By Teresa Keegan as published on the Denver Post
“This Ain’t the ‘Feel Good Sunday’ Article that Ought to be Posted Here”
“Sorry folks, while researching for an uplifting equine related story to share with all of you, today, I came across a post in the Denver Post that I thought was the ticket. I was reading along, enjoying the poignant and accurate equine accolades and out of nowhere a freight train ran over me and left me crumpled, seathing and speechless on my office floor. Nuff said, I will let you read on but the DP is getting to be a bit of a pain in the ass.
Last week an upstart journalist prematurely published an article in the Post that squelched an ongoing investigation that was hoped to provide documented proof of the BLM’s covert dealings with kill buyers who are selling our national icons into slaughter. The damage done is real and it will be costly and time consuming to recover. Now this week the DP publishes this enigma…it’s shocking at the very least and I still can’t wrap my mind around it.
Again, sorry but please, please, pretty please read this piece of drug induced fantasy and comment to the DP. If this is an example of mainstream media, I don’t want anything to do with it.
Oh, ensure that you neither food or beverage in you mouth while reading as the natural reflex to suck air at the ending would put your good health at peril.” ~ R.T.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Would that I could unleash the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse on the likes of Tom Davis.
He’s the Colorado livestock hauler who’s been buying wild horses from the Bureau of Land Management at ten bucks a head, less than I spend on lunch at Panera’s. Although he’s supposed to be finding “good homes” for the animals, wild horse advocates are concerned that he’s instead shipping them off for slaughter.
Given that he’s purchased at least 1,700 horses since 2009, I join the advocates in their skepticism. I doubt there are that many “good homes” for unwanted children, let alone 1,200-pound untrained animals.
His remark, as quoted in a recent Denver Post article, sets off further alarm: “Hell, some of the finest meat you will ever eat is a fat yearling colt.”
That comment turns my stomach. But why? I’m not a vegetarian. It’s surely the height of hypocrisy to eat meat and wear leather and yet decry the killing and eating of horses. Why should chickens, fish and cows be fair game for my palate but not the equine species?
Reason one: I’m a lifelong horse nut. And I have precedent for my feelings dating back to antiquity. Examples abound of horse worship in the ancient world. The emperor Caligula so adored his stallion Incinatus that he built for him a marble stable, fed him oats mixed with gold flakes and tried to make him a senator.
Alexander the Great named a city after his legendary steed, Bucephalus. Mongolians have revered ponies for centuries, so much so that horses outnumber people in their country. A horseless Genghis Khan would not have gone far.
Reason two: Horses are not merely livestock. They’ve been with us for thousands of years and have likely done more to change the course of human history than any other domesticated animal. They’ve carried soldiers into battle, bleeding and dying in wars not of their making. They’ve pulled plows, drawn wagons and delivered the mail. Riderless horses have accompanied our presidents to their final resting place.
Reason three: Evolving standards of decency. People are animals, too. There once were and may still be tribes who found the flesh of their fellow humans lip-smackingly delicious, but most people now recoil in horrified disgust from Hannibal the Cannibal. In America, we don’t eat each other. Nobody’s making Soylent Green. We’ve also added dogs and cats to the “forbidden foods” list. I say expand that category to include horses.
Now, before every farmer and rancher in the not-so-wild West writes in to excoriate me for my sentimental city-girl squeamishness, I understand there are too many wild horses and too few homes for them. Not many people can take on the enormous expenditure of time, work and money involved in owning a horse. There’s much truth to the old saying: if you want to make a small fortune in horses, start with a large fortune.
The BLM simply doesn’t have the resources to continue keeping excess horses in taxpayer-funded holding pens. I understand they can’t all be saved, as regrettable as that may be. But must we send such magnificent creatures to their deaths without even a blindfold and cigarette? Surely these fiery steeds deserve better than an ignominious death on the slaughterhouse floor.
One alternative: Let them be killed humanely in a solemn ceremony, complete with banners, bugles and flowery speeches to see them off on their last journey. Let their bodies be cremated and the ashes scattered over the plains where they once ran free.
Now that is a fitting end for these noble beasts who have served us so long and so well.
Behold a pale horse.
Teresa Keegan lives in East Denver and works in the Denver district court system.
Click (HERE) to visit the Denver Post and to COMMENT!!
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Categories: Horse News, Horse Slaughter, Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
What a horrific image, it also depicts saddness, horror, dispair and unthinkable, unimaginable pain. How our horses are exploited to the greed of man when each and every one is held in our Heavenly Father’s hands. He knows every one of them.
Kim Sheppard
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That girl is nuts ! Evidently she knows nothing about wild horses.. Guess we’d better educate her.
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RT, I was reading along thinking “this ain’t so bad”. What is RT talking about. Then……….well, I’m speechless.
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Roger that…
My comment at the Denver Post:
“I am utterly speechless, and for me that is a condition that rarely is visited upon myself.
Here I am, reading along, enjoying the equine accolades and ZINGO, in the last paragraph I am propelled into some sort of Twilight Zone world where rationality and science cease to exist.
You have GOT to be friggen kidding me. Kill the horses in a “solomn” ceremony. Hey lady, death is death regardless of how you try to paint it…you just can’t buff it up to a nice shine with fancy words. You want to KILL our wild horses.
How about leaving them on their legal and rightful lands that Congress gave to them in a unanimous vote in 1971? Oh, that’s right, doing such would piss off all the BLM’s special interest buddies particularly the welfare ranchers who’s private cattle are destroying our public lands at an alarming rate and outnumber the native wild horses to the tune of about 300 to 1.
Sorry, no insult intended but either you are smoking something that is illegal or failed to take your meds. The suggestion you dropped on us was something right out of a horror movie!!
(and you published your name and your place of employment…cheeezzz)”
R.T. Fitch
Author – “Straight from the Horse’s Heart”
President of the Wild Horse Freedom Federation
The Force of the Horse??, LLC
1-800-974-FOTH
http://www.rtfitch.com
http://www.rtfitchauthor.com
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I’m with you ~ the lady is trippin’!!! It’s that kind of off the cuff journalism that continues to confuse the public and make it more difficult for those of us genuinely interested in saving our wild ones (domestic equids, too) to get the truth out there…
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I had to walk away and compose myself, before commenting, this person is on a acid trip !!!! one that turned to be a horror trip from hell !!! Ever since i laid eyes on the Special Magical horses, I have respected their beauty and magnificence they are so elegant they define the word !!! Every beautiful word i can think of is associated and connected to them , I cannot think of one beautiful word which isnt or for that matter one beautiful feeling or emotion…………….that isnt associated to the Mustang ………………. They are the true multi taskers in all respects…… any other end for any of them other then just Nature taking its course is TRAGEDY………….unacceptable………………
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Thanks R.T. for a minute I thought you had drank to many Wrangler Ice Teas!
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Well somethings screwy with their system (mine appears to working just fine). The most recent post was by Jon who agreed with her and said we were the cause of everything bad…
Oh well, I’ll just ask my question here. Ms. Keegan have you recently suffered a blow to the head?
I’m sure she’s a nice lady and is just trying to make a buck. What she probably doesn’t realize is that her idiotic words carry weight with some people simply because they were published by a major newspaper.
How could any sane person expect the actions she is proposing? Is this Hitler’s long lost granddaughter? The story does sound similar…
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What is wrong with this woman and the obvious pro slaughter rancher that agreed with everything she said??? The advocates are the problem??? What about the politicians lining their pockets with the money of special interest that want the horses gone! This girl must have graduated last in her journalism class!!! D = Degree right Ms. Keegan???
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A life long horse “nut”… << "fitting" "I understand…".
😦 Wildhorses have their home and plenty of it. Should've stuck to quoting history facts on ancient horses instead of taking the fantasy turn at "I understand"…. The plight of the wildhorses is a real life – real time tragedy. It's not a joke. Perhaps the writer could wait til the history books have documented the extinction of the Wildhorses in America and then finish the article. Something our grandchildren & great-grandchildren can read. After seeing this, I think I need a Wrangler Tea – cigarette and please pass me the real comic strips instead!!
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I thought this would be an article I could share but utter disappointment in the author. Like most journalists she only scratched the surface and took the easy way out in doing the research. She apparently buys into BLM lies that there isn’t enough land to support the horses and says nothing about the atrocities the BLM is committing with it’s birth control methods, helicopter round ups and utter disregard for the social nature of horses. Families are torn apart, foals, mares, stallions separated. This is as bad as what was done with the buffalo. This is as bad as what white men did to the Native Americans. In fact I would go so far as to liken Ken Salazar to Hitler!!!!!
What our government, and oftentimes our society forgets is that we are all connected. The horse population is as vital for the functioning of mother earth as we are, if not more so. They do nothing to harm the environment. I heard that the National Park Service does nothing to protect the horses because “they say” that horses are not a native species. Recent discoveries disprove that. The horses belong here in the west.
What needs to be more closely scrutinized on public land is the running of cattle, the exploration and development of oil and gas, mining in general. But no – those activities take precedence because they make rich people richer. These are the dollars that are used to keep the poor politicians in business.
I always welcome publicity concerning the attack on our wild horse population but people like Teresa Keegan need to go back to school. She certainly doesn’t get it.
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Dear paulatodding, Beautiful written from the heart with knowledge to back it up, Thank you !!!!
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By Horsetalk.co.nz on Oct 07, 2012 in News
10
A mustang from the Calico area.
A mustang from the Calico area. © Cat Kindsfather
An advocacy group in the US is calling for nationwide protests over the state of the federally managed wild horse program.
Protect Mustangs made the call following growing concern that some wild horses may have been sent to slaughter.
It has also voiced its concern over the use of emergency musters, sparked by drought conditions, to reduce wild horse numbers, and recent horse deaths in musters.
“We are calling for peaceful protests as well as candlelight vigils so no more wild horses will die from roundups, be tortured by the helicopters or sold to kill-buyers for delicacy meat abroad,” its executive director, Anne Novak, said.
“The public is outraged.”
Last week, an investigation by reporter Dave Philipps published on the website ProPublica raised questions over the fate of 1700 federally protected wild horses sold at $US10 a head to a known pro-slaughter buyer for rehoming.
Philipps was unable to ascertain the fate of the animals, which the bureau is normally able to rehome at one or two at a time, given the tough state of the economy.
Novak said the bureau was responsible for managing and protecting wild horses, not selling them for $10 a head under such circumstances.
She also criticized the “fiscally irresponsible roundups”.
Dave Philipps
Dave Philipps
Tami Hottes, Protect Mustangs’ outreach co-ordinator for the Midwest and South, said: ”Members of the public who are active in their communities must let their friends, family and neighbors know they can contact Congress if they don’t like their tax dollars used to fund cruel roundups.”
The group also criticized the ongoing Antelope roundup, in northeastern Nevada, sparked by drought.
“We are concerned the bureau is jumping on the drought opportunity to zero out herds for industrialization of public land – especially massive energy projects that could pollute the water,” said Novak.
“Our indigenous wild horses are environmental barometers. If they die from drinking the water then that’s a red flag something is poisoning the water out there.
“If there is a real problem on the range then bring them aid in the field – don’t round them up and warehouse them at taxpayer expense. It won’t cost much to bring them hay and water for a few months to get them through a difficult time.”
She said videos from the roundup showed, in her view, the horses were in excellent shape, with no sign they had been suffering from lack of water or forage this summer.
She noted early fatalities, including a stallion breaking its leg in jumping from a corral.
She questioned the overall accuracy of bureau death counts, and criticized the growing number of wild horses kept captive.
Horse Trailers
Land for Sale
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Definitely a screw loose with this lady…or more. And reading the article over a few times, before the last paragraph, some nutty comments and screwy thinking. An odd flow of thinking and writing. The comments on Caligula, Genghis Kahn, Alexander the Great, Hannibal the Cannibal (!), Solyent Green!!! It felt like she was “high” on something and/or at the bottle. And her last paragraph! I DID believe she was serious. But not now. Aside from killing OUR wild ones, can you imagine the scenario she portrayed? My take on her article is, she wrote “tongue in cheek.” She is definitely big-time pro- slaughter, and her writing was a set-up for the final, purposefully to shock anti-slaughter advocates. Nutty? Maybe. But very savvy.
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Don’t we have already have enough sick people within BLM & FS etc without this dip$hit?
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Teresa Keegan, a “contributor” to the Denver Post, is also a court clerk, and here’s her e-mail address. tkeegan@ecentral.com. You might also want to copy smcmillan@denverpost.com and mjaffe@denverpost.com.
These were the 2 people at the Denver Post that Tom Gorey copied on his e-mail to a wild horse advocate, telling them:
From: TGorey@blm.gov
To: the advocate (e-mail address removed), jworley@blm.gov, janevelezmitchell@yahoo.com, smcmillan@denverpost.com, mjaffe@denverpost.com
Sent: 10/3/2012 5:51:50 A.M. Mountain Daylight Time
Subj: Re: Jane: BLM selling horses to kill buyer? (Denver Post)
“The ProPublica/Denver Post article provides no evidence to support its insinuation that wild horses bought by Mr. Davis ended up in slaughterhouses.
The BLM will investigate any credible claims that wild horse buyers are not fulfilling their sales agreement, which stipulates that horses are not to be resold or transferred to parties that intend to process the animals into commercial products.”
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That describes this gal to a T! Just one more to add to the bunch.
Really doubt that this “horsenut” has any actual hands on experience with horses – nor has she bothered to find out the facts of what is going on with the horses.
Why give her the opportunity to ramble on about something she knows nothing about?
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RT I posted over there. And then I tried to give you a thumbs up but DP won’t allow me too since I’ve only posted once. Totally agree with you about that ugly zinger.
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About 16 comments now on DP site. I got my two-cents in for her too:
Dear Ms. Keegan,
I am sorry to hear of your illness. I certainly hope you are able to acquire the proper emergency care that you obviously need. Perhaps a day of research on the subject might help you? You might begin by reading the 1971 Congressional Act that states: It is the policy of Congress that wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death. This is the law of the United States of America.
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This is one of the word examples of “journalism” that I’ve ever witnessed. When are people going to wake up. This is not about the environment, this is about cattle and oil! This is about money and greed. Our horses are suffering because the cattle ranchers and oil companies want the land. Must we just kill EVERYTHING in our path? Is this was “21st-century man” is all about now? This so-called “journalist” needs to do her research before spouting off about “ritual killings” and those who responded to her column in favor are just as ignorant. “Lastcowboy” for one is no “cowboy” but I certainly hope he is “the last” of his kind!!!! Idiots!
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Barb;
you echo my thoughts exactly…this woman is a class one idiot! journalist????… I was a paid broadcast journalist for more than 20 years so I know one when I see/read/hear one and also see the subtle spins like a sore throbbing thumb that most miss …a Journalist she is NOT…seems to me spun the proslaughter point and flowered it up to suck the rest of us in to reading her garbage! She’s nothing more than a paid ‘poison pen’.
It’s amazing and disgusting at the same time that I see more and more SLANTED, SPUN, propagated garbage, or someone spewing their mouth off without researching first. Is that what they are teaching in higher education these days, how to bully, twist and make up things to serve an advantage and or point of view? Those of us with integrity are dismissed because of our gray hair….how laughable, we’re actually dismissed due to our integrity!
The whole point of journalism 101 was to present both sides, stay neutral, and let the listener, reader, viewer decide for them self….seems like this broad skipped over 101, and due to what mouth piece or pen these companies are hiring putting in the public eye, I don’t believe they even teach 101 anymore!
Her article should be on a proslaughter web site or other outlet, NOT for public viewing!
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Wonder if Teresa Keegan is related to Secretary Salazar or any members of the WHB Advisory Board who hail from Colorado?
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The people who commented favorably, in the paper where this article started, are as crazy as Caligula. They all need to have their heads examined. I do compare the decimation of these horses to the Holocaust. It’s a genocide with mad men behind it and greedy and power happy people pulling the strings. Of course these horses belong there. They were there before the cattle ranchers sent out their multimillion dollar herds to cover the lands that these horses fed off for centuries. Hitlers final solution was just as diabolical toward people who he did not consider as having the right to live and breathe the free air. What’s the difference. Oh yeah, those were people, not animals. Forget it folks. A sentient being is just that; and all sentient beings deserve the respect of mankind. Thats why we are called Humans. We are supposed to be humane. Humanity did not exist for Hitler and his followers just as it doesn’t exist for the BLM and their profiteers, the Cattle Ranchers. Being Jewish I know exactly what Hitlers plan was. My family, those who survived, still tell stories of the diabolical death machine. Are they doing anything different for these horses. I say no. They want to exterminate them just like Hitler tried to exterminate my people. As a survivor I say,”Never again”, not just for people but for all sentient beings.
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Well said!!!
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This woman is unbalanced and knows nothing about wild horses or horses period I am franky disgusted and horrified by her uneducated nasty comments To talk of the horses being ” sent off ” in some kind of ceremony is frankly ” sick” She has no concept of compassion and knows nothing about the horses “rights” to roam free and wild. I should like someone to get her e mail and send her the videos of the BLM rounding up the horses and watch them flee for their lives breaking their legs and trampling on the baby foals. Further she should be sent a video of a close up horse slaughter
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I made several comments. I won’t go into them because most of us share a similar knowledge base. Nonetheless, I find that I am growing increasingly frustrated that this horrible, unnecessary, animal cruelty continues with impunity. What makes me really furious is that these people are using our tax dollars to do it.
By the way, there is going to be a special on the President’s energy plan on Fox tonight. Some of you probably don’t watch Fox regularly, but this might be of interest. Although this channel makes no bones about representing the consevative point of view, I expect something like this might have some balance to it. Without seeing it, I cannot endorse it, but it is being presented by their news department rather than one of their on air personalities, so…you decide.
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I have not read any comments yet. I did comment to a thread on FB today after I was reading all the comments and regardless of who was saying what I noticed one thing; no science was being mentioned. The answer to all of this is in science and the law, too. Independent study has not been done in the wild or now, in the long term holding world. There can be created, through studies and field work, the best management for the wild ones and for returning them to their ranges also if we can save their lives in the near future from a destiny that BLM and others have already mapped out for them.
So, I am lumping this short sighted and poorly intended piece of crud in with all the others that have not recognized the way one gets from A to B in the natural world with our wildlife! Just because PZP is there,or spayvac or whatever… they have no business being used on our wild mares. BLM is gonna use it this November in Wyoming on the mares to be released from the big Lander area roundup. No independent studies and no real solid info and yet there BLM will go and destroy the reproductive capabilities of many wild mares.
Are we gong to let them begin to do this? Public outrage stopped the geldings from returned to the range instead of stallions. This is the dead end BLM wants. Stop them, friends. Please.
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Dear Mar , Awesome spot on !!!!! Thank You !!!!!! They do not use real science because the BLM would be dead in the water !!!!!
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I had a horse for 27 years and I lost him 3 years ago. I still want to own a horse again. Right now is not a good time. I am paying off two loans I took out from my retirement fund to pay for some car repairs. The second was to buy another car when the old one died on me! I am also paying off for a hospital stay when I had a hysterectomy! If my part-time job had not ended at the stable were I had my horse boarded,I would not be in this financial problem! It is all thanks to the stable owners being dumb asses! I know owning a horse is expensive! I just paid off my horses vet bill earlier this year! I had to buy him special food! I worked at the stable 7 mornings a week to work off his board! Every 8 weeks he had his feet trimmed! I washoping in two years after Major died I would get another horse. It has been three years and it still has not happened! Maybe in two more years I can! I miss owning a horse and I am not the same since Major died! Major was my friend,a companion and one of the best things that ever happen to me! Owning a horse is priceless and I want to have that feeling again!
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