Comment by Debbie Coffey on this article on JournalStar.com
BLM’s documented “Vision” for our Wild Horses and Burros
In an article on JournalStar.com written by Art Hovey (link above, and copy of the entire article at the bottom of this comment), a new BLM Long Term Holding Pasture contractor (Stan Dobrovolny) in Atkinson, Nebraska, made a public comment advocating the re-opening horse slaughter plants.
STAN DOBROVOLNY statements include:
“Up to now, he sees ‘a lack of understanding from the public and false solutions coming from far left wing environmental nut cases’.”
Stan also stated “The best control would be to open the kill plants and let the people who like horse meat eat horse meat.”
Your tax dollars are paying this guy.
How does the BLM chose people to care for our wild horses? Does the BLM just look for a chunk of land that is suitable?
Did the BLM personnel who interviewed Stan have bad judgement, or do they share his callous attitude? This attitude seems to start at the top and trickle down to the BLM condoning a reckless helicopter pilot like Josh Hellyer (used by Sun J at roundups), to putting wild horses on the private property of a rancher who thinks it’s a good idea to slaughter horses.
There needs to be a radical attitude change from top to bottom in the BLM’s Wild Horse & Burro Program, which actually has a mandate to PROTECT the wild horses and burros. When the BLM places horses on the property of a person who believes in slaughtering them, one would naturally question the care the horses might receive. Even if the horses are on a pasture, they are loaded and unloaded, may require supplemental feeding, etc.
It is important for all advocates to read the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971.
Some important points in this Act are:
“The Secretary is authorized and directed to protect and manage wild free-roaming horses and burros” (notice the word protect).
“It is the policy of Congress that wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death; and to accomplish this they are to be considered in the area where presently found, as an integral part of the natural system of the public lands.”
So many aspects of the BLM’s Wild Horse & Burro Program indicate both a lack of caring and incompetence, that there should be a Congressional Investigation into EVERY aspect of the program. As we know, there is a lack of PROOF of an excess of wild horses and burros (photos and videos of the wild horses and burros taken during inventory flights to validate the raw data), to even justify removing them from their federally protected Herd Management Areas.
Here’s the entire article:
Nebraska rancher puts wild horses out to pasture
June 18, 2013 6:00 am • By ART HOVEY/lLincoln Journal Star
The numbers at the Wild Horse and Burro Center at Elm Creek have been holding steady at between 430 and 500 for the past decade.
Nonetheless, the population of horses relocated to Nebraska from over-populated federal ranges in western states has more than doubled in recent months because of an Atkinson rancher’s decision to offer a long-term holding pasture for 800 mustangs.
“I was born and raised with a horse between my knees,” said Stan Dobrovolny, “so nobody likes to see horses starve to death like that.”
Dobrovolny’s entry on the wild horse scene occurred over several months last winter, he said Monday. It comes to light as the National Academy of Sciences recommends sterilization to the Bureau of Land Management as a correction strategy for what many see as a failed management policy.
Recent estimates put the wild horse population as high as 50,000 and climbing and the annual cost of management at $75 million and rising.
Tom Gorey of the BLM office in Washington declined to react to a June report that the agency asked the academy to provide.
“We want to let the report speak for itself,” Gorey said Monday. “We don’t want to characterize it.”
Joe Stratton, facility manager at Elm Creek for the past 15 years, also steered clear of a detailed reaction to the National Academy findings. But Stratton acknowledged efforts to find people willing to adopt horses brought to a site about 160 miles west of Lincoln had been going backwards lately.
“The last couple years, we’ve been averaging right about 50 animals adopted a year out of our facility,” he said. “So it’s gone down a significant amount.” He blamed the trend on “high hay prices, drought, the economy, you name it.”
The weakening response has brought an end to periodic efforts to truck adoption candidates to events scheduled for that purpose in more populous parts of the state. “We haven’t really done adoptions off site much, because the productivity of that has not been there.”
Meanwhile, the breeding and birth cycle puts pressure on the supply side at the rate of 20 percent more horses in 2012 than there were in 2011.
“That’s about 7,600 babies every year,” Stratton said, “so if you don’t catch that many a year, you’re losing ground.”
Elsewhere in its report, the National Academy found fault with capture and removal. That’s because, according to the study’s authors, it creates a self-perpetuating problem in which removal makes room for more horses to survive in an area that otherwise would be overgrazed.
Past suggestions that captured horses be sent to slaughter plants produced a huge outcry from those who wanted what they viewed as a more humane solution. Sterilization is not a new idea either, although it’s new coming from the academy.
Dobrovolny said he wants to read the report rather than rely on media portrayals. Up to now, he sees “a lack of understanding” from the public and false solutions coming from “far left environmental nut cases.”
He sees merit in the slaughter idea, even though killing the horses is a crime that dates to the Nixon administration and even though a slaughter plant operated at North Platte is among many that closed.
“The best control would be to open the kill plants and let the people who like horse meat eat horse meat,” he said. “Obviously, that’s my opinion.”
France has been one popular export destination.
In the absence of more effective controls on horse numbers, Dobrovolny is in the business of custom grazing for mustangs relocated to his ranch.
No, he said, he’s not doing it for free.
“Actually, if you’re in the ranching business, everything you do has to have some profit to it or you can’t afford to do it.”
Reach Art Hovey at 402-473-7223 or ahovey@journalstar.com.
Click (HERE) to Comment at the Journal
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Categories: Horse News, Horse Slaughter, Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
Isn’t it amazing that this slaughter fan is actually getting rich with our wild captives grazing on his land? This is the height of irony and the norm for BLM. He is a great advertisement for BLM infamy and betrayal. The epitome of the old boy standard.
Thanks again, Deb, this is a gem amid the blood and manure.
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We must repeal the Burns Amendment that is what allows the Blm to do the things they do in rounding up horses and selling them! The Burns Amendment that was a ryder to the Wild Horse and Burro Act basically cancels the protective law that was put forth in the first place
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An amendment cannot go against the very law it is amending. I believe the Burns Rider has never been legal. But who has the money to explore that? It should be repealed by Obama who said he would strike down all stealth riders. He has not kept his word likely because DOI/BLM have told him to stay out of their business.
BLM continues to do as they please. And we keep losing our rights to stand up for what we believe. There will be a reckoning at some point. I just hope it is the public and the good who take charge and not career bureaucrats in the Agency that win.
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Deb Coffey; “So many aspects of the BLM’s Wild Horse & Burro Program indicate both a lack of caring and incompetence, that there should be a Congressional Investigation into EVERY aspect of the program. As we know, there is a lack of PROOF of an excess of wild horses and burros (photos and videos of the wild horses and burros taken during inventory flights to validate the raw data), to even justify removing them from their federally protected Herd Management Areas.”
Another way to see this is the BLM created Herd Management Areas within the Herd Areas in order to reduce the lands the horses could be on. As soon as this was done the policy of the HMAs became BLM policy and the laws pertaining to the Herd Areas were not acknowledged.
HMAs are not the law but an invention of BLM which has enabled them to manipulate where the horses can go as well as giving them more space for cattle. What also seems to be happening is the horse areas of an HMA is not shared with cattle so much any longer. Some are, I know, but many allotments on HMAs are groomed, fenced and close gated. The HMAs shrank and the horses’ herds shrank and the cattlemen have not had to have the wild horses on their HMA allotments anymore. I have seen so much new fencing and no horse sign near it. The HAs need to be reclaimed and the horses rights to their lands restored. Fencing is supposed to be an application that the public can comment on, too. When was that ever done? Not on Wild Horse HAs.
I would say more but I am not going to give BLM a free look at what I think we all can do. But the time is coming that we must make deeper commitments and create larger group actions and find more Americans who understand that this is a national effort and the fight to save our last wild horses and burros.
BLM, we are not going away. No matter how ugly you make this and no matter how much power you wield. The people want positive change.
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I heard today there’s a lot of Mustangs missing at Palomino Valley? Does anybody know what’s going on there?..
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Sadly he has probably already sent them by the truck loads to slaughter only to have the BLM send him more since the BLM has such a hard time counting I would not put it pass them. So he may be getting paid for 800 head of mustangs but are they the same head he has on his land to start with. Sound to me like he may have already sent some to Canada or Mexico if he is all for slaughter….. I think we need to have a head count at his ranch…. I just can’t believe anyone who is making that much money by housing mustangs would be so willing to send them to slaughter unless there is something else behind the reasoning.
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WOW, what a statement, to me it shows just how corrupt the whole BLM program is I think he really helped all the horses in showing his ignorance and voicing it in an article, NICE…… What in hell is the matter with the stupidity of SO MANY so called cowboys or cattlemen or what ever you want to call them it’s like they are barbaric??? Shameful, ALL OF BLM is SHAMEFULLY CORRUPT..
SO many in this country to some of our politicians to Big Agriculture, to Cattleman’s Ass to Farm Bureau to ALL Pro Slaughter, I could go on, THEY ALL will destroy our country, our lands we don’t have to worry about others from the outside coming in to do it THEY ALL are doing it right now from the INSIDE out!!!!
God can you honestly imagine what it will be like here in say 20 years, not good not god at all…..
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FIRE HIM!!!! Public employees, including contract employees, are not allowed to make public statements without the written permission of their employer especially with regard to matters of their own self-interest. If he is not being investigated for this, as a taxpayer, I want to know why not? When he is no longer a contract employee he will have his 1st amendment right to say any stupid thing he wishes, although no one will care to listen.
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Great. I’m very dismayed as well that the Interior is starting off on the wrong foot by only seeming to be concerned with population control, not humane treatment or the fact that they are part of American public’s history and legacy the primary thing. The American people love the horse and want them protected and cared for properly.
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Wild horse & burro advocates should PROTEST all grazing permit renewals…look at the website of the BLM field office near you, and if you see one, let them know that if there isn’t enough water or forage that might necessitate the removal of wild horses & burros, then BLM shouldn’t be renewing grazing permits.
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Agree big time. It’s time for a big “Protest”.
Long term contracts need to be revised based on available forage, water and how make it work with the needs of the “Mustangs”.
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what we need is some more input from some boneheaded backwater, fertilizer sniffing cattleman who could no longer make it in private enterprise and is sucking welfare off the government..Rally gives you confidence in the care he is giving to those wild horses in his care
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Sandra you nailed it!!!!…Unable to be successful at anything else, today a government Mooch.
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Atkinson, Nebraska/Keystone Pipeline
http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20110927/nebraska-sandhills-ogallala-keystone-xl-state-department-hearings
Small Nebraska Town Prepares for Contentious Keystone Pipeline Hearing
The American Petroleum Institute and other groups to bus 150 pipeline supporters to town of 1,300. Local people worry they won’t get time to speak.
On Thursday, a team of State Department officials will settle into the high school gymnasium in Atkinson, Neb.
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Did comment on this article – sure sounds like the local people are getting pushed aside in order to make this go thru. Cant blame them for being scared – This XL pipeline is carrying such toxic stuff!
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According to an ad (In The Durango Herald) soliciting pasture land for BLM horses, the BLM pays $1.30 per head per day to ranchers who provide long-term pasture for wild horses. So if he got all 800 horses on his range, he would be getting $1040 per DAY of our tax monies. Of course he loves horses!
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Kind of makes you think hes not so smart – encouraging something that would cut back on his income!
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Whos watching his guy? I found the article that stans speaks to the press.Please read it and Please Read the Peoples Post Below It. I found the answer to a long time question in the peoples post.I found that we pay 5.00 a horse a day to the rancher and the rancher pays us 1.32 per cow to graze on the horses land. Come on now this is coruuption and in PLAIN SIGHT! This is a no brainer..put the horses back where they belong on the range and tell the rancher go home and house your own livestock..and keep your 1.32 .No More Welfare Ranching! see link I have attached.
http://journalstar.com/news/local/nebraska-rancher-puts-wild-horses-out-to-pasture/article_57e6f217-f550-563f-827a-38efd3ff743d.html
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I despise how the welfare cattle system is constructed against the Wild Mustangs……..it seems the welfare cattlemen are the wannabe’s, cannot afford enough land for the amount of cattle they run………….Gee what’s wrong with this picture?
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Yes Dolly, but we pay ~$5.00 per DAY to this guy whereas a rancher pays $1.35 per MONTH.
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Thank you Grandma Gregg.I will correct this on my facebook.I have been trying to find the particulars of the money exchanging. I know we are getting the shaft. I wonder how people justify ripping off our country and then complaining about its condition. Seems money makes a person forget their ethics, morals, kindness, and humanity. I am disheartened by the things I see and read. I have ranchers in my family that are not to happy w/me right now. But things need to be made right and fair. I have had Horses and love them..they are a supreme animal that’s uses and affections no know bounds. Again thanks for the imput. Have a good evening.
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So here’s my response to Mr. Stan NOT-the-Man……when you say asinine things to American tax payers who FINANCE you getting PAID to take care of those horses for US through the BLM such as ““a lack of understanding” from the public and false solutions coming from “far left environmental nut cases.” that could I suppose apply to a minority of people who while they are passionate and get a little wound up about wild horses and burros being captured, they are not fully educated yet on what’s really going on here and do sometimes act a bit “erratic” and emotional sometimes…..Since they are not educated on what this racket by our government is, their behavior sometimes goes a bit off the deep end, but have no fear Stan, I’m educating more of the “uninformed, naïve general public” and when they realize what people like you and agencies like the BLM are doing, they are PISSED, so people like you are well on their way to more and more exposure of the unethical racket you’re running and we will STOP you from continuing without paying for it. However, that statement does NOT apply to me, and also does not apply to a lot of other people I know either…..what it does show though is your total arrogance, sense of entitlement, lack of respect and regard for other people’s opinions that PAY you for maintaining those wild horses, and that you truly believe you are an intelligent person when you are not…….you Stan are archaic and out-of-date, just like Open Range cattle ranching is and has been since the advent of super highways across Open Range states where motorists have deadly collisions with cattle roaming all the time (Iive out in the desert in Nevada, so am very familiar with dodging cattle lying down in the middle of highways and/or wandering across the highways that are 65 mph+), so just like the dinosaurs, you sir are on your way OUT…….
And seeing as I too grew up on horses (I’m 54), but unlike you Stan, I actually ride and train in most disciplines, and with most ANY breed of horse, and not in the totally “tunnel vision” way I’m sure you have done your whole life, THAT has led to your crap attitude and total lack of regard for horses as thinking, feeling, animals that humans “use and abuse” and then throw away like old furniture that isn’t useful to them anymore.
And of course you and other RANCHERS are pro-horse slaughter because you do this sh*t ALL THE TIME and sell your old and/or horses you don’t want to bring in and “hay” when it is a drought year breeding stock horses, youngsters you don’t want to “hay”, broken down ranch horses who can’t “do” for you anymore, etc. to feedlots and at kill sales all the time, and it is high-time the American public knows that you as a supplier of horses into the slaughter pipeline because you get to dispose of horses for FREE will either need to start paying to dispose of horses (see my horse slaughter Dealers rules, laws and regulations below) or you will be forced to act responsibly and quit breeding so many horses, stop wrecking your ranch horses and throwing them away at slaughter, learn how to train for success AND longevity and when you guys don’t have the free horse disposal system in place anymore and thus the SUPPLY of horses dries up, the OPPORTUNISTS of the kill sales, the feedlots, the kill buyers, the transporters, the slaughterhouses, etc won’t have enough horses coming in to afford to run their businesses and then it will be EASY to ban horse slaughter entirely.
You and your rancher buddies are disgusting because you are all a bunch of users of the horse slaughter system that keeps allowing jackasses like you to dispose of your horses for FREE while those of us who still have souls and possess empathy begin to behave more conservatively if it looks like we can’t afford to have so many horses but do not believe in using horse slaughter to dispose of our horses because not only is it inhumane, those of us with self-respect, morals and ethics would never “use” a bad and cruel system of horse disposal even though it’s FREE (and gosh Stan, I’ve also NEVER been on government assistance -and I do believe in it for people that need temporary help to get through a rough time – and have also never even collected unemployment because I have always had a job since I was 12 years old).
And not only should you and your family be ashamed with your pro-horse slaughter stance of taking money from we American tax payers in order to take care of federal wild horses and burros who should never have been captured in the first place, our government in the form of the BLM NEEDS to read the 1971 LAW governing OUR Wild Horses and Burros AND also the Constitution and see that they are not only breaking the law, they are committing fraud and running a racket on the American public too.
And while there is still time to “do the right thing” and find your morals and ethics again and quit being users, time is running out because the American public is becoming more and more educated everyday regarding the unlawful eradication of our federal (and state) wild horses and burros and we are going to make sure it stops and people and agencies are held accountable……..
So hey you 80% of the American public who are against horse slaughter and wants it banned, you can wring your hands and cry about how bad horse slaughter is, you can write to your congressmen and women, your Senators, the Prez of the United States, (and quite frankly, I don’t think most of those people listen to one thing we say and/or write most of the time), you can march and rally and protest, you can hate the kill sales, the kill buyers, the slaughterhouses that slaughter horses, you can yak at people about the drugs in horse meat and how bad it is for them and they either don’t care and/or think YOU are being insincere because don’t you think they know you really don’t care about them, etc, but the solution to the issue of horse slaughter is relatively simple…..
GO AFTER THE JERKS WHO FURNISH THE SUPPLY OF HORSES THAT OTHER ABOVED NAMED PEOPLE AND ENTITIES ARE JUST TAKING ADVANTAGE OF AS AN OPPORTUNITY!!
And yes, if the opportunity and supply of horses wasn’t there, they’d get into other businesses in order to take care of their families (because yes, those people do in fact usually have families that they love).
Yep, I’m saying that we all can SHINE A SPOTLIGHT of EPIC PROPORTIONS on the low-life creeps who knowingly (that’s why I hate it when mass production breeders are called “irresponsible” because irresponsible in my book is when you do something without a plan, but these people/entities are very calculating when it involves making and/or saving money and their plan is ALWAYS to send horses they are done with into the slaughter pipeline where they don’t pay a dime to dispose of them!), and whether directly or indirectly, send their and/or their clients horses to a horrible death by slaughter (sometimes while conscious) in Canada and Mexico.
Now the interesting thing about who these people are is that they are USUALLY prominent, powerful, and quite often people with money in the horse industry, but also often are people in other careers like doctors, dentists, lawyers, CEO’s, celebrities, etc, who NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS will want most people, whether friends, acquaintances, or complete strangers, to know they are involved in disposing horses at horse slaughter. They would be mortified if they were exposed for doing that, so they are the people that need to be targeted for exposure and if we expose them and they are too embarrassed to keep shuttling horses to slaughter via kill sales and feed lots, then why-oh-why would new horse processing plants be opened in the US, how would kill buyers, auction yards, feed lots, etc stay open if not enough horses are being supplied, and how can transporters and out-of-country slaughter houses that only process horses stay in business if the suppliers aren’t supplying?
So you say you don’t know who those people and/or organizations and entities are who do this? Well, I’ll tell you who they are in some of my writings below:
It is mass production breeders who breed for quantity over quality, and who individually produce 50, 75, 100, and even 200+ foals every year, and then they sort through them and only keep the ones that show true potential for whatever they are bred for in the first place.
So you may ask do these breeders make money off horse slaughter and the answer is no, because after perhaps paying stud fees (if they don’t own the stallion), caring for the mare for almost a year of pregnancy, birthing the baby, registering the baby, caring for the mare and baby, etc, no, they certainly wouldn’t make money from selling the horses for what they’re worth by-the-pound at the kill sales and/or to the feedlots….HOWEVER, when you multiply the number of horses they currently dump for FREE (and get paid for by what the horses weigh) by anywhere from $250 up to perhaps $1000 for humane euthanasia, depending on how many horses that is they dump for free currently, THAT figure could be enormous annually which would cut down radically on their profit margin when everything is added up.
More culprits in the dump-horses-for-FREE racket are the mostly futurity trainers who train long yearlings and early 2-year olds in rigorous training to get them ready for the very high prize $$$ in the 2 and 3 year old futurities in racing, reining, cutting, reined cow horse, pre-green hunters, etc, and yes (sadly) even some of the Warmblood breed testing in dressage too.
These so-called “trainers” currently only train for success because they can dump the horses they cripple up physically and/or emotionally, and that can’t even be sustained on drugs in order to compete, for FREE. Sure, some of these horses are used as breeding stock, but Heaven help the poor geldings who can’t breed when they are screwed up. These poor horses that are dumped may as well be a talented lump of wood for all of the lack of love these ingrates have for these horses, and these “trainers” regularly ruin horses mentally and physically by starting them in rigorous training as long yearlings and early 2 year olds because there is always more where they came from because of the quantity-over-quality scam that’s going on. In other words, these “trainers” train ONLY for success, and NOT for success AND longevity.
And then we have the owners of a lot of horses that when the horse “can’t do” for them anymore, and quite possibly “can’t do” for anyone else either, they certainly do not want to spend any more money on those horses so they make them go bye-bye by just picking up the phone and calling the “trainer” and/or breeder and telling them which of the horses to get rid of.
And then we do also have other peripheral “players” like ranchers disposing of old and/or injured ranch horses that can’t do the hard ranch work anymore, trainers dumping their old or injured school horses, summer camps and dude strings dumping their gentle riding horses that often don’t work as regular riding horses after the tourist and/or camp season is over, people that go around posing as so-called “good homes” and call on Free Horse Craigslist ads and then do really good acting jobs pretending to provide the horse with a good home (and sometimes they even bring their little kids with them to make their stories more believable) and then within just a few days of taking the horse off the property they got them from, the horse is run through a kill sale, sold directly to a kill buyer, or sold to a feedlot.
These are not the main source of the supply of the horses for slaughter, however, they also would be considered slaughter dealers because all of those mentioned usually send more than 5 horses to slaughter annually.
So there are basically two ways to HALT these peoples activities of abuse of throwing horses away into the slaughter pipeline and that is to either ban horse slaughter here in the United States and also the export of our American horses out of the country for slaughter so that these people/entities must pay for humane euthanasia and disposal of the horses body, or they need to have rules, regulations and laws that I have put forth below that horse slaughter dealers (and remember, this applies whether they directly and/or indirectly send horses to slaughter) must follow in order to operate legally.
If they don’t follow the rules of let’s just arbitrarily say that if they ship more than 5 horses per year to slaughter, they must either pay for a horse slaughter dealers license with all of the below listed rules and regulations, or they will be fined $350 per horse if they go over the limit of 5 per year without a dealer’s license.
That would curtail those users ability to dispose of horses for FREE and would actually make it cost them potentially quite a bit of money to dispose of a lot of foals from their “foal mill breeding operations”, where they also dispose of their old and/or phased out breeding stock to slaughter for FREE as well, and also would cost the “trainers” that wreck horses at young ages if they didn’t have a dealers license.
The dealers licensing is also a really great tool in regard to forcing these people to admit they ship horses to slaughter, or else costing them a lot of money in fines if they go over their quota of 5 horses shipping to slaughter because of them. Either way, adhering to the rules and regs below will cost them, or being fined $350 per horse over their quota going to slaughter will cost them too….pretty neat, huh?
And contrary to the false rhetoric spewed by the pro-slaughter camp, it is not the typical “backyard” breeder or horse owner who is using horse slaughter as a free dumping system for their unwanted horses (and I know this because I regularly go to the 2 weekly kill sales in our area to buy/rescue horses, so I see usually the same people bringing in multiple horses and dumping them off) because if it was, after the first wave of these people dumping horses back in 2008-2010 and there being a spike in numbers being slaughtered, with these “backyard” horse people/breeders not buying more horses because they still were in financial trouble, we would have seen a vast drop in the numbers of horses going to slaughter after 2010-that has NOT happened in the least and the numbers going to slaughter has remained up at approx. 140,000 +/- number through the current date–thus, anyone with even a modicum of intelligence would know that it IS the mass production breeders and futurity trainers that train VERY YOUNG, skeletally undeveloped horses who continue to use horse slaughter as their very own FREE disposal system. This whole “dump for FREE thing” is a racket, plain and simple, and anyone who says that we “need” slaughter is actually saving and/or making money from horse slaughter, or knows someone who saves and/or makes money from it, or is totally uninformed on the issue, or perhaps just indifferent to it, so THAT is why they are either pro-horse slaughter or are neutral.
And of course, it is NOT the old, skinny, crippled or diseased horses that the slaughterhouses want….it is the younger, healthy, in good weight, sound (even if that means they are full of drugs to keep them that way to get them to slaughter) horses, and then also the specialty types of horses that appeal to different cultures and/or markets.
If horse slaughter is not banned entirely both here in the US and the export of horses over our borders for slaughter, I think we need to hold these Dealers in Horse Slaughters “feet to the fire” and make them become legitimate and legal business owners that must do the following in order to operate:
If horse slaughter continues, here is a list of requirements I put together that would close a lot of loopholes for people in the slaughter business so they would NOT be able to continue to operate unethically and illegally. Might be difficult to enforce, however, if we taxpayers demand that they be followed, perhaps with our majority numbers we could either shut down the horse slaughter industry here in the US (because quite frankly, as a business owner myself, I’m beyond tired of horse slaughter dealers ALWAYS operating outside the law in terms of business licensing, maintaining commercial insurance, getting finger printed and background checked like I have to do, etc–NO MORE FREE RIDES FOR THESE LOSERS!) or we can force them to spend money in order to operate legally and not have we taxpayers be forced to pay for their businesses:
1. Anyone who deals in horse slaughter, whether directly or indirectly, be it a breeder, a kill buyer, an owner, a transporter, a slaughterhouse owner, a trainer, etc, and if they send more than firve horses to slaughter annually, will have to secure and pay for a Dealer’s License, complete with background checks, finger printing, fee’s, etc.
Seriously, when I sold 3 cars and a horse trailer in a month, I was contacted by entities (the county I live in regarding a business license and the taxation board) that said I needed to get a Dealer’s license even though I really was a private party seller. So why shouldn’t people dealing and making a living with horse slaughter have to secure a Dealer’s license, complete with an IRS filing, and have all of their own rules, regulations and requirements separate from the rest of us horse people who don’t deal in slaughter?
Also, some (many?) people involved in horse slaughter are convicted felons, are often on parole, have warrants out on them, have issues with their drivers licenses (suspended, revoked, need an SR-22 filing, etc), so many people will NOT get finger printed and/or have background checks performed because they are afraid they will end up in jail.
2. Anyone dealing in horse slaughter will be required to carry COMMERCIAL liability business insurance with at least 1 million dollar liability limits, AND will also be required to pay for and carry COMMERCIAL vehicle insurance with the higher limits. MOST of the people involved in slaughter use their regular stock trailers for towing horses around locally (before the horse is shipped to a slaughter facility and usually transported with 10, 20, 25 or more horses), however, if an at-fault accident occurs and their insurance carrier finds out the accident occurred while their vehicles were being used for business/commercial purposes, any claims will be denied/declined by the claims adjuster.
I know this because my husband was an insurance broker for 30 years and just buying a horse at the kill sale which will be shipped to slaughter and driving them home in the smaller stock trailer is considered by the insurance company to be business/commercial use of the vehicle if it is investigated and found to be a business the individual is operating using statutory vehicle insurance instead of commercial insurance (rates are A LOT higher for commercial), then the claim will be denied.
3. Because the stakes are a bit higher when it comes to horse slaughter and shipping possibly tainted horse meat and sickening and/or killing people, anyone dealing in horse slaughter will have to carry General Liability Insurance to cover possible claims, and also prosecution for dealing in tainted horse meat.
4. For the breeders who regularly “breed and dump” horses at the kill sales and/or ship directly to slaughter, they will be required to microchip and/or freeze or hot brand their horses to be able to identify them when they go to slaughter. When one of their horses goes through, the horse will be held, the breeder will be contacted and will be required to provide an entire record from birth of the horses vaccination records, drug records, de-wormer and supplements records, other “additives” records, etc.
In addition, every person that has owned that horse between the breeder and when they end up at the slaughterhouse will also be required to provide documentation/records on the horse as well. If these records are not provided, the horse cannot be slaughtered and must be humanely euthanized and disposed of at the sellers’ expense AT the slaughterhouse.
5. Also for the breeders, they will have a quota of the number of horses they can produce every year (like what they have in many European countries, where they breed higher quality horses because they are breeding for quality instead of quantity) and if they go over their quota, they will be taxed/fined for every horse over the quota.
6. Anyone dealing in slaughter horses will have their own required Bill of Sale stating that the horse is either free of drugs, vaccines, de-wormers, additives, etc, or they are not, and they will be required to sign with copies going to their State, the Buyer, one for them, and a copy goes to the Federal government. This will enable a horses ownership, drug, and additive record to be more precisely traced. And although I do know people are always yapping about “less government”, I’ve also noticed that these same people always want less government when it doesn’t benefit them, but more government when it does.
This slaughter Bill of Sale will also differentiate the people who deal in horse slaughter from other horse people who do not, and will keep the anti-horse slaughter people from being subjected to rules, laws and regulations like the NAIS that not only cost us money, but also infringe on our private non-business/non-slaughter ownership of horses when we are not putting any horses into the food chain with drugs and other additives in their systems. Those of us who are in fact anti-horse slaughter should never be targeted just because other horse people choose to deal in horse slaughter.
7. The seller of the horse going to slaughter will also pay an inspection fee at the slaughterhouse so that we taxpayers don’t have to;
8. Anyone sending a horse to slaughter will be required to pay for a blood test to test for drugs and other “additives” in the horses system, and the horse will be held until the results of the blood test come back. If the horse is found to have drugs or other additives in their system and paperwork has been signed saying they were clean, not only will the seller have to pay for humane euthanasia and disposal of the horses body AT the facility they are at, than the person performing the fraudulent actions will be: *First time offense-fined, *Second offense-fined and suspended from selling horses to slaughter for 1 year, *Third offense-prosecuted as a repeat offender in fraudulent activities, possibly jailed, and their licensing is permanently revoked as a Dealer.
So I think we should ALL start shining the very brightest of spotlights on the people and/or entities who are the beginning of the supply chain that becomes horse meat ultimately, and when those who are responsible for the supply are exposed for what they are doing to horses and ripping off the broken “system, such as it is, that we have now, I believe we’d see a vast drop in the horse slaughter pipeline supply and then we can eliminate it and get it banned entirely because most people in the United States who make their living from the horse slaughter industry will not make nearly enough money to keep doing it and will probably use their resourcefulness and get into making a living from other businesses that do not involve killing horses.
And one more thing Stan, you and all your welfare rancher buddies, and also the mining industry businesses, oil and gas development companies, developers, and other businesses running their businesses using SUBSIDIES collected against our will from we American taxpayers in order for you all to run your PRIVATE businesses on OUR PUBLIC land but that you want to take over and fence out all of us so it becomes like it’s your own (and yep everyone, I’ve watched more and more fences go up this past winter that fences off BLM land and which makes it difficult, if not impossible, for “regular people” to go on the PUBLIC LAND, and it will come as no surprise to many people that ALL of the wild horses were captured off the land that is now fenced because they can’t fence it while the FREE ROAMING horses are still on it!) better gear up for a fight because the more wild horses and burros that are blatantly captured without regard to the law, tax payer’s opinions, etc, the stronger our RESOLVE to STOP all of you “LOSER-USERS” becomes………
Laura Bell
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We need to find some newly educated cattle ranchers or sheep ranchers and see if we cam form a healthy lands coalition. Ranchers need us and we need them.
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I still do not understand why the BLM will not work with Mrs. Madeleine Pickens who has offer to take some 30,000 wild mustangs out of long term holding pens and put them on her wild horse eco-resort land. She has been trying for years to get the BLM to sell her these horses. But no they want them to stay in long term holding pens own by men like this Stan Dobrovolny who are making more than enough to care for the animals or worse sell them to known kill buyers at 10 dollars a head and use our tax dollars to ship the horses to them. We need to clean house at the BLM because there are way to many underhand deals going on behind our backs all aimed at killing off the wild mustangs and burros.
It sure makes me wonder if the BLM has not already worked out a deal with the owner of the horse slaughter plant in New Mexico that is trying to open its doors and the many others looking into horse slaughter plants. After all wild mustangs and burros are drug free and it would cut out the auction houses and the kill buyers by sending our wild horses right to slaughter. I wonder if the BLM will be asking 10 dollars a head for them and I also wonder who in the BLM or long term holding pens will get the money from the sales of our wild horses and burros. Who knows maybe they will want the American people to pay to have the horses shipped to the slaughter house since we will have to pay for USDA inspection on meat that the American people do not and will not eat.
With all this talk of slaughter it makes me wonder if Stan Dobrovolny is not already shipping wild mustangs over into Canada to slaughter and still getting money for the 800 horses he says is on his land. Has a count be done on them? If he lives or ships by way of SD it would not be very hard to do since SD does not recognize the BLM freeze brand so no note is made on any paper work if a horse has a BLM brand. (Sounds like a good cover up to keep the slaughter pipe line upon for wild horses).
I think we the American people should demand a investigation of the BLM and owners of long term holding pens. I myself am sick of all the low down under handed deals and cover ups that has been going on with a part of the government put in place to protect the wild horses and burros not destroy them. Piss poor management if you ask me….
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MP has never offered to buy the SA horses, she wants the same government contract as this guy, if she wanted them-I am sure BLM would sell them to her, probably at less than $10 a head..probably if the BLM was offered 30,000 for them they would take it, that many horses could not survive on just the pasture at MPs they would have to be fed in the winter, I spend 25,000 a year just to feed my own horses, that’s why she wants a government contract to feed them
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Madeleine had a good plan. Notice I say HAD. But that was before BLM went off and did an end run on her. Bob Abbey at one point even said it was a good plan. Three weeks later the whole thing was off the table. And it was public and quite nasty.
Back when all this was being touted as good I don’t recall anyone saying anything about gelding everything with a dog between the hind legs. That was one thing. Then it became a matter of all the horses on the Triple B HMA’s (there are three HMA’s that comprise Triple B)had to be rounded up BEFORE Madeleine could have her Eco sanctuary. Originally as I understood it those horses would become part of her herd.
Like it or not–in retrospect I would far rather have those horses a part of Madeleine’s herd than rounded up. Better still is the novel idea of just leaving them be.
Since ranchers get all these subsidies that none of us do I figure they can afford to lose a few calfs to predation. Bring back the cats to the Pryors that BLM put bounties on. They controlled herd growth quite successfully. And guess what it didn’t cost the taxpayer a dime! If the cats get out on control a reasonable number of licenses could be offered. I said reasonable–not every single cat for 1000 of miles in all directions. I believe if a calf is taken by predation the rancher can write it off on taxes.
BLM screwed Madeleine and they screwed the horse advocates when Madeleine’s Eco sanctuary was just weeks from being approved. I lay the entire fiasco that this turned into directly at the feet of BLM who had it within their means to really do something creative and novel. Something that would benefit the horses, bring jobs to NV, tourism. Instead someone got their knickers in a twist and it’s the horses who pay.
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All i can say is what the hell?
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This Keystone Pipeline thing brings up another nagging question…what’s going on and where is it going?
NEW application….NEW lands….WHAT new lands? Where?
Why, suddenly, are America’s Wild Horses and Burros such a “problem”…and to WHO? And what’s going on here?
“the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), at the request of the DoS, withdrew the Biological Opinion on the effects to Threatened and Endangered Species for the project. If a new application is filed with DoS with new lands proposed, the DoS may request that the FWS amend the biological assessment for a new biological opinion.”
Click to access KeystoneXL.pdf
SUBJECT: KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE
“The permit denial without prejudice was published February 3 in the Federal Register. This action does not preclude any subsequent permit application or applications for similar projects. TransCanada has worked with the Nebraska DEQ and Public Utilities Commission on a new route through Nebraska and will soon file for a new Presidential Permit with the DoS. In December 2011, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), at the request of the DoS, withdrew the Biological Opinion on the effects to Threatened and Endangered Species for the project. If a new application is filed with DoS with new lands proposed, the DoS may request that the FWS amend the biological assessment for a new biological opinion. TransCanada has not withdrawn its MLA ROW application and plans to amend its application with BLM to eliminate any federal lands in Nebraska that will not be crossed due to the new routing. The BLM may conduct a determination for NEPA adequacy for the existing final EIS analysis since there was no route change in Montana and South Dakota”.
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And why in the hell should we destroy our land and water and wildlife-permanently-for some temporary jobs-to get-Canadas oil to shipping ports to go to China..let them tear up their own damn country, our pipeline workers can go up there and work for a year..this has been nothing but a scam
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Canada is now one of the worlds leading exporters of oil…guess what- Canadians are paying for gas???$5.00 a gallon, we will never see prices go own as long as our bulk is getting shipped out
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The timing of the article makes one wonder….especially in view of recent events:
https://ecmp.nebraska.gov/deq-seis/DisplayDoc.aspx?DocID=eInGtTzydRvDw10GNaJ4oA%3d%3d
TransCanada Keystone XL Pipeline Project
Initial Report Identifying Alternative and Preferred Corridors
for Nebraska Reroute
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Recommend that everyone post at the Dept. of Interior’s and BLM’s Facebook page and say: “I want to make sure Secretary Jewell got the #StepInSally message that Americans like me are counting on her to act to reform the BLM’s wild horse program just like the National Academy of Sciences suggests to #KeepWildHorsesWild and save taxpayer dollars.”
Let’s continue to bury them in their own BS.
http://www.dailydot.com/news/horse-lovers-facebook-citizen-uprising/
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Today’s wild horses are descendants of escaped or abandoned horses introduced to North America by Spanish conquistadors and settlers, beginning in 1519, after horses had disappeared from the North American continent 13,000‐11,000 years earlier. Recent fossil evidence indicates horses evolved in North America to a form that is essentially like the wild horses of today. Labeling horses as non-native is not scientific and serves merely as a convenient excuse for pushing wild horses aside in favor of competing commercial interests.
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In Ch. I of my book The Wild Horse Conspiracy, I disclose some long repressed facts that indicate a much more recent survival of the horse in North America. Check it out at the above links.
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https://www.facebook.com/stan.dobrovolny#!/stan.dobrovolny
I think this is the same guy. Upon reading his FB profile it becomes clear he is a deeply religious type. It always amazes me how these types are so selective in their values, to suit their own needs.
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What an arrogant so and so this LTH contractor! He is so narrow minded and I shutter to think of what he is doing with the horses under his care. Indeed, that BLM gives contracts to people with such biased attitudes is cause for alarm. The sterilization option is a real pitfall for the wild horse and burros in the wild. The NAS failed to address the main unfairness issue concerning the zeroed out legal areas on BLM and USFS lands. Please sign my petition, if you have not already. It is at http://www.signon.org/sign/Stop-the-Excessive-Roundups. Also check out my book The Wild Horse Conspiracy which in addition to being a thorough expose presents a solution: Reserve Design, see Ch. IV. It is available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009XJ64P4
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I wish they sold this book at B&N in e-book form. I have been wanting to read it. We have talked about this book on my yahoo rescue groups page a number of times. Also a plus now that they have found the remains of wild horses dating back long before the 1600 when the Spanish came with their horses to North America.
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Indeed, Karen. They are often so arrogant and self righteous in their cast in concrete views on a variety of subject, usually aimed at justifying their own adopted life styles. This kind of sanctimonious religion is to me so false to what religion should be, and spirituality.
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Is this Stan Dovrovolny rancher who we are paying big money to keep our wild horses penned in Nebraska the same Stan Dobrovolny that is telling the local Nebraska land owners to sign the gag order that Trans Canada requires even to attend the “public” meeting?
“Close to 100 of the 470 landowners along the Keystone XL route signed up with and paid dues to Landowners for Fairness, a group formed by local lawyer Stan Dobrovolny. He pledged to negotiate with TransCanada the most lucrative deal possible. But some members now think those negotiations have gone awry. One, they feel uncomfortable having to sign a nondisclosure agreement—or gag order—to comply with requests from TransCanada. Two, the more they find out about Keystone XL, the less they want anything to do with it.”
http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20101013/nebraska-ranchers-fear-pipeline-talks-have-gone-awry
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I read the article – couldn’t get at the earlier ones – the webpage couldn’t be found!! Sounds like some of the owners who signed up are dissatisfied & are speaking out. Nondisclosure? That’s baloney. Will keep trying to find the earlier articles.
Thanks
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Yes Maggie … the previous articles in this series seem to be missing but here is a bit more of the one that is still available to read and I personally appreciate the last paragraph since this is the same reason I fight for our Wild Horses and Burros and our public land:
Fellows was asked to leave a mid-September meeting in Atkinson between TransCanada and Landowners for Fairness because he refused to sign the nondisclosure agreement required for entry.
Now he’s not sure about his status with the group. But his persistent pursuit of information means the 65-year-old is loaded with questions and concerns about the pipeline.
For starters, he’s nervous that TransCanada will pump the oil at such a high pressure that it will compromise the 36-inch-diameter steel pipe and cause larger leaks. And though the Calgary-based oil company has vowed to cover all pipeline expenses and meet the highest safety standards, Fellows fears property owners will be left financially stranded if anything goes wrong.
Landowner Teri Taylor signed the nondisclosure agreement so she could attend the Atkinson meeting. Though she can’t talk to the press about what transpired there, she did say it became clear that the organizers seemed far too interested in their own financial gains. That, she says, prompted her to temporarily shed her cocoon of privacy and channel her pent-up frustration into action.
Yes”I came from that meeting so disillusioned that I couldn’t sleep,” she explains. She’s spent the last month hounding politicians and writing letters to newspaper editors. “Now I’m trying to stop something I think is wrong. I have little grandchildren who will grow up on this ranch. I realized that some day I have to be able to say that I tried to do something.”
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Is Stan going to volunteer to go first into the slaughter house and be the first one to test out the equipment to make sure it is running properly? He should not be taking Gov’t money meant for the welfare of the horses is he is not an advocate for them.
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Grandma Gregg, you have asked a good question. Is this the same man and is he a rancher/LTH contractor or a lawyer…..or both? Why would he urge his neighbors to sign a gag order with TransCanada, or to comply with anything that could be against their best interests?
http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20101013/nebraska-ranchers-fear-pipeline-talks-have-gone-awry
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NO TO HORSE SLAUGHTER NOW OR EVER, US HORSES ARE NOT RAISED OR REGULATED AS FOOD ANIMALS AND SHOULD NEVER ENTER THE FOOD CHAIN!!!
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Horses need to be protected whether their wild or domestic. Say no to horse Slaughter its inhumane and cruel. Horses are magistic and beautiful. Their not meant to be part of the food chain, Save our horses don’t send them to slaughter in the US, Mexico or Canada.
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I am only 13. I am devoted to everything horse, i lovethem to death. Thats why i read stuff like this. So when i grow up, i can take this guys like this to slaughter houses, so they know how it feels. This guy is just suckingnmy parents money (and we ca ‘t eve afford it anymore) and wasting it on junk like this. Horse Slaughter Houses, elders being abused in their home place things, whats next? A actual human slaughter house? What good are these slaughter houses doing for us. Most of youarethi king “oh shes 13 she doesnt know what she is saying”.
Well. I do. And this is getting so annoying. The government sucks. Taxes suck. Slaughter Houses suck. And dont be mad, but Obama sucks too..
Im not racist, at all, but this hasnt happened with other presidents. Horses are what made our country. It’s not like Paul Revere was riding a cow when he saved Americans. It was a horse. Horses are still fighting with our Troops today. If it werent for them, most of you wouldnt have your best friend. They could have been slaughtered. But you didn’t let it happen.
All or you idiots who agree with this, havent touched a horse or rode one. Try it, you will be against this too.
That is all. May this man burn with the devil.
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Looks to me like ‘ol Stan slid right into the perfect set up for his agenda, horse slaughter.
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