(The News as We See It) by R.T. Fitch ~ author of “Straight from the Horse’s Heart”
The Pain Continues
Skull in Corral at BLM's Litchfield Facility ~ Photo by Terry Fitch
We wrote on Sunday regarding the impact that visiting a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Wild Horse Concentration Camp can have upon one’s soul. The facility that we highlighted was Palomino Valley north of Sparks, NV where we were granted unfettered access and did not experience the feeling of being watched or guarded, unlike our experiences at the Litchfield facility outside of Susanville, NV…ground zero for the Twin Peaks Wild Horse extermination.
Litchfield is where the pain begins, it’s the location of the pre- dawn briefing where law abiding citizens hear a daily “safety” briefing where BLM authorities would threaten and intimidate, until we reported it, and then be escorted out to wherever the Cattoors have set up their most recent stampede traps. Litchfield would also be our last stop on the way back to Susanville so that we could check on all of the lame and crippled foals that Sue Cattoor claims do not exist so that we could document either their progress or their demise. But now that Litchfield is full of over 900 Twin Peaks wild souls, there is something more ominous about its past surfacing than of its future.
Weary and aging eyes, such as mine, might miss the subtle hints but the artful and intelligent perception of Horseback Magazine’s Chief Photographer, Terry Fitch, and fellow Correspondent Laura Leigh did not miss the fact that amongst the captive, living horses exists evidence of death.
Jawbone in Corral at BLM's Litchfield Facility ~ Photo by Terry Fitch
Not on one day but everyday Terry and Laura photographed images of a skull and then at another location, within Litchfield, a jawbone in and amongst the survivors of the Twin Peaks stampede. At first it might not appear to be much of a big deal but as you process the information you have to ask yourself how this could come to be. Did a horse die within those corrals and those that removed the body failed to notice that it had no head? If we, as lowly taxpaying citizens, could see the remains why could the attentive government employees not detect it? What is the quality of care being given?
Many unanswered questions but perhaps it explains the current paranoia that permeates the facility as the funding public is NOT allowed to observe the corrals without being under the watchful eye of a BLM employee/escort. Nor were we granted fair and equitable access on site which is a clear violation of the First Amendment.
It’s another day; more wild horses will lose all that is lawfully right and guaranteed by Congress as Ken Salazar and Bob Abbey subvert the law but one thing is for certain and will not be twisted. We are watching and we will prevail.
The eyes of the nation and the entire world are upon the misconduct of the BLM and will not be dissuaded by threat, rumor or innuendo.
It’s all about the horses.
