SOURCE: Garden City News
Wild horses deaths now up to 75, corral managers deny wrongdoing
- By Steven Tendo stendo@gctelegram.com
After investigations at the facility, located East of U.S. Highway 83 on Road 70 in Scott County, findings by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) indicate the main reason the mostly older horses died was the stress they suffered after being moved from their original pasture to the corral. Their feeding and crowding issues also were considered as factors.
Some of the horses at the corral, managed by Beef Belt LLC, were found down and were euthanized because it was determined they could not get back up, according to Paul McGuire, BLM’s public affairs specialist.
“It is also true that the horses could have been affected by the food mix, as well as the quantity of the feeds,” McGuire said.
The Bureau of Land Management reported last week that it had started investigating a case in which 57 wild horses died at a corral in Scott County, Kansas.
Reports indicated the horses were transferred from a range managed by the BLM because an open-pasture contractor had reported he would not be taking on all the 47,300 horses that he had previously been managing. The Bureau then sought another place where the 1,900 animals (1,500 mares and 400 geldings) could go, as they had to leave by June 1, 2014.
The manager of the corral, Steven Landgraf, one of the owners of Lakin Feed Yard, which specializes in corrals just like the one in Scott County, denied any wrongdoing on the part of the staff at the corral.
“We did our best to take care of them. It is not like we did not do our job,” Landgraf said. “As animals get older, they die. The animals that have died have all been between 19 and 20 years old. It is a fact of life; how do you say this without being cruel?”
Landgraf explained further that the organization has cows and buffaloes that die there frequently.
“It is normal to have 4 percent or 5 percent of deaths with cattle, so this does not really count as out of the ordinary,” he said. “There were 1,490 of them that came in, and, if these few died, it shouldn’t be such a big deal.”
Five more horses died between Saturday and Monday. Four of them were euthanized, according to the BLM.
“I have a cow herd. When the cattle get to be this old, we sell them so they can be turned into hamburger. That’s not the way with horses; we can only take care of them. If they are old, they naturally succumb to nature,” Landgraf said.
According to McGuire, it is part of the contractual arrangement that if there are deaths on these private holdings, they must be reported immediately.
“I always report to customers because I am accountable every day,” Landfgraf said. “I don’t treat these animals any different from my father’s animals, which are on this land.”
BLM officials say they responded immediately when reports of the horse deaths were made. The ensuing investigation informed their decision to leave the animals at the corral, but adjustments were made in their care.
“There were basically three principle causes: one is that these animals are older; anywhere from 15 to 20 years. Because of that, they didn’t endure the stress of the move quite well. When they arrived here, the environment was very different because they had to learn how to feed from the bunks. Some of the less dominant horses succumbed to the stress,” McGuire said.
Though the bureau insists stress was the main cause of the deaths, they introduced significant changes in the feeding regime at the corral, pointing to this as another notable probable cause.
“We have asked the operator to increase the quantity of feeds from 18-20 pounds a day to 26 to 28 per day. We also asked them to increase the energy density of the feeds. The mixture of grass and alfalfa is now balanced in favor of alfalfa,” McGuire said.
BLM has never had to move such a large number of animals, McGuire said.
“This case is unique because these animals were taken off of a pasture where they’d been living. BLM has never moved such a large number of older horses to a feedlot from a pasture situation. This is kind of a first for the agency,” he said.
The animals were moved to the corral in the course of one week. BLM’s representative says the move included 200 animals per day.
“We had to move the horses immediately. It was an unavoidable situation that we had to respond to,” McGuire said.
According to McGuire, the last horse arrived at the corral June 22. The contractor received a monthly report at the end of June. At that time, the report indicated only about three deaths, which did not alarm BLM. The next report came at the end of July, and BLM noticed a spike in the number of deaths. That was on Aug. 5.
“It seems the measures we have taken so far have achieved what we intended: to get the horses stabilized. The deaths have tapered off, and the horses have a very healthy appearance and seem to be doing quite well,” McGuire said.
BLM also advised the contractor to spread the horses out to more lots so that they are not crowded in one as they were initially, according to McGuire.
Joseph Stratton, who works with the Washington office of BLM and is charged with technical matters of these operations, put the matter in context: “Sometimes, no matter what you feed these animals, when they are stressed, their bodies will not accept the feed. They retreat metabolically instead. Sometimes the bacteria in the horse’s stomach cannot process the new feed, which is different from the pasture. They could eat and still be thin.”
According to Stratton, the horses feed three times a day starting at 6:30 a.m., with this first feeding lasting an hour to an hour and a half, since there are 28 pens. At 10 or 11 a.m., they come back for another feed. In the afternoon, about 2 to 3 p.m., they come back for another.
“Before everybody goes home, they go back and pick up what the horses have dropped and throw it right back into the bunk, so there is no waste,” Stratton said.
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly reported the name of the company that manages the corral. The company is Beef Belt LLC.
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Categories: Horse Health, Horse News, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Tagged as: Animal welfare, Beef Belt LLC, BLM, Joe Stratton, Lakin Feed Yard, Steven Landgraf, Wild Horses
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
i thought these people are horse experts. They are the ones who say they know what they are doing. This goes to show you how much they really know. But, I am sure they are really heart broken.
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I have an idea for BLM..Put the horse back on THEIR OWN RANGE, where ya gottem.
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yes!!!
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I totally agree!! But I truly wish that our government had an agency to oversee other agencies, who are misguided & not following the laws… It is beyond frustrating, to say the least!! Some of the BLM employees really care about these animals, but some of the yahoos, (higher up in the BLM), obviously are following the direction of WHOM?? American taxpayers have no idea what is going on here.. Keep up the good work that all of you do for the innocent ones!! Hopefully, if we band together, SOMEONE WILL HEAR OUR VOICES!!! Never give up!!
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These Horses have been put through Hell and should NEVER have been removed from their Legal Herd Management Areas.
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WILD HORSES — THE STRESS OF CAPTIVITY
Bruce Nock, PhDWashington University School of Medicine, Departments of Psychiatry and of Anatomy and Neurobiology, St. Louis, MO 63110, USALiberated HorsemanshipLiberatedHorsemanship.com
Click to access Wild%20Horse%20Stress.pdf
So let me tell you what happens to a wild horse’s physiology when he/she suffers the severe stress, trauma, of being chased and sequestered into captivity. Then, I’ll tell you what some of the consequences are. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say, as gathers are routinely done in the USA, if a wild horse doesn’t die straight off from the immediate devastation and commotion, it compromises him/her physically and mentally, putting him on a path of accelerated deterioration
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So they take these horses out of the wild because they competed with privately owned cattle for feed. They put them on contracted pasture and they apparently did okay, but now the public not only pays to feed the cows on public lands but also the horses removed from public lands so the cows could have more to eat. So we really pay twice. Then they lose their contracted pasture for these horses, mass move them to a feedlot – in who knows what – type of trucks? how many to a truck? how long was the ride? – Then completely change their diet and they start dying in mass. Nice ending BLM.
How about we take those cows off of public lands and fence them in on their owners private ranch land, and all that money being used to feed captive wild horses can go to buy alfalfa for these welfare cows, and the horses can have their ‘legally designated lands’ back and be left to live in peace. ** One way or the other you’re going to pay to feed those cows** I’d rather keep them off of our land and give them a bale of hay instead. Then BLM’s job could be delivering hay to welfare ranchers, a job they’d be more suitable for.
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The BLM seems to be running a death camp here, the model entirely fits. How many others are there which we don’t yet know about?
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Thought that name looked familiar
http://farmwars.info/?p=3222
Debbie Coffey
BLM “team” conference calls and Alternate Management Options were obtained by the Freedom of Information Act by The Conquistador Program, a non-profit equine welfare organization in Phoenix, AZ (link below). This article consists of direct quotes of BLM team conference call notes and quotes from the Alternate Management Options.
At the beginning of the BLM “team” notes: “All correspondence that is generated by this team” will not be “for the public”.
“Team” members listed on the Implementation Team Conference Calls are:
JOE STRATTON manager of the Elm Creek holding facility in Nebraska. Monsanto featured Joe Stratton on a video it did about wild horses: View here
Don Glenn – Division Chief, BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program
John Neill – manager of Palomino Valley Wild Horse and Burro Center in Reno, NV
Alan Shepard – lead BLM officer for state of Nevada
Rob Jeffers – Project manager lead in Modoc National Forest (Forest Service) in northeastern CA, and former head of the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program in Susanville, CA
Al Kane – USDA APHIS veterinarian
Jim Johnson – deceased
Lili Thomas – National Wild Horse and Burro Specialist
Gus Warr – Utah BLM Wild Horse and Burro lead
Bud Cribley – BLM Deputy Asst. Director, Resources and Planning
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And guess who the USDA vet was who went to check on the mares at Scott City? AL Kane.
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And the USDA vet in Scott City who “investigated” the mares deaths was AL KANE.
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Deb, it seems the contract was violated in that the horse deaths should have been reported immediately, and weren’t. Very odd there are no necropsies, too, at least that I can find, from the USDA vet who also by law should be required to do this.
It’s also alarming this is a facility where animals are evidently expected to go and die without much concern. Can this contract be nulled?
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Reblogged this on hocuspocus13 and commented:
jinxx xoxo
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I dont need to be convienced of the absolute Criminal practices of the BLM , I want to know what I can do about it ,so far talk is cheap , action speaks PLAN PEOPLE plan !!!! EponaSpirit had a good one ,it might need a little tweeking , Now Impliment it !!!!!! Their has to be a plan, there are millions of us , I think they call that people power !!!!! Surely We should have the advantage here ,need to know how to use it ???????????????/ By now we all must know talking does not get the Job done or end the suffering of these beauties !!!!
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“Before everybody goes home, they go back and pick up what the horses have dropped and throw it right back into the bunk, so there is no waste,” Stratton said.
THEY PICK UP WHAT HAS BEEN STEPPED ON AND CONTAMINATED. No wonder the horses are dying and I bet they are so hungry they eat it. He and the others should all be fired but they’ll probably get a promotion instead.
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Souless bastards !!!!!
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stepped on, peed on, crapped on.
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Reblogged this on "OUR WORLD".
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READ THIS: It can be in spoiled hay even.
http://horsetalk.co.nz/2014/08/21/botulism-horses-chances-survival/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+HorsetalkconzHeadlines+%28Horsetalk.co.nz+Headlines%29#axzz3B34zuLdx
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Put the darn Mustangs back ,were they belong , end this drama…………………
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Pt. 4 of 12 Wild Horse & Burro Advisory Board Meeting – Phoenix, AZ
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This was posted on AMERICAN HORSE DEFENSE FUND FACEBOOK
https://www.facebook.com/pages/American-Horse-Defense-Fund/146440650536
Incredible article on the BLM’s proposal to spay mares and the potential risks. The article addresses many issues we, as activists, may have missed. It is an exceptional read and we highly recommend it for anyone thinking the BLM is even remotely correct in their management of this nation’s wild horses and burros.
A new article written by Dr. Bruce Nock in response to a request by the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign. Dr. Nock is one of the featured speakers at the upcoming Hoof Care Event, May 18 and 19, in La Llacuna, Spain.
MENOPAUSE AND WILD HORSE MANAGEMENT
DR. BRUCE NOCK
Click to access Menopause%20%26%20Wild%20Horses.pdf
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From what I can figure, this “new” Scott City Kansas facility is run through the previous and current Paul’s Valley Oklahoma BLM holding facility contract – Phil Jennings. He has contracted with BLM for many years and I see no evidence that BLM signed a new contract with him when they agreed to pay him for the Scott City facility. No new contract meant no environmental assessment was done on the Scott City facility … no EA means no examination of the facility by BLM before shipping our hundreds of wild horses over there to their ultimate death. In addition to the stress of re-capture and shipping from Teterville and change of water and change of food and change from pasture to feedlot environment … the Scott city facility had been used as a cattle (and bison) feed lot for about 45 years … and in my mind the coral panels and feed trays and water troughs and especially the soil would have been contaminated from the livestock who are notorious for being sick and dropping dead in livestock feedlots.
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GG, also there are numerous feed additives fed to cattle which are TOXIC to horses! We need the necropsy reports and something like an official, biological explanation for so many deaths over so many days… outright stress would have maybe influenced the first few but surely not those who survived for weeks, only to be “humanely” euthanized due to unidentified causes.
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Other possibilities are Salmonella and Botulism from old, contaminated feed left in the bunks for incoming horses to find. Either of these would lead to painful, non-infectious deaths as fit what the sparse vet report made public so far indicated.
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Wow all those credenials and no Brain , to think with how sad !!!!! How did he do that ???????? Heres the Simpliest answer , PUT THE MUSTANGS BACK , bunch of fools !!!!
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Common sense ( which apparently the BLM lacks) would dictate that you inform the new caretakers on what the horses have been fed and not drastically change their diet. Also if older horses are more sensitive to being moved – DON’T MOVE THEM, MOVE YOUNGER HORSES DUH!
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Leave the horses on public land get rid of the cattle.
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Seventy five horses (that we know of) are more than the total left in some BLM/USFS managed herds!
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Horse deaths blamed mostly on stress
By Steven Tendo Special to The News
http://www.hutchnews.com/news/local_state_news/corral-managers-deny-wrongdoing-in-death-of-horses/article_3a896b2e-e832-5915-9b5c-c62b8be52d9a.html
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Write a letter to the BLM Advisory Board — Here is mine.
To the Board members of the BLM Wild Horse and Advisory Board:
You as members of this board are, in my opinion, responsible for the death of these Wild Horses, and the deaths of many other BLM-supervised horses, information about which has been unsuccessfully kept from the public; this is the last straw.
Return the Wild Horses and Burros to OUR public lands and do what the BLM was actually authorized to do – to care for and to maintain them – not kill them secretly or while rounding them up for penning, or quietly arranging for them to be slaughtered either through hidden legislative amendments, or open contracts with Kill Buyers, and now allowing them to die a horrific death of starvation and thirst from what I believe to be criminal negligence while in those pens.
The intent of the 1971 Roam Free legislation must be honored. An outbreak of anger and hatred is taking place. The theft of these WH&B’s rights and their legal designation to our public lands has been undermined secretly, and openly, in behalf of private interests, by horse haters and the BLM for decades. This must stop now. I particularly relate to those of you on the Board who are known to be Wild Horse haters. Do not make the mistake of continuing to front for those corrupted ranchers who want these horses dead or for the energy companies who want them removed.
Recent polls indicate that as much or more than 80% of Americans know how the WH&Bs are being treated and strongly dislike it. The public knows this because a huge movement has developed among the thousands of us out here who deeply care about OUR American Wild Horses and we are “Mad as Hell”.
There is an equally large movement against American horse slaughter, and it is well known that many WH&Bs have been secreted off to slaughter in Canada and Mexico where these fearful, prey animals are tortured, injured, severely frightened, and callously betrayed with days of ghastly transport deprived of food or water through inclement weather to the eventual horror of vivisection all in plain view of their fellow horses being prodded or stabbed forward to a similar vicious and cruel death process.
The zeroing out of our WH&Bs by the BLM is a deliberate and illegal act. It must stop. The miscalculations of the BLM as to ratios of horses to land has led to as many as 50 permitted cattle to every legally designated horse, yet you are removing the horses and increasing the cattle. This is worse than illegal. It is a betrayal to all Americans. These are OUR horses and we demand that they be restored to their lands where they maintain the brush preventing fires, nomadically spread well fertilized grass seeds, and are well documented as the saviors of our plains whereas the cattle and sheep destroy the water holes with their cloven hooves and kill the grass and flora. Slowly our ranges are dying as a direct cause by the removal of the WH&Bs and are being destroyed by the ever increasing numbers of cattle and sheep being wrongly permitted to graze there by the BLM.
Our public lands are not to be used for private profit. Every horse that is removed or dies in removal or is penned and dies, dies because of the use of public money and public government to further private profit; IT IS ILLEGAL! And it is immoral.
Time has run out. Take responsibility for the lives of these American icons. Archeology and paleontology has effectively and honestly proven that the horse is most likely the oldest living mammal in North America and has been here for 38 to 55 million years. Recent fossil finds indicate that the horse never went extinct in North America and actually as a Native of North America crossed the Bering Straits and populated Asia and Europe. Native Americans rode horses for hundreds of years prior to the arrival of the Spaniards. Anything saying otherwise are falsehoods made up to support the WH&Bs removal from public land for the benefit of private individuals – the Cliven Bundys and others equally as unscrupulous.
The world’s horses originated from our American horse and they should be honored and respected by all Americans. No more lies. Our American Wild Horses and Burros are not “feral pests”. They did not come across in mated pairs in tiny sailing ships full of hay from Spain. Even if they had, they would be considered Returned Natives.
You will have read this and realize that I am very angry not just about the 75 horses you have allowed to die of negligence, but for the thousands of Wild Horses and Burros who have been shot, run to death with helicopters, penned, and sent to slaughter – who have been famously betrayed by the very government agency authorized to protect them.
Undo what you have allowed to happen; return our Native American icons safely back to their ranges and keep our public lands public. Stop giving out leases for grazing and drilling and fracking.
Elaine Brown
Sunland, CA
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Awesome letter, Elaine. It ought to go viral. Put it in letters to the editor, etc.May I share it ?
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Dear Elaine !!!! Fabulous Letter take this viral , send to Jane Valaz Mitchell CNN, letter should be sent to all Public Officals, I am sure that everyone here agrees 100% with You !!!!! Thank You for being able to take everyones views and put it down on Paper Bravo Elaine !!!!!! Please dont let this stellar letter die here take it to the Limit Elaine………………………………………. And most of Make Sally Jewel gets it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Exactly—the thoughts of every one here, so very well said, I agree don’t let that letter die here, it should be what is spoken and sent every where, as many Americans feel the same -the BLM does what they do because they can—-now is the time to tell them NO MORE.
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This letter says it all and very well. I just doubt they will read it .
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Old Mare Collapses at BLM Roundup
The Cloud Foundation filmed this story of an old mare who collapsed on her way to the trap site during the Antelope Complex Roundup in Nevada on Jan. 27, 2011.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…
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Old Mare Collapses at Roundup
The Cloud Foundation filmed this story of an old mare who collapsed on her way to the trap site during the Antelope Complex Roundup in Nevada on Jan. 27, 2011.
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Can’t bring myself to watch this. The scenes I have witnessed of atrocities over the last few years, both horses and other animals, have had a severe affect on me. I do appreciate it being available for those who can or should see it, just not me as I no longer need convincing. Thank you, Louie. You are so full of wonderful information if not always able to stand to see some of it!
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I agree Elaine, I also need no conviencing, although louie c is a wonderful , reporter of all information, i cannot bear to watch anymore !!!!! It tears me up inside ,,,,,,,,,,,,, it does need to be seen and presented ………………………………
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we all will have to answer to our maker in the end , i pray all the horses Murdered by these so called people will be judged by a tribunal of precious Mustangs whom they have terrorized, maimed and murdered !!!!!!!
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Elaine, it is VERY hard watch. You don’t have to watch it, just SHARE it with any and all that you know
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THE KANSAS CONNECTION
(More Tax Dollar$ at work)
U.S. Will Pay $2 Million So Prison Inmates Can Teach Wild Horses to be ‘Gentle’
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/us-will-pay-2-million-so-prison-inmates-can-teach-wild-horses-be-gentle
(CNSNews.com)
The Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management will pay $2 million in taxpayer funds over five years so that prison inmates in KANSAS
can teach wild horses and burros to be “gentle.”
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WHAT METHOD WILL THEY BE USING TO DO THIS?????????????
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http://kmuw.org/post/80-mustangs-die-after-move-scott-city
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Thanks for the updates, Nona.
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last report 90 mares have died. no matter what McGuire says, that many horses DID NOT have to die. No one went over the re feeding of these mares with this FEED LOT owner for CATTLE and Bison. AFTER they get there, they decide to move out the horses to larger space, and then tell them what to eat? Why not do that first.??
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Exactly, Nona. Thank you for the update.
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