Here are exact quotes from this Draft Management Plan:
Section
5.82 - Strategy:
#
By the year 2005, reach AML on all delineated HMAs by removal of unadoptable wild horses
(as a last resort), either by euthanasia methods preferably on home range, or by sales authority granted to BLM with all sale
receipts earmarked to defray program costs.
Section 5.83 - Actions:
#
BLM and Congress should abide by
the provisions of the ACT allowing euthanasia as a humane method of removal of excess numbers of unadoptable wild horses,
and that the euthanasia prohibition in the annual Congressional Appropriations Act for funding of the wild horse program be
rescinded.
#
Congress should consider amending the ACT to allow sales authority to BLM for placement of unadoptable
wild horses where a reasonable number of adoption attempts have failed to place the animals. All sale receipts from such placement
to be earmarked to the state of origin to defray costs of program.
#
BLM should consider initiating studies
on time delay Sunset* euthanasia drugs which would allow humane death of known unadoptable wild horses on home range to spare
the animals the stress of shipping and corral storage and to eliminate these program handling costs. (*A Sunset Drug is a
drug that would be administered allowing the wild horses and burros to be killed slowly.)
Appendix B, Page 9
#
1)
Amendment to the Wild Horse & Burro Act of 1971 is needed to include a sales authority clause to remove excessive numbers
of unadoptable animals with sale proceeds earmarked to defray program costs.
Appendix C, Synopsis of Public Forum,
Page 5
#
3 strikes and you're out by either sale or euthanasia.
Here is the law that was enacted six
years later, initially reported as having been co-sponsored by Nevada Senator Harry Reid, which our Congress has still failed
to repeal-
Fiscal Year 2005 Omnibus Appropriations Act
Public Law 108-447, Division E, Section 142
SEC.
142. SALE OF WILD FREE-ROAMING HORSES AND BURROS. (a) IN GENERAL- Section 3 of Public Law 92-195 (16 U.S.C. 1333) is amended--
(1)
in subsection (d)(5), by striking `this section' and all that follows through the period at the end and inserting `this section.';
and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
`(e) SALE OF EXCESS ANIMALS-
`(1) IN GENERAL- Any excess
animal or the remains of an excess animal shall be sold if--
`(A) the excess animal is more than 10 years of age; or
`(B)
the excess animal has been offered unsuccessfully for adoption at least 3 times.
`(2) METHOD OF SALE- An excess animal
that meets either of the criteria in paragraph (1) shall be made available for sale without limitation, including through
auction to the highest bidder, at local sale yards or other convenient livestock selling facilities, until such time as--
`(A)
all excess animals offered for sale are sold; or
`(B) the appropriate management level, as determined by the Secretary,
is attained in all areas occupied by wild free-roaming horses and burros.
`(3) DISPOSITION OF FUNDS- Funds generated
from the sale of excess animals under this subsection shall be--
`(A) credited as an offsetting collection to the Management
of Lands and Resources appropriation for the Bureau of Land Management; and
`(B) used for the costs relating to the
adoption of wild free-roaming horses and burros, including the costs of marketing such adoption.
`(4) EFFECT OF SALE-
Any excess animal sold under this provision shall no longer be considered to be a wild free-roaming horse or burro for purposes
of this Act.'.
Photo of wild horse being roped downloaded from BLM State Field Office Website http://www.blm.gov/Posted by Preserve the Herds at 1:42 PM 0 comments
Monday, November 19, 2007
A Good
Plan
The Commissioners statements in the NVCPWH April 2005 Meeting Minutes* can only leave us wondering.
Why
would BLM cut adoption events or refuse to supply wild horses and burros to events where all they had to do was collect the
money when holding pens were bursting at the seams?
In 2001, when BLM launched the most aggressive wild horse and burro
removal campaign they had ever undertaken, didnt they know what would happen?
Did they have a plan on how to deal with
tens of thousands of wild horses and burros now crammed in government pens at taxpayers expense?
The Plan
The
plan developed by BLM was to escalate removals to balance public lands and achieve AML (Allowable Management Level). At the
same time the Fleishman-Hillard study had introduced some very innovative changes to the adoption program.
The whole
concept was introduced to Congress to bring public lands down to AML. BLM asked Congress for an additional 36 million dollars
over 4 years to implement their new plan because they knew they would be taking approximately 12 thousand wild horses off
of public lands per year, BLM knew they could average 7,000 horses per year in the adoption program, they knew there would
be approximately 5,000 horses in excess each year.
They knew it and planned for it. They knew that by the fourth and
fifth years that they would have 20,000 horses in holding, thats what the extra funds were for. The concept was that after
BLM got to AML that only 3,500 to 4,000 horses per year would be removed from public lands and with a demand of over 7,000,
the BLM would then start removing them from the sanctuaries and place them in the adoption program.
The whole plan
was to balance itself and greatly reduced the costs because you would then be lowering the costs of holding horses in sanctuaries,
you would only be removing 1/3 the number of horses on public lands and reducing that cost drastically, and you wouldnt be
holding or processing as many horses because they would be adopted. The whole plan was a good one, Congress endorsed it, and
now, we are there, we are within one year, they got all the horses in the sanctuaries, as planned, and then voted into slaughter
all of them.
I feel it was somewhat of a setup, we were betrayed. We all bought into the plan and supported it, only
to be turned on once the horses came off the lands.
Cathy Barcomb, Administrator
Nevada Commission for the Preservation
of Wild Horses
April 7, 2005
So what happened?
*See last post, "Doing Everything We Can"
Photo
taken from BLM Internet Adoption Site http://www.blm.gov/Captured Wild Burro from California Slate Range 2007
Posted by Preserve the Herds at 9:16
PM 0 comments
Saturday, November 17, 2007
"Doing Everything We Can"
As Chief Investigative Reporter,
George Knapp and the I-Team of KLAS 8 in Las Vegas, Nevada ask hard questions about what BLM is doing to help our now captured
wild horses and burros find good homes through adoptions, Mr. Knapp's Interview with Nevada Wild Horse and Burro Lead Susie
Stokke shows her confidently assuring us that, If you look at what Nevada is accomplishing compared to other states, we are
doing everything we can.
So is this true? Not according to the Nevada Commission for the Preservation of Wild Horses.
Here is what they had to say in the Commissions April 7, 2005 Meeting Minutes.
In discussing the Prison Wild Horse
Training/Adoption Program, Ms. Cathy Barcomb, long-time administrator for the Commission reported that, The last prison adoption
had been extremely successful with all horses adopted averaging $1,500. She reported that the new indoor arena had been dedicated
for opening and that almost all of the Commissioners had been present for the ceremony. Ms. Barcomb noted that the Bureau
of Land Management had recently met with prison officials and stated that they could no longer afford the prison program or
adoptions in Nevada as their focus was primarily to place all funding towards removals of wild horses from public lands in
an attempt to reach AML.
She also added, BLM was reducing the number of BLM supported adoptions to 3 per year instead
of 4. She added that she felt BLM has not generally been very cost effective in their approaches to wild horse adoptions.
She stated that there were usually 5-6 BLM personnel at each prison adoption, being paid overtime, and that it was unnecessary
to have so many people there, which drives up the costs.
Commissioner Gleason stated that she felt BLM was spending
more with no accountability.
Ms. Barcomb reported that, In 2004, that the Expo and Department of Agriculture transported
all the prison horses to the Expo adoption, not BLM, the volunteers and Dept. of Agriculture had also transported and set
up all the panels for holding the horses, not the BLM. She stated in general, that BLM really didnt have to put any effort
into the marketing, transport, promotions, care, feeding, or adoption of the prison trained horses that they just had to show
up and collect the funds. But for 2005, the BLM has declined to allow any BLM horses, prison trained or not, to be adopted
at the Expo.
Ms. Barcomb also stated, The BLM Nevada would not be actively participating in the Western States Wild
Horse and Burro Expo either. They would not have prison-trained horses on site, nor would they be doing an open house at the
Palomino Valley Corrals.
Commissioner Evans stated that, He was disheartened by the fact that BLM has approximately
28,000 horses in holding facilities, that its costing taxpayers a fortune, that the solution to the problem IS adoption, and
cutting back on the adoption program shows a serious lack of judgment as to what is needed for a comprehensive working program.
Commissioner
Brehm stated, Adoptions hosted around the National Final Rodeo in Las Vegas were a good event and that almost all the horses
were adopted in the previous years when BLM hosted adoptions there, but that it has been over 10 years since they did the
NFR adoptions."
During the public comment period, Frank Cassas, Chairman of the National Wild Horse and Burro Foundation
stated,
The National Marketing Plan for the Bureau of Land Managements Wild Horse and Burro Program submitted by Fleishman-Hillard,
Inc. on January 12, 2001.includes numerous constructive recommendations for invigorating and centralizing the BLMs Wild Horse
and Burro Programs marketing and adoption activities."
Mr. Cassas expressed his frustration in that nothing has been
done since the report and recommendations have come out.
Commissioner Evans stated, Weve been talking about this with
BLM for over 5 years..now its 5 years later and nothing. You can spend millions of dollars on study after study, and nothing
ever happens.
Meanwhile, when George asks Ms. Stokke, You would say the BLM has done its best to market to Nevadans
in adopting wild horses?
Stokke replies, I think that we are continuing to explore new opportunities and new avenues..."
Photo
taken from BLMs Internet Adoption Site, Nebraska wild horse and burro holding pens.
Nevada Commission for the Preservation
of Wild Horses, Meeting Minutes, April 7, 2005 http://www.wildhorse.nv.gov/main/april05.pdPosted by Preserve the Herds at 6:01 PM 0 comments
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Hero
Of The Herds II
Part II
As promised, Chief Investigative Reporter, George Knapp and the I-Team of KLAS 8 in
Las Vegas, NV have followed up their first investigative story, No Straight Answers on Wild Horse Budget (Part I), with an
in depth look at questions on how BLM determines our wild horses and burros need to be removed.
Today, with more wild
horses in government pens than now roam free, millions of dollars being spent the last few years for their removals and millions
more now spent to feed them, Mr. Knapp asks whether BLM has any justification for corralling them in the first place.
So
how does BLM justify the round ups? Usually by claiming the horses are a threat to the health of the range. The question is
can they prove it?
So the Knappster begins his quest for answers as he and the I-Team examine the 40 million acres
under BLM control in Nevada, the recent Jackson Mountain HMA round up that led to over 150 deaths in BLM's Palomino Valley
holding facility, the 8,000 livestock that have been approved to graze the Jackson Mountain home range area, and allegations
by national BLM scientists who have accused BLM of politicizing range science to benefit ranchers, miners, and oil companies
on public lands.
In an interview with Craig Downer, once employed by BLM as a range scientist but claims he quit in
disgust, Mr. Downer grew up watching wild horses near his Northern Nevada home and stated, Its very skewed data, very arbitrary
statements. Theyll just come out and say that wild horses are a detriment to the ecosystem without any proofs."
He
further added,How can you say the several thousand horses that remain in all the west compare with several million livestock?
Its just ludicrous.
Mr. Downer feels that most of the information used to justify many of the round ups is bogus.
In
another interview with long time wild horse advocate Jerry Reynoldson of Wild Horses 4 Ever, the Knappster found continuing
support for the position that BLM uses bogus information to justify the round ups.
What I really think is there is
no science Reynoldson said. It has little to do with range conditions and a lot to do with we just want to get them out of
here.Nevada BLM basically makes it up as it goes along.
While questions continue as to how BLM has justified the removals
of thousands of wild horses and burros from public lands, the millions of dollars being paid to those who remove and feed
them, and little being budgeted towards their adoptions, is it any wonder the I-Teams choose Nevadas Wild Horses Face Desperate
Future for part two of their look at Americas remaining herds.
Kudos to Mr. Knapp and the I-Team for working to expose
the truth behind this American tragedy as these living symbols of freedom are once again fast-disappearing - this time funded
out of the government trough.
Comments to Chief Investigative Reporter, George Knapp can be emailed to gknapp@klastv.comThe photo used was taken from the Palomino Valley Internet Adoption site five days after BLM began
conducting the Spring Mountain round ups based on "BLM formulas" that determined they "might starve or become thirsty in the
future". This horse was one of the 864 wild horses and burros BLM removed from the area in January 2007.
www.lasvegasnow.com
http://horses.generitek.comA man of kindness, to his beast is kind.
But, brutal actions, show a brutal mind:
Remember,
He who made thee, made the brute,
Who gave thee speach and reason, formed him mute;
He can't complain, but God's
omnicient eye
Beholds thy cruelty - He hears his cry!
He was designed thy servant; not thy drudge,
But
know - That his Creator is thy judge.
Unknown author from The Ladies' Equestrian Guide, 1857.
"They too, are
created by the same loving hand of God which
Created us...It is our duty to Protect Them and to promote their
well-being.
"
--Mother Teresa.
"Until he extends his circle of compassion to all living things, man himself will not find
peace. " - Albert Schweitzer 1875 - 1965
Over 10,000 horses slaughtered
By Des Houghton
November 10, 2007 12:00am
Article from: 
- Queensland Govt tries to hide massive cull
- Most left to rot, shooters told to hide bodies
- Brumbies can be tamed, says campaigner
MORE than 10,000 brumbies will be slaughtered in Queensland in a massive cull the State Government has tried to hide.
Documents
obtained by The Courier-Mail show fears of a public outcry led to high-level talks on how to conceal one of the world's
largest animal culls.
But the kill to help the environment - including shooting horses in the state's southeast - is already drawing international
condemnation from animal rights groups and criticism of the RSPCA for condoning it.
Reports obtained under Freedom of Information showed the Government was aware of the controversy the cull would create.
Earlier this year, then environment minister Lindy Nelson-Carr told former premier Peter Beattie the killing of horses
"has the potential to precipitate vocal opposition from small special-interest groups with strong inflexible views".
Thousands shot, left to rot
Thousands of horses already have been shot, including 4000 at the popular
Carnarvon National Park in central Queensland.
In remote areas, the animals are left to rot where they fall.
But Government documents show that in other areas
shooters were instructed to hide the bodies.
The cull has been condemned by animal rights groups, including Save the Brumbies, as "barbaric".
Spokeswoman Jan Carter claimed photographs of the Carnarvon cull had been sent anonymously to her by a State Government
employee.
The technique used involved marksmen who are trained to shoot the horses in the chest for a quick kill from helicopters.
Foals
left with dead parents
But those against the cull claim photographs in circulation show wounded animals in
pain and young surviving foals left near dead members of their herds.
Mrs Carter urged the Government to set up brumby
sanctuaries and consider infertility treatments used overseas to restrict wild horses breeding.
Animal welfare group
the RSPCA has condoned the program, raising the ire of hardline animal groups.
Brumby Watch Australia co-founder Kristine
Sempf said the animals could be tamed.
She said her son Nathan had a tamed horse saved from a cull at Greenbank, south
of Brisbane.
But RSPCA spokesman Michael Beattie said his organisation first suggested the use of infertility drugs
10 years ago and supported sanctuaries.
Sustainability Minister Andrew McNamara said shooting the horses was the most
humane option.
"The program is not about eradication of feral horses but rather ensuring population is kept at a manageable
level in consideration of the welfare of both the horses and the native wildlife in the park," he said.
"However,
for the first phase of the program, we investigated all the options and shooting was considered to be the most humane solution.
Brumbies 'destroying natural habitat'
"Feral horses in particular are causing serious erosion,
spreading weeds, destroying freshwater springs and other water courses, damaging Aboriginal cultural sites, competing with
native wildlife for feed, and destroying habitat."
There are an estimated 100,000 feral horses in Queensland accused
of destroying fragile national park ecosystems.
Documents uncovered by The Courier-Mail under Freedom of
Information confirm that large-scale culling would continue throughout Queensland for at least three years in at least four
different regions.
The documents show the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Primary Industries
supports the mass shooting and trapping of feral animals, including horses, deer, pigs, goats, dingoes and foxes.
NEWS.com.au is not responsible for the content for external internet sites
Crack shot ... brumby shooters are told to aim for the chest, but campaigners say they leave too many wounded
horses to slowly die / Rob Maccoll |
Animals rights activists say horses should not be transported
in double-decker trailers like this one, which overturned Saturday night while carrying 59 horses. Sixteen of the horses have
died as a result of the crash.
Photo Courtesy Colleen Fisch
3 more horses claimed by crash
Investigation continues into Route 41 accident
By Corrinne Hess | Daily Herald Staff
Three more horses were euthanized Monday, bringing the total number of dead animals to 16 following Saturday's
rollover crash involving a double-decker semitrailer truck.
Meanwhile, local, state and federal officials began their investigations, which could lead to additional charges
against the driver of the truck. And animal rights activists are hoping the crash raises awareness about -- and possibly leads
to the regulation of -- how the animals are transported.
The remaining 43 draft horses are being housed at Carney Farm in Wadsworth until authorities finish their investigation.
"The vast majority are eating, drinking and acting like a herd of horses," said Leslie Szalla, a veterinarian
with Bristol Veterinary Service in Union Grove, Wis. "It really is amazing how resilient they are."
The three animals that were euthanized Monday had severe joint injuries, Szalla said.
Lake County sheriff's Sgt. Craig Gregory said the horses belong to a Minnesota-based breeder.
Gregory said owners are cooperating with authorities. He wouldn't release the breeder's name, saying it could
jeopardize the investigation.
The animals were being transported from an auction in Indiana to an auction in Minnesota Saturday night when
the driver ran a red light on Route 41 near Wadsworth. The truck struck a pickup truck and then rolled over, Gregory said.
The driver, James Anderson, 34, of McLeod, N.D., was issued a traffic citation.
It took authorities, veterinarians and volunteers more than five hours to get the horses out of the trailer
and transport them to nearby Carney Farm.
"The most important thing to us is the horses," Vicki Carney said Monday. "The phone has not stopped ringing,
but right now, there is really nothing that can be done."
Carney said she is waiting to hear from a representative from a local insurance company who has been put in
charge of the animals.
When contacted Monday, that person would not comment.
Meanwhile, the Illinois Department of Agriculture and USDA began their investigations Monday.
State Veterinarian Mark Ernst, with the Illinois Department of Agriculture, said the state is in the process
of determining whether any animal welfare laws were violated.
"Right now we've gone to where the animals are being housed and we're making sure the ones that survived are
being managed well," Ernst said. "Some of the horses are bumped and bruised, others have lacerations, but all in all, there
don't seem to be any more life-threatening injuries."
Ernst said his department investigates accidents involving trailers carrying animals several times a year. But
typically, the animals involved are cattle or pigs.
"I can't say I recall every seeing this number of horses loaded into a truck," Ernst said.
USDA spokeswoman Madelaine Fletcher said the federal government has jurisdiction only over animals being transported
across state lines to be slaughtered.
If that were the case Saturday, Anderson would have been required to have health certificates for all of the
animals.
Fletcher said the USDA is trying to determine if those documents were in Anderson's possession and if they were
necessary.
Gregory said the horses were not being taken to a slaughterhouse and were going to be sold as breeding stock
for draft horses.
Regardless of why the animals were being transported, Chris Berry, president of Equine Protection Network in
Pennsylvania, said the method of transportation was inhumane.
Berry worked for five years to get the Pennsylvania legislature to pass a horse transportation law banning double-decker
semitrailer trucks.
"These trailers are not designed to transport horses," Berry said. "Unlike cattle, sheep and goats, horses can
raise and lower their heads much higher. In these trucks, they can't raise and lower their heads and, when they do, they bang
them on beams."
So far, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont and Massachusetts outlaw double-decker horse trailers, while Connecticut,
Virginia and Minnesota regulate usage.
Berry is hoping Saturday's crash will raise awareness in Illinois.
"I've seen and heard horses crashing, banging and screaming when they are in the trailers," she said.
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