Source: L.A. Times written By John M. Glionna
“I’ve got it in my freezer. People who come here know what they’re eating.”
For activists, the video is not only an animal execution on tape, it’s a public challenge.
The clip, posted on YouTube, shows an employee of a southeastern New Mexico slaughterhouse — a business that is seeking federal approval to slaughter horses — shooting a colt between the eyes with a .45-caliber handgun after he taunts activists who have opposed reintroducing horse slaughter in the U.S.
Then Tim Sappington walks away from the downed horse, looking into the camera and saying, “Good.”
The killing took place last year on Sappington’s property, and sparked broader protest after his daughter posted the 50-second video online this week. The video has prompted death threats to the Roswell-based Valley Meat Co., where Sappington has worked maintenance.
“They’ve been threatened — every activist in the world has threatened the company at one time or another,” Chaves County Sheriff Rob Coon told the Los Angeles Times.
The state Livestock Board executed a search warrant Thursday at Sappington’s home.
“Officers found the hide of the horse as well as the rope he used to lead it to the place it was shot,” Coon told The Times. “Sappington told us, ‘I’ve processed the horse. I’ve got it in my freezer. People who come here know what they’re eating.'”
The incident follows proposed federal legislation that would ban the export of American horses for slaughter, reinstitute a ban on slaughtering them in the U.S., and protect the public from consuming “toxic” horse meat.
The measure, called the Safeguard American Food Exports (SAFE) Act, came partially in response to revelations that horse meat has been mislabeled as beef in Europe, including in Ikea meatballs.
Sponsors include Sens. Mary L. Landrieu (D-La.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Reps. Patrick Meehan (R-Pa.) and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.). The bill would outlaw the killing of American horses for human consumption and prohibit transporting the animals across the U.S. border for slaughter in Mexico or Canada.
Proponents of the bill contend that tens of thousands of American horses a year are exported for slaughter in a foreign industry that produces unsafe food for consumers.
A federal ban on slaughtering horses in the U.S. took effect in 2006, but the law lapsed in 2011, opening the door for the New Mexico company to open a slaughterhouse there soon.
Sappington’s employer, Valley Meat Company, has announced plans to reintroduce horse slaughter in New Mexico and has processed an application with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The USDA earlier this month said that, since the ban has been lifted, it has no choice legally but to move forward with the application of Valley Meat and several other companies.
Sappington’s video shows the cowboy-hat-wearing New Mexican leading the horse out of its pen, past a trailer to an open area. He pets the animal, challenges activists and then drops the animal with one shot between the eyes. Sappington told investigators that he bought the black and brown 2-year-old colt with the intention of slaughtering it.
“He said the meat from colts is more tender,” Coon said. “He said it’s better eating.”
Coon said the video had the feel of an execution on film.
“People are going ballistic over this and I am too,” he told The Times. “It was poor judgment putting this thing online. I guess he wanted to make a statement. He says he wishes he’d never done it, but he did it.”
Coon said it’s not illegal to slaughter your own horse. He said he did not believe that the act amounted to animal cruelty because Sappington consumed the meat. “I have to say that if you’re going to kill a horse, that’s the humane way to do it. He shot it right between the eyes — unfortunately, he did it on camera. Poor old horse didn’t know what was fixing to happen.”
The sheriff told The Times that some in the rural county see horses as livestock…(CONTINUED)
Click (HERE) to read the story in it’s entirety and to Comment
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Categories: Horse News, Horse Slaughter
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
First off….let me CHALLENGE Chavez County Sheriff Rob Coon. He states the plant has been threatened by every activist in the world at one time or anther. I am an animal activist/advocate……I do not appreciate being told I am guilty of something I have NEVER done!!! I think that is a LIABLE statement, and I might just have to discuss this with my attorney!! Hope he has PROOF that I have done as he so blatantly stated??
Secondly….I don’t know of a single person who butchers their own animals for their own consumption, and tapes the process, posts it on YouTube, along with the menacing message he stated??? His video had NOTHING to do with butchering a horse for his own consumption. His video had ONE reason, and ONE reason ONLY….to shove in our faces, what the law allows him to do, and to taunt us into trying to do anything about it, His ‘message’ was LOUD and CLEAR, along with his INTENTIONS of it. I took his ‘message’ as a dare…a dare to do anything about his actions. I believe there were a LOT of us who accepted that challenge, and we DID something about it. NOW, he regrets posting that video??? He’s too sorry too late. He did what he did….killed a perfectly healthy, YOUNG, and sound horse…who so obviously trusted this POS, just to prove a point. With his blatant disregard for the animal who’s life he took, by his own word of “Good”….he doesn’t deserve to be able to eat anything that has to die for consumption by him. He showed the WORLD how UNAPPRECIATIVE he is for even being allowed to eat meat of any kind.
Futhermore…it was Sappington’s own daughter who posted this video!!! I don’t know her intentions behind doing so…but am glad she did. She exposed her own father and his callous, mean spirited, and cruel nature to the world.
PLEASE let’s get the SAFE act passed……QUICKLY!
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The only thing he regretted was the fact that he got busted. And the nerve of Ricky baby to lie like he does and has, along with his lawyer..talk about a couple of crooks….. I think most everybody was appalled. I was downright angry, i admit it but to commit murder, the majority cannot even handle a gun let alone pull the trigger to take a life. How preposterous! By yet the Medusa takes up for poor Richy and his henchman.. Sickening to say the least!
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YOU AND ME BOTH! Since when is speaking out against something considered threats? That was a very broad blanket statement. Perhaps the man is overwhelmed by the calls coming in, but part of his job is protecting one and all and not making lancet statements like he did.
Well we now have TWO states on the boycott list! BOYCOTT NM AND OKLAHOMA!
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I have nothing against shooting an old, sick, unwanted horse, it’s a whole lot better than sending it to slaughter. It’s the message he was sending that pissed me off. We shot and butchered meat a lot when I was younger. And, I didn’t make any threats either.
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Maggie this was not an old and sick horse, it was a young one. And for the record, no one wants to consume an aged sick emaciated horse. I also do not personally see this horse or any other horse as “meat”. The message he was sending to advocates and caring compassionate human beings is that he is violent, this is what he does, he has no care or concern about how he achieves his killing. If he did not have animals to abuse, he would start on human beings. Please note: if he was so concerned about instant death then he would have aimed the pistol a little more carefully and infact checked on the horse as it was dying and in obvious mind blowing pain and agony. He is a monster, make no doubt about it!
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I can’t believe I fell for it again – that someone would actually do something about an act of cruelty. They didn’t. And not only that, they’ve spun it around so much that my head now hurts. They now have turned a cruel and sadistic man’s actions and made it look like people who care about animals and would never hurt a fly are the public enemy – enabling and protecting the public’s right to be cruel to their ‘possessions’.
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Poor OLD horse my ass…. it was a beautiful 2 year old colt!!!!! Just a baby!!!!!! Come on if this older horse is “good eating” you can’t tell me that they are not eating the foals too!!!!!! I am totally disgusted.
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I hear you Levi. A two year old isn’t even fully grown..fully developed. I wonder how much Tue author got paid to write this story.. Who paid three police off to glaze this one over.
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Seeing this Video , was horrible it haunted me all day yesterday !!! I cried that a human being could be so cruel ,this was a young horse filled with the promise of life, not asking for anything but to be !!!!! Horses and Mustangs have long been a passion for me I respect them for who and what they are, my gratitude to them for many personal reasons is deep seeded their beauty and innocence , trust in us is amazing , although I have only owned 3 of them they have taught me everything I am good at , and I will help them always , they built the west , they enrich our souls and saved many from disaster in their lives ………….. They are definitely a divine Gift there is no doubt……………………. Any human being who can hurt them I have no respect for…………………. They were created with an unsurpassed beauty , with the souls of the ancients so there would be no mistake to misjudge them……………………..so delicate a mere fly on their skin they can feel , they know who we are and remember distinctly each one of us,they are capable of wonderful things we do not yet understand…………they suffer in silence…..for me they do not have to speak to get their point across, I feel what they are about, they have given so much already…………. I still groom them at race tracks and for friends, I have 5000 photos I have taken of them…… It is always a pleasure to be near them !!!!! My friend has a Mare in foal due March 31st, we are monitoring her daily………….I have not been present for a foaling yet , but you can bet Ill be there for this one, and I will thank God for allowing me to be there!!!!!
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Here is the email address of the reporter. I am going to email him some info on horse slaughter and try and bring the focus back to the fact this was a threat! Anyone care to join me? john.glionna@latimes.com
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I may have beat you to it..lol
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That was a young horse, so there’s one lie. And where did it come from? Don’t tell me he raised it himself. Was that horse a wild BLM capture, legally meant to be adopted and slaughtered by him instead? We need to know the background history of his “pet” horse that he so causally slaughtered to threaten animal activists.
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Marjorie, the colt had an auction sticker on his rump. He had acquired it at auction. Young horses go for $50-$150 at our local auctions. You can’t raise them for that little.
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It says in a part of the story that he bought this horse with the intent to kill it. So he didn’t raise it himself and pity any others that he might own.
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I truly believe that those who engage in animal cruely recieve sexual gratification from their depravity.Small penis, below average intelligence and non existant heart. Time to do some culling.
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Wait a minute…how do they know it was this horse’s hide he had? They said it as a `black and brown’ horse or what the rest of us would call bay? The horse in the video is clearly sorrel. That wouldn’t be hid hide they saw and what kind of evidence is a lead rope? I have lead ropes in every vehicle and hanging in my mud room as well as the barn. That proves NOTHING.
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I have never threatened either the valley meats people or this cretin sappington. however, I do wish that they would all suffer a long and painful illness ending in death.
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Horses less than a year old are called “milk babies” their meat is considered a delicacy since it is still “white” Foal’s meat is also considered a delicacy; their hides are used to make shoes and purses labeled as “pony skin”. Sick but true…And who would want to eat the meat of “sick/diseased” horses? The young and fat are what the kill buyers want to buy.
No one ever mentions all the nurse mare foals estimated at 10,000+ a year born to die/throw away for the Thoroughbred industry because the Jockey Club refuses to allow AI or embryo transplant for TB horses breeding; only live cover is allowed. Hence many nurse mare foals are destined to be slaughtered and skinned.
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While the nurse mare industry is horrible, what does the lack of AI or embryo transfer have to do with it? Any mare can lose a foal and more than just TBs access them.
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Ha. I don’t think they’re sorry at all. I hope he’s happy that he acheived his goal of offending, provoking and breaking the hearts of all who viewed his deviant creation. He has a daughter? It’s hard to believe anyone would breed with this creep.
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No doubt in my mind, this sob will get his day in court! It’s obvious he did this to make a point, but all he accompolished was to show his lack of intelligence, arrogance and cold heart! What’s truly sad is the innocent suffer under the hands of such an evil being.
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Tim is a worthless excuse for a human being. He can’t have a heart and then kill that horse. I’m sickened by this. How can he not be punished with animal cruelty?! What he did was meant to hurt and offend animal activists. I hate that man, and If I could make it happen, he would be rotting in a jail cell with no chance for parole.
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Sappington told investigators that he bought the black and brown 2-year-old colt with the intention of slaughtering it. “He said the meat from colts is more tender,” Coon said. “He said it’s better eating.”
He shot it right between the eyes — unfortunately, he did it on camera. Poor old horse didn’t know what was fixing to happen.”
Poor “old” horse? At 2 yrs? Why doesn’t he just buy a cow to fill his freezer? Why this 2 yr old horse? Did the former owner know why this man was buying this horse? Was that disclosed to the former owner?
And his daughter posted the video? At his age she’s no child, probably in her 30’s anyway. I wonder if she’s okay with her father killing and eating horses? Who was taking the video? Her?
A year ago? Was Valley Meats filing for a horse slaughter permit a year ago? What made this man so angry a year ago that he felt the need to do this?
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Cattle are far more expensive. It would have cost him $1000-1200 to buy a steer. He probably bought this yearling (I don’t even think they age right, they got the color wrong) at auction for $25-150.
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I don’t believe a word of it. It was done strictly to provoke – these people are desperate to improve their images, and the easiest way to do that is to create a media stir and blame the ARA’s. I’ve had to laugh (ironically) at all of the spin they are doing for this slaughterhouse plant owner in NM – you’d think he was a respectable businessman doing a service for the community instead of the operator of what other countries used to call untouchable work, that was shut down for USDA violations and I would bet INS violations too. I don’t believe he has been receiving any kind of harassment either, because I don’t think people can be bothered. Many people just don’t care about this issue, sadly. Just my opinion, anyway.
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I have to say – I was out today and where it was a nice day a lot of people were out riding their beautiful horses. I thought about this coward and what he did to that poor colt – just a baby, almost still with young legs. The sheriff and other accounts I have been reading talk about how ‘humane’ this act was, what a ‘humane’ demonstration – but it was not. Tim Sapling picked a very young animal that he could control easily. He has this in common with a rapist or someone who woul victimize someone weaker – he wouldn’t have had such an easy time with a larger horse and it would have been even more ugly. It’s not what he did – but how and why he did it, which is anything but humane reasons. Ugly. Well that’s all I have to say. Not a very Feel Good Sunday; I’m sorry.
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Must read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Enterprise_Terrorism_Act Regarding Nurse mare foals, if the Jockey Club would allow AI and Embryo transplant there would be no need for the 10,000+ nurse mare foals born a year. Yes there is always a need for nurse mares if a mare dies or rejects foal but not over 10,000+ are needed a year.
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