By John Hollenhorst of Salt Lake City’s KSL
“These animals are being managed to extinction…”
Click Image to View Video – photo by Terry Fitch
SALT LAKE CITY — An investigation is underway to find out if 17 hundred wild horses were illegally shipped off to slaughter.
That number was confirmed for the first time today amidst demands for an immediate halt to roundups on public land.
Wild horse lovers accuse the BLM of driving them to extinction while turning a blind eye to their slaughter for horse meat. The BLM countered they’re stepping up roundups because the horses are facing disaster.
They’re an icon of the West. But they’re threatened by extreme pressure from drought and wildfires, the BLM says, so they can’t be left out on the range to die.
“It would be an ecological and, I think, a social disaster,” said Edwin Roberson, Assistant Director at the Bureau of Land Management.
The government’s top wild horse people are meeting in Salt Lake. Their critics turned up the heat at a news conference.
“Cease and desist all roundups now,” demanded Simone Netherlands of Respect4Horses.
“These animals are being managed to extinction. There is no doubt about it,” added Ginger Kathrens of the Cloud Foundation.
BLM officials say they’re required by law to protect the horses, even if it means putting them in long-term holding corrals. But critics want the horses left alone. They claim the BLM is doing the bidding of the ranching, mining and energy industry.
“These are our taxpayer dollars that are funding this unspeakable cruelty,” said Netherlands.
But the BLM says Nature has been cruel, especially in Nevada.
“There was very little forage for the winter, and all the summer forage was gone,” offered Roberson.
Critics are angry that the BLM sold 1700 horses to a single buyer who may have shipped them to slaughter in Mexico.
“I can confirm right now that the inspector general of the Department of Interior is investigating,” said Roberson, “(and) has an ongoing investigation into those allegations. Beyond that, I can’t comment.”
“There will be no peace until those individuals are behind bars in long-term holding corrals of their own construction, and then we’ll see how they like it,” said R.T. Fitch of the Wild Horse Freedom Federation.
So far, the drought-related roundups have been concentrated in Nevada. But the BLM has just approved one in western Utah about a month from now.
Please click (HERE) to visit Video and to COMMENT
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Categories: Horse News, Horse Slaughter, Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
“They’re an icon of the West. But they’re threatened by extreme pressure from drought and wildfires, the BLM says, so they can’t be left out on the range to die.”
I am tired of being asked to pretend that Stupid is a virtue.
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So what’s better, leave them to nature (which they; seem to thrive in) or sell them to the kill buyers? I’d say let nature take its course and leave the darned mustangs alone.
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Teri Russell:
HERE!!!!! HERE!!!!!
2 million wild equines estimated at the turn of the 20th Century WITH NOOOOOOO BLM and they (wild equines) experienced fires, drought and seemed to do just fine.
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I am assuming the video of the horses in this news clip are current – if so, why arent these horses skinny & debilitated???? They sure do look fit & healthy to me.
I think the BLM believes if they say it enough times, people will believe them. But these wild horses are accustomed to the land where they live – thats where they have lived & survived for hundreds of years.
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A couple of years ago, a BLM agent (at an adoption fair) told me that it was ok for the horses to be removed because the were not natives of the USA…..Need I say more?
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Exactly, like most pro slaughter proponents they lie through their teeth and expect people to be naive (stupid) enough to believe them. The BLM has done more damage to these animals than nature could ever do in a shorter amount of time. We can thank the likes of Conrad Burns and all the other pro slaughter cattle people that support these massacres that they call gathers. This is not for the life of these animals but more like for the total extinction of them. Also, any so called investigation within the BLM is lip service. Like everything else, it will die just as so many of the mustangs have died in the slaughter houses thanks to the BLM at our expense.
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We all need to pray for a conviction and further investigation with more convictions! Climbing the tree right to Ken Salazar then beyond! Thank you Mr. RT Fitch.
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There are no words for it, The BLM, the Brutal Lawbraking Mismanagement, the NAZIS in America. The Black Mark and Stain in this country. They are supposed to be the Stewards of the Wild Horses, not the MURDERERS of the wild Horses. I know, you are not supposed to wish Bad onto people, they say, it comes Back to you, but I DO!! Those people, The BLM, who dare to carry that name, I hope they will get punnished severly, the sooner the better. In the mean time, the horses, who Have been SLAUGHTERED and beeing SLAUGHTERED, may their spirits be free again, . I feel so sad for all the people in , the organizations, their frustration, of dealing with those inhumane crooked beeings, the BLM. But they are going to win, they will never give up, to get them behind bars, for a loooooooooooooooooooong time.
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This is part of Agenda 21 and the BLM is doing the job for the powers that be who are executing Agenda 21. There is NO reason for these criminals to be doing this to the horses except that they will do anything for money and to enforce their 21 policies. That means clearing all of OUR land of all wild creatures so that the corporate government can rip all of the natural resources out of the land FOR PROFIT and greed. They will murder every last horse if we don’t do something to stop these disgusting parasites now. It may already be too late.
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The law is being abused and their claims of “protecting” the mustangs are just a vehicle for the BLM to stay employed. If they left the horses on the plains, they wouldn’t need as many BLMer’s would they? This is just another scam by a Federal Agency designed to protect itself. I also believe that with a rancher at the top of this scam, he is using the BLM as his private agency to do his bidding and that of his fellow ranchers.
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We don’t need the BLM and personally I think that all of them need to be at the very least locked up for good so that they can do no more harm. They are liars, cheats and thieves. They need to be held accountable for what they have done, caused. They need to pay back every penny of our tax money that they have paid out and all of their contractors need to be penalized heavily for the damage that they have done to the mustangs and wild burros…….
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We don’t need BLM but we need science and independent research and alternatives and the law strengthened and upheld. ANd we need a very large group and grants and real work done to turn this around!
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I still cannot understand the BLM reasoning that it is easier to care for them by rounding up, transporting, renting pasture and feeding these horses than it would be to haul in hay and water to where the horses already are. Of course this food and water would only be needed if the BLM could prove that the horses are starving, like the ones they “forgot” in their trap!
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Its better for then to remove these animals to private places and its easy to spend money that isn’t theirs to spend. All they have to; do is cry broke after destroying herds and making the land available to their buddies so that they can destroy it ….. Hell I believe that the wild fire (or so it was called a wild fire) may have been set by the BLM to destroy the herds that were there. I don’t believe that it was a natural disaster at all.. I believe it was set intentionally and left to burn everything in its path. Note: How many human lives were lost..none. How many houses were burned..none. How many cattle died in the fire… very few. How many mustangs were lost… unknown..
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Animals have been around before humans became self-aware, and did very well without interference with humans or anyone else. So to say that they need to be protected is asinine. This is Ken Salazar’s way of making money in the expense of the Horses and burros. The internal investigation is from within so nothing is going to be done to preserve our mustangs and burros. We need to do something about this debauchery we call BLM and Ken Salazar. Kill buyers are paying him off big time to slaughter our mustangs. Don’t get me started on the wolves… also… Despicable!!!!
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I am ecstatic that finally the government is listening and addressing the issues that the BLM have been secretly selling our wild mustangs and burros to kill buyers for so long. It is devastating to know that these people have been in charge for so long and no one has done anything to quell the abuse that has been going on in the BLM. We shouldn’t let them (BLM) manage any of the horse from now on. I have sent countless e-mails and letter to Ken Salazar and nothing has been done, never even gotten a response from him or any one in his employ. I don’t want our horses to suffering an extinction because greedy people who only purpose is to make money off the slaughtering or our horses. I am finally hopeful that something will be done to protect our horses. We need to end the transportation of horses from now on to Mexico and Canada. Lets protect our interest and end the killbuyers addiction to our horses. If we don’t protect them from unscrupulous individuals who will.
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This is an internal investigation by the BLM against the BLM… meaning… nothing will be done..Salazar is not going to do anything because he is behind it all. He’s a cattle baron, remember??
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TRUE! …
(Well, Slaughterczar and the international extractors [cartels?] with money for DC are behind the rape)
Livestockers (small ones, the public needing water, etc)…..you are NEXT!
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Of course, it is not easier to remove them and care for them in captivity. That is just the same old sorry excuse these non-equine science people give for removing them.
They want to remove them. They want an excuse to get them off the range.
We have cold winters here. We fatten up nice and plump like the horses in these pictures, and by spring they are thinner.
I cannot imagine why anyone would want to spend one more day funding this group of clowns.
Do they think that the American people are as ignorant as they are?
I am starting my formal campaign to raze the BLM. This is the most destructive, deceitful, willfully scientifically and arrogant black hole for tax dollars that has ever existed in this country under the shield of the US government.
It is amazing how healthy, happy, and well adjusted these horses are until the BLM gets they talons on them.
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I agree and I support you 100%.
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I won’t believe that anything will be done by the BLM without the likes of the President calling for a total disbandment of same. Until I see some real success and the horses start going back to where they belong, I’m not going to rest. The cards are stacked against the mustangs and wild burros. They have used every and any excuse to remove them from their land so that they could assign it to the cattle barons and the corporate oil, water, etc. The only thing that will stop them is a total dismemberment of the whole organization. Slim big government down and sue the hell out of the individuals responsible since you can’t sue the government. Hit then where it hurts, in the pocket, and break them financially each and every one.
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Absolutley~ start with the lowest on the totem pole, both past and present and start our way to the top, all the way to Salazar~let them know we are coming and bankrup them financialy.
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I’ve yet to see skinny starving wild horses….in fact just the opposite. Maybe the BLM, the compassionate protectors that they are, could use the helicopters to haul a little water in to the extreme drought areas instead of running them to death in a round-up. I really, really hope these guys go down. Does the BLM do their own investigations into their own “possible” wrong doings????? I sure hope not.
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This was a great press conference. We will probably all stand in line to fund the prosecution of these criminals.
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Liars..if forage is so damned scarce how come the cows are cropping yp where the horses should be? It’s all bull!!!
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I’m going to say it one more time, the BLM was sending the Mustangs to slaughter in the early 90’s.
What they have been caught doing now is what they have been doing for years. Everyone on this blog please go to google and look up PEER White Paper “Horses to Slaughter Anatomy of a Coverup within the Wild Horse & Burro Program of the Bureau of Land Management” 1997. The director of the BLM at that time was Jim Baca he was only there a short while and he was trying to get it stopped he was run out of his job because he was trying to expose what was going on. You guys seem to think this is the first time the BLM has ever been caught doing this well it’s not. This report is about 50 pages I would advise you to read it. You might get more of a feel for just who your dealing with.
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Once EVERY decade, Barbara, someone BLM-related gets caught with their hands in the cookie jar.
There’s a portion of the Act that stipulates (loose traslation) there can be no profit from the renderings of wild equines. I don’t believe there’s a ‘paraphrase’ or subsection that sez it’s ok if you buy a whole bunch of them that you can do what you like.
They won’t protect them on the range, and they have many years of prior experience in distancing themselves from the knowledge that wild horses go to slaughter. I’m not holding my breath for this ‘investigation’ to become ‘rigorous’ in any fashion.
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Neither am I.
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These horses survived millenniums through whatever nature threw at them before white men arrived, just like the native Americans. They can not survive genocide by a kleptocratic government.
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This is more unbelievable nonsense, that the BLM/government seems to “think”(?) we’re going to fall for! Do they actually “think” we’re as stupid as they are!? If America’s wild mustangs & burros actually “belong” to ALL of America, how is it that the BLM/government can turn around & sell them off to anyone, right under our noses? If these wild equines are “icons” & suppose to be “protected” by law (cough, cough!), then why are those “entrusted” with their “protection” the very ones responsible for their ultimate demise?? If the BLM “thinks” they’re somehow “protecting” these wild, American “icons” from the so-called harsh nature, drought, fire, little to no food, then why can’t it be done in a more gentle, humane manner, AND, only for a temporary amount of time, until nature lets up a little? Then, return them in the same condition they were found in, unharmed & intact, to once again roam wild & free? To “protect” something, means to keep it safe from harm, to guard & cherish, not to destroy it! If nature is truly being harsh, or, just being as nature intended, then let nature take it’s course. It’s called, “survival of the fittest”. It’s how nature & all it’s inhabitants learn to adapt & evolve (something we humans forgot long, long ago!), it’s how to make sure the strongest, fittest, healthiest animals are left to survive & keep their species strong, & to reproduce, & pass on those traits to future generations. It’s how nature controls it’s populations, according to available food sources. The old, weak & sick, or, very young, may perish, in order for the species to survive. Who do they/BLM, “think” they are?? They’re certainly not God, & by them removing these horses & burros from the wild, they are taking away their ability to adapt on their own, without human intervention. At least the good folks on the east coast actually did something to protect their wild ponies during this awful super-storm, hurricane Sandy, by opening gates to allow all the ponies to get to higher ground, instinctively. They’ll worry about getting them back where they belong later. They didn’t round them all up & remove them, permanently, for their “protection”!!
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