tagged w/ Slaughter of American Horses
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SELLING OUT TO SLAUGHTER - AMERICA'S WILDLIFE HERITAGE
A major roundup of an estimated 2,500 wild mustangs in Northern Nevada set for Monday has protesters calling for Congress to step in.
Monday's planned roundup is part of an overall strategy to remove as many as 25,000 mustangs from PUBLIC lands across the West.
Wild horse advocates gathered outside the entrance of Red Rock Canyon, managed by Bureau of Land Management, on the eve of the roundup to make their voices heard.
Their efforts follow a plea from singer Sheryl Crow, who has reached out to President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Crow is among many horse defenders trying to block Monday's roundup.
Opponents argue that many of the horses could be injured or even die during the commute by helicopter during icy winter conditions.
"They're going to hurt and kill the horses, and then pen them up for no good reason," said Arlene Gawne, who helped organized Sunday's protest.
Gawne says the roundup process is NOT ONLY INHUMANE but is costing the taxpayers of Nevada MILLIONS of dollars.
She believes our state could profit by what many see as an icon of the wild west.
"Why isn't Obama having the BLM see what they can do to create jobs and have wild horse sanctuaries and build a wild horse safari industry," added Gawne.
The estimated 2,500 horses expected to be rounded up from the Calico Mountains Complex in Northern Nevada will be headed to 'long-term holding facilities' in the Midwest. (NOTE: "long term holding facilities" - where they are cruelly imprisoned until AUCTION DAY. Sold to the highest bidder, then shipped to Mexico, Canada... to a slaughterhouse for human consumption.)
Nevada's wildlife agency stands behind their roundup, also saying that much of the horses' food supply is running out and affecting AFFECTING surrounding wildlife.
http://www.ktnv.com/global/story.asp?s=11735639#SELLING OUT TO SLAUGHTER - AMERICA'S WILDLIFE HERITAGE
A major roundup of an... more
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FACT: EVERY 5 MINUTES, An American horse is slaughtered for human consumption.
* The Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act (H.R. 503) will end the slaughter of horses for human consumption and the domestic and international transport of live horses or horseflesh for human consumption.
* The Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act (H.R. 503) was introduced in the U.S. House on January 14, 2009 by Congressman John Conyers (D-MI) and Congressman Dan Burton (R-IN).
Despite the fact that the US plants are no longer in operation, killer buyers continue to purchase and haul as many horses as possible from livestock auctions around the country to the slaughterhouses that have now relocated to Mexico and Canada.
Wild horses are also slaughtered, since a 2004 backdoor Congressional rider engineered by then-Senator Conrad Burns (R–MT) gutted the protections afforded by the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971. Now, the Bureau of Land Management, the agency responsible for protecting wild horses, must sell “excess” horses (those 10 years of age or older, or not adopted after three tries) at auction. As a result, wild horses are being removed from their range at an alarming rate and sold for slaughter. Sadly, the American Quarter Horse Association has hired former Senator Conrad Burns to lobby against legislation banning horse slaughter and other equine welfare measures.
Although awareness has grown exponentially in recent years, the horse meat trade is still relatively hidden from most Americans, and the industry wants to keep it that way. Warren Smith, operations manager of a Canadian horse slaughterhouse, was quoted as saying to the Edmonton Journal, “Talking about horses is kind of a scary thing, especially in the West, where people think it’s more of a pet than protein. When anybody starts writing about horses, everybody gets up in arms. Every time we say anything about horse in the paper, there’s always an uproar, so I don’t want to talk about it.”
Until the US Congress passes legislation banning horse slaughter into law, show horses, racehorses, foals born as “byproducts” of the Premarin© (a female hormone replacement drug) industry, wild horses, burros and family horses will all continue to fall prey to this detestable foreign-driven industry.
For more information, please visit: http://www.everyfiveminutes.org/FACT: EVERY 5 MINUTES, An American horse is slaughtered for human consumption.
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On Wednesday , Sept. 10, the Congressional House Judiciary Committee will vote on H.R. 6598, the Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act. This federal bill will stop the slaughter of American horses, a cruel practice that continues in Mexico and Canada. Wednesday’s vote on H.R. 6598 is crucial and means the difference between life and a brutal death for countless horses. The committee desperately needs to hear from you, as many of its members are on the fence and have never considered this issue before. Your comments are critical.
Background:
Although last year saw the closure of the final horse slaughterhouses in the U.S., more American horses than ever are being slaughtered for human consumption. Hauled over the border to Mexico and Canada, these horses, most of them once cherished, gentle family companions, are brutally killed by the cruelest of methods.
As numerous undercover investigations have shown, because horses are more high-strung than other livestock their slaughter can be particularly horrifying. The captive bolt pistols, meant to stun the animals before their throats are cut, frequently miss the mark, leaving the horses maimed and writhing in agony as the slaughterhouse workers deliver second blows.
Although proponents of the horse slaughter industry like to blame the closure of U.S. horse slaughter plants for an anecdotal increase in the number of reported horse neglect and starvation cases across the country, this claim is hollow. The number of American horses slaughtered annually has actually increased, as killer-buyers haul their loads of doomed ponies and horses over the border to be killed for consumption in high-priced eateries in Europe and China.
For More Information on how you can help, please visit:
http://www.farmsanctuary.org/get_involved/alert_horse_slaughter_08.htmlOn Wednesday , Sept. 10, the Congressional House Judiciary Committee will vote on H.R.... 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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The traders at Dallas County's half-filled horse auction knew the fate of their scrawny thoroughbreds even before they herded them into the ring. At least half of the horses for auction at the Dallas County Horse Sales last month were likely to end up in Mexico, where money can still be made off horse slaughter. About 25,000 horses have been shipped to Mexico for slaughter this year. And it wasn't to go back to the ranch.
The ones with visible backbones and skin stretched over their ribs – at least half of the 36 horses for sale – would probably end up in Mexico, where money can still be made off horse slaughter.
Horse owners say they're left with little option but to sell their horses to a "KILLER BUYER," or trader who buys the horses at a reduced price and takes them to Mexico for slaughter. "It's a CREED among Texan traders: We know we HAVE to do it; we just don't say," Mr. Oden said.
About 25,000 horses have been shipped to Mexico for slaughter this year, 10,000 more than this time last year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The number of horses sent from Texas has doubled during the same period and makes up the majority of the shipments.
"KILLER BUYERS" purchase weak horses cheaply and transport them across the border, a process that has become more clandestine but also more popular since Congress banned the slaughter of horses for human consumption in 2007. --- The number of horses crossing the border has grown SIX times since then.. in Texas, shipments to Mexico are EASY..
Before the ban, up to 100,000 horses were slaughtered annually. Much of the meat went overseas to countries like FRANCE and JAPAN where horse appears on menus as a delicacy.
Still, advocates haven't stopped their fight to extend the ban. That includes Texas oilman and rancher T. Boone Pickens and his wife, Madeleine, who lassoed enough support to propel the first ban on slaughtering horses for human consumption. "We'll try to figure out how to get this stopped," the Dallas billionaire said about the shipments to Mexico. Economic difficulties are no excuse, he said.
"It's a killing job, and that's not much of a deal as far as I'm concerned."
Barbara Linke of the American Quarter Horse Association, which advocates humane slaughter over starvation, said she fears an extended ban could bring about more neglect.
"I think we are going to see a lot more cases of animal cruelty and a lot more horses abandoned if the bill passes," Ms. Linke said.
'Nothing will change' says Tom Lenz, a veterinarian and chairman of the Unwanted Horse Coalition, said buyers will find a way to get horses across the border even with tougher laws.
"KILLER BUYERS will simply ship them as riding horses and then resell them for slaughter across the border," he said. "Nothing will change."
Instead, the horse industry should avoid an overabundance by learning to breed more selectively, he said. Last year, the Unwanted Horse Coalition reported 170,000 abandoned horses throughout the country.
"We need to deal more with the front end, decreasing horse production," Dr. Lenz said. Few horse owners choose euthanasia because of the expense, he said. It can cost at least $100 for a shot, and that doesn't include disposal fees. ---Mr. Finch said putting horses to sleep is still more humane than slaughter, an argument shared by many animal rights activists.
"We don't slaughter and eat our dogs," he said. "A lot of people think horses are just livestock. They aren't."
The traders at Dallas County's half-filled horse auction knew the fate of their... 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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