Archive for June 13, 2012

Wild Horse Stampede Dispute Escalates in Nevada

Posted: June 13, 2012 by R.T. Fitch in Horse Health, Horse News, Horse Slaughter, Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
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Story by Emerson Marcus as published on RGJ.com

Hundreds of Private Cattle Remain While Protected Wild Horses are Removed

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s emergency roundup about 50 miles west of Winnemucca started Friday and has been disputed throughout.

U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz, became the most recent critic Friday writing a letter to BLM suggesting they should consider “less dangerous alternatives” than helicopter roundup during foaling season.

The BLM gathered 107 horses — 19 of them foals — in the 283,000 acre Jackson Mountains herd management area Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The roundup continued Monday and is expected to run through the next three to four weeks, BLM spokeswoman JoLynn Worley said.

More emergency roundups could happen this summer, given the drought conditions, Worley said Monday.

Three horses were euthanized Sunday because of poor health conditions established prior to the roundup, Worley said. No other injuries have been reported.

The dispute stems from the BLM’s decision to move the roundup date to Friday during the foaling season. BLM had planned the roundup start date after the foaling season in July.

“We are noticing that there aren’t as many foals out there as there should be and what that tells us is they may not be surviving,” BLM spokeswoman Heather Emmons said. “There just isn’t enough water out there.

The foals being brought in are very thin, Emmons said.

“Moms and babies are struggling,” she said.

The BLM said its goal is to reduce the estimated Jackson Mountain horse population of 930 to fewer than 270 because of a lack of forage and water.

Horses are corralled by a single helicopter contracted by Sun J Livestock Inc., of Vernal, Utah and transported to the National Wild Horse and Burro Center at Palomino Valley, 17800 Pyramid Highway. Gathered horses are gentled and put up for adoption.

But the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign, along with Grijalva, said the BLM’s decision is inhumane and their emergency efforts are disingenuous.

“Jackson Mountain (roundup) is very different,” American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign spokeswoman Deniz Bolbol said. “We have business as usual, but this is taking it to a whole new level. This is one of the most egregious BLM decisions.”

Bolbol said she received a phone call from the BLM in April. The bureau told her that drought conditions created an escalating situation and that the it would start filling troughs in the region with water, Bolbol said.

Advocacy groups asked to help with water trapping, but the BLM ignored them, Bolbol said.

Worley said water trapping, where horses are lured into a corral by water, is ineffective because skittish wild horses react before they can be corralled.

She said “over the years the BLM has found that using a helicopter to herd groups of small horses into capture site or corral is much more effective.”

The BLM attempted water trapping in the Jackson Mountains earlier this year without help from advocacy groups, but horses scattered and none were corralled, Worley said.

Environmental assessments — including three wildlife cameras that exposed malnourished wild horses — concluded that the emergency roundup was necessary, and delay could lead to poorer horse conditions before the scheduled July 1 gathering, Emmons said.

Horses have also neglected seeking new water outlets and often stayed at the same source, sucking mud from the ground in the same spot they once had water, she said.

Bolbol said the BLM is “stuck in its ways,” has exaggerated the situation and is opposed to alternative forms of horse gathering.

“This is a situation that does not develop overnight,” she said. “A drought does not even meet BLM’s decision of an emergency. Emergency is something that is unexpected. When you have a drought situation you know well in advance….They should have worked with us all along.”

BLM Winnemucca District Manager Gene Seidlitz said he organized a meeting May 4 to discuss the Jackson Mountain horse roundup. All six of the advocacy groups he invited did not attend, he said. Bolbel said she had prior arrangements that day.

Worley attributed much of the outcry against the roundup to the expanse of social media.

“More people are aware of it so we hear from more people through social media,” she said. “As far a congressional interest, that’s similar to what we’ve seen in the past.”

Click (HERE) to visit RGJ.com and to Comment

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Saving Our Horses from Slaughter

Posted: June 13, 2012 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News, Horse Slaughter
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By Sen. Mary L. Landrieu (D-La.) and Prince Lorenzo Borghese as published on The Hill

Horses have played an important role in shaping our national character

Ginerous Legacy (Harley) rescued from slaughter by Terry and R.T. Fitch

Below the West Front of the U.S. Capitol is one of our nation’s most famous statues honoring Civil War Gen. and former President Ulysses S. Grant. In front of the White House is former President Andrew Jackson, and in D.C.’s historic Foggy Bottom area is former President George Washington. Carved into the stone with these famous riders are the horses that carried them into battle.

Horses have played an important role in shaping our national character, carrying us westward. They have served as our partners for decades. There is a unique bond between humans and horses. Horses are used for sport, work, companionship and much more. These noble animals have never been raised for the purpose of slaughter in the United States.

Horse slaughterhouses have not operated in the United States since 2007, but each year, more than 100,000 horses are trucked long distances across the borders to Mexico and Canada with the intent to slaughter them for human consumption.

This practice is not only cruel, as transport to these slaughterhouses is lengthy and inhumane; it poses serious health and food export risks. The Food and Drug Administration has prohibited certain drugs for use in animals that will be used for human consumption. Because horses are not raised for slaughter, they are routinely given these common drugs during their lives, posing a serious health risk to humans when the horses are ingested.

The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011 would ban the export of horses for slaughter. It would also create a permanent ban on the inhumane killing of American horses for human consumption in our country — instead encouraging humane euthanasia when horses become old, sick or are no longer productive. Most importantly, this legislation is consistent with the views of 80 percent of Americans on this issue, who, according to a recent poll, oppose horse slaughter.

In recent years, our horses have been protected from domestic slaughter due to Congress’s suspension of funding for horse-meat inspections. This year, however, instead of an open, full congressional debate on the issue, a few members of Congress reinstated funding for these inspections during a conference committee on appropriations legislation. This action does not reflect the current public opinion on this subject, and it opens the door to horse slaughter in our country, increasing the need to create a permanent ban on the practice, as was one of the recommendations in the June 2011 Government Accountability Office report.

Public opinion has prevented any horse slaughter plant from opening after funding for inspections was reinstated. When plants were proposed in Mountain Grove, Mo., and Roswell, N.M., the outcry was overwhelming. A similar outcry recently derailed a bill to promote horse slaughter in Tennessee. Clearly, it is time to pass the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act.

These animals are an integral part of the history and spirit that formed our nation and continue to inform its development. It is time for Congress to act to end this cruel and inhumane practice for good.

Landrieu is a member of the Senate Committee on Appropriations. Borghese is an actor from ABC’s “The Bachelor” and honorary animal welfare ambassador for The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Click (HERE) to visit The Hill and to Comment

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I’d Rather Eat Peanuts

Posted: June 13, 2012 by R.T. Fitch in Horse Health, Horse News, Horse Slaughter
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Guest OpEd by Lisa LeBlanc ~ member of the Wild Horse Freedom Federation Advisory Council

“Horse Meat is amongst the costliest meat marketed, world wide, for human consumption”

Here at SFTHH, the focus is nearly always on equine welfare issues. But every once in a while, some of us throw up our hands in disgust and feel Compelled to Refute. In this case, a pamphlet, (http://library.constantcontact.com/download/get/file/1103685263837-126/Americans+Eat+Horses.pdf) recently published for distribution to Washington power brokers to assuage their ignorance over horse slaughter issues compiled by one Sue Wallis, Wyoming State Representative and staunch advocate for the killing of horses for food and profit.

That is neither slanderous nor libelous; that is a Natural Fact.

It is her contention that the entirety of American Horse Culture is being systematically eliminated by the ‘radical vegan agenda’ and the cessation of the slaughter of American horses, and that the poor and starving of the world would benefit greatly from our overabundance. The pamphlet is replete with traditions – of other nations – nutritional information, recipes, even pictures of completed meals. But after reading through the pamphlet and its philanthropic theme of “Save the World, Kill a Horse”, I had an epiphany: if there is a true desire to save the less fortunate from hunger, there are better ways to go about it that have nothing to do with killing American horses for food.

Now, admittedly, I am neither a vegetarian nor a vegan (though I do hope my friends will forgive my slow evolution). But I am a consumer, and know first hand the vast differences in the costs of meat versus grains and produce. And for research purposes, I now know the approximate protein content of certain foods – discovered during the Effort to Refute.

If you’ll follow me please, we’ll proceed to the tables:

So, yes, meat does have more protein than most grains, and both grains and meat exceed fruits and vegetables for protein content. But its important to note that, per six ounce serving, horse meat is among the most anemic providers of that protein.
Grains, along with fruits and vegetables, are extremely cost-effective for grower and consumer alike, even when grown on a massive – and hopefully, responsible – scale. And far less detrimental to the environment than nearly every aspect of meat production. While fruits and vegetables, along with meats, have their limitations as far as storage and transport, grains and legumes, when stored correctly, have very long shelf lives, making them better choices for transport to wherever food is needed.
Oh, yes; then, there’s the cost. And we proceed, again, to the tables:

And there it is: Horse meat sells for at least $20.00 per pound – on par with other ’luxury’ meats and cuts like kobe beef, prime rib and lobster – among the costliest of the standard meats marketed world-wide for human consumption. Reinforcing the obvious, this movement toward the reintroduction of horse slaughter in America isn’t driven by altruism or concern for the destitute, or the preservation of American horse culture. The slaughter and export of American horse meat to European and Asian countries is exploitation in it’s lowest form – by referencing the poor & hungry, and in viewing discarded horses as money-makers – and nothing else.

Imagine: for around $1500 – far less than the cost of 100 pounds of horse meat – 800 pounds of moderate to high protein grains and legumes – with a longer shelf life and greater portability – could nourish more than a few hungry people. Combined with bundles of heirloom (read: non-Genetically Modified) vegetable and fruit seeds at a cost of between $20.00 and $40.00, we have the beginnings of recovery for the hungry – including sustenance they can grow themselves. Radical veganism? Maybe. But it is also achievable, charitable in actuality and far more practical in every way than building or converting a property to butcher horses for export to a foreign country.

Or we can wait to see if horse slaughter facilities will keep a couple of steaks off to the side to feed a family for one day.

Furtherance of an unpopular agenda by citing its benefits to the less fortunate, through vague implications of food bestowed and an end to unemployment via the jobs offered in a kill factory is reprehensible. It illustrates a general contempt, for both humans in economic distress and horses as a species. Our leaders and lawmakers can do better – for our citizens and our horses. The question then becomes – will they?

( Protein values – except for horse meat – were compiled from calorieking.com.Costs per pound for grains and legumes were calculated from bulk food items at Amazon.com. Costs per pound for meats were gathered from various sites offered by ask.com. and usda.gov)

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