tagged w/ Horse Slaughter
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Technorati...
Obama Legalizes Horse Slaughter for Human Consumption
Author: madeline bernstein
Published: November 28, 2011 at 2:52 pm
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Horse slaughter plants are legal again in the United States. Restrictions on horse meat processing for human consumption have been lifted.
In a bipartisan effort, the House of Representatives and the United States Senate approved the Conference Committee report on spending bill H2112, which among other things, funds the United States Department of Agriculture. On November 18th, as the country was celebrating Thanksgiving, President Obama signed a law, allowing Americans to kill and eat horses. Essentially, one turkey was pardoned in the presence of worldwide media while in the shadows, buried under pages of fiscal regulation, millions of horses were sentenced to death.
Horse slaughter has been prohibited in the United States as funding for inspections of horses in transit and at slaughter houses was non-existent. This worked because the horse meat cannot be sold for human consumption without such inspections. The House version of the bill retained the de-funding language and the Senate version did not. The conference committee charged with reconciling the two opted to not include it. The result is that it is now legal to slaughter horses for humans to eat.
Notwithstanding that 70% of Americans oppose horse slaughter, that President Obama made a campaign promise to permanently ban horse slaughter and exports of horses for human consumption (horses can be sent to Mexico and Canada), that documentation of animal cruelty, slaughterhouse stench, fluid runoff and negative community impact exists, it is taxpayers that will bear the costs!
Wyoming state representative Sue Wallis and her pro-slaughter group estimate that between 120,000 and 200,000 horses will be killed for human consumption per year and that Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Georgia and Missouri, are considering opening slaughter plants.
During these trying times, is the only thing that Democrats and Republicans can agree on is that Americans need to eat horses?
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Read more: http://technorati.com/lifestyle/article/obama-legalizes-horse-slaughter-for-human/#ixzz1fG00lE9y
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Obama Legalizes Horse Slaughter for Human Consumption
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The New York Times
December 30, 2010
Abandoned Horses Are Latest Toll of Drug Trade
By MARC LACEY
PHOENIX — Found tottering alone in the desert with their ribs visible and their heads hung low, horses play a backbreaking, unappreciated role in the multibillion-dollar drug smuggling industry.
Mexican traffickers strap heavy bales of marijuana or other illegal drugs to the horses’ backs and march them north through mountain passes and across rough desert terrain. With little food and water, some collapse under their heavy loads. Others are turned loose when the contraband gets far enough into Arizona to be loaded into vehicles with more horsepower.
“We would pick up 15 to 20 horses a month, and many more of the animals would get past us,” said Brad Cowan, who spent 28 years as a livestock officer for the Arizona Department of Agriculture before retiring a few months back. “They wear poorly fitted equipment. It’s obvious they were not well taken care of. The makeshift saddles rub big sores in their backs.”
Even once rescued, the horses face an uncertain future. Since they are not from the United States, the state of Arizona must draw their blood and conduct a battery of tests to ensure that they do not carry any disease that would infect domestic livestock. Then the horses head to auction, where some are bought and shipped back to Mexico for slaughter.
Others are luckier. They find their way to equine rescue operations, which help place them with homes.
“We just got a horse in, and he’s sticks and bones, and his feet are horrific,” said July Glore, president of Heart of Tucson, a rescue operation that nurses the horses back to strength. “We get calls all the time about abandoned horses. How many do I have right now? One, two, three.”
One, named Lucky, had his tongue almost cut in half from the sharp wire bit put in his mouth. “I was told he was a drug horse,” Ms. Glore said.
Farther north, at the Arizona Equine Rescue Organization in New River, Soleil K. Dolce said drug horses were just part of the problem. Ms. Dolce responds to police calls about horses that have escaped from illegal rodeos and are running down the street. Horses are also left at freeway off-ramps or tied to fences by owners who no longer want them, she said.
Rehabilitating them is expensive and time consuming, Ms. Dolce said, and there is the possibility that some horses will never be adopted.
“I can’t even describe the suffering these horses have gone through,” Ms. Dolce said, petting Rim Rock, who was abandoned in Tonto National Forest, east of Phoenix, several years ago and still suffers problems in his hooves.
It is sometimes not clear when a horse is discovered exactly how it came to be abandoned. State officials say the economic crisis has led to many more animals being let loose by owners no longer able to care for them. But the horses that are found with Mexican brands are presumed to be smuggling horses. And sometimes the authorities have no doubt: groups of horses or donkeys are discovered in the act, with bales of drugs on their backs and their human guides hiding.
Last year, seven horses laden with 971 pounds of marijuana were discovered by Border Patrol agents in the Patagonia Mountains in southern Arizona. The human smugglers had fled.
“I’d get angry when I’d see the condition these horses were in,” Mr. Cowan said. “The smugglers would buy them or steal them on the Mexican side and then work them almost to death. They have horrible sores that can take months to heal up.”
He recalled one horse he came across in Pima County, not far from the Mexican border, that had deep wounds in its hide, was clearly malnourished and was so weak that it was trying to sit back on its hind end to take the weight off its legs. Mr. Cowan and a co-worker had to carry the horse into a trailer.
Still, he said, horses are resilient. “They can come back from a lot,” he said.
Some of the abused horses end up back in the rugged border region where they were first found, Mr. Cowan said. Instead of smuggling, though, they are sometimes used by law enforcement agencies to pursue the traffickers who mistreated them.The New York Times
December 30, 2010
Abandoned Horses Are Latest Toll of Drug... more
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Missouri Tea Partiers Campaigning Against Proposition Mandating Humane Conditions At Puppy Mills
The main philosophical principle of the conservative-led tea party movement is an “aversion to big government,” with tea party organizers turning their ire on comprehensive health reform, clean energy legislation, and even mandatory trash collection.
Now, a group of Missouri tea partiers have found a new target: regulations that would mandate more humane conditions in the state’s puppy mills. This November, Missouri voters will go to the polls and decide the fate of Missouri’s Proposition B, which would place new regulations on puppy mills, including mandating that they provide “sufficient food and clean water, necessary veterinary care, sufficient housing, including protection from the elements, sufficient space to turn and stretch freely, lie down, and fully extend his or her limbs, regular exercise, and adequate rest between breeding cycles.”
As TPM Muckraker’s Jillian Rayfield reports, the Missouri Tea Party and the Tea Party Patriots have begun organizing meetings against the proposition. One tea party activist described the measure as being about the “government or the big company trying to tell people what to do“:
The Tea Party has also gotten on board the anti-Prop B bandwagon. A meeting called “Vote NO on Proposition B” on October 12 is advertised on websites for the Missouri Tea Party and the Tea Party Patriots. The event, held at Coach’s Pizza World, is being organized by the Mexico Tea Party, which activist Ron Beedle told TPM is a relatively new chapter of the Tea Party. This is their first meeting, he said, and Prop B is about the “government or the big company trying to tell people what to do.”
Also campaigning against the proposition is the local chapter of conservative Phyllis Schlafly’s Eagle Forum and Samuel Wurzelbacher (”Joe The Plumber“). Wurzelbacher has teamed up with the Alliance For Truth, an anti-Prop B organization strongly backed by the kennells and mills across the state, to blog against the measure. One blog post by him features an animal rescue officer kicking down the door of a home. Meanwhile, the Missouri Cattleman’s Association is warning that if the Humane Society — which is a big booster of the proposition — manages to pass the measure, they may be able to succeed in bettering conditions for farm animals as well.
It appears that for certain segments of the conservative movement, any regulation by the government is too much regulation by the government. Even when it comes to protecting the welfare of puppies.Missouri Tea Partiers Campaigning Against Proposition Mandating Humane Conditions At... more
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5/15/10 - KINSHIP CIRCLE UPDATES
WIN! No Horse Slaughter Plants In Missouri, For Now
Missouri Rep. Jim Viebrock wanted to kill horses. So he proposed House Bill
1747 to sidestep a federal ban on U.S. horse slaughter. Kinship Circle
issued a 3/21/10 letter campaign urging MO House Reps to reject legislation
to legalize horse processing plants in Missouri. From there, it got weird.
Some MO Reps harassed Kinship Circle to the extent a police report was
filed. And the House seemingly passed its bill as revenge against animal
advocates. Then, Rep Viebrock covertly attached horse slaughter provisions
to unrelated Senate Bill 795. He thought no one would notice?
But in the end YOUR VOICE -- along with support from rational Missouri
legislators -- proved stronger than the pro-slaughter extremists.
Against a backdrop of strong public protest from around the world, the
Missouri Congressional session closed yesterday with language to legalize
horse slaughter rejected. Thanks to all who wrote, faxed, emailed, called
and mailed on behalf of horses. Brenda Shoss, Kinship Circle
MISSOURIANS: Thank State Senators And Reps In Your District
http://www.senate.mo.gov/llookup/leg_lookup.aspx
* Express your gratitude that provisions to legalize horse slaughter in Missouri were rejected.
* Tell them that their stance on animal protection issues will effect your future voting decisions.
Weird Odyssey: How Missouri Tried & Failed to Revive U.S. Horse Slaughter
5/15/10 - MISSOURI SESSION ENDS WITH HORSE SLAUGHTER A DEAD ISSUE
2010 MO Legislature / PASSED - SB795 AGRICULTURE: Increases some regulations
relating to agriculture, including rules concerning large carnivores, but
does not create mechanism to allow horse slaughter plants in Missouri.
5/11/10 - S.B. 795 STUCK IN COMMITTEE
S.B. 795 is in conference committee because Missouri's Senate
cannot agree on the House Committee Substitute that passed the House with
amendments -- including: pro-horse slaughter provisions.
5/7/10 - HORSE SLAUGHTER PROVISIONS STILL HIDDEN IN S.B. 795
Original horse kill bill 1747 -- that was covertly attached to S.B. 795 (an
unrelated bill) -- is NOT REMOVED from S.B. 795, as formerly believed.
5/2/10 - SOME REPS RENEW HARASSMENT OF KINSHIP CIRCLE
MO House Reps debate the House Committee Substitute version of S.B. 795.
Animal Law Coalition and R.A.G.E. ask their members to send comments
opposing inclusion of horse slaughter language in S.B. 795. Although
Kinship Circle itself has issued no alert on horse slaughter since 3/21/10,
some Reps bounce hundreds of unread emails (from members of these other
groups) to Kinship Circle's computer -- from May 1 to the present!
4/30/10 - IT DOESN'T GET MUCH SLEAZIER THAN THIS
Chair of the Missouri Senate Agriculture, Food Production and Outdoor
Resources Committee, Sen. Dan Clemens, states "there will be no further
legislative progress on H.B. 1747." But Rep James Viebrock has already
attached provisions to legalize horse slaughter to an unrelated bill. S.B.
795, with horse slaughter attached, passes the House Agriculture Committee.
4/6/10: HARASSMENT OF KINSHIP CIRCLE MAKES FRONT-PAGE NEWS
St. Louis Post Dispatch runs a front page story about Missouri House
Representatives tampering with public information and harassing Kinship
Circle: State Legislators Target Activist. Post also runs an editorial
against killing horses and hounding activists, Squirrelly about animals in
the Frog Kingdom. An Associated Press version runs in Washington Post, Los
Angeles Times, CBS News, Yahoo News, and more papers nationwide.
In an attempt to silence our opposition to horse slaughter...
-- Some Reps forward 2,000+ unread emails to Kinship Circle's server.
-- Rep. Casey Guernsey, R-Bethany memorably tells our members: "It's so fun
to piss you wackos off. You're lucky I even acknowledge your existence. It's
so much fun to taunt people like you -- ha! Tell me, is it truly liberating
to be so incredibly clueless?"
-- In a call to Kinship Circle's line, from CALLER ID: Missouri State
573-522-0000, a male voice screams a tribal war chant...and hangs up.
-- In another call a man sings "A Horse Is A Horse," from the movie Mr. Ed.
-- In a 10:00pm call, a creepy male voice drones "Brenda, Brenda,
Brenda...neigh...Brenda...neigh..." in reference to Kinship Circle's Brenda
Shoss. This call leads her to file a police report.
-- Other calls from unidentified Reps begin with a menacing "Hey Brenda..."
In one call: "There aren't but three people here [the MO House] who care for
you or your organization... Your group has guaranteed passage of this
bill...[because of] frickin' emails from everyone in the world!"
CONTRIBUTING SOURCE FOR TIMELINE:
Animal Law Coalition, Laura Allen
http://www.animallawcoalition.com/horse-slaughter5/15/10 - KINSHIP CIRCLE UPDATES
WIN! No Horse Slaughter Plants In Missouri, For Now... more
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End horror of horses led to slaughter
By Jane Velez-Mitchell, HLN
April 30, 2010 9:07 p.m. EDT
Editor's note: Jane Velez-Mitchell hosts "Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell," a topical event-driven show with a wide range of viewpoints that airs every night at 7 p.m. ET on HLN.
New York (HLN) -- It's racing season in America! The Kentucky Derby is this weekend. Then it's the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes. Get out the fancy party hats and pop the champagne!
But it's not a cause for celebration for America's horses. These magnificent, yet voiceless, creatures cannot tell you about the exploitation underlying America's racing industry.
Where do thoroughbreds go after they lose one too many races, throw one too many riders or develop a limp? Many thousands of thoroughbreds end up being slaughtered for horse meat. The unpleasant truth is horse meat is eaten in Europe and Asia.
Despite the myth that they end up knee-deep in grass on some idyllic farm, the reality is that horses are very expensive to keep. When they outlive their usefulness, they often are sent on a hellish journey that ends in a slaughterhouse. Toward the end of the line, these horses are sold priced per pound.
I know. I've bought perfectly healthy horses for a couple of hundred dollars just as they were about to be loaded on a slaughterhouse-bound truck.
The fortunate few end up at a sanctuary. The others are bought at auction, end up in overloaded trailers and travel thousands of miles without food or water to the slaughter plant. Some are dead on arrival.
According to the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), tens of thousands of live horses are transported every year across the border to slaughterhouses in Mexico and Canada.
Part of the problem is that the horse racing industry breeds for perfection. For every stallion or mare that looks like a winner, an untold number of foals get left in the dust. As the saying goes, they can't all be winners ... and they can't all be riding or school horses either.
There is a severe horse overpopulation crisis caused by overbreeding in the racing industry. It's time for that industry to accept responsibility for its castoffs and take dramatic action to protect a species that has so loyally served humankind.
They've got the money to create enough retirement homes to accommodate all the horses that pass through their gates.
Horse lovers won a huge victory when America's foreign-owned horse slaughterhouses were shut down several years ago. Before that, the HSUS estimates 100,000 horses were being slaughtered every year in America. Ever since, horse slaughter proponents have aggressively campaigned to reopen such plants, despite public revulsion.
For too long, Congress has been mulling over a Horse Slaughter Prohibition bill (H.R. 503) that would "prohibit the 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." This bill passed in the House of Representatives in 2006, but languished in the Senate.
It's time for compassionate Americans to send a wake-up call to their members of Congress and demand passage of legislation to end the wholesale slaughter of America's horses once and for all.
Then, the racing industry will be forced to do something about its addiction to breeding. The time to be oh-so-polite about the industry's dirty little secret is over. This secret is out of the gate. Now, the race to end the cruelty must begin in earnest.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Jane Velez-Mitchell.End horror of horses led to slaughter
By Jane Velez-Mitchell, HLN
April 30, 2010... more
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The Calico Hills wild horse roundup has been characterized by the Bureau of Land Management as a "huge success". But, wild horse advocates say it was a disaster, and one that grows worse every day.
The roundup ended months ago, but the horses are still paying the price -- many with their lives.
The case for the Calico wild horse roundup continues to deteriorate months after the government spent nearly $2 million to capture every mustang it could find in the rugged and remote terrain adjacent to Nevada's Black Rock Desert.
From the beginning, the BLM claimed the gather was for the good of the horses and the good of the range, but it doesn't appear either of those justifications were on the up and up.
First, there weren't nearly as many mustangs on the range as BLM predicted. The roundup of about 1,900 mustangs fell short of the target by about 700. Second, the vast majority of the horses gathered were in good shape -- not starving or emaciated.
BLM manager Gene Seidlitz said his agency was trying to avert a disaster down the road when food might be more scarce. As it turned out, the roundup itself was a disaster for the herds.
Horse advocates tried to stop the operation by arguing in court that chasing horses across miles of rocky terrain in the dead of winter was dangerous. BLM replied that it was safer than normal since snow on the rocks would cushion the damage to hoofs.
As of April 15, 2010, a total of 79 of the horses captured from Calico have died -- some as a result of injuries suffered during the capture, such as a foal which literally ran its hoofs off. The rest because they could not adjust to eating the rich hay fed to them at a new holding facility in Fallon. In addition, at least 40 mares suffered miscarriages during or after the roundup.
The total number of horses that have died is more than four times what BLM projected, ranking as one of the deadliest operations in the history of the program.
"That's unfortunate, but the percentage that died due to the gather itself is still a low percentage," said Seidlitz.
Wild horse advocates don't see it that way. They are outraged over the deaths, even more so now that an outbreak of a disease known as pigeon fever has been noticed among the horses penned up in Fallon.
Another recent development puts the Calico roundup in a different light. Horse advocates were suspicious of the reasons for the roundup, as if 2,000 horses could not live on half a million acres. The suspicions were heightened when BLM memos showed the horses were not having a major impact on the range just a year before the gather was approved, which is when BLM quadrupled the amount of cattle grazing allowed on the same range.
A massive pipeline project, the Ruby Pipeline slated for the same range, was suspected as a possible reason for the roundup. On its website, BLM states categorically that the pipeline has nothing to do with the horses. Now horse advocates have obtained documents from February 2009 which show pipeline backers intended to work with BLM to "minimize wild horses and burros along the pipeline right of way," adding that BLM horse experts were consulted about this plan.
Two weeks ago, a Washington D.C. law firm filed a suit in federal court on behalf of the group In Defense of Animal, asking that the remaining 1,800 horses being held in Fallon be returned to the open range on the grounds that warehousing the mustangs for the rest of their lives is not only costly, but illegal. We will keep you updated as that suit works its way through the courts.
VIDEO: http://www.8newsnow.com/global/story.asp?s=12326485#The Calico Hills wild horse roundup has been characterized by the Bureau of Land... more
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Wild horses are a legendary symbol of the American West. They mostly roam on vast areas of public land overseen by the U.S. government. To prevent overpopulation, the government periodically removes some of them. But critics say the practice is inhumane and could lead to the extinction of wild horses.
Wild horses, in the thousands, run free in 10 states in the American West. They are protected by law and live in remote areas where people don't normally see them.
VIDEO: Suzanne Roy is with the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign.
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/usa/Critics-Protest-Capture-of-Wild-Horses-90775569.htmlWild horses are a legendary symbol of the American West. They mostly roam on vast... more
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Missouri, the "Show Me State," is already the nation's puppy mill capital.
Now the enterprising state aims to reinstate horse slaughter.
Rep. Jim Viebrock, R-Republic, has introduced H.B. 1747 to sidestep federal regulations that bar horse slaughter for human consumption. According to Viebrock, his bill would jump-start the "ailing equine industry." US Horse Slaughter Statistics
WHEREVER YOU LIVE: THIS BILL AFFECTS YOU. The last three U.S. kill plants closed in 2007. Don't let Missouri revive a vile industry.
PHOTOS: Production-line death: A pony that almost certainly belonged to a child meets fate at Potter's abattoir. Animal Aid
Loose, or "way up" horses, sold for slaughter in Canada, wait to be ushered into the auction ring.
Associated PressMissouri, the "Show Me State," is already the nation's puppy mill... more
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Change for balance productions is creating a documentary to stop horse slaughter. for more information please visit
www.changeforbalance.comChange for balance productions is creating a documentary to stop horse slaughter. for... more
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A documentary exposing the mounting issues facing Americas Horses.
www.equinedestiny.comA documentary exposing the mounting issues facing Americas Horses.... more
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https://secure2.convio.net/ida/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1379
Please Send An E-mail To Help Wild Horses
Public Comment Ends Friday Feb. 12
Our voices are making a difference for America's wild horses, but now is the time to keep up the pressure. In the last two months, after receiving well over ten thousand public comments in opposition, the BLM has postponed two scheduled wild horse roundups in Utah's Confusion Mountains Complex and eastern Nevada's Eagle Herd Management Area.
The agency even admitted that the tremendous public opposition to the roundups influenced its decisions. Read article here.
As a result of your emails, 700 free-living mustangs have gotten a reprieve from the BLM's brutal roundups, like the helicopter stampede in the Calico Mountains Complex that has cost 39 horses their lives so far and another 20-30 pregnant mares to spontaneously abort.
Now we need you to act again to oppose the massive removal of 1,506 wild horse in the Antelope Complex located in northeastern Nevada.
This proposed removal of approximately 75 percent of the horses would leave behind only 471 horses in the vast 1.3 million acre public lands complex! It's hard to believe, but the BLM is actually claiming that the 1.3 MILLION acres, consisting of four herd management areas (HMAs), can only support 471 to 788 horses.
This Antelope Complex roundup is currently scheduled to take place this summer or fall. The BLM's Elko and Ely District Offices are seeking public input for the preparation of a preliminary environmental assessment (EA). This is our chance to oppose and highlight that the BLM's determination of the "appropriate management level" (AML) for wild horses is flawed and must be revised before proceeding with yet another ill-conceived roundup and removal of wild horses.
In Defense of Animals has secured an extension for public comment until Feb 12. So please take minute to fill out the form below and customize the email. In addition, please send this alert to at least three friends and family ... you never know who may want to help stop and reform this unnecessary and wasteful government program which destroys the lives of so many wild horses.
Links to BLM press release and letter of notice:
http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/elko_field_office/blm_information/newsroom/2010/january/blm_seeks_public_comment.html
http://budget.state.nv.us/clearinghouse/Notice/2010/E2010-117.pdf
http://www.mnn.com/sites/default/files/main_horses_0209.jpg
https://secure2.convio.net/ida/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1379 - Link for email letterhttps://secure2.convio.net/ida/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=137... more
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See Also - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NApdeIsKbBY&feature=player_embedded# SAVING AMERICAS HORSES A NATION BETRAYED depicts a country divided and inspires great hope for the protection of all horses. This film follows the lives of majestic American horses across dramatic backdrops of Americas beautiful countryside and with vivid expert testimony it explores the secret world of bidding circles and reveals the surprising hidden forces that drive an unspeakable industry. Its a tender yet honest look at the reality that our American horses are born into, the love, joy and respect they give us and the disposable mindset of those who profit from the sordid practice of horse slaughter.
The mission of this film is protection for all equines from slaughter and the objective is to raise enough public outcry to to end this brutal and inhumane practice.
http://www.savingamericashorses.org/
Please spread the word about SAVING AMERICA'S HORSES, A NATION BETRAYED.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3A3rkK4MbgSee Also - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NApdeIsKbBY&feature=player_embedded#... more
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The Eagle Hill Management Area located in eastern Nevada and consisting of 670,000 acres of public land just isn't big enough for 595 wild horses and burros according to the latest proposal presented by the Bureau of Land Management in their preliminary environmental assessment. (EA) The intent of the BLM is to reduce the size of the wild horse herd down to 100 horses and burros which wild horse advocates argue are a dangerously low level to assure genetic viability for the future of the herd.
In addition another 50 horses will be gathered outside of the Herd Management Area.
The BLM claims "deterioration of the range," however the cattle and other livestock population will remain the same.According to the EA, no cattle or sheep would be removed. Statistically cattle population outnumber horse population on public land 200 to 1.
"Removal of wild horses would result in an increase in forage availability and quality, reducing competition between livestock and wild horses for available forage and water resources." ( BLM EA)
Wild horse adovcates claim the BLM is systematically reducing wild horse populations with the ultimate plan to completely eradicate all of the American legends of the growing West. There are currently 35,000 wild horses being held in captivity and being managed by the BLM using taxpayer dollars, yet the BLM are planning to remove another 12,000 wild horses from their natural habitats again this year.
The Calico roundup has been proceeding and the BLM plans to remove 2500 horses from northwest Nevada, Calico Complex. According to In Defense of Animals, 547 horses have been rounded up, 518 wild horses have been shipped to Fallon, 24 horses are at the gather corrals, 4 horse deaths and 1 escaped wild horse named Freedom. At the writing of this article, Freedom has been reported to have been recaptured by the BLM although no official word has yet to be announced.
"Demonstrations and rallies to stop the helicopter roundups have been prevalent from coast to coast, yet the Obama Administration has ignored the public outcry to preserve the symbols of the past. It's just deja-vu of the Bush Administration; everything Obama said we were done with," stated Margaret Ruiz-Cooper, Palm City wild horse advocate. " Talk about agendas with cattle, sheep, pipelines, minerals; the wild horses don't have a chance," Ruiz-Cooper continued. " I promise I will keep at it until someone frees these horses."
For additional information and how you can help to save the wild horses click here:
In Defense of Animals https://secure2.convio.net/ida/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1367
http://image3.examiner.com/images/blog/EXID25445/images/helicopter_round_up.pngThe Eagle Hill Management Area located in eastern Nevada and consisting of 670,000... more
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Wild horse campaigner Madeleine Pickens has described her tour of the Calico muster in northern Nevada, describing as gut-wrenching the sight of horses leaving the home they had known all their lives.
The Bureau of Land Management is undertaking an eight-week operation to remove up to 2700 horses from five herd management areas - some 80% of the horses known to inhabit the area.
The muster has sparked anger among horse advocates, who have labelled it unnecessary and cruel. The BLM says the muster is "necessary to maintain the health of the delicate rangeland.
Pickens, who has been promoting her own plan to manage the estimated 27,000 mustangs remaining in the wild, joined the crew of ABC's Good Morning America for a tour of the Calico Complex on January 14.
She said she observed her first wild horse roundup.
"On a spectacular day in an area so picturesque it took our breath away, I watched as 51 wild horses were herded by helicopter into corrals and loaded on trucks, taken away from the only life and land they have ever known.
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"The previous day I had a guided tour of the newly constructed wild horse holding facility in Fallon, Nevada.
"This is where all the wild horses being gathered in the Calico Complex will be held for an undetermined number of months or years.
"This facility stands by itself on the outskirts of Fallon with no windbreaks, overhead protection or other means for the wild horses to avoid the harshness of the winter months or the brutal heat of summer, and many of them will certainly be there during both the winter and summer.
"While traveling out to the gather, we observed two trucks that passed us on the rough access road and witnessed one horse in the trailer down on its side. When we advised the bureau that we were pretty certain that a horse had fallen and could potentially be trampled, the response was, yes, it happens once in awhile.
"Perhaps by not loading the trucks with so many horses such incidents could be avoided. But, of course, these gathers are all about expediency."
HELP END AMERICA'S HORSES FROM BEING AUCTIONED OFF FOR SLAUGHTER!
More info and how you can help:
http://www.saveourwildhorses.org/
http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/
BLM HORSE ROUND-UP CONTINUES AMID FIERCE OPPOSITION -
http://www.ktnv.com/Global/story.asp?S=11735639
http://www.horsetalk.co.nz/news/2010/01/100.shtmlWild horse campaigner Madeleine Pickens has described her tour of the Calico muster in... more
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Latest News on Horse Slaughter: 'No Country for Horses'
With slaughterhouses closed in the U.S., Canada is now home to a growing horse slaughter industry. Undercover video exposes some disturbing methods.
WARNING: While the producers have tried to be sensitive about the footage used in this feature, please be advised that some people may find some of these images disturbing.
PLEASE NOTE: THERE ARE 6 DIFFERENT VIDEOS ON THIS WEBPAGE:
http://www.cbc.ca/national/blog/special_feature/no_country_for_horses/no_country_for_horses.html
PLEASE SEE WHAT IS HAPPENING TO AMERICAS HORSES!
Latest News on Horse Slaughter: 'No Country for Horses'
With... more
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NewsOk! Report(Video): http://www.newsok.tv/?titleID=1676369247
Tricky Jazz was a big beauty of a thoroughbred, Patti Deiter said. "His main problem — he was slow.”
So the Tuttle horse breeder and racing enthusiast found another home for the 3-year-old, the same place where several months earlier she had donated another horse — Boys Ranch Town, an Edmond residential boys home associated with Oklahoma Baptist Homes for Children. On June 20, Deiter's ranch hand dropped off Tricky at the boys home.
It was a move that would set Deiter on a desperate search to save the horse from what Robin Brookins calls the "slaughter pipeline abyss.”
Five days after delivering Tricky to the boys ranch, Deiter mentioned her donation to Brookins, vice president of the newly formed Oklahoma Thoroughbred Retirement Program. Brookins told Deiter that often organizations like the boys ranch sell donated horses, and the final stop for many turns out to be a slaughterhouse.
"You better check on him,” Brookins told her.
On June 30, Deiter had her ranch manager, Mike Graham, call the boys ranch to say Deiter had changed her mind, that she wanted the horse back.
Graham was told it was too late, Deiter said. The horse had been sold at an auction in Bristow three days after being left at the boys ranch.
"I was really upset,” Deiter said. "I said, ‘We have to find him.'”
Graham traced the horse to someone that Deiter said was a slaughter buyer located at a sale. The man agreed to sell Tricky to Graham for $500. Deiter paid a ranch hand $300 to pick up the horse, and the two met at a truck stop, where the slaughter buyer turned Tricky over. Deiter gave Tricky to a woman who has a 3,000-acre ranch in Barnsdall.
The incident made Deiter wonder about Rowdy Emblem, a 4-year-old thoroughbred that was the half-brother of Kentucky Derby winner War Emblem. In September, Deiter donated Rowdy, who had been injured during training, to the boys home. In June, Deiter said,
Graham called the boys ranch to check on Rowdy and was told "he went to a new home where they could handle him better.”
‘We were deceived'
After the experience with Tricky, Deiter called Tony Kennedy, president of the Oklahoma Baptist Homes for Children, to ask about Rowdy. Kennedy told her Rowdy had been sold one month after being donated.
"I feel like we were deceived and lied to,” Deiter said.
In an interview, Kennedy said he was "very, very sorry for the misunderstanding” and apologized for any inaccurate information that might have been provided about Rowdy's disposition.
He said the ranch has a form that clearly states that "when they give the horse, it no longer belongs to them.” The ranch can decide how to use the horses to benefit the ranch.
If a donated horse is better than one of the 12 to 15 horses the ranch has, it might be kept, he said. If it is dangerous around children or has other problems, it is sold.
"If it doesn't work out then we market that horse and the money we receive from the sale of the horse is used to support the horse program,” Kennedy said. Horse sales raise $20,000 to $40,000 a year to pay for feed, tack and other expenses at the ranch, he said.
"We do not sell to slaughter houses,” he said. "We sell to individuals, and we sell at public auctions.”...NewsOk! Report(Video): http://www.newsok.tv/?titleID=1676369247
Tricky Jazz was a... more
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Just after 2a.m. a semi-tractor trailer hauling horse meat hit the railing and flipped on it's side.
From 2.a.m. to noon, all westbound traffic just before Palisade was diverted to Highway 6 through town and then back up North to the Palisade I-70 access.
Throughout the day crews sent hours power washing the highway trying to get the meat and grease off the roadway. Crews were worried the grease would lead to more accidents if not properly cleaned.
The horse meat was on it's way to California to be processed into dog food. Rescue crews believe the driver fell asleep just seconds before hitting the guardrail. The driver walked away from the accident with minor injuries.
Just after 2a.m. a semi-tractor trailer hauling horse meat hit the railing and flipped... more
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