Archive for June, 2012

Wild Horse Advocates Level Another Legal Blow Against BLM’s Bogus Emergency Gather

Posted: June 30, 2012 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News, Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
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Your Tax Deductible Donations at Work!

Your Support is Making this Possible

BLM’s Wild Horse Harvesting Machine by John Holland

Yesterday, June 29th 2012, with the support of individual wild horse advocates, Colorado Wild Horse & Burro Coalition, Cloud Foundation, Front Range Equine Rescue, Habitat for Horses, Dr. Don and Toni Moore along with Wild Horse Freedom Federation filed another legal assault against the Bureau of Land Mangement (BLM) in an effort to block the rogue agency from circumventing early actions to save the West Douglas herd by claiming there is a drought emergency and removing the horses from their rightful land.

Last Friday the coalition of equine welfare organizations filed a “Stay Order” in an effort to preempt the BLM from taking the horses without the court’s approval.  The BLM promptly responded, on Monday, denouncing the stay order and urging the court to allow the much contested removal of the horses.  Friday the coalition, with the support of hundreds of individual advocates, filed an answer to the BLM’s response.

“There is a fundamental error in Defendants’ (BLM) briefing that is the flawed basis for virtually all of their arguments in opposition to Plaintiffs’ motion for a stay of the once threatened, now promised, illegal “emergency gather” of West Douglas horses (Dkt. 62).” The answer states, “That is, Defendants are simply dead wrong that Plaintiffs’ challenge to the “emergency gather” is not subsumed by the claims in their complaint. Defendants are engaging in another procedural and semantic shell game which the Court should reject, and grant Plaintiffs’ requested relief. Because once again Defendants are trying to split hairs and fool the Court into agreeing that Defendants can simply come up with a post hoc new excuse for the exact action challenged by Plaintiffs in the complaint, and proceed as if this Court is not reviewing the exact action already.”

Toni Moore, one of the plaintiffs in the long standing case to defend the horses, gave an example, in her declaration, of how the removal of this herd would damage her family, forever:

“Defendants’ planned removal of wild horses from the Texas Mountain area of the West Douglas Herd Area causes me unspeakable sadness. My family has camped and visited the Texas Mountain area and we have very special family memories of the encounters we have had with the West Douglas wild horses who inhabit that area. On one occasion, as my husband and three of our young children were sleeping in their tent, they heard wild horses walking right by the tent. My husband awoke from the sound of hoofbeats and he carried the 2 boys out to watch the small band heading down the hill. Even though the children were quite young their excitement of what they had seen has persisted.”

Moore continued;

“If BLM is allowed to remove these horses, this would mean not only the eradication of the wild horses but the marring of those memories forever; this would create such an unspeakable sadness knowing that my grandchildren will never have the opportunity of their parents to witness such an amazing experience.”

“We have the video and photographic documentation to prove that the BLM has fabricated this emergency so that they can accomplish their decades old quest to destroy this unique herd.”  said R.T. Fitch, volunteer president and co-founder of Wild Horse Freedom Federation, “It’s obvious that the BLM management is not smart enough to figure out that they are standing on the brink of one of their worse PR debacles to date, which says a lot considering home many times they have stuck their foot into in the past.”

This past week the Cloud Foundation and WHFF put out a public plea for support of their legal challenge and at the time of this writing many taxpaying Americans have stepped forward and now rightfully own a piece of this historic legal battle.

“The first day the cry went out,” said Terry Fitch, co-founder and Sec/Treasurer of WHFF, “we received an influx of donations and we immediately cut a check and whisked the funds off to our legal team to verify our unified commitment to this project.  We would like to thank everyone for their engagement and support in this process.”

Members of the coalition stand firm in their conviction to save this wild horse herd and continue to encourage readers to forward their tax deductible donations to either the Cloud Foundation, Front Range Equine Rescue or Wild Horse Freedom Federation.  It does not matter which group is selected as the battle and the legal team remain the same and all are in alignment with what the ultimate goal should be…freedom for the horses.

Click (HERE) to read Plaintiff’s answer to the BLM response on the Stay
Click (HERE) to read Toni Moore’s declaration
Click (HERE) to read all legal documents associated to this historic case
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Law Catches Up with Horse Slaughter Trafficker

Posted: June 30, 2012 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News, Horse Slaughter
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Updates courtesy of Equine Welfare Alliance

Citizen Complaint Filed Against Three Angels Farms

In addition to kill buyer Dorian Ayache (Three Angles Farms) being shut down today, just 3 days ago private citizens provided evidence and filed a formal complaint with the USDA Office of the Inspector General that Ayache had violated the 28 hour USDA regulations. The regulations prevent horses intended for slaughter from “being on a conveyance for transport” for over 28 hours. Fines for violation of the 28 hour rule amounts to $5,000 per horse, or $185,000 for 37 horses.

———

Today, Friday July 29th, kill buyer Dorian Ayache, President of Three Angles Farms, Lebanon, TN was ordered effective immediately to cease all commercial motor vehicle operations. The United States Department of Transportation and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration charged that Ayache and Three Angels Farms operations constitute an “imminent hazard” to public safety. In addition to ceasing all operations, Ayache was prohibited from having others haul for him.

The order reads, “EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY, YOU MUST CEASE ALL COMMERCIAL MOTOR VEHICLE OPERATIONS, INCLUDING ALL INTERSTATE AND INTRASTATE TRANSPORTATION OF VEHICLES AND/OR GOODS BY DRIVERS.”

“FURTHER THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR VEHICLES IDENTIFIED IN THIS ORDER ARE PROHIBITED FROM BEING OPERATED IN INTERSTATE OR INTRASTATE COMMERCE BY ANY OTHER MOTOR CARRIER OR ANY DRIVER.”

“NO ADDITIONAL CARGO MAY BE LOADED OR TRANSPORTED.”

Ayache, who has had 2 wrecks since January, the latest just 3 weeks ago when his trailer carrying 37 horses broke in half on I24 just outside of Nashville, has been cited for 64 vehicular safety violations over the last 24 months. He has also been cited for driving without a commercial driver’s license, fatigued driver, health certificate, record of duty status and more.

http://www.kaufmanzoning.net/threeangelsfarmstrailing052012.pdf

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2011-title9-vol1/xml/CFR-2011-title9-vol1-part88.xml

http://mstanley2265.newsvine.com/_news/2012/06/29/12487234-three-angels-farms-ordered-to-cease-transporting-horses-newschannel5com-nashville-news-weather-amp-sports

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BLM Backdoors More BS Against West Douglas Wild Horse Herd

Posted: June 29, 2012 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News, Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
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Update by R.T. Fitch ~ volunteer president/co-founder of the Wild Horse Freedom Federation

BLM is prepared to flip-off the Court

Special Message from Ginger Kathrens of the Cloud Foundation

The BLM has blasted back at the stay order filed by our coalition of concerned wild horse organizations in an unprecedented timely fashion that speaks to premeditated planning and strategic anticipation on the part of the rogue federal agency.  Within only one business day from the stay filing the BLM fired back a massive legal assault which included a new EA which probably took weeks to fabricate if not months.  And that is not the only covert operation the wild horse destroying agency is running.  Under the guise of “helping” the West Douglas herd by placing water troughs in the area they are actually training and leading the horses to a water bait/trap location while shutting down public access to the area so that their subversive tactics cannot be documented.  It is time to act.

If the BLM is successful in pulling off this phony “emergency roundup” while circumventing the legal action we have taken against them then they will use this ploy on every single last herd of wild horses on our western public lands until their longtime private special interest grazing stakeholders are happy to rape the last of your rightful public property, then devoid of the wild horses and burros that were protected residents as enacted by a unanimous vote of Congress.

We need your help!  You don’t hear this from me often but it is coming through loud and clear right now.  Litigation takes money and we most certainly could use an infusion of funds, yesterday.  Unlike some alleged wild horse advocates who prey upon your emotions to donate and then spend your hard earned cash for personal living expenses and other non-horse related affairs our plaintiffs and Wild Horse Freedom Federation are 501(c)3 federally registered non-profits that are totally transparent and assure you that your hard earned dollars will go to pay our outstanding professional and critically acclaimed animal law attorneys for their many hours toil in an effort to defend our national icons.  Transparency is everything and our highly respected orgs bring that to the table for your confidence and reassurance.

Any donation to the Cloud Foundation, Front Range Equine Rescue and the Wild Horse Freedom Federation will be directly applied to our legal fight to save this very special Colorado Wild Horse herd.  Just leave a note for “West Douglas” and that’s where the money is going to go.  No smoke and mirrors, this is the real deal.

We are not publicly disclosing our next legal move but to review the BLM’s premeditated counterattack against us and the West Douglas herd please click (HERE) and ensure that your mouth is free of any liquid or food stuffs so as to avoid aspirating same.

Your donation to any of the orgs above is tax deductible and greatly appreciated by not only the volunteers of the groups who donate their time and money but by the very horses that we are attempting to save.

Click (HERE) to read most recent press release
Click (HERE) for additional legal documentation on this case
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BLM Overlooks Arsenic & Mercury; But Gets Rid of Wild Horses

Posted: June 28, 2012 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News, Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
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by Debbie Coffey ~ Director of Wild Horse Affairs for Wild Horse Freedom Federation ~

reprint from the PPJ Gazette

BLM’s hurry to remove wild horses is to avoid having a bunch of horses drop dead in a pile somewhere from water contamination

In 2010, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) gave the green light to the expansion of a mining project within the Triple B Herd Management Area (HMA) in Nevada, even knowing about mercury in the watershed and higher levels of arsenic in the surface water. Since grazing allotments seem to be in the hydrographic basin with “mercury deposition contributions to the watershed,” this would seem to put human food and health at risk. The BLM turned a blind eye and approved this project, and now they’re falling all over themselves to declare there’s not enough water for the wild horses because of “drought” and they now plan to waste taxpayer dollars on water trapping, and later helicopter roundups, to remove the wild horses.

But you can’t say they’re not rosy optimists. In the 2009 Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Bald Mountain Mine (the mining project given approval to expand operations), under Surface Water, BLM states:

“In general, established background water quality levels are good with the exception of arsenic, which exceeds the 0.05 mg/l Nevada water quality standard.”

In other words, the water quality is good, except for all the arsenic, which is higher than a safe level. How much does it exceed the Nevada water quality standard?

It kind of makes you wonder if part of the BLM’s hurry to remove wild horses is to avoid having a bunch of horses drop dead in a pile somewhere from water contamination. Not that the BLM would care about the horses, but they wouldn’t want anything to further damage their poor (and continually plummeting) public image.

It seems that BLM’s idea of a “thriving ecological balance” and concern about “degradation to the range” is very selective. The only thing “green” about this is the money that’s being raked in while public lands are being raped. Again, the BLM has asked for public comments, which again, they will ignore. My comment about their latest plan to get rid of the wild horses is:

June 26, 2012

Mr. Byran Fuell, Field Manager
BLM Wells Field Office
3900 E. Idaho St.
Elko, NV 89801

 RE:  Water trapping in the Triple B Herd Management Area

Dear Mr. Fuell:

The following are my comments regarding the BLM’s water “resource concerns” and supposed “severe drought” to use water trapping to remove wild horses and “relieve pressure on springs or until a helicopter gather can take place.”

1)  If the BLM has legitimate “resource concerns” for water in the Triple B Herd Management Area (HMA), the expansion of the Bald Mountain Mine (BMM) shouldn’t have been approved by the BLM in 2010, since BMM is WITHIN the Triple B HMA and will now use an additional 250 afa (acre feet annually) of water.  Did the BLM prepare 1′ or 5′ water drawdown maps for this expansion project before approving the expansion (only a year and a half ago)?

http://elkodaily.com/news/local/blm-approves-bald-mountain-expansion/article_d9ade7e3-e9ad-5f56-8695-c4a7f5ec2184.html

2)  Did the BLM not anticipate droughts in the driest state in the nation when it considered that this additional 250 afa, meant that just this one project would use about 81,462,750 gallons of water each year?  BMM plans to mine for another 10 years, so it will use over 800 million gallons of water.  Didn’t the BLM consider that this might dry up streams in the Triple B HMA?

(Looking at the past history of the Bald Mountain and Mooney mines, even if they both used only 300 afa for only the past 20 years, that would mean they’ve already used 1,955,106,000 gallons of water.)

3)  When the BLM approved an additional (approximate) 3,418 acres of disturbance on public lands for the BMM expansion, (and all the extra water) did the BLM negotiate with Barrick to make accommodations for, or share, any water for wild horses?

4)  The Mount Hope Mine, near Eureka, seems to be only about 10-15 miles from the western edge of the Triple B HMA.  This mining project will also use a lot of water.  There could be a shared aquifer or interflow between aquifers, which could also affect water (and forage) in the Triple B HMA.

5)  I see from the BLM 2012 June Oil and Gas Lease Sale Nomination Parcel map, that the parcels are just outside the eastern side of the Triple B HMA.  These will use water and fracking (risking contamination of water).

6)  It looks as if a portion of the Triple B HMA and most, if not all, of the Cherry Springs Wild Horse Territory are in the Huntington Valley Hydrographic Basin.  Your office should be concerned that this basin seems to have the highest level of mercury deposition “contributions” to watershed in the state of Nevada.  What made these “contributions” (Hint: these are near BMM) and how can the BLM “relieve pressure” on springs from this?

7)  It seems the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has had recent concerns about the BLM’s lack of protection of water resources from other mining projects in the Elko BLM District:  http://www.epa.gov/region9/nepa/letters/emigrant-mine-feis.pdf    and
http://www.epa.gov/region9/nepa/letters/GenesisMineProjectFEIS.pdf

8)  Have any extractive “uses” (mining, oil and gas, geothermal) in the Triple B HMA and nearby areas, been asked to curtail water usage during this severe drought?

9)  Is water from any of BLM’s water rights permits in the area being utilized for water for the wild horses?

I urge the BLM to prepare an Environmental Assessment (EA) and include maps showing water sources currently available to the wild horses, data and maps of any possible water contamination and water monitoring plans.  While an EA is being prepared, I urge the BLM to continue to haul water (and hay, if needed) to the wild horses you have a mandate to protect.

I also urge the BLM stop wasting tax payer money to use helicopters to remove wild horses from this HMA.   A wild horse only drinks 10-20 gallons of water a day, very little compared with the uses above, and they cause much less “degradation” to public lands.  If the BLM plans to leave only about 472 wild horses on almost 1,683,000 acres of the Triple B Herd Management Area, the BLM continues to “manage” the wild horses to extinction.

SOURCES:
http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/info/newsroom/2012/june/elko__blm_hauling.html
http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/nv/field_offices/ely_field_office/minerals/bald_mountain_north/baldnorth_complete.Par.84811.File.dat/DEIS%20BaldMtnNorthOpsArea%20Complete.pdf
http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/nv/field_offices/battle_mountain_field/blm_information/nepa/mount_hope_project.Par.16231.File.dat/MountHopeDraftEIS-CH3-3-1Intro_3-2waterquan.pdf
http://www.epa.gov/region9/nepa/letters/emigrant-mine-feis.pdf
http://www.epa.gov/region9/nepa/letters/GenesisMineProjectFEIS.pdf
http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/nv/field_offices/ely_field_office/nepa/ea/2012/eydopea2012.Par.60680.File.dat/PEA%20June%202012%20Oil%20and%20Gas%20Competitive%20Lease%20Sale%20Preliminary%20EA.pdf
http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/nv/field_offices/ely_field_office/minerals/bald_mountain_north0/bmnafeis_taxts.Par.83129.File.dat/01%20-%20Cover%20matter.pdf

Click (HERE) to visit the PPJ Gazette and to Comment
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Wild Horse “Tell-All” Film to Air on Documentary Channel

Posted: June 28, 2012 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News, Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
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“Wild Horses & Renegades” will premiere Sunday, July 1 (8 pm ET/PT), on Documentary Channel with an encore airing at 11pm ET/8 pm PT!  Other special encores include Friday, July 13 (8 pm ET) and again the same night at 11 pm ET

With the American mustang crisis in the news worldwide, award-winning filmmaker, James Anaquad-Kleinert brings his star- studded environmental film, “Wild Horses & Renegades” to National attention.   In the film, Willie Nelson, Sheryl Crow, Viggo Mortensen, Raoul Trujillo, Daryl Hannah and Dances with Wolves author Michael Blake join with former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) to highlight how the great symbol of the American West is being purposefully driven to extinction by a corrupt Bureau of Land Management. The documentary captures the corporate benefits of wild horse roundups, including clearing land for Uranium mining claims, oil and gas pipelines and corporate cattle grazing. As Jim Baca (former Director of the Bureau of Land Management) states in “Wild Horses & Renegades,” “Our Public Lands are run by the oil, mining and livestock industries and it’s their way or the highway.”

“If the public could view what’s being done to wild horses, the public would stand up and take action. This is just not a film about America’s Wild Horses this is a film about what is happening to America itself!” says Michael Blake, author of Dances with Wolves.

In “Wild Horses & Renegades,” Anaquad-Kleinert weaves shocking footage of actual roundups with the story of a horse named Traveler and his journey from a strong stallion on the range to a broken inmate at a Bureau of Land Management processing center in Canon City, Colorado. Shot in high definition, this filmʼs incredible aesthetics contrast with the mismanagement of our last wild public lands.  Americans of diverse ethnic backgrounds are interviewed in the film and the common thread is one of passion, freedom and liberty when people speak of the wild horse.

“Wild Horses & Renegades” exposes how millions of taxpayer dollars are being used to corral the few remaining American wild horses, which are then underfed, forced into inhumane and diseased living conditions, and sold for adoption or to Mexican slaughterhouses for human consumption. The Bureau of Land Management estimates it has over 40,000 wild horses in holding facilities, costing taxpayers $120,000 a day.

“I adopted a wild horse named Voodoo, who had been rounded up by the Bureau of Land Management and adopted out to a killer buyer. The man like many or most killer buyers, played a cruel game of acquiring horses and betting that he could sell them to slaughter before he had to feed them. But the problem did not begin with the killer buyer. It began with the Bureau of Land Management,” says Willie Nelson.

Director James Anaquad-Kleinert is the lead plaintiff in a recently-filed federal lawsuit challenging the 2011 Disappointment Valley, Colorado, roundup based on violations of the 1971 Free Roaming Wild Horse & Burro Act, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and the U.S. Constitution.  Kleinert v. Salazar is a rare opportunity to create new environmental law, stop the violence of roundups, and save the American wild horse from cruel and inhumane treatment, and ultimate extinction.  Anaquad-Kleinert is offering the film as a tool to spark support for an executive order ending Bureau of Land Management wild horse roundups and an a congressional investigation into the Department of the Interior.

  • That Department of Interior/BLM suspend all roundups and return healthy horses currently in short- and long-term government holding facilities to the millions of available acres on Herd Areas and Herd Management Areas that BLM has zeroed-out.
  • Co-sponsor if they haven’t already, and pass the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011 (S. 1176, H.R.2966)

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:S.1176: and http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:H.R.2966:

Implementation of in-the-wild management, which would keep wild horses on the range and save taxpayers millions annually by avoiding the mass removal and stockpiling of wild horses in government holding facilities.

Documentary Channel is primarily available through satellite television services DISH Network (Channel 197) and DIRECTV (Channel 267). 

About James Anaquad-Kleinert

Always ready to tackle challenges, James Anaquad-Kleinert, the former World Cup competitor in aerial freestyle skiing, has been hailed for both his high action winter sports films and his in-depth environmental films with a strong Native American element. Anaquad-Kleinert produces from his company, Moving Cloud Productions based in Telluride, Colorado (www.movingcloud.com). Other works include “The Edge of Telluride” and “Spirit Riders,” an award-winning documentary that showed in part on HBO.com (www.spiritridersmovie.com).

Festivals, awards and honors for “Wild Horses & Renegades” include:

  • International Wild Life Film Festival
    • Awards for excellence
    • Special Mention in Investigative Journalism, Cinematography and Music/Sound Editing
  • Top 10 list of movies for 2011 published by Blogcritics.org.
  • ITN Film Festival, New York, NY
For more information visit www.theamericanwildhorse.com
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Horse Sense Lacking

Posted: June 27, 2012 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News
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By Kathleen Parker of the WASHINGTON POST WRITERS GROUP

It is but a short canter from hating pony people to despising the horse crowd

The punch line is at least as old as the eldest baby boomer: “I didn’t get a pony.”

Here’s Jerry Seinfeld: “I hated those kids (who had ponies). In fact, I hate anyone that ever had a pony when they were growing up.”

Why is this funny? Because we all know that, for the most part, kids who had ponies were the rich kids. The lucky ones. Nearly every child wants a pony at some point and so we all relate to Seinfeld’s “hate.” We don’t really hate them, of course, but we do envy them.

It is but a short canter from hating pony people to despising the horse crowd. And this is because people who own fancy horses — thoroughbreds or heaven forbid Olympic horses — are very, very rich.

Thus, Ann Romney recently became a target of ridicule when it was revealed that she co-owns an Olympian horse that will compete in dressage, a sport she apparently enjoys. Dressage, sometimes called “horse ballet,” is the “highest expression of horse training,” according to the International Federation for Equestrian Sports.

Dressage and horseback riding in general offer other rewards, including therapy for people who suffer maladies from physical disabilities to emotional imbalances. This should not be surprising given the millennia-long relationship between humankind and the horse that transcends mere transportation.

Forget Donner and Blitzen. Give me Trigger, Fury and Flicka.

For Ann Romney, riding has been helpful in dealing with her multiple sclerosis. Indeed, horseback riding is a commonly recommended activity for MS sufferers. Because the natural walking gait of the horse is similar to a human’s, riding helps restore balance, coordination and posture, all of which can be affected by the disease’s assault on the spine and central nervous system.

Why, then, have some seen fit to ridicule Ann Romney’s choice of activities? Stephen Colbert can be forgiven his fun with the news, which focused on dressage as the not-so-common-man’s sport. But others have been less funny. Leading the charge on the political side has been MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell, who, while insisting that he wasn’t commenting on Romney’s MS, pointed out that the Romneys treat the horse as a business rather than a health expense.

Horses that compete and breed at the Olympic level typically are business investments, as O’Donnell surely knows. But the talking point must be made — and made and made — that the Romneys aren’t like the rest of us working stiffs. They have big ol’ fancy cars and horses and stuff. And they make lots of money, too. (Oh, and by the way, television anchors do rather well. What’s with the guilt?)

And why this war on success? People who are struggling through rough economic times didn’t suddenly become stupid and surely most see through this absurd, sustained attack on the Romneys.

Mitt Romney’s opponents seem to be aghast that he has made money for investors, though they studiously ignore other greed-less facts: He never took a dime in salary for heading the Olympics in Salt Lake City nor as governor of Massachusetts, to mention a couple.

The issue of Ann Romney’s horse is yet more ideological nonsense from the left, intended to portray Republicans generally and the Romneys specifically as enemies of The People. Riding horses is framed as just one more example of how out of touch the Romneys are with everyday Americans, though Democrats didn’t seem to mind that Jackie Kennedy was an avid horsewoman.

Should Ann Romney become first lady, perhaps she can promote the therapeutic benefits of horseback riding and encourage a culture that funnels the countless unwanted or retired horses to riding farms where emotionally or physically distressed people can enjoy the special communion between human and horse.

It would a better use of these noble animals than as circus or zoo meat, which is how so many wind up. Maybe she could even arrange to get O’Donnell his own pony.

Click (HERE) to visit CJOnline.com and to Comment
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New Jersey Senate Passes Legislation to Ban Horse Slaughter 35 to 4

Posted: June 26, 2012 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News, Horse Slaughter
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Press Release from HSUS.org

“I’m proud New Jersey is becoming the humane capital of the world,”
The Great Seal of the State of New Jersey.

The Great Seal of the State of New Jersey. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Humane Society of the United States applauds the New Jersey Senate for passing A.2023/S.1976, legislation that prevents the slaughter of horses for human consumption. The bill was approved by an overwhelming, bi-partisan majority vote of 35 to 4. It was introduced in the Assembly by Assemblyman Ronald Dancer, R- Cream Ridge and in the Senate by Sen. Raymond J. Lesniak, D-Union.

A.2023/S.1976 would make it illegal to slaughter horses for human consumption; ban the sale of horse meat or products derived from slaughtered horses; and ban the transport of horse meat or live horses for the purpose of slaughter.

No U.S. facilities slaughter horses for human consumption, but more than 100,000 horses in the United States are shipped every year to Canada and Mexico where they are slaughtered.

Horse slaughter harms efforts to rescue horses as rescue operators are routinely outbid by killer buyers at auctions. USDA statistics show that 92 percent of all horses sent to slaughter arrive in “good” condition—meaning they are sound, in good health and could go on to lead productive lives.

“The slaughter of horses for human consumption is a needless and cruel way to end the life of New Jersey’s state animal,” said Kathleen Schatzmann, The HSUS’ New Jersey state director. “With more than 80 percent of Americans opposed to the slaughter of horses for human consumption, New Jersey lawmakers listened to their constituents and passed A.2023. The Humane Society of the United States thanks Assemblyman Dancer for introducing A.2023 in the Assembly and once again recognizes Senator Lesniak for his humane leadership during this session.”

“I’m proud New Jersey is becoming the humane capital of the world,” said Sen. Lesniak. “Prohibiting the slaughter of horses and the sale of horseflesh for human consumption will help prevent the feared startup of horse slaughterhouses since the federal government last year lifted its ban on funding of USDA inspections.”

A U.S. House of Representatives committee voted last week to restore the funding ban which, if passed in the final Agriculture Appropriations bill, would prohibit the U.S. Department of Agriculture from spending tax dollars to facilitate the operation of horse slaughter plants. Also pending in the U.S. Congress is legislation that would prohibit horse slaughter in the United States and ban the export of American horses to slaughter in other countries. Senators Robert Menendez, D-NJ, and Frank Lautenberg, D-NJ, are cosponsors of S. 1176, the American Horse Slaughter Protection Act. Similar legislation pending in the U.S. House of Representatives, H.R. 2966, has 165 cosponsors, including the majority of the members of the New Jersey delegation.

This is the third animal protection bill that Sen. Lesniak has championed in this session. Last week the New Jersey Senate approved legislation to ban the extreme confinement of breeding pigs in two-foot-wide metal gestation crates and to require certificates of registration for captive tigers.

Facts:

•    More than 100,000 American horses are exported for slaughter each year, mainly for consumption in Europe and Asia.
•    The slaughter pipeline is horribly cruel, with many of the horses suffering immensely during transport and the misguided and often repeated attempts to render them unconscious. USDA has documented the abuse and misery horses suffered at slaughterhouses in the U.S. before the last remaining plants closed in 2007.
•    Virtually all the horses used for meat spend most of their lives as work, competition or sport horses, companion animals or wild horses.
•    During their lives, horses who end up at slaughter are given a constant regimen of drugs and other substances which are either illegal for food animals, or are potentially dangerous to people who eat them.

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