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shadeaux63
Keeper of dreams
Posts: 1020
(12/11/04 10:11 pm)
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Wild horses are going to be slaughtered
I normally would have put this in "This Just IN", but felt it really had more of a place here.
Sale of Wild Horses to Slaughter Legalized
Thu Dec 9,12:01 AM ET
White House - AP Cabinet & State
By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Wild horses and burros could be bought or sold for slaughter under a provision in the $388 billion spending bill that President Bush (news - web sites) signed into law on Wednesday.
The new law lets the animals be sold, potentially for use as meat in foreign markets, if they are more than 10 years old or, if younger, after they have been offered unsuccessfully for adoption three times. It also requires any money from sales to go to the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management (news - web sites) adoption program for wild horses and burros.
Sen. Conrad Burns (news, bio, voting record), R-Mont., who sponsored the amendment to the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, said he believed most horses would wind up being adopted, not slaughtered, but his intent was to spur the BLM to get serious about its adoption program.
"These animals live in poor conditions that often lead to their deaths, and without proper management this will continue to happen," Burns said Wednesday.
"And while their sale is a last resort, it is our hope that bringing this problem to light will motivate the federal agencies and horse advocates alike, and offer new opportunities to find these animals proper, caring homes," he said.
BLM spokeswoman Celia Boddington said the new law had not yet been analyzed by officials there to see how they will comply with it. "Since 1973, we have placed 203,000 animals in good homes, and we're looking forward to continuing our adoptions with the public," she said.
Advocates of wild horses described Burns' provision as inhumane, misguided and likely to reduce the genetic pool.
"There's going to be less individuals and more chances of inbreeding," said Karen A. Sussman, president of the International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros in Lantry, S.D. "Right now there really is little to no inbreeding in herds."
Sussman, who manages three wild horse herds, said cattle, not wild horses, are the main culprit in overgrazing of public lands. She called the 10-year-old cutoff for adoptions arbitrary and unnecessary.
Thousands of the wild animals, mostly horses, have been sent to slaughterhouses, sold for a profit and processed as meat mainly for Europeans. But since 1997, that illegal trade has been reduced by making adopters sign an affidavit they don't plan to sell an adopted animal for slaughter.
Government corrals and sanctuaries around the country hold more than 20,000 wild horses and burros. Another 32,290 wild horses and 4,845 wild burros roam among herd management areas on public lands in 10 Western states: Nevada, Wyoming, California, Oregon, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana and New Mexico.
To save money, the BLM hopes to trim the animals in management areas to 26,000 by 2006.
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Astara1 
Moderator
Posts: 540
(12/19/04 8:11 am)
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Re: Wild horses are going to be slaughtered
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narshaadha
Moderator
Posts: 510
(2/17/05 1:51 pm)
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Re: Wild horses are going to be slaughtered
A SIGN OF HOPE FOR WILD HORSES - CONGRESS RESPONDS:
This week, Congressmen Nick Rahall (D-WV) and Ed Whitfield
(R-KY) introduced H.R. 297 in response to a last minute amendment by Senator Conrad Burns (R-MT) to the omnibus appropriations bill passed late last year that weakens the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act by allowing wild horses to be sold for slaughter. The Rahall-Whitfield legislation would restore a federal prohibition on the commercial sale and slaughter of wild free-roaming horses and burros. “A public outcry has again begun across the United States over the change in law that now allows the commercial sale and slaughter of these animals,” said Congressman Rahall. “We need to act before it is too late for thousands of these animals.”
The Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act passed in 1971 as a result of the enormous public outcry against wanton killing of wild horses. Before this bill was enacted, wild horses and burros were shot and slaughtered by the hundreds of thousands for use as pet food or for human consumption overseas. The recent Burns amendment has turned the clock back and set the stage for mass slaughter once again.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
It is critical that your federal Representative hear from you today. Please ask him/her to cosponsor H.R. 297 and to do all they can to ensure the enactment of this legislation. Please let your Senators know that you hope they will support similar legislation in the Senate, as well.
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Akuma Kijin
Defender Beast and Fowl
Posts: 167
(2/20/05 11:19 pm)
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Re: Wild horses are going to be slaughtered
Butchering wild animals like that for profit is disgusting. I don't know how some people can treat the beautiful creatures of our world like that.
~Sam
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lauriex
The gentle hearted
Posts: 217
(2/20/05 11:43 pm)
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Re: Wild horses are going to be slaughtered
l dont get it...
l know sam already said pretty much the same thing, but we've already lost so many amazing creatures, mostly due to our own carelessness. how can anyone not realize that the beauty they add to the world - and every other creature, besides, - is irreplaceable? *shrugs* sometimes l hate people... lol, l know l'm a people, but... sometimes the human race is so stupid!!!!!!!
laurie.
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shadeaux63
Keeper of dreams
Posts: 1124
(2/21/05 7:12 pm)
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Re: Wild horses are going to be slaughtered
When we lived in New Mexico, the native wild horses there seemed to be dying off from a disease similar to mad cow(BSE).Most people had the attitude of" They're just damn horses,like there aint enough horses in the world.Who cares?"
They're seen as pests by ranchers,a threat to "MY elk" by hunters(who also detest prairie dogs,coyotes,mountain lions,and wolves-and wish they would ALL die off),and a general nuisance by those who would develop the land they live on.Most people don't even think about them,unless they live near them,and see them all the time.Many Americans have no idea that wild horses still roam,and almost as many don't care.Education is truly the key.If you have children, teach them about the natural wonders that are out there,and that they belong.Send congress your opinions,after all, even though it may not seem like it, they DO work FOR YOU,and are supposed to represent YOU.And,they're the only ones who can put a stop to this kind of thing.
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lauriex
The gentle hearted
Posts: 220
(2/24/05 11:59 am)
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Re: Wild horses are going to be slaughtered
heh...
only wish l lived in the us, cus l would send an email. this is something l feel strongly about, and the sucky thing is, as a canadian l don't have anysay in us politics, even if it is something that really does affect us all. *sighs*
laurie...
ps, maybe a pettition... though againa, being a canadian, l'm not sure that'd do any good... lol.
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narshaadha
Moderator
Posts: 511
(2/24/05 8:23 pm)
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Re: Wild horses are going to be slaughtered
Well. I sent a letter to the Canadian government yesterday asking them to stop the baby Harp Seal slaughter. So I wouldn't let your citizenship stop you from trying, lauriex.
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lauriex
The gentle hearted
Posts: 221
(2/24/05 9:05 pm)
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Re: Wild horses are going to be slaughtered
yeah... that's something l'm entirely against too, lol... that and bull fighting (the kind that takes place in Spain) where the bull gets speared till it dies.... you know what l mean. l've seen that on tv, and it... just makes me sick, ya know? l wonder if there's a sight for things like this... maybe something like human society, or something. or that one that's always advertising about the animal rights.. w/ the pandas. lol. aren't l informative?
laurie.
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narshaadha
Moderator
Posts: 512
(2/25/05 7:51 pm)
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Re: Wild horses are going to be slaughtered
Yes, actually there are quite a few sites you can visit. I will collect the addresses of some that I visit and post them on a new thread for everyone.
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shadeaux63
Keeper of dreams
Posts: 1131
(2/27/05 10:10 am)
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Re: Wild horses are going to be slaughtered
This was in the February 26th edition of the Boston Globe.
Lifting of ban on mustang slaughter brings backlash from conservationists
By Scott Sonner, Associated Press | February 26, 2005
RENO -- For the first time in more than a generation, the mustang -- a symbol of the American West -- can be slaughtered for horsemeat.
In December, Congress repealed the 34-year ban on the slaughter of the wild horses that run free across the West. The move has brought a powerful backlash from activists, who want to reinstate full protection for the mustangs.
''It is really a slap in the face to the American people," said Betty Kelly, cofounder of the horse protection group Wild Horse Spirit in Virginia City, Nev.
Acting on behalf of ranchers who say the horses eat forage needed by cattle, Senator Conrad Burns, Republican of Montana, attached the amendment in December to a spending bill that President Bush signed into law.
It allows for the sale for slaughter of some older and unwanted horses captured during periodic government roundups that are aimed at reducing the wild population, estimated at 33,000 across 10 Western states. About 19,000 of the horses are in Nevada.
A bill to reinstate the slaughter ban was introduced in Congress last month.
Responsibility for rounding up horses on federal land and selling them rests with the US Bureau of Land Management, which has yet to send any of the animals to slaughter. Bureau officials said the agency is reaching out to animal protection groups and is optimistic that before the summer, it will find new homes for the 8,900 horses and burros that could be subject to slaughter.
''We realize it is a challenge, but we think there are owners out there that would provide the kind of care we are looking for," bureau spokesman Tom Gorey said from Washington, D.C.
The issue has dogged the Interior Department and Congress since Nevada's Velma Johnson, also known as Wild Horse Annie, and a legion of schoolchildren persuaded Congress to outlaw the use of motor vehicles to hunt the mustangs in 1959. That was followed by the Wild Horse and Burro Protection Act of 1971.
Sylvia Fascio, a fifth-generation Nevada horse breeder, said there are too many wild horses roaming the bureau-owned land next to her ranch, and some should be sold for slaughter.
''I enjoy the wild horses. I'm blessed to live out here among them and it's a very romantic thought. But there is such a thing as reality," Fascio said. ''Since they can't seem to find homes for all of these horses all of the time, there is only one thing left. There are foreign countries that eat horsemeat. We don't now, but we did during World War II. I see nothing wrong with that."
The fate of the horses is also a question of cultural values, according to Mike Schroeder, a Washington state wildlife biologist. ''I think of them more as livestock. But a lot of tribes I work with think of them as wildlife that should not be touched," he said in a speech at a Western Governors Association conference earlier this month.
It is a volatile issue. Scott Freeman, a defense attorney in Reno, defended one of three young men who were accused -- and eventually acquitted of most charges -- in the 1998 shooting deaths of 33 horses on the edge of Reno. The shootings outraged animal protection groups around the world and led to death threats against Freeman.
''I have lots of experience doing homicide cases, but I have never experienced the emotional outburst I did with the horse case," he said. ''The rallying cry was for the defenseless animals and that the individuals -- who in my case turned out to be innocent -- should basically be strung up."
Burns said the repeal of the slaughter ban is necessary to manage the herds and protect the range. The measure allows the sale of horses more than 10 years old, as well as any that are not adopted three offerings in a row.
The Bureau of Land Management said it believes that the 37,000 free-roaming wild horses and burros on the range are about 9,000 more than natural food supplies can sustain. Its aim is to bring the population down to about 28,000.
Bureau director Kathleen Clarke said the agency is already getting some responses in its effort to find homes for the animals and hopes to find a solution ''in a way we feel good about."
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lauriex
The gentle hearted
Posts: 222
(2/27/05 9:18 pm)
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Re: Wild horses are going to be slaughtered
well, l can understand needing to control the population - if there are too many, they'll die of starvation/disease and so on, right? - but... this seems like the wrong way to go about it, honestly. l mean... l dunno. this is a hard issue... *sighs* isn't there another way of doing this? controlling the population by birth or something?
laurie. *shrugs* l know that's a kinda crappy solution, but this seems so.. heartless.
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narshaadha
Moderator
Posts: 512
(3/20/05 3:19 pm)
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Re: Wild horses are going to be slaughtered
Here is some good news:
"Activists won't let horses end up on dinner plate
They buy 200 'excess' mustangs auctioned off by U.S. agency
RENO, Nev. - Although a new law lets the federal government sell certain wild mustangs for horsemeat, the first ones auctioned off have been spared from the slaughterhouse.
The 200 animals from Nevada that Wild Horses Wyoming bought from the Bureau of Land Management are roaming free on thousands of acres near Laramie, Wyo.
“We are in the business of saving horses,” said Sean Mater, one of five partners in the company.
In December, Congress replaced a 34-year-old ban on slaughtering any mustang with a statute that allows the sale of older and unwanted horses for their meat. The animals up for sale are captured during periodic government roundups aimed at reducing the wild population.
About 37,000 wild horses and burros roam the Western range, about 9,000 more than the BLM has said the natural forage can sustain.
BLM and Interior Department officials have said they hope to find homes for horses affected by the law. But wild horse advocates have called the new law inhumane and fear the animals will end up as horsemeat for human consumption overseas or as dog food.
Wild Horses Wyoming and rescue groups are trying to save the horses by buying them.
Wild Horses Wyoming purchased the mustangs, all of them mares, for $50 each. The sale was announced March 1.
Mater, who lives in Fort Collins, Colo., said the company hopes to secure more land and eventually acquire up to 5,000 horses.
“That’s our goal,” said Bill Clark, a Fort Collins real estate broker and another partner in the venture. “Everybody is along the same track and nobody’s backing off here.”
The group is soliciting money for its efforts by selling horse sponsorships. Mater said the goal is to use the sponsorship money to acquire land that will sustain the horses for the rest of their lives.
“Putting them on good rangeland allows them to forage for themselves, and remain in that same mode that they were in out on the range,” he said. “Once the land is paid for, then the horses become more or less maintenance free.”
Lifesavers Wild Horse Rescuers in Lancaster, Calif., has 120 horses on 46 acres of land, and plans to buy 10 mustangs under the new law, said Jill Starr, the group’s leader.
The Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary in Hot Springs, S.D., cares for 400 horses on 11,000 acres of privately owned land but has not immediate plans to take in more mustangs, office manager Pati Duff said.
“We need our resources for the one’s we’ve already got,” Duff said.
But she was confident others would help out.
“There’s many, many horse lovers, and I think people will step up,” she said."
© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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