By Andrew Cohen as published in the Denver Post
“A poll conducted in 2012 indicated that 80 percent of the American people oppose the slaughter of American horses…”
photo by Terry Fitch of Wild Horse Freedom Federation
Last week, a federal judge in New Mexico cleared the way for domestic slaughterhouse operators to again kill and render horses on American soil. Monday night, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver stayed that ruling, at least temporarily, so that it could evaluate whether the Obama Administration unlawfully permitted those operators to resume the brutal practice without first complying with all relevant environmental regulations.
The fight over horse slaughter in America, this latest legal battle reminds us, is decades old and ceaseless. But what is new to the grim equation today, six years after horse slaughter was halted here, is the presence of some 49,000 wild horses in long- and short-term government “holding facilities” in the Midwest and West. Over the past half decade or so, these federally protected horses have been removed from Western rangelands by the Bureau of Land Management, often at the request of ranchers and livestock agents, and placed into “federal custody” at great cost to the American taxpayer. There they now sit, utterly vulnerable to the market forces represented by those slaughterhouses.
Federal law is supposed to prohibit the slaughter of those horses. But the Interior Department has not always adequately enforced the prohibition. Last September, for example, Pro Publica published an exposé titled “All the Missing Horses” about the sale of hundreds of federally protected mustangs to a proponent of horse slaughter. Federal officials require all buyers to sign contacts saying they won’t “sell or transfer” the wild horses for slaughter, but there is virtually no enforcement mechanism beyond the requirement…CONTINUED
Click (HERE) to read the rest of the story and comment at the Denver Post
Categories: Horse News, Horse Slaughter, Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
This country has Been Sold Out. When The Horses Go, So Does our Freedom.
Thanks RT. shared..
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We are being ignored in favor of big money!
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Our wild horses must be saved. The public must be told and must speak up against this atrocity now.. I hope this article goes viral.
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There is so little time and this changes our Country if this happens.
Terri you’re right once those horses go our Freedom will soon be changed.
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Everyone here is Right No Horses No Freedom !!!!!!!! We have all watched the horses torment, and have cried a river of tears, many hours of phone calls , signed a multitude of petitions, We have had our guts wrenched from our bodies , is this what we fought for with heart and soul literally , just for once America get off your asses and do something, all i have to do is Remember a horse called Freedom , another one called Braveheart and Im am overwhelmed with Pride and love for each and every horse !!!! God give to us all the Strength to STOP this Horror for the Horses……
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I am with you Arlene! Yes, I remember too, Freedom and Braveheart….what incredible horses!!! I’m sure there are many more like them, which is why it’s imperative to take action now! Everyone, please call your Senators and Representatives to support the SAFE Act. We must continue to speak out and share with others the real horror our equines face, if this isn’t passed.
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The usual party of TWO pro slaughter activists are commenting on the linked article with the usual unfounded pro propaganda, attempting justification of the horrific cruelty that is and always will be no matter where it’s done – horse slaughter.
Hard to comprehend such stupidity – hopefully they won’t breed !
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Agree with that, greed and stupidity has taken over, so sad, when horses arent even meant to be food, but a companion animal, all I can say is judgement day for them will not be good, they should think about that, instead of their barbaric ways of greed, yea, hope they dont reproduce
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they do this to the horses the people are next , they are already killing people with the population control methods , chem trails , gmo etc , whats to stop them from killing the people and rendering them , or are they already , Nephylim eat people , and horses , think its crazy you do the math , do some studying , tribulation is coming and satan is using his puppets , God is bigger we the people need to stand up
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EL, I agree with you. But we need to do something here and now before there are no more wild horses left on the range.
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It has been years that we have been trying to stop horses from being shipped to Mexico and Cananda for slaughter. All along the Government is ignoring the will of their Citizens that have voted them into office. Something is really wrong with this picture.
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A Conspiracy?
Over the past decade the BLM has rounded up thousands more horses than necessary. Their excuses include drought, something the wild horses have survived for centuries, and over population, something they cannot prove.
Have they set the trap? Are the wild horses and burros incarcerated by the Federal Government the bait? Is it the ‘cost’ of maintaining them the lure?
Secretary Tom Vilsak was quite vocal not long ago telling Congress they had to find some way of dealing with the animals other than slaughter. Now he’s suddenly quite and his department is hiding behind an ancient law to allow the opening of slaughterhouses.
A Federal Judge who had originally issued a temporary restraining order in a law suit about the environmental issues suddenly has a change of heart and has the case thrown out of court.
Congress has the S.A.F.E. Act banished to committees. These committees seem to be chaired by folks who don’t want to discuss it therefore avoiding a vote that could send it to the floor. This allows members of Congress to publicly ‘support’ (co-sponsor) the legislation to appease their constituents while they know full well it’s failure dooms the horses and burros.
A wildlife refuge blatantly sends wild horses and burros off with a known slaughterhouse purveyor along with $250,000.00 tax payer dollars. Was this the test shot? Let’s see how the public reacts so we’ll know how they will react when we slaughter 50,000. Will they revolt? Or will they shrug their shoulders and say ‘we tried but…’?
The case in Colorado against ‘kill buyer’ Tom Davis is never pursued. The District Attorney says it’s been too long a time since the incident occurred. The BLM’s Inspector General is supposed to be pursuing but he won’t return phone calls or emails about any progress.
If you want to establish a timeline it seems to have started in 2004 with the passage of the Burn’s Amendment which allows for the disposal of wild horses over the age of 10 or horses that have been put up for adoption three times and failed to find a home. The sale of these horses is exempt from the normal one year probation before the title to the horse is transferred to the new owner…the title is signed over immediately and as Andrew mentioned there is no Governmental oversight as to the future of these animals.
The BLM says they do not sell to slaughter or kill buyers yet they sold to Tom Davis and 1700 horses disappeared off the face of the earth. The BLM is covering their asses and we know it. They are trying to squeeze every last dollar they can out of the public lands through oil and gas, mineral mining etc. at the expense of what they call ‘a feral alien invasive species’. A thorn in their side because they cannot profit from their existence by law.
Their basis for this argument was published on Aug. 3, 2010 when their ‘paid mouthpiece’, The Wilderness Society, published their ‘expert opinion’…
“America’s free ranging horses are a beloved western icon – and potentially destructive non-native animal that threaten native species and their habitats.”
The BLM keeps touting this fable even though “The Best Available Science” has disproved it over and over. When Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge published it’s intent to zero out the herds of wild horses and burros I made several calls and had discussions about their decision. They quoted the same tripe…feral…non-native…alien etc.
Is the Federal Government in the midst of a massive multi-departmental conspiracy to exterminate these Icons of the American West?
I found it interesting this morning, while watching CBS This Morning, that the USFWS is directly involved in trying to save elephants in Africa…even to the point we have employees over in Africa working to stop the illegal ivory trade. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m all for the elephants and would gladly pull the trigger at a firing squad should they catch the ringleaders. The report says there are only 650,000 elephants down from 1.3 million just a decade or so ago…shameful.
I find it interesting that the same department of our Federal Government sends wild horses and burros to death camps when there are less than a hundred thousand remaining, the majority of which are in captivity.
Is it just me or does something ‘smell’ here? As we look at the pieces of the puzzle, and I’m sure some of you can come up with many more, it really looks as though our Federal Government has made up it’s collective minds to dismiss the Will of the People once again. Recently Congress has taken on a whole new attitude of ‘we really don’t care what the public wants, we only care for the almighty dollar’. Now whether those dollars are going into government coffers or politicians pockets is question of the century!
IMHO
A Conspiracy?
Over the past decade the BLM has rounded up thousands more horses than necessary. Their excuses include drought, something the wild horses have survived for centuries, and over population, something they cannot prove.
Have they set the trap? Are the wild horses and burros incarcerated by the Federal Government the bait? Is it the ‘cost’ of maintaining them the lure?
Secretary Tom Vilsak was quite vocal not long ago telling Congress they had to find some way of dealing with the animals other than slaughter. Now he’s suddenly quite and his department is hiding behind an ancient law to allow the opening of slaughterhouses.
A Federal Judge who had originally issued a temporary restraining order in a law suit about the environmental issues suddenly has a change of heart and has the case thrown out of court.
Congress has the S.A.F.E. Act banished to committees. These committees seem to be chaired by folks who don’t want to discuss it therefore avoiding a vote that could send it to the floor. This allows members of Congress to publicly ‘support’ (co-sponsor) the legislation to appease their constituents while they know full well it’s failure dooms the horses and burros.
A wildlife refuge blatantly sends wild horses and burros off with a known slaughterhouse purveyor along with $250,000.00 tax payer dollars. Was this the test shot? Let’s see how the public reacts so we’ll know how they will react when we slaughter 50,000. Will they revolt? Or will they shrug their shoulders and say ‘we tried but…’?
The case in Colorado against ‘kill buyer’ Tom Davis is never pursued. The District Attorney says it’s been too long a time since the incident occurred. The BLM’s Inspector General is supposed to be pursuing but he won’t return phone calls or emails about any progress.
If you want to establish a timeline it seems to have started in 2004 with the passage of the Burn’s Amendment which allows for the disposal of wild horses over the age of 10 or horses that have been put up for adoption three times and failed to find a home. The sale of these horses is exempt from the normal one year probation before the title to the horse is transferred to the new owner…the title is signed over immediately and as Andrew mentioned there is no Governmental oversight as to the future of these animals.
The BLM says they do not sell to slaughter or kill buyers yet they sold to Tom Davis and 1700 horses disappeared off the face of the earth. The BLM is covering their asses and we know it. They are trying to squeeze every last dollar they can out of the public lands through oil and gas, mineral mining etc. at the expense of what they call ‘a feral alien invasive species’. A thorn in their side because they cannot profit from their existence by law.
Their basis for this argument was published on Aug. 3, 2010 when their ‘paid mouthpiece’, The Wilderness Society, published their ‘expert opinion’…
“America’s free ranging horses are a beloved western icon – and potentially destructive non-native animal that threaten native species and their habitats.”
The BLM keeps touting this fable even though “The Best Available Science” has disproved it over and over. When Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge published it’s intent to zero out the herds of wild horses and burros I made several calls and had discussions about their decision. They quoted the same tripe…feral…non-native…alien etc.
Is the Federal Government in the midst of a massive multi-departmental conspiracy to exterminate these Icons of the American West?
I found it interesting this morning, while watching CBS This Morning, that the USFWS is directly involved in trying to save elephants in Africa…even to the point we have employees over in Africa working to stop the illegal ivory trade. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m all for the elephants and would gladly pull the trigger at a firing squad should they catch the ringleaders. The report says there are only 650,000 elephants down from 1.3 million just a decade or so ago…shameful.
I find it interesting that the same department of our Federal Government sends wild horses and burros to death camps when there are less than a hundred thousand remaining, the majority of which are in captivity.
Is it just me or does something ‘smell’ here? As we look at the pieces of the puzzle, and I’m sure some of you can come up with many more, it really looks as though our Federal Government has made up it’s collective minds to dismiss the Will of the People once again. Recently Congress has taken on a whole new attitude of ‘we really don’t care what the public wants, we only care for the almighty dollar’. Now whether those dollars are going into government coffers or politicians pockets is question of the century!
IMHO
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Steve, i think lots of the government employees and politicians are getting kickbacks. The Farm Bureau and Cattlemen’s Assoc. are backing DD and SS too IMO. It’s all for some quick money and the greedy AO’s don’t care how the horses suffer . Also the corporations can just take over our public lands when the wh’s are all gone.
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YOU HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD!
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Yes, Steve you got that right it is a Conspirancy against our wild horses. Why have all of these wild horses been rounded up and held by the Government? Why is the slaughter house in New Mexico allowed to open? It does not take a rocket scientist to figure this one out. Some Government secret deals with big businesses that will take down the wild horses. This is really sickening to know that 80% of the American Public is against horse slaughter. I bet the 20% did not even know that horses were ever slaughtered. It is something that you don’t discuss with children that love horses because the act is appalling and UnGodly.
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WTF CAN WE DO? Just took a peek at the comments on Mr. Cohen’s article, and the same old same old same old BS is there.
WHAT CAN WE DO FOLKS!?! TIME IS RUNNING OUT. I know we have all been writing and signing and talking and worrying… and what changes? NADA.
I am today disgusted and disheartened beyond belief. I do not want to live in an America emptied of its wild horses, moreso if they are slaughtered for a few pennies’ profits to taint foreign tables.
I think we really need a nationwide Town Hall Meeting which I have outlined here before. Politicians are the only ones who can change what is happening but they won’t unless it benefits them… we need EVERY STATE IN THE UNION to rise up before the 2014 elections to decide the fate of horses in our America.
This could be easily set up but needs a minor degree of website presence and monitoring. So far I have no takers on hosting this but think it could make a difference. Anyone? RT, can your website host an interactive map with some links?
Other ideas welcome – but it’s clear the way this all plays out the citizens are kept in a reactive state, responding to crisis after crisis even as our dollars pay for the entire damnable sorry situation. Rescues are great but it’s the same model, reacting to crisis after crisis and still enabling more and more horses to be removed from the wild… and kept at great expense by other than our government, which we still pay for through increasing budgets.
Call me discouraged today.
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For some reason I am not being allowed to log on to the Denver Post website to comment on Mr. Cohen’s article, hopefully they will let me on later in the day.
I did send it on to my elected officials and forwarded it to some others asking they do the same. I have also printed it out and will post in on our local college campus bulletin board this afternoon. I believe we simply HAVE to get more traction, from those unaware and uninterested, to begin a consciousness shift. Every state, folks, EVERY STATE. Maybe we can make a goal to get a comment on Mr. Cohen’s article FROM EVERY STATE before comments are closed. I know I can get two besides CO today. Anyone else in?
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This is yet another example of government going against what the people want. It shouldn’t be allowed! No horse slaughter!
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just saw this:
The Bureau of Land Management wants to be prepared if U.S. horse slaughterhouses open for business, a key BLM staffer said. “They may never open. They may open. But if they do open, we are ready,”…
http://www.horsesforlife.org/1/post/2013/09/blm-prepares-for-possible-reopening-of-slaughterhouses.html
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Annie, I just went to review the source, and it says in there the BLM has OVERESTIMATED horse populations??? I can’t log in to comment without subscribing but hope someone can get them to correct this.
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http://www.habitatforhorses.org/real-simple-way-to-get-more-power-behind-the-safe-act/
Real simple way to get more power behind the SAFE ACT
Posted: November 14, 2013 by Posted by Habitat for Horses
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine supports the passing of the SAFE Act. Please help by taking a couple of minutes today to read, act and share. Let’s keep horses and humans SAFE.
Because of a recent federal court decision, horses could be slaughtered in the United States before the end of the year. We are putting renewed focus on urging Congress to pass the SAFE Act, which would permanently ban the
slaughter of horses for food in the United States. Please contact your members of Congress now and urge them to support this vital legislation.
https://secure2.convio.net/pcrm/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=669&autologin=true
This is an issue that concerns animals and humans alike. Because horses in the United States are raised as companions and sport animals—not for human consumption—they are routinely given hundreds of drugs and chemicals that could cause harm to human health if their meat is ingested. Many of these substances have never been tested on humans, while some are known to be deadly if ingested by people. More than 50 drugs regularly administered to horses are expressly prohibited by federal regulations for use in food animals.
It is no longer enough to ask members of Congress to simply “support” this legislation. Please urge your members of Congress to do everything in their power to pass the SAFE Act and keep toxic horse meat out of the food supply. Please call https://secure2.convio.net/pcrm/site/Advocacy;jsessionid=E76432305DF6B79FB6868CA4A52D6838.app272a?alertId=668&pg=makeACall
and e-mail their offices today.
https://secure2.convio.net/pcrm/site/Advocacy;jsessionid=E366A75304185C40ABC233F75DA4E190.app273a?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=669&autologin=true
After contacting your elected officials, forward this message to your friends
http://support.pcrm.org/site/TellAFriend?msgId=84261.0&devId=91225
On this very urgent issue, your action means even more than usual. Thank you for your engagement, and if you have any questions, contact me at ngitell@PCRM.org
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Horses need our protection. It’s an outrage that slaughter may be coming back in this country. It is a barbaric practice. There is no reason to have this start up again.
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Well I’ve been signing petitions and making calls to my so-called Senators and I know thousands of others have been doing the same. When are we all going to realize that our government is not ‘of the people, for the people’ anymore? They don’t give a CRAP what we want or don’t want. I truly believe that it will take all of us physically standing up and saying NO MORE. Standing up and fighting. I have edited this many times because what I believe will be necessary to end this isn’t pleasant …anyone else agree with me??? I am NOT an advocate of violence….how much more violent an end could our horses possibly meet than what our BLM wants for them. We do have the right to gather in numbers to protest and we NEED to do just that! HUGE NUMBERS….
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Elaine, what would happen if we stormed the corrals and turned horses loose? My understanding is the (now well armed) Homeland Security would turn on us. Greenpeace anyone?
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My belief is that it will take something like that to get results. Sad, but nothing else has worked AT ALL. We all sign petitions and call our government officials and the BLM and they brush us off like a bunch of flies. We so far have had little or NO effect. I would be very willing to do just what you suggested…there IS safety in numbers. If there are 200 people there protesting and blocking the way what would they do? Arrest us all? Shoot us??? My disgusting excuses for senators here in Wyoming couldn’t care less for the welfare of ANY animal, much less horses who they consider to be feral and worthless (except to whoever in the BLM is getting a cut of the slaughter profit).
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IM in
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Well everyone, here is our free press at work. It seems one cannot post a comment on the Denver Post article without meeting some pretty odd requirements which mean nothing topical can be addressed in a timely fashion unless you are a “regular.”
They also only publish 14 comments! There are 160 here but we cannot read them, what on earth has that got to do with a free press? Why bother taking comments at all if they will be so randomly censored? Unbelievable.
I will have to find the forums page next.
Here’s their information:
COMMENTING
Why is my comment not showing up on the article?
By Joe Murphy
The Denver Post
POSTED: 01/10/2012 08:51:41 AM MST160 COMMENTS| UPDATED: 10 MONTHS AGO
Hello. It’s not an accident. Your comment isn’t showing up because we only publish certain comments on our article page (Note: All comments are published on the article’s corresponding forums page).
We do this to make sure new members aren’t spammers, or someone who we banned and came back to post more of what we banned them for on our site.
To do this, we have filters on our comments so that only commenters who meet these requirements have their comments show up on the article page:
Have been a member for a minimum number of days (the minimum’s fewer than 30, more than 15), and,
Have posted more than 15 comments.
Once you meet those requirements, you’ll show up (provided you have fewer than two recent warnings on your record). You’ll know your comments are showing up on the article when you see the “Certified Commenter” designation appear next to your name in your comments in the forums.
Also, we only publish the seven newest qualifiying comments, and the seven oldest qualifying comments.
If you have any more questions or complaints about this policy, post them in the comments below. If you have questions about a specific comment of yours, please include a link to the comment in question.
Thanks,
Joe Murphy
The Denver Post
Read more: Why is my comment not showing up on the article? – The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/ci_19711377#ixzz2kfzXtNp7
Read The Denver Post’s Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse
Follow us: @Denverpost on Twitter | Denverpost on Facebook
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Oops, correction. The 16o comments are about the DP’s posting policy. Can anyone get this information to Mr. Cohen? I think it’s unethical to only allow commenters who have been busy commenting on other articles for weeks. How can one reply to Mr. Cohen’s article or the commenters without being pre-screened this way? I don’t usually read or buy this paper but live in Colorado and find this outrageous.
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COMMENT ON S 258 ASAP!
https://www.popvox.com/bills/us/113/s258
Hi all, I just went to this site (I think Louie C might have provided it last week) to register my opinion on S 258 which (rumor has it) may be voted on next week and is expected to pass unless there is significant pushback.
This was easy to fill out and supposedly they send your individual comments to your elected officials. Sadly, I was one of only the first 50 people to comment.
Please let’s get some “pushback” here, what’s at stake is (among other things) an extension of grazing leases from the current 10 year term to a 20… which could be the final nail in our WHBs long evolutionary history.
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I went to the site tonight & commented. ALL of the comments were opposed. But there weren’t many there. I’ve written comments to several of the members of the committee, too. Youre right there should be more pushback. Why isn’t there?
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Maggie, I got on the DP site today, it said my comments were posted but they aren’t showing up… so it might take two weeks before anyone reads them! Unbelievable.
I think the silence on S 258 may be since it’s been sitting a while, waiting for a chance to quietly pass from committee to law. I’m doing all I can to change this, pro or con our citizens need to weigh in on this.
My Senator is probably building a big stack of emails from me now, hope he reads them and actually considers what I’ve written, then takes responsible action.
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11-16-2013 Our president’s pre-presidency qualifications were that of a community “organizer”, which to me means other people did the hands-on work while the organizer laid back and reap the positive benefits, if there were any. Our
president is laying back, playing basketball and golf, and intentionally allowing allowing America’s horses go to slaughter!!!! NO SOUL or HEART!!
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Correct me if i am wrong Didnt Pres Obama in one of his campaign speeches say he would save the Wild Mustangs ???????
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