Update by Grandma Gregg ~ earlier article posted on Protect Mustangs
Fate of “Magic’s Band” still unknown
Magic, son of Braveheart, with his mare Hope and colt Harley…all MIA
Twin Peaks HMA Rush Fire on Rye Patch Road August 18, 2012 (Photo by BLM)
The Twin Peaks Wild Horse and Burro Herd Management Area is covered in fencing to accommodate the livestock permittees. These fences restrict natural migration, water resources, impact free-roaming behavior, restrict gene flow, and now have put the wild horses and burros and other wildlife in significant danger as the wild fire burns through their herd management area. The BLM is totally aware that the horses are fenced in to small areas throughout the Twin Peaks Herd Management Area as they manage them in what they call “Home Ranges” which correlate with the five major livestock allotments. Fencing is not good for the wild horses, burros or any wildlife that is trying to survive on our public lands.
Wild free roaming horses and burros are again disappearing from public lands. The increasing demands on public resources have created significant controversy and competition leading to political rather than science driven policies for the Bureau of Land Management’s Wild Horse and Burro Program. A case study approach was used to provide an in depth analysis of the Bureau of Land Management’s Eagle Lake Field Office’s management considerations for wild horses and burros in California’s Twin Peaks Herd Management Area. The study followed the planning process and removal of wild horses and burros from the Twin Peaks Herd Management Area. The research methods included participating in the public planning process, review of the major legislative requirements, planning documents, and a comprehensive scientific literature review. The study found that the Bureau of Land Management’s considerations for wild horses and burros is politically driven and reflects a loose interpretation of the legislative requirements and science in favor of livestock interests.
Related articles
- Wild Horse and Burro Bait-Trapping: Going … Going … Gone (rtfitchauthor.com)
- Mother Nature Gives West Douglas Herd a 30 Day Reprieve (rtfitchauthor.com)
- BLM Succeeds in Decimating Cloud the Wild Stallion’s Herd, AGAIN! (rtfitchauthor.com)
- Total Removal of Historic Colorado Mustang Herd Denied (rtfitchauthor.com)
- Problems Arise at Desatoya Wild Horse Gather in Nevada (rtfitchauthor.com)
Categories: Horse News, Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
What is the current status of these horses, management area? The fencing: another decision by the BLM, to accommodate the cattle ranchers!!! Wicked, self serving BLM!!!!!
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Some one told me that you all have some big concerns about the horses on Twin Peaks. these horses are dear to me. but I did not want to contact the local blm with questions as they have enough head aches to deal with so I contacted my local PAO and asked if she had heard anything about the horses she responded with a no. the next day I received this Email and thought I would share it with you all to help ease some worry.
The Rush Fire in Lassen County, California is burning across public lands that include the Twin Peaks Herd Management Area (HMA) for wild horses and burros. It has burned more than 270,000 acres as of Aug. 20.
As of Monday, August 20, there have been no sightings of injured or deceased mustangs or burros. A group of burros has been seen in an area that had been burned earlier during the fire, and they are safe. Observers on a flight last week saw two small groups of healthy wild horses in unburned areas. No other groups have been observed. Resource specialists in the BLM Eagle Lake Field Office feel that prior to the fire the horses and burros most likely moved to higher ground as they left dried up water sources for fresh water sources.
Ranchers have been removing cattle from grazing allotments, and the BLM has directed them to leave gates left open to allow the horses and burros free passage across the range. The BLM has directed fire crews to leave gates open, and shares this message at twice daily briefings with the incident management team.
The BLM shares the concerns of those interested in the well-being and safety of wild horses and burros and is taking actions to ensure the animals are able to move throughout the HMA.
Public lands in the fire area have been closed to protect public safety.
Fire updates and maps are available at http://www.inciweb.com.
Jeff Fontana
Public Affairs Officer
BLM Northern California District
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Dear Tony , Thank You for that Report , if it is in Fact True, Not that i dont believe you, I want to !!!!! But if any of that information comes via BLM , The BLM has proven to be Lairs, I dont believe a word of it !!!!!! The part of the BLM said in your report ……………………
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Thank You Tony for your update report , I am hoping all info came via trusted sources, The BLM have proved themselves to be habitual Lairs twisting the truth to whatever they want to and then believing it themselves……………………………..I would be inclined to dismiss anything they said as lies…………………………………. For the Horse sake I want to believe they are safe !!!!!
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Arlene, I am probably one of the most anti Gov people you will meet. my polices is question everything, and believe nothing with out researching it yourself. I know many in the wild horse program and have for a while. a majority are stand up people and genuinely care about the horses. in this situation there is not advantage for them to lie about what they are seeing. it would actually be more in there interest to report dead horses found every where if they were truly trying to remove them all from the wild like many of you say. think about it, if fire destroyed the horses and they are gone. they could do all the things many of the groups accuse them of. more cattle more mining more oil what ever the case may be. I do not know Jeff personally and I have to been able to speak to John or Pat. but I would believe that this report is true and honest at the time it was written. I have a friend that lives very near this HMA and it was reported to me before the fire that horses were not in those area and had appeared to have headed higher into the mountains to find water so I do have a little info to back part of it up..
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Insidious treacherous disgusting, How in the Hell do they sleep with themselves????????????????? Do any of them really attend Church on Sunday ??????
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They worship at the foot of Golden Sheathed Moo and title with foal blood.
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Dear Hoofhugs, i have been losing my patience with these Murders, I would say tear every one of those fences down !!!! Do what they do !!!!! Anything they want !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Too sad for words. Praying for a miracle.
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These non humans continue to make me ill.
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They’re all subject to dying there!!!!!!! Especially foals,yearlings that cant jump very high to escape the fires. They don’t care! PURE EVIL!!!!!! I wouldn’t be surprised if the fires weren’t intentionally set just to be rid of the wild horses. Disgusting!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Sharon, you said what I’ve been thinking. Also bulldozers can stop fires when the ground isnt too rough.
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sounds like the whole fire thing and fencing is planned euthanasia
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I know you were trying to choose your words carefully because the thought behind them is too horrific, but for the record, burning to death is not euthanasia.
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Keep us informed, Grandma Gregg!! Thank you for awareness and loyalty to these horses.
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Why didn’t someone take down the fences? I would if I was up there. They could arrest me but the horses would be alive! Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2012 11:10:57 +0000 To: judy.schnauzers@gmail.com
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My husband and I have been saying this for more than 20 years: it IS all about FENCES, but since the wild horses and burros are supposed to be FREE ROAMING as per federal law, the factions that want to completely take over our public land/Open Range cannot do to the wild horses and burros what they do to any other animal that is either a predator to their cattle or sheep, or eats the forage the cattle and sheep eat, and that is “sanitize” (KILL) them through shooting, poisoning, burning, etc. So until they can get all protections removed for the wild horses and burros and will just outright kill them where they stand and/or will capture them and send them straight to slaughter (and the plan is to send all the horses in long term holding facilities and long term holding pastures to slaughter), they have the BLM doing their dirty work and either capturing them, fencing them out of water sources so they die of thirst, putting up fences that they know will trap horses like they are doing now during wild fires, the horses will get hung up in fences that they will die slow, horrible deaths caught in wire and then probably attacked by what few predators are still out in the wild, etc.
We have seen more and more fences go up here in Northern Nevada, with not a ranch gate in sight to make it user friendly for the public to recreate on public land—-the intent is clear, and if you do find a gate and go through closing it behind you, we still take the chance we will be aggressively approached by ranchers telling us we’re on private property when we know we are NOT (and they get an ear-full from this mouthy b*tch if they try to intimidate me and usually drive away pretty disgruntled that they didn’t intimidate me one bit); these factions want nothing or no one on what they feel is “their property” to do with as they please but at the expense of the American taxpayers to have to keep paying subsidies for these asswipes to run their private businesses that would FAIL if not for us being forced to pay.
Them wanting the public land to do with as they please is also the reason they’ve been fighting Madeline Pickens sanctuary here in Northern Nevada; if it were only her private property she’s going to have the horses and burros on, they couldn’t care less what she does with them, however, since she’s also leasing a lot of acres of public open range to turn horses out on, that is something the ranchers don’t want because their goal is to eliminate ALL of the wild horses and burros OFF the public/BLM land entirely so they can take it over completely like it is their own but the tax paying public will still be stuck subsidizing them.
Leaving those fences and corrals up in the Twin Peaks HMA is what I believe is a deliberate act because its simply seen as another way to eliminate wild horses off the public land through so-called “naturally caused death”. I wouldn’t even be surprised if its later found out that someone that has an interest in the public range, either utilizing it for their private business interests and/or employees of agencies, had something to do with how these fires get started in the first place…..desperate people do desperate things, and since I’m sure the factions see the writing on the wall that more of the American public is seeing the racket that’s being run in regard to us being forced to pay for private businesses to run their businesses and we are going to put a stop to the captures, the captures have been ramped-up just like it happened in the late-’60’s right before the 1971 protection act was put in place, and other rather “odd” things are happening with wild horses in many areas where we haven’t seen a lot of wild horse deaths on the range before.
We just need to keep up the pressure on stopping the captures, exposing the factions that take our tax payer dollars for their own uses with no return in any way to us, and also STOP horse slaughter so they can’t send all of the horses in long term holding to their horrendous deaths.
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Laura, many thanks for your information and glad to see you here.
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The best thing we can do for our Wild Horses and Burros is to get the word out. Take this story and shout it to the High Heavens. Americans MUST know what is happening on their Public Lands. How many DON’T EVEN KNOW they have such a Treasure?
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Call Eagle Lake Field Office and let them know that you are very concerned about the fate of these Wild Horses.
Eagle Lake Field Office
2950 Riverside Drive
Susanville, CA 96130
Phone: (530) 257-0456
Fax: (530) 257-4831
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In these emergencies, why aren’t fences cut? Oh yea, because blm’s mission is genocide.
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When I was at the Twin Peaks stampede , summer 2010, I have pictures where the helicopter ran 2 bands of wild horses running together in to the barbed wire fencing.
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Have you published them or made them available to someone else to you to document tax payer subsidized and government authorized anmal abuse?
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Maybe we should go up there and tear all the fences down/////////????????? Sorry but it seems there is no other way to set them free from the fires !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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It’s too late now, Arlene , and the roads are closed. Keep praying.
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Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for hearing our prayer.
We acknowledge that our horses are constantly embraced and protected by Your Divine Love.
As You have given us dominion over our thoughts, we pray that our thoughts are in line with Your Thoughts, that all of mankind see our horses the way You see them, as a unique expression of Your Creation, living purely, freely, in safety and abundance, and in perfect Peace and Harmony with all that surrounds them.
We praise You and thank You, our Good and Loving Father, and have faith that You are right here, right now, dwelling in the midst of us, governing all that is seen and unseen according to Your Divine Principle.
In Christ Jesus we pray.
Amen.
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Religion, along with politics, are topics that I attempt to steer clear of on this site as everyone has an opinion, as well they should, and such things are intensely personal.
Terry and I are not physical church going type folks but we consider ourselves to be spiritual and a lot of that “other world” connection we feel with our horses and other animals that touch our lives.
So with all that said, Arlene, you prayer brings tears to my eyes.
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Dear RT That beautiful prayer was written by Vivian Grant many years ago, it always has stayed in my mind ,,,,,,,,,, for that very reason………When Barbara said to pray for them i thought of it , although I am not as religious as i should be , i have said that prayer every nite for years for the Horses, i have always believed that the Horses are a gift from a higher power , and given to us as such , a pure and wonderful gift to help us ……. and we should enjoy them, care for them and love them for who and what they are …………………..
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Twin Peaks (Rush) fire update link
http://inciweb.org/incident/article/3151/16231/
As of yesterday 313,911 acres had burned.
Almost half of the HMA.
Most of the California side of the HMA.
BLM said that everything was fine.
“No Wild Horses or Burros reported dead or injured.”
That is because they have not looked yet and they admit it.
Roads are closed – even far from the active fire – so the public cannot go in and find out.
They do not want the public in there and don’t want any bad publicity – of course.
The post-capture 2010 official report said about 1000 WH&B were left on the HMA.
I know this is not true.
Using their bogus population figures and bogus 20% annual increase
(2011 and 2012 foals added) would equal about 1500 WH&B there today.
I know that there were only a few hundred left on the HMA and very few foals this year.
They are only doing their PR job of schmoosing the public but to tell me
that none were injured in that hot and quick moving fire with cattle guards and fences
all over the HMA is like telling me Santa is about to come down my chimney.
IT “AIN’T” TRUE!
PS I hope I am wrong!
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Tear the damn fences down already!! Whoever is able, whoever is near enough & brave enough, get in there & destroy the fences. If your neighbor’s farm was on fire, or a tornado was approaching, you’d open the gates or fences to let their animals out, this is NO different, other than the fact that these wild horses & burros “belong” to all of us, yet to none of us, including the f – – -ed up government, & the other helpless wildilfe! This is too unbelievable for words, & I’m so very sorry that the roads are closed, dear God, pease don’t let these creatures suffer!! Since the fire threat is still looming in any/all drought stricken areas, please be on guard to at least try to save any potential future trapped equine victims.
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Bravo Valerie
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It isn’t just the horses and burros who have to negotiate the damn fences, either. Twin Peaks is home to more than a few species of deer and many pronghorn. So these fences put every animal at risk.
You wanna keep your cows separate from the other guy’s? What are those stupid brands for? Ear tags? Notches cut into their ears? And (while it may not be a popular concern) what about the cattle that may have missed being removed when the water and forage dried up?
I believe if I hear one more twit quote on the lack of fences in HMAs and ‘free-roaming behavior’ of wild equines, I’m gonna clock him in the lip.
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Lisa is another person who personally knows the Twin Peaks HMA … and the stallion Magic and his family. We are all devastated by the thought of the worse case scenario but we all still believe in miracles and we all still believe in Magic.
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Dear Grandma Gregg i also believe in Miracles and Magic where the Wild mustangs are concerned , I am also devastated by this ………………………………………
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What the BLM has been doing continually to our Mustangs cannot go on, it is the worst display , of pure EVIL I have ever Witnessed, I believe that their will be Justice here for our Mustangs …………………. To fence them up during the wildfires is even beyond Evil…… I cannot believe their are Humans this stinking Evil!!!!!!! We might as well say now they are intentionally burning up Wild Mustangs, OMG , I AM GOING TO BE SICK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I guess THEY can’t be stopped legally since they ARE the government.. Very discouraging to me anyway.
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“I expect some sage grouse might try to come back to those lost leks next year and after that, the numbers will be down to zero.”
http://magicvalley.com/news/local/recovering-from-the-flames/article_5ae37005-0a42-5f9d-9582-3647898fb94f.html
This is about an Idaho wildfire on public land with no wild horses or burros … much smaller than the Twin Peaks fire but same devastation for the wildlife. Put this information into perspective with much larger Twin Peaks HMA.
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Even IF any of our wild horses and burros DID survive on Twin Peaks … here is another similar wildfire and horses example … and where are THESE horses today?
http://www.ktvb.com/news/Wild-horses-rounded-up-after-devastating-wildfire-101932418.html
The answer…
http://www.wildhorsepreservation.org/news/2011/09/30/saylor-creek%E2%80%99s-wild-horses-return-home-a-year-after-the-long-butte-fire/
They captured 196 horses after the fire (2010) and then released only 30 a year later on 94,992 acres of HMA land.
That is over 3,166 acres PER HORSE on their HMA
Maybe that is not ZERO … but it is close to it.
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Many thanks for this info, GrandmaGregg. You always do such a terrific job with research for us.
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.News Alert: Bait trapping has officially completed in the Pryors. In total 38 horses (ages 1-3) plus 6 foals were removed. The adoption will be at the Britton Springs Corral on Sept. 8th. http://on.doi.gov/NB6nna
This removal is a damn shame IMO. The fense to the Custer National Forest needs to come down.
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If they dont remove it, Lets remove them all
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I have to say looking at those videos – thats the first roundup where everyone seemed to actually be interested in the horses – even the helicopter pilot didnt appear to harass them the way all the other videos showing roundups. BUT that said – returning “almost 30” horses out of 196 – same same deal as ever. And still saying 20% increase in the herd. Back to each mare having a litter, right?
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Sorry – I meant from the videos from the links that Grandma Gregg put on her email.
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If you go back to the beginnings of the comments there are 2 from Tony Ullrich dated the 23rd & 24 which for some reason didnt get printed in order. He sounds like there was GOOD news about the horses and he had reason to think it was true. I just happened to look at the beginnings of the comments & saw it now!
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UPDATE:
Keep in mind when you read this that the BLM officially stated after the 2010 Twin Peaks Wild Horse and Burro capture, that they left 953 WH&B on the HMA – 793 horses and 160 burros and that there have been two foaling seasons since then plus they released 4 stallions, 4 mares (2 pregnant), two foals and one burro since then which would equal about ~ 1384 WH&B on the Twin Peaks HMA today.
Reported by BLM Public Information Officer last week – some burros were seen on the south perimeter Skeddalde area of the fire (not burned then – most burned now per incident map) and some horses were seen in the Antelope Springs area (not burned then but burned now per the incident map) Rush Mountain (all burned now per the incident map) and the Buckhorn area*.
Reported by private citizen today – about 20 Wild Horses on the northern perimeter of the fire – Buckhorn area*.
Reported by Public Information Officer today – about 100 horses were seen during aerial flight on the Nevada side of the HMA where it has not burned.
I am very relieved to hear that some wild horses and burros have been seen alive since the fire started 16 days ago – very relieved – but if about ~ 120 +/- WH&B are still OK where are the other 1264???
Although the BLM Eagle Lake field office was told when the fire first started that there were wild horses within the fenced area – Magic and his band – near Rye Patch Rd. (mid CA HMA) no word about these horses has been given and the public roads continue to be closed to the public. We continue to believe in Magic.
More information and contact person:
Sharon Sweeney
Public Information Officer
Rush Fire
Susanville, Calif.
Phone: (530) 710-8568
Website: http://inciweb.org/incident/3151/
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We are being watched. We have made a big enough noise to draw attention in the form of heavy defense. That is a great thing! Keep being voices for the voiceless and I agree with earlier comments that education is key.
I think they started a defensive campaign after someone in our community of horse-lovers started a campaign to stop eating beef. The number of people taking action and boycotting is being felt by the industry.
Bill Camp is quoted as saying: If you’re not pissing somebody off, you’re not doing your job.
True?
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Hopefully there are other people who have stopped eating beef raised ANYWHERE in the US to protest the cattle industry at-large, but I had mentioned that I gave up beef about 6 months or so ago (which for the first 30 days was very hard to do but now I don’t even think about it anymore and its not difficult at all……I also gave up pork after seeing an under-cover video from a factory farm where the employees were throwing and kicking piglets around like soccor balls, and also trying to force a sow to do something and she was literally screaming in pain from a broken leg……and then we also have the abuses to chickens and the egg farms who toss out the little rooster chicks like garbage in a big bag and dump them in the grinder while still alive, so now I don’t eat chicken or eggs anymore either…..I’m now down to 100#, so I better learn to cook soon otherwise I’ll be invisible soon) to protest the cattle industry at-large. Although I have read that the cattle ranchers who have to lease private land are none to happy about the open range cattle ranchers getting an almost free ride with $1.35 AUM fees, they ALL still stick together and present a UNITED front whether or not they are all on the same page or not. I decided that I would stop eating beef no matter where it came from because I want to smack the beef industry in the wallet really hard.
Consider giving up eating beef everyone, even if its only for a designated month at a time where everyone will give it up for that month, and I think you will find that after about 30 days, you probably won’t miss it one bit and believe me, you also will probably feel a lot better physically (since you won’t be getting all the “additives” they feed the cattle) and mentally too!
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Laura Bell..all the NCBA, Pork Producers of america, et al will do is EXPORT (and that is where most of the public lands cattle go now).
I do get your point….
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Laura, you were already tiny. Please don’t blow away. I gave up all meat 27 years ago but I can send you a few pounds. :>) I do eat eggs I get from a neighbor and some cheese. Eat peanut butter , whole grains and lots of fruit and veggies( even mashed potatoes) cake and cookies. Drink soy or almond milk –chocolate is great. Now you see why I’m fat. :>)
My dad raised cattle and I felt sorry for them. They cause erosion every where and pollute water with E,coli. All animals raised for food are treated inhumanely.
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