Archive for April, 2010

Hardin Montana Says No Thanks to Horse Slaughter Plant

Posted: April 26, 2010 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News, Horse Slaughter
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News Release from The Equine Welfare Alliance

Bloody “Red” Ed Butcher Suffers Another Defeat in his Horse Eating Plans

Photo by Terry Fitch

CHICAGO, (EWA) – Montana Representative Ed Butcher’s plan of building a horse slaughter plant in Hardin, MT has ended.

The city of Hardin unanimously passed Ordinance No. 2010-01 that amends the current zoning ordinance to prohibit the slaughter of more than 25 animals in a seven day period. The action effectively bars the building of a slaughter plant in Hardin.

Mayor Kimberly A. Hammond provided the following statement to Equine Welfare Alliance (EWA).

“I have no deluded thoughts or feelings about the need for proper disposal or care of unwanted horses.

As Mayor of a small city, it is my responsibility to make information available to our public, especially when it concerns public safety, health, and how their tax dollars are being spent.

The way our City Industrial Park is set up, a business is required to hook up to City Water and Sewer. A horse slaughter facility running at 200-400 kills a week would have brought our waste water treatment plant to a screaming halt.

Our City would have been forced to construct a new waste water treatment plant that would capacitate the slaughter facility, at the cost of our tax payers. The City most likely would not have been able to get aid with funding a 6-8 million dollar treatment plant.

I, as Mayor had our City Attorney draft an ordinance that prohibited slaughter houses within the city limits. Upon 1st reading, our city council did not like the verbiage that there would be NO slaughter facilities. They thought it was unfair to the small mom and pop operations that could be looking for a commercial plot. So we changed the language to only prohibit facilities that would kill more than twenty-five animals in a 7 day period.

Our decision was based purely on the adverse impact that a facility of this size and nature would have had on our City Waste Water Treatment Plant.“

Mayor Hammond’s concerns were well placed. Horse slaughter plants are notorious for their waste problems. Horses have almost twice as much blood per pound of body weight as cattle and it has proven very difficult to treat. In the three years Cavel International operated in DeKalb, Illinois, their discharge was in violation every month. The operation moved to Saskatchewan, Canada where it was caught discharging blood into the local river from a tanker truck. That operation was shut down last year because of health violations.

EWA applauds the city of Hardin, Montana for this proactive legislation to preserve the environment of their beautiful city.

The Equine Welfare Alliance is a dues free, umbrella organization with over 100 member organizations. The organization focuses its efforts on the welfare of all equines and the preservation of wild equids.

www.equinewelfarealliance.org

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Last Chance for Animals Documents the Pain and Suffering Endured by Wild Horses Held by the BLM

Posted: April 25, 2010 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News, Wild Horses/Mustangs
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Reported by Maureen Harmonay – Equine Advocacy Examiner

Wild Horses continue to Suffer from BLM Cruelty

Suffering Horses from Calico Roundup - Photo by Elyse Gardner

An on-the-ground investigation by Last Chance for Animals’ Special Investigations Unit (SIU) of the wild horses held in BLM custody at two facilities in Nevada reveals graphic evidence of the horses’ suffering from broken bodies and broken spirits as a result of their violent capture.

Investigators from the Los Angeles-based animal advocacy organization were present in Gerlach, Nevada in February, 2010 to witness the last few days of the BLM roundup of more than 1900 wild horses form the five Herd Management Areas (HMAs) in Nevada’s Calico Mountain Complex.  What they saw corroborates previous testimony by a host of other humane observers, including Elyse Gardner, Craig Downer, Terri Farley, and Laura Leigh:

“Helicopters, with deafening blades, terrorize and force herds of frightened wild, free-roaming horses to gallop for their lives, not realizing they are being herded to a corral where they will be forever removed from their native land.  As a result of the roundups, some of the horses become bloodied, injured, and exhausted, and some mares miscarried their foals.  Others simply die in the process.

The family structure of these horses is torn apart.  As the horses are herded into the trap, the stallions are separated form the mares and the foals from their mothers.  The horses are shipped to another facility where they stand, their spirits broken and all life erased from their eyes, in their own waste with no escape from the elements.  These iconic creatures of the Wild West will never see their grazing lands or their family again.”

Based on their assessment of the condition of the horses being stampeded from the Calico range into BLM traps, the LCA investigators strongly disputed the BLM’s oft-repeated contention that wild horses need to be rounded up because otherwise they would perish from starvation if left to forage on their own:

“The BLM’s stated reason for removing the wild horses is because they are starving or soon will be.  As you can clearly see by our video of the horses being rounded up, not a single one is starving or even thin.  The facts belie the BLM’s statements.  We also saw other wild horses out in the same area and we did not see a single one who looked to be in any kind of distress.  In fact, the only horses we saw who were injured were those that had become so due to the BLM’s ill-advised roundup.”

At the conclusion of the Calico roundup, LCA representatives visited both the Broken Arrow feedlot facility in Fallon, Nevada, where the Calico horses are currently being held, and the Palomino Valley long-term holding and adoption facility in Reno.  They documented the substandard conditions which the horses are forced to endure in both places:

“The horses, including young foals, do not have any access to shade or cover in order to escape the elements.  These facilities are in Nevada where temperatures reach into the 120′s during the summer and sub-freezing during winter.  Icy cold winds whip through the facilities but the horses have no way to escape the elements.  They are forced to stand in the mud of their own feces and urine.  We saw numerous foals and horses with bloody hooves.”

Last Chance for Animals has launched a “Stop the Genocide, Stop the BLM Roundups” campaign, with a striking poster featuring fitness guru Jillian Michaels and a horse named, “Buzz.”

For more information about LCA’s Special Investigation of the Calico roundup, please watch the video.

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New Tourist Attraction: Horse Meat in Wyoming (Updated)

Posted: April 25, 2010 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News, Horse Slaughter, The Force of the Horse, Wild Horses/Mustangs
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Commentary/Opinion by R.T. Fitch

Rep. “Slaughterhouse” Sue Wallis – a Career Dedicated to Killing and Eating Horses

The Wyoming legacy that Sue Wallis wants to leave for U.S. Children

“It’s been several months since we have heard anything out of the Wyoming Representative whose entire life has been centered around killing and eating horses, Sue Wallis.  An embarrassment to her state, she continues to flail away at the premise that killing horses for human consumption is a good and wonderful thing.  Between setting up a bogus non-profit organization that violates federal and state laws to accusing dozens and dozens of well known American celebrities of taking bribes on the issue,the out of control elected official continues to generate lies and propeganda on the issue of excess horses which her partner in crime, Dave Douquette produces.

Yesterday, information was uncovered on her plans to build a slaughter house that would kill healthy horses and supply their tainted meat to pets and today she still contends that horse meat is safe for human consumption which is in direct conflict with known science and international government assertions.  In the normal world they would put someone like this away; in the fantasy world of “Slaughterhouse” Sue Wallis she continues to spout bloody lies and attempts to covertly subvert the opinions of decent Americans with her bogus organization.

What can you do to stop the madness?   First read “Who’s on First?” written by Equine Welfare Alliance Executive Vicki Tobin and then write the Governor Dave Freudenthal of Wyoming and tell him that you have had enough of this embarrassment from Recluse; it is not only a state issue but one of National Pride, this individual puts the good and caring  spirit of all Americans at risk.  The U.S. public has made it abundantly clear that they do not support the predatory business of horse slaughter and the bulk of Americans do not believe in Eating Their Friends.  But in Sue Wallis’ case, that’s another story…watch out Dave Duquette, you may be next on the menu.” – R.T.

UPDATE: Sue Wallis Responds – A Glimpse into a Mind that is Just Not Right

(Gag Alert)

From: sue.wallis52@gmail.com
To: sane americans@wegiveadamn.com; sue.wallis@vcn.com
CC:educated voters@yourouttaherenextelection@net
Subject: RE: Can you really read?
Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2011

I generally do not respond to those that are disrespectful and uncivil, but in this case, since you copied my good friend and colleague, I have made an exception.

Tainted "Flicka Fillet" coming to a Wyoming Supermarket courtesy of "Slaughterhouse" Sue Wallis

I presume from your comments that you are a vegan and do not believe that humans should eat meat? Or, is it just horse meat that you are opposed to? Do you not know that the US troops and folks here at home survived World War II because of horse meat? That there was such a shortage of other meat that all beef and pork was rationed, but that horse meat was available, affordable, government inspected and not rationed? That it is, in fact, considered just another food animal by more than 75% of the cultures around the world and is widely available in grocery stores in both French Canada, and Mexico? That Mexico is the second largest consumer of horse meat next to China? These our closest neighbors and allies.

Perhaps you are unaware that since the animal rights groups such as the Humane Society of the US, and PETA closed down our US slaughter plants that the horse industry which used to employ 460,000 direct full time jobs, another 1.6 million indirect jobs, and creating 1.2 Billion dollars in the economy has literally been cut off at the knees, and has been downsized by 50%…that is a minimum of 500,000 jobs lost! Why? Because it destroyed a viable market, without a bottom to the market, the whole equine economy from top to bottom stagnated—no one can get rid of horses, so they can’t buy new and better horses. What used to sell for $700 you can’t sell at all, what used to sell for $1,500 you are darn lucky to get $500, what used to sell for $80,000 is now often going for less than $10,000.

What Sue Wallis wants for Wyoming - a National Leader in Cruelty

Worse yet is the horrific fact that the horses themselves are suffering the most. There has been a 400% increase in one year in the number of abandoned and neglected horses between 2008 and 2009. It is easy to see why if you have anything to do with the horse industry. Since the closure of the plants in the US, the only unusable horse that you can sell are those that are big enough and healthy enough to be worth the trucking to Canada and Mexico, so they endure long transportation, and wind up being slaughtered in foreign slaughterhouses where we have absolutely no control over the regulations and how that is done. At least if we were processing horses here in the US, they fall under the longstanding humane slaughter of animals laws and regulations that ensure our animals are well taken care of and killed quickly and painlessly. Compare that to being starved to death and having your guts ripped out by coyotes while you are still alive because you are too weak to get up. This is the inevitable fate of all of those poor, domestic horses that people can’t sell and can’t give away and think they are “giving them a chance” if they turn them out on the desert. That is not compassion, that is stupidity and cowardice. Any responsible agricultural person would put them down themselves before they allowed that to happen…unfortunately, too many people like yourself are too far removed from the realities and responsibilities of animal husbandry to understand.

So, when somebody loses their job, and loses their house, and needs to figure out who to feed, the kids, or the horse…what do you suggest? Are you going to pay for the feed and care of all of those excess horses?  We’re talking upwards of 200,000 per year nation-wide…at an average cost of $2,500 per year, each. Or perhaps you think the taxpayers ought to pick up that bill and what we really need is a welfare entitlement program for animals?

To date none of you have been willing to step up to the plate and take care of the problem, and the result is that our horses are suffering terribly. Those of us in agriculture are morally compelled to do what we know is right, and that is to do everything that we can to ensure all animals a good life, and when appropriate to ensure that they have a decent and humane death. Once death has occurred all sensation ends…it is no longer an issue of animal welfare. If the horse belongs to you, you get to decide what happens to the carcass. If the horse belongs to someone who needs to access the value of the meat to feed their own family, or to reinvest so that they can replace the horse with something more useable, what is that to you? You may choose to avoid horse meat, that is your right…I, and many others like myself, however, understand that it is an incredibly nutritious protein source that is 50% higher in protein and 40% lower in fat than beef, and delicious.

Perhaps you have some solution that those of us who have worked around horses, and loved horses in our lives, have not been able to see. But, I doubt it.

Sue Wallis

“Dats da real enchalada ladies and gents, nothing altered except the names of the recipents so as to protect the educated.  Now, go wash your minds out with Vicki’s rebuttel to these incorrect numbers and out and out lies at

WHO’s on FIRST!

Then

Write the Governor of Wyoming, TODAY!

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Wyoming Rep. “Slaughterhouse” Sue Wallis building a Horse Slaughter Plant?

Posted: April 24, 2010 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News, Horse Slaughter
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By Michael Van Cassell of the Wyoming Tribune Eagle

The Depravity of the “Horse Eaters” Knows No Bounds

"Slaughterhouse" Sue and fellow horse-eater Dave Duquette lobbying for support amid crowd of killer buyers at recent auction

CHEYENNE — A Wyoming state representative from Recluse is interested in opening a horse slaughtering facility in Laramie County, according to the director of the Wyoming Livestock Board.

Earlier this year, Rep. Sue Wallis, R-Recluse, was one of several legislators to sponsor a bill that allows the “disposal of” stray animals, as opposed to their sale.

“She is interested in doing something with the horses that have no value anymore,” said Jim Schwartz, director of the Wyoming Livestock Board.

Schwartz indicated there are several “investor types” in Laramie County interested in the facility. He deferred questions about the investors to Wallis.

Wallis did not return several messages left on her cell phone Friday, nor was there an answer at her home number.

Derek Grant, public information officer for the Wyoming Department of Agriculture, said such a plant would have to follow the same rules that other meat facilities do in the state.

“We have not received any blueprints or an application for a permit,” he said.

Grant did add that the meat at the potential facility is going to be used for animal feed.

“We don’t really know where it’s going to be,” he said.

"Slaughterhouse" Sue's Horse Killing "Front" Organization

Patricia Fazio, who has been involved with animal welfare issues at the state and local level in Wyoming since 1994, said Wallis had “become a pariah among people like myself.”

“I question the legality of it. I question the ethical and humane issues involved in this,” Fazio said. “I find it totally ghastly and disgusting.”

Horses cannot be slaughtered for human consumption because those facilities must be inspected by USDA inspectors, funding for which has been taken away, according to Fazio.

Fazio said such facilities create environmental problems. She said the facilities are noisy and smell.

“If Cheyenne wants one, they’d better be well prepared for it, because it’s disgusting,” she said.

//

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Public Alarm Grows as BLM Castrates Captured Mustangs Behind Closed Doors

Posted: April 23, 2010 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News, Wild Horses/Mustangs
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Press Release from The Cloud Foundation

Public Alarmed at BLM’s Surprise Start to Castrate Mustangs as Death Toll Rises in Nevada Facility

Reno, NV (April 23, 2010)—Unexpected castrating of captured male mustangs, four years old and younger, by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) started behind closed doors on Friday, April 16th in the Fallon holding pens of Nevada. Many depressed horses with swollen scrotums have been observed. The public understood that the castration of the Calico wild horses would not occur until the In Defense of Animals court case was heard in May as there is a possibility of returning the wild horses to their protected public rangelands. For months, requests for daily monitoring by humane observers have been repetitively denied at the new private facility contracted by the BLM. Now a request to visit the feedlot-style facility by Executive Director of the Cloud Foundation and Emmy-Award winning filmmaker, Ginger Kathrens, has been denied as well. Outraged members of the public will hold protests in multiple cities because of the BLM’s lack of transparency and cruel roundups. The first rally is planned for Sunday, April 25th near Las Vegas at  Red Rocks Park from 12:00- 2:00 p.m.

“BLM seems determined to create a missing generation of mustangs” states Terri Farley, an award-winning children’s author and a plaintiff in the Calico case. “In their care, 86 horses have died, more than 40 mares have aborted their late term foals and now they’ve castrated an undisclosed number of young stallions.”

On April 19th Ginger Kathrens, was denied access to visit the private wild horse holding facility in Fallon, Nevada. BLM holds fast to its policy of restricting viewing to Sundays for a few hours— a time when the horses are not being handled by the BLM. An email to Kathrens from BLM Deputy Division Chief of the Wild Horse and Burro Program, Dean Bolstad, he stated in part “The facility (Fallon) is not staffed adequately to host visitation on a daily basis or upon demand.  Each time we conduct a tour, staff have to travel from Reno or Palomino Valley.”

Kathrens responded that,  “Since visitation is denied except for a brief two hours on Sundays, it causes your ‘management’ practices to appear less transparent. Consequently, this restriction/limitation ends-up being counter productive to your educational and public relations efforts. I hope that this practice will change in the near future so people such as myself can fully view the facility and the horses — and feel like we’re invited and informed partners in the care of our national wild horse treasures.”

According to a newly released report by Bruce Nock, PhD entitled “Wild Horses, The Stress of Captivity” the deaths and abortions can be attributed in part to the sheer stress of the roundup. This report was released in conjunction with “BLM Calico Complex Roundup:  A Case Study of a Broken System for Horses and Taxpayers” a report by the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign (AWHPC).

Dr. Bruce Nock, Associate Professor at the Washington University School of Medicine and expert on the physiological effects of stress on animals, wrote: “I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say, as gathers [roundups] are routinely done in the USA, if a wild horse doesn’t die straight off from the immediate devastation and commotion, it compromises him/her physically and mentally, putting him on a path of accelerated deterioration.”

Even during the limited once a week visits, members of the public have observed the horses being fed moldy hay, which can cause serious illness and death to horses of all ages. The feeding of the moldy hay was noted and photographed on the automatic feeding trucks most recently on Sunday, April 18. Other photographs underscore the lack of cover for the horses, the extreme dust during frequent windy periods, and the presence of sand and even small rocks in the hay being fed to the once wild and free roaming Calico horses. A serious illness known as sand colic results from ingesting sand and has been known to be fatal in many cases.

“The reports we get from citizens able to get in to see and document the captive wild horses during the once a week staged tours are awful. This shameful taxpayer funded nightmare behind closed doors must stop!” states Kathrens.

The Calico Mountain Complex wild horse roundup has drawn intense public attention worldwide.  BLM went forward despite historic public opposition and a recommendation from US District Federal District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman to postpone the roundup. Despite the increased scrutiny, the roundup has been a disaster for the nearly 2000 federally protected mustangs. In late December government contracted helicopters took to the air, rounding up every horse they could find on the vast 500,000 acre Calico range—an area designated principally for wild horse use since 1971 but grazed by thousands of privately-owned, government-subsidized cattle. The roundup and short-term holding of the Calico mustangs has cost at least $1.3 million to American taxpayers while causing injury and death to hundreds of wild horses.

The 1971 Wild Horse and Burro Act placed the authority for managing wild horses and burros primarily in the hands of the BLM. 54,000 wild horses and burros comprised 303 herds throughout the West when BLM conducted the first population census in 1974. Since that time, over 100 herds have been completely eliminated and the current range population is believed to be less than half what it was in 1974. This roundup and removal policy is fast leading to the extinction of wild horses and burros in the West.

“At the same time the BLM strips federal land of wild horses and burros it is supposed to be protecting, it props up a public lands grazing program that costs American taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars every year” states Rob Pliskin, a BLM volunteer and wild horse supporter.

36,000 wild horses are currently in holding facilities instead of roaming in the lands designated for their use. Over 24 million acres have been withdrawn from wild horse and burro use. The BLM “welfare ranching” practices continue—allowing the land to be leased primarily to corporations at minimum fees of $1.35 per cow/calf pair or per five head of sheep per month along with land leases to extractive and energy industries on Western public lands.

Links of interest:

In Defense of Animals, et al v. Salazar case http://bit.ly/d6wOUQ

Las Vegas Rally, April 25th http://bit.ly/dhockW

Free Roaming Wild Horses and Burros Act of 1971 http://bit.ly/a7hOeS

Wild Horses: Management or Stampede to Extinction? Reno Gazette Sunday Special by Frank X. Mullen. http://bit.ly/9rGFwV

CNN Report on Nevada Roundup with Jane Valez-Mitchell  http://bit.ly/dvl7NE

Americans Want to Stop the Roundups in Der Spiegle http://bit.ly/cqZvKr

News Story on Calico, rising death toll & skewed numbers from George Knapp (KLAS- Las Vegas): http://bit.ly/9f1DYb

BLM Daily Reports from Calico Roundup/Fallon Holding: http://bit.ly/aSaeVc

American Herds – “What’s Left?” http://americanherds.blogspot.com/2009/12/whats-left.html

American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/

Humane Observer blog http://humaneobserver.blogspot.com/

Straight from the Horse’s Heart blog http://rtfitch.wordpress.com

In BLM “Speak” One plus One Wild Horse equals Zero Horses

Photos of moldy hay: http://bit.ly/9PLM9tst-castration: http://bit.ly/9SylSI

After campaigning for Obama, Sheryl Crow at odds over his Administration’s wild-horse plan (Associated Press) http://bit.ly/6UQleO

Mestengo. Mustang. Misfit.  America’s Disappearing Wild Horses – A History

http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/resources/wild.html

Frequently Asked Questions on Wild Horses

(http://www.wildmustangcoalition.org/id44.html)

Stampede to Oblivion: An Investigate Report from Las Vegas Now (http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225)

Unified Moratorium letter and signatories  http://bit.ly/6ck87L

Roundup Schedule- updated February 2010  http://bit.ly/bOhwdk

Photos, video and interviews available from:

The Cloud Foundation

news@thecloudfoundation.org

719-633-3842 ~ www.thecloudfoundation.org

The Cloud Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to the preservation and protection of wild horses and burros on our Western public lands with a focus on protecting Cloud’s herd in the Pryor Mountains of Montana.
107 S. 7th St. – Colorado Springs, CO 80905

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Inhumane Horse Slaughter Charges Probed at Canadian Plant

Posted: April 23, 2010 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News, Horse Slaughter
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By Richard Cuthbertson, Calgary Herald

Canadian Horse Defence Coalition’s Report has Stirred the Royal Canadian Mounted Police

Authorities, including the RCMP, are investigating allegations launched by an animal welfare group accusing a Fort Macleod slaughterhouse of inhumanely killing horses.

The complaint against Bouvry Exports Calgary Ltd. was made by a group called the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition after it obtained what it alleges is hidden camera footage from inside the slaughterhouse.

“I don’t believe in an assembly-line situation like this that horses can be humanely slaughtered,” said Sinikka Crosland, executive director of the defence coalition, which wants horse slaughterhouses abolished in Canada.

The RCMP, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the Alberta SPCA all confirmed they were investigating the situation.

In a statement, the food inspection agency said it “is validating and investigating the allegations presented in the video, and actions will be taken to ensure vigilance and respect with regards to appropriate duty of care and humane treatment of animals.”

The owner of the slaughterhouse denied the allegations of inhumane slaughter to the CBC. Claude Bouvry said the facility is monitored by six CFIA inspectors and a veterinarian.

The RCMP said Thursday it launched an investigation three weeks ago when it received a complaint there was cruelty in the operation of the slaughterhouse.

The investigation, Sgt. Patrick Webb said, is looking into whether “any circumstances are illegal in any way under the statutes.”

Some of the videos show horses not being knocked unconscious when shot. Instead, when the gun is fired, another part of the horse’s head is hit, and the animal is left suffering for what the defence coalition calls a prolonged period.

The horse defence coalition alleges the heads of the horses are not being secured properly, and the shot is being taken at an incorrect angle. Some horses, they say, are being hoisted from one leg while still showing signs of consciousness.

Twyla Francois with the horse defence coalition said the video was taken Feb. 19. She said the group can link a Lethbridge radio station playing in the background to that date. A song list from that day matches what is heard on the video, she said.

The videos posted on the Internet are extracts from 10 hours of footage and the defence coalition says they are authentic. They have also sent the video to a retired RCMP forensic investigator to ensure no changes have been made to the videos.

But another animal welfare organization, which receives money from Bouvry for projects, suggests the video wasn’t taken at Bouvry, nor during the month of February.

“It’s unacceptable treatment of animals, absolutely. However, I cannot authenticate the videos,” said Bill DesBarres, chairman of the Horse Welfare Alliance of Canada.

He suggested the videos were part of a broader movement by the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition to have horse slaughter banned in this country and that food inspection agents would have closed the slaughterhouse if they had witnessed what is depicted in the recording.

The Alberta SPCA says it has received complaints from the public before about Bouvry dealing with issues of shelter and injured horses, but found allegations unsubstantiated.

Director of enforcement Morris Airey said they’re looking into whether the video is a true portrayal of what’s happening at the facility.

“That’s part of the problem in looking at some of these things,” he said. “There’s always going to be individual incidents that are unexpected or unaccounted for as far as the unusual.

“Is this strictly those kinds of incidents, or is this a pattern that we would have to look at?”

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Florida Senate Passes Bill Making Slaughter of Horses a Felony

Posted: April 23, 2010 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News, Horse Slaughter
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By Robert Samuels, Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau

A Horse’s Life is Valued in the Sunshine State

TALLAHASSEE — Without a single legislator voting “nay,” a bill toughening laws against those who butcher horses or sell or purchase their meat is galloping to the desk of Gov. Charlie Crist.

The bill, which cleared the Senate chambers Thursday, had been a legislative priority for the South Florida delegation, where at least 22 pet horses were found slaughtered last year. They are presumably sold for their meat, sometimes even marketed to buyers as beef.

Rep. Luis Garcia, the Miami Democrat who sponsored the measure, said he hoped stiffer penalties would make the crime less likely. If approved by Crist, such acts would become felonies, punishable by a $3,500 fine and a year in jail. Selling horse meat is currently a misdemeanor.

The bill also would criminalize butchering horses for personal use.

“A lot of people are getting hurt, a lot of animals are getting hurt,” Garcia said, referring to testimony from animal rights advocates.

Earlier this session, animal advocates predicted that this would be the year for tougher animal protection laws. Several lawmakers filed bills — dealing with snakes, horses, dogs and cats — that would not cost the state any money but would curry favor from voters back home.

That prediction won’t necessarily pan out. With only a week to go, a bill banning the sale and import of Burmese pythons and anacondas is still pending in both chambers. And a bill allowing local governments to ban certain breeds of dangerous dogs, such as the pit bull, was killed.

Legislators also have passed over, again, a bill that would ban human-animal sex.

The horse slaughter bill is the first major piece of animal protection legislation to be sent to Crist’s desk. But its importance and urgency had to be highlighted for some lawmakers, who were skeptical about why it is necessary.

Rep. Maria Sachs, a Democrat from Delray Beach, spoke of the ”scoundrels” who have broken kids’ hearts by stealing and butchering their pet ponies. And Miami Republican Sen. Alex Villalobos relayed the story of a friend who found her pet horse chopped to bits in a forest.

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