Update: American Public Speaks Out on Lack of BLM Transparency

Posted: May 28, 2012 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News, Wild Burros
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Wild Horse and Burro advocates want 30 days notice for public hearings on use of Helicopters at roundups

RENO (May 28, 2012)—Protect Mustangs has discovered that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) scheduled an important public hearing for 10 a.m. the morning after Memorial Day weekend without adequately notifying the public. The hearing is scheduled for 10-11 a.m., at the BLM Carson City District Office, 5665 Morgan Mill Road, in Carson City, Nev. The wild horse preservation group is requesting the BLM reschedule the public hearing—regarding the use of helicopters and other motorized vehicles for roundups and management—in order to give the public at least 30 days notice.

“What happened to government transparency and public process?” asks Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “With 80% of America’s federally protected indigenous wild horses and burros living on public land in Nevada, the whole country should be given adequate notice to participate in person as well as via email. Most members of the public are against helicopter roundups. Is BLM trying to sneak this by without public input?”

On Saturday, the preservation group’s website alerted the public about the hearing, after they saw it posted in the Mesquite News online.”Through our social media channels the public began to hear about the public hearing that no one knew about,” said Novak. “Even horse advocates in Carson City hadn’t heard about the hearing.”

“I live in Carson City and never heard a thing about a public hearing regarding helicopters and motorized vehicles for roundups and management,” says photographer and wild horse advocate Cat Kindsfather. “People would like to come to the hearing from around the country but they need proper notice.”

“I live in the Carson area and just found out about the Helicopter hearing,” says Craig Downer, author and wildlife biologist. “These hearings are mandated by the law so why aren’t we being informed out them?”

“I live in Reno and only heard about the hearing today when a friend called,” says Terri Farley, author and wild horse and burro advocate. “Mustangs are the people’s horses, but BLM’s stealth meetings make it impossible for us to stand up for their welfare.”

Advocates, as well as members of the public nationwide, would like to attend the hearing but they need 30 days notice to make arrangements.

“I live in Oakland, California and I would like to speak against the use of helicopters and motorized vehicles,” says Kerry Becklund, Outreach Director for Protect Mustangs. “But I need to give my day job notice to take a vacation day.”

“I live in Houston, Texas and work overseas,” says R.T. Fitch, volunteer president of Wild Horse Freedom Federation, “Hearing about an important BLM meeting—only a day before it occurs—continues to stack the deck against the horses and burros as our collective voices cannot possibly be present to speak to the issue.”

“I live in Richmond, Virginia and would like to speak at the public hearing against using helicopters but I need adequate notice to make travel plans,” says wild horse advocate Lisa Friday. “30 days notice is standard. Why doesn’t the BLM notifying us properly? Is this against the law?”

“I live in New York City and would like to speak at the meeting against helicopter roundups,” says Hope Smith who loves wild horses. “I want to be part of the public process but I need more notice to get out West.”

“I live on 36 acres at the base of the mountains in Arizona,” says Michael Blake, Academy Award-winner and author of Dances with Wolves. “Helicopter roundups are nothing but incessant warfare against life on earth . . . for money.”

The group is collecting comments against helicopter roundups to take to Tuesday morning’s hearing. Members of the public may email them to Contact@ProtectMustangs.org

In the letter addressed to The BLM, Novak states, “The requirement for the public hearing was set in place to protect the public’s rights to participate in government and this must not be ignored.”

The BLM press release reads:

Before helicopters or motorized vehicles can be used, a public hearing is required in order to comply with Section 404 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act. The BLM proposes to use a helicopter, fixed wing aircraft and other motorized vehicles to estimate population numbers and obtain seasonal distribution information for wild horse and burro herds throughout Nevada. Also proposed is using a helicopter to assist in gathering excess wild horses and burros on gathers and complexes throughout the state during the coming year. The actual number of areas where gathers will be conducted or inventoried will depend on a number of factors including funding. 

Members of the public can fax the BLM head office in Washington DC to request the helicopter hearing be rescheduled with a 30 day notice given to the public. The fax number is: 202-208-5242

Controversial helicopter roundups have harassed wild horses and burros—stampeding them for miles, often resulting in lameness and sometimes in death.

Besides being concerned about animal cruelty at helicopter roundups, Protect Mustangs believes that helicopters flying in the desert for days or weeks emit pollution that harms the environment and contributes to global warming. The group believes motorized vehicles damage the ecosystem—hurting many forms of wildlife, such as sage grouse, and other endangered species on the range as well.

The group opposes the use of helicopter and motorized vehicles (except in a state of emergency or for an accurate population head count—not an estimate.)

“If wild horses and burros are facing a water or food emergency then bring it out there but roundups must stop now,” states Novak. “A drought isn’t an excuse for roundups to zero out indigenous wild horses and remove them from their home on public land forever . . .”

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Government Transparency and Public Process on Wild Horses and Burros Jeopardized

Posted: May 28, 2012 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News, Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
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Wild Equine Advocates want 30 days notice for public hearings on use of Helicopters at roundups

RENO (May 28, 2012)—Protect Mustangs has discovered that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) scheduled an important public hearing for 10 am the morning after Memorial Day weekend without adequately notifying the public. The hearing is scheduled for 10-11 a.m., at the BLM Carson City District Office, 5665 Morgan Mill Road, in Carson City, Nev. The wild horse preservation group is requesting the BLM reschedule the public hearing—regarding the use of helicopters and other motorized vehicles for roundups and management—in order to give the public at least 30 days notice.

“What happened to government transparency and public process?” asks Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “With 80% of America’s federally protected indigenous wild horses and burros living on public land in Nevada, the whole country should be given adequate notice to participate in person as well as via email. Most members of the public are against helicopter roundups. Is BLM trying to sneak this by without public input?”

On Saturday, the preservation group’s website alerted the public about the hearing, after they saw it posted in the Mesquite News online.”Through our social media channels the public began to hear about the public hearing that no one knew about,” said Novak. “Even horse advocates in Carson City hadn’t heard about the hearing.”

The group is collecting comments against helicopter roundups to take to Tuesday morning’s hearing. Members of the public may email them to Contact@ProtectMustangs.org

In the letter addressed to The BLM, Novak states, “The requirement for the public hearing was set in place to protect the public’s rights to participate in government and this must not be ignored.”

The BLM press release reads:

Before helicopters or motorized vehicles can be used, a public hearing is required in order to comply with Section 404 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act. The BLM proposes to use a helicopter, fixed wing aircraft and other motorized vehicles to estimate population numbers and obtain seasonal distribution information for wild horse and burro herds throughout Nevada. Also proposed is using a helicopter to assist in gathering excess wild horses and burros on gathers and complexes throughout the state during the coming year. The actual number of areas where gathers will be conducted or inventoried will depend on a number of factors including funding. 

Members of the public can fax the BLM head office in Washington DC to request the helicopter hearing be rescheduled with a 30 day notice given to the public. The fax number is: 202-208-5242

Controversial helicopter roundups have harassed wild horses and burros—stampeding them for miles, often resulting in lameness and sometimes in death.

Besides being concerned about animal cruelty at helicopter roundups, Protect Mustangs believes that helicopters flying in the desert for days or weeks emit pollution that harms the environment and contributes to global warming. The group believes motorized vehicles damage the ecosystem—hurting many forms of wildlife, such as sage grouse, and other endangered species on the range as well.

The group opposes the use of helicopter and motorized vehicles (except in a state of emergency or for an accurate population head count—not an estimate.)

“If wild horses and burros are facing a water or food emergency then bring it out there but roundups must stop now,” states Novak. “A drought isn’t an excuse for roundups to zero out indigenous wild horses and remove them from their home on public land forever . . .”

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Up to 45,000 Wild Horses Face Slaughter by the U.S. Government

Posted: May 28, 2012 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News, Horse Slaughter, Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
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“The BLM has stacked the deck”
Thousands of America’s iconic wild horses may be headed to slaughter at the hands of the U.S. government; some herds may face extinction. Oil, mining and cattle interests are driving down the wild horse population and the space left for them to roam.

Click Image to visit Digital Journal

According to Habitat for Horses’ Jerry Finch, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) may actually be warehousing as many as 45,000 wild horses. He writes an impassioned and often eloquent blog on the subject of horse abuse, and he is outraged that the government has taken countless healthy horses from the natural environment to benefit cattle ranchers and private industry.

“The BLM continues to decimate the last remaining herds beyond the point of viability. Gelded males, mares filled with PZP, yearlings being rounded up “because the land cannot handle the pressure horses place on it,” yet hours after the last BLM trailer leaves the welfare ranchers unload truckloads of cattle on the same land and remove the fences around the water holes.

The killing of American horses has increased by 38% in 2011 to 133,241. That’s 2,562 per week, 366 per day, 46 per hour – trucked to Canada and Mexico and slaughtered in the most inhumane way possible”

Finch explained to Digital Journal that “Ages ago, Senator Conrad Burns stuck a small amendment into an appropriations bill that gave the BLM authority to sell protected horses if they were offered for adoption three times without any takers (Called “Three Strike” horses).

Under this ruling, the horses are completely removed from the protection of the Wild Horse and Burro Act and placed ‘sale authority’ in the hands of the BLM.

It was proposed several years ago that excess horses be “euthanized.” The public raised such a stink about that proposal that it was removed.

About the same time, the American Veterinarian Medical Association (AVMA) said the captive bolt, as used in the slaughterhouses, was “humane euthanization.”

According to those terms, the BLM has the authority at this time to sell horses to operators to be euthanized. I think we can all read between the lines on that one.”

The BLM addresses the points brought up by horse advocates on their “Myths and Facts” page, but that information does little to reassure concerned citizens that the public lands are being fairly managed, since much of what the BLM states as fact is open to interpretation.

Those who believe that public lands should not be damaged by industry and those who consider the wild horses to be part of our heritage are disturbed by what they see as the government’s support of corporations instead of the public interest, as exemplified by the Ruby Pipeline project, completed in 2011 but with environmental mitigation measures just completed last week.

Two years ago construction was begun on the natural gas pipeline, which now snakes 675 miles through public lands from Wyoming to Oregon.

The route traverses pristine wilderness, cuts through old growth forests, and crosses over a thousand water bodies in 11 watersheds. In spite of protests, years of negotiations and court battles, and questionable removal of wild horses, the government permitted the project, and staged a massive horse roundup.

The Ruby Pipeline was given permission to draw 402 million gallons of water that is desperately needed by the horses in that arid region, and in their environmental impact statement (EIS) they admitted that “Impacts on groundwater could be significant because of the volume of water proposed for use and the limited availability of groundwater in the region”.

The BLM conducted a roundup of the wild horses in part of the Calico Mountain Range, removing almost 2,000 in 2009-2010 from the land destined to be utilized by the Pipeline. According to a news report at the time, “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 Calico Roundup was repeated this year, and another 1,000 or so horses were removed:

Calico is known for beautiful horses and the approximately 75-80 horses who were captured today were no exception. Gorgeous family bands were rounded up one after another. As it is with all roundups, it was heart breaking to witness the tragedy beset on these tight-knit families – watching them spend their last minutes together after running for their lives and knowing that they will be forever separated from each other, their homes and freedom. As of Friday, January 6, 2012, the BLM reports that 1,203 horses and 10 burros have been captured since the Calico Complex roundup began on November 19, 2011. The BLM reports that 186 of the horses rounded up have been released to the Complex, releasing more stallions than mares to artificially skew the sex ratio to favor males 60 to 40 and administering the fertility-control drug PZP to all released mares.

While the BLM denies any relationship in the timing of removing the horses from the pipeline area, their track record shows improprieties, and the organization was involved in payoffs and other scandals during the period when the Ruby Pipeline was approved.

Also during this period the BLM was found to have “exceeded its authority” in another wild horse population, and the BLM was blocked by the courts from efforts to completely remove an entire herd from a Colorado range.

The Ruby Pipeline management denies that it has anything to do with the roundups.

The removal of wild horses/burros is not addressed in the Ruby Pipeline Final EIS, because it has nothing to do with the removal of wild horses or burros. Gathers such as the Calico Mountains Complex operation are conducted as part of the BLM land use management plans, and are conducted to remove excess animals, achieve Appropriate Management Levels, and achieve a thriving natural ecological balance in an effort to maintain healthy rangelands and ensure through our management practices that we have adequate food and water for the remaining wild horses and burros, wildlife and permitted livestock on the public lands.

Keeping their agreement to mitigate the environmental impact on the public lands, Ruby Pipeline hired Conservation Seeding and Restoration (CSR)to replant the entire length of the pipeline with native plants, which completed their contract on May 18th. However, according to BLM documents, the government’s only apparent consideration of the wild horses in this restoration was in how to keep them off the restored areas (BLM wild horse and burro resource specialists were consulted in developing this management approach):

POD Appendix K, Draft Restoration and Reclamation Plans for Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and Oregon filed with FERC in July 2009, specifies actions to minimize wild horse and burro grazing “within the reclaimed ROW”: Ruby will work with the BLM to minimize wild horse and burro grazing along the “restored” ROW for three years. “Possible management actions would be to provide water sources away from the ROW, include low palatable plant species in the seed mix such as sagebrush, temporary fencing with gaps, and/or reduce wild horse populations following BLM policy in appropriate management areas.”

Wild horse advocate and author RT Fitch explained to Digital Journal that “The BLM has stacked the deck with their advisory board and filled it with only hunting, cattle and as of late slaughter interests. Without admitting it the BLM wants to deem all long term and “three strikes” horses as “sale authority” horses so that they could be sold off for as low as $25.00 each with no further inspection which would mean that some 45,000 held wild horses could be sold directly into the despicable slaughter pipeline. This, I am most certain, is a move the BLM will soon make while they continue to inhumanely pull thousands of native wild horses off from their rightful land.”

Meanwhile, the BLM continues to remove horses from the open range and pays ranchers to take care of them, hoping that 30,000 or more homes can be found for those once wild American icons, a tough sell in this economy.

Visit the Digital Journal (CLICK HERE) for associated videos, documentation and to comment
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NJ State Senate, Governor Next to Consider Bill Banning Horse Slaughter for Human Consumption

Posted: May 28, 2012 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News, Horse Slaughter
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By Don E. Woods/The News of Cumberland County

“What we need is responsible horse owners to stop the overbreeding…”

TRENTON — Horse slaughter is one step closer to being illegal in New Jersey.

A bill designed to prohibit the sale of horses for human consumption passed in the state General Assembly on Thursday with a vote of 72-3 in favor.

The bill specifies in prohibiting horse meat for human consumption.

With its approval, the bill will be sent to the Senate and go through committee through June. Once it passes through the Legislature, it goes to Gov. Chris Christie for his signature.

Bill sponsor Ronald Dancer (R-12) helped create the legislation after a federal law against slaughter of horses for human consumption was lifted last fall. While new federal legislation, called the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, is in the works, Dancer decided to take the initiative and create a state law banning it. He is optimistic that the bill will become law.

Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-20) is the Senate sponsor.

“I feel confident that the Senate will act upon the bill with Sen. Lesniak’s leadership in the Senate,” Dancer said.

If the bill becomes a law, it prohibits anyone from selling or slaughtering horses for human consumption. Penalties for violators include civil fines between $500 and $1,000 for each horse slaughtered or carcass of meat sold.

“Our preference is that horses be humanely euthanized,” Dancer said.

The assemblyman is proud of New Jersey for taking initiative on the issue and hopes to lead the rest of the nation in a prohibition against the practice.

NJ.com readers weighed in on the controversial issue.

“None of us prefer the sentencing to death or slaughter of any animal, regardless of the species; but, the reality of it all is, that we need horse slaughter houses as a practical alternative and solution to govern the horse population,” said Gayle O’Neal, a NJ.com commenter.

“We don’t need slaughter houses to control the population,” said commenter Adam Romanik. “What we need is responsible horse owners to stop the overbreeding of the already out of control horse population.”

Vickery Eckhoff, a Forbes.com contributor who writes extensively on predatory practices in the horse industry including horse slaughter, noted that the drugs horses are given throughout their lives make horse meat unfit for human consumption.

One drug, called phenylbutazone, also referred to as “bute” or “horse aspirin,” is a known carcinogen for humans, according to the National Toxicology Program.

Bute is an anti-inflammatory drug for horses that treats short-term pain or fever. According to Eckhoff, virtually all thoroughbreds are given bute during their lives.

“These are all legal to use on regular horses but not legal for food animals,” Eckhoff explained.

With the lack of medical records at horse auctions, there is no way of telling which of the horses has been treated with medication. Given this uncertainty, Eckhoff argues that all horses are unfit for consumption.

“There are instances where trainers take horses directly from the track to kill buyers,” Eckhoff claims.

She first became aware of the issue when she was younger and growing up near a horse slaughterhouse on Long Island. When her older sister was going to college, she sold her beloved horse to a horse trainer. When the horse trainer went bankrupt, Eckhoff believes her sister’s horse was sold to be slaughtered.

“For me it’s a personal issue because he was a lovely horse,” she said.

As she became more aware of the issue, she followed a horse rescue group on Facebook and even saved one of the horses.

According to John Holland, president of the Equine Welfare Alliance, an all-volunteer, 501(c)(4) organization, a federal ban would be preferable to combating horse slaughter.

“We won’t solve this problem until we get a federal ban, but a state ban is a good statement,” he said.

Holland explained how a patchwork of state laws could still be bypassed by members of the horse slaughter industry. Some, he said, will always try to test the limits of the laws.

He is, however, optimistic about states passing their own legislation.

“Certainly if New Jersey passed this, it will be a really good indication of things to come,” Holland said.

Click (HERE) to visit NJ.com and to Comment
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Sgt. Reckless – The Real War Horse

Posted: May 27, 2012 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News
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Information supplied by sgtreckless.com and realwarhorse.com

A Four-Legged American War Hero

Click Image to Visit the Sgt. Reckless Website

The story of Reckless is not only remarkable – it is unusual.  And once you learn about her, you will see why the Marine Corps not only fell in love with her – but honored her and promoted her every chance they got.  And it wasn’t just the Marines that served with her in the trenches that honored her – her last promotion to Staff Sergeant was by Gen. Randolph McC Pate – the Commandant of the entire Marine Corps.  You can’t get higher than that in the Marines.

Reckless joined the Marines to carry ammunition to the front lines for the 75mm Recoilless Rifle Platoon of the 5th Marines – and she quickly earned the love and respect of all of the Marines that served with her.  Lt. Eric Pedersen paid $250 of his own money to a young Korean boy, Kim Huk Moon, for her.  The only reason Kim sold his beloved horse was so he could buy an artificial leg for his older sister, Chung Soon, who lost her leg in a land mine accident.

Kim’s loss was the Marines’ gain.

It was not only Reckless’ heroics that endeared the Marines to her – it was her incredible antics off of the battlefield.  You will not believe her antics when she was being ignored, or if she was hungry – let’s just say you never wanted to leave your food unattended.  As legendary as she was for her heroics – her appetite became even more legendary.  This horse had a mind of her own – not to mention, being very determined.

Reckless had a voracious appetite.  She would eat anything and everything – but especially scrambled eggs and pancakes in the morning with her morning cup of coffee.  She also loved cake, Hershey bars, candy from the C rations, and Coca Cola – even poker chips, blankets and hats when she was being ignored – or if she was trying to just prove a point.

One of Reckless’ finest hours came during the Battle of Outpost Vegas in March of 1953.  At the time of this battle it was written that, “The savagery of the battle for the so-called Nevada Complex has never been equaled in Marine Corps history.”  This particular battle “was to bring a cannonading and bombing seldom experienced in warfare … twenty-eight tons of bombs and hundreds of the largest shells turned the crest of Vegas into a smoking, death-pocked rubble.”  And Reckless was in the middle of all of it.

Enemy soldiers could see her as she made her way across the deadly “no man’s land” rice paddies and up the steep 45-degree mountain trails that led to the firing sites.  “It’s difficult to describe the elation and the boost in morale that little white-faced mare gave Marines as she outfoxed the enemy bringing vitally needed ammunition up the mountain,” Sgt. Maj. James E. Bobbitt recalled.

During this five-day battle, on one day alone she made 51 trips from the Ammunition Supply Point to the firing sites, 95% of the time by herself.  She carried 386 rounds of ammunition (over 9,000 pounds – almost FIVE TONS! — of ammunition), walked over 35 miles through open rice paddies and up steep mountains with enemy fire coming in at the rate of 500 rounds per minute.  And as she so often did, she would carry wounded soldiers down the mountain to safety, unload them, get reloaded with ammo, and off she would go back up to the guns.  She also provided a shield for several Marines who were trapped trying to make their way up to the front line.  Wounded twice, she didn’t let that stop or slow her down.

What she did in this battle not only earned her the respect of all that served with her, but it got her promoted to Sergeant.  Her heroics defined the word “Marine.”  She was BELOVED by the Marines.  They took care of her better than they took care of themselves – throwing their flak jackets over her to protect her when incoming was heavy, risking their own safety.

Her Military Decorations include two Purple Hearts, Good Conduct Medal, Presidential Unit Citation with star, National Defense Service Medal, Korean Service Medal, United Nations Service Medal, Navy Unit Commendation, and Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation, all of which she wore proudly on her red and gold blanket, along with a French Fourragere that the 5th Marines earned in WW1.

There has never been a horse like Reckless, and her story needs to be honored.

www.realwarhorse.com
www.sgtreckless.com

Duquette’s Hometown Mayor Says Horse Slaughter Stinks

Posted: May 26, 2012 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News, Horse Slaughter
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Story by by By ANNA WILLARD of the East Oregonian

Hermiston mayor opposes slaughterhouse for several reasons — especially the smell

“As of late, Dave Duquette, alleged president of the anti-horse/pro-slaughter organization United Horsemen, has been touting the prospect of destroying his local community of Hermiston Oregon by opening up a predatory horse slaughter plant virtually right in his own backyard.  With wide-sweeping boasts of acquiring land, in town, and plans to build a multimillion dollar plant for a product with no market Duquette has run into some local resistance from not only the mainline townsfolk but from the very town mayor himself.  Duquette, along with his partner in horse butchering Sue Wallis, is hell bent on acquiring attention and grasping a spotlight, or even a flashlight, with no regard to whether the attention is positive or negative.  But one thing is now glaringly true, we have been saying it for years and now it comes to us in bold print, “Horse Slaughter Stinks, right along with Duquette and Wallis; it’s enough to make you lose your lunch” ~ R.T.

“Slaughterhouse” Sue Wallis and Dave Duquette at their first and last Slaughter Summit of the horse in early 2011 ~ photo courtesy of Summit of the Horse

Hermiston Mayor Bob Severson opposes the horse slaughterhouse proposed in Hermiston.

The potential odor is the thing that troubles him most, he said Thursday. But the mayor said he opposes the idea of slaughtering horses for consumption itself.

“The biggest thing I’m concerned about is, I don’t want anything with odor or anything like that to detract from the community we have today,” Severson said.

The U.S. in November 2011 lifted a ban on horse slaughter. Soon after, Hermiston resident David Duquette, president of United Horsemen, a non-profit, pro-slaughter group, proposed a slaughterhouse at the intersection of Interstate 84 and Westland Road.

In March, Duquette said outside investors and five Northwest American Indian tribes are backing the plan, which would employ 80-100 full-time workers. Neither the investors nor the tribes have been named. Duquette said an anonymous donor gave the 252 acres proposed as the project site.

Severson said he recognizes a problem with neglected or abandoned horses, and with high hay prices and a suffering economy the problem is compounded. However, Severson said he doesn’t think much of slaughtering horses in general.

“To me a horse is a recreation animal or a work animal. We don’t need to slaughter them for food,” Severson said.

According to the Southwest Farm Press, China, Mexico and Kazakhstan are the world’s top consumers of horse meat. About 4.7 million horses a year are produced for human consumption, the paper reported in December 2011.

Severson also said he wants to see concrete information about how problems like odor will be managed.

“I need to know more rather than they just say so,” he said.

Severson said he has not met with Duquette.

Duquette said odor wouldn’t be an issue. Offal would be cooled and disposed of daily and hides also cooled and hauled weekly.

Severson said a slaughterhouse would do nothing to improve the livability of Hermiston.

“I cannot see where a horse slaughtering plant would do anything to improve our community or our image for attracting new business and industry,” Severson wrote in a letter read May 14 to city council in his absence. Severson wrote in response to a letter to the editor from Kaye Killgore of Portland published May 17 in the East Oregonian. Killgore, who described herself as a frequent visitor to the area and with friends here, wrote that slaughterhouses elsewhere can be environmental nightmares, among other criticisms of Duquette’s plan.

The facility would be 20,000 square-feet and process between 100-150 horses per day. The land is also set to be the site of a rescue and rejuvenation facility employing 20-30 people, Duquette has said.

Severson said the city has turned down other facilities looking to place facilities in Hermiston such as a “humus” plant — a waste composting facility to produce fertilizer.

“We opposed other things too, a while back a rendering plant was proposed for this area and I felt the same thing there,” Severson said Thursday.

Click (HERE) to visit the East Oregonian and to locally Comment
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CBS Lays Egg on Horse Slaughter Report

Posted: May 25, 2012 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News, Horse Slaughter, Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
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OpEd by R.T. Fitch ~ President of the Wild Horse Freedom Federation

Network Highlights Embattled Butcher and Misses Outstanding Infractions

“CBS This Morning” highlighted the alleged “plight” of a rural New Mexico slaughterhouse owner who wants to capitalize on butchering companion horses while ignoring and sweeping under the carpet outstanding the USDA suspension of inspectors for cruelty violations.

Click (HERE) to download USDA document

Rick de los Santos speaks to CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker who never asks about his current inhumane and abuse allegations from the USDA

In a televised broadcast, this day, CBS centered a three minute clip on one Ricardo De Los Santos, owner of Valley Meats in Roswell, NM and his alleged “struggle” to bring “outsourced” slaughtering of American horses back to the U.S. and to save his business from total collapse.

Click (HERE) to read text of broadcast

As is the way with most mainstream media CBS failed to include the fact that Santo’s slaughter plant was shut down in February, by the USDA, due to the inhumane manner in which he and his staff handled animals intended for slaughter.  Likewise CBS used inaccurate and leading statements such as:

“Over a hundred thousand of these animals are already rounded up every year and slaughtered across the border…barely making a dent in the U.S. horse overpopulation problem. Domesticated horses are abandoned and wild horses simply left to breed unchecked.”

Such statements are unsubstantiated and false to the core.  There is no noted overpopulation problem with the exception of the major breeding conglomerates such as the AQHA, APA, the racing industry and the BLM has all but eradicated the few remaining wild horses and burros from their rightful land in ten western states.  To make such broad sweeping comments while showing a known and documented animal abuser somberly walking amongst his kill pen, hooks and chains (not to mention kissing his wife) is unconscionable.

CBS owes a direct and immediate apology to the 80% of the American public who denounce and object to the concept of horse slaughter being brought back to the United States while the network reassess it’s practice of propagating pity about a documented abuser who deserves nothing less than scorn and shame for the atrocities that he has already committed.

Uptick: the show’s hosts were appalled at the prospect of horse slaughter.

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