R.T. Fitch
R.T. Fitch’s life has been anything but ordinary. Straight out of high school, he joined the U.S. Air Force Band during the Vietnam era, and while stationed in Hawaii, he spent weekends at Sea Life Park training penguins, sea lions, and whales. His path through life has taken many unexpected turns—including more than a few lessons in love—until meeting his wife, Terry, brought a lasting partnership and a shared passion for animals.
Over the course of his adult career, R.T. worked internationally in multiple countries, gaining a broad, global perspective that colors both his worldview and his writing. Now rooted in Texas, he and Terry live on a small farm surrounded by four-legged companions with paws, claws, and hooves. Together, they have devoted years to equine rescue and wild horse protection.
An ordained volunteer chaplain and professional Santa Claus for a local historical society—with Terry by his side as Mrs. Claus—R.T. brings warmth, wisdom, and joy to every season. His work reflects a life of service, wonder, and connection to both people and animals.
He is the author of Straight from the Horse’s Heart, a moving collection of true rescue stories and spiritual reflections, and Fangs of Light, a supernatural tale steeped in symbolic and metaphorical storytelling. The first in a planned trilogy, Fangs of Light blends myth and mystery to explore themes of identity, redemption, and the power of empathy—offering readers not only suspense and intrigue but a deeper look at the light and shadow within us all.
Equine advocates around the world cheered the bumbled failure of Rep. Cynthia Lummis’ (WY) attempt to tack on an underhanded, last-minute, pro-horse slaughter amendment to the 2012 agriculture appropriations bill on June 15th, 2011. Knowledgeable citizens knew that little would be heard from Lummis after her public melt down and embarrassing withdrawal of the amendment in light of other scandalous, political news oozing out of our Nation’s capitol. (Like a politico named Weiner getting caught showing his wiener and then publicly admitting that he was/is a wiener.) But what was not known was how long it would take Lummis’ backdoor informant and supplier of incorrect data and misinformation to rear her ugly head and rant about her bloody failure and inept attempt to cram horse meat down the public’s unwilling throat; Wyoming State Rep. “Slaughterhouse” Sue Wallis did not disappoint.
Update June 16, 2011: By a vote of 215-200, the U.S. House of Representatives approved H.R. 2112, the 2012 agriculture appropriations bill.
Rep. Jim Moran’s amendment made in committee remained intact in the final version.
Under Rep. Moran’s amendment, inspections required for horses bound for slaughter for human consumption will remain de-funded as they have been since 2006. This means if the House version becomes law, commercial horse slaughter for human consumption will remain illegal.
WASHINGTON (June 16, 2011) – The Cloud Foundation opposes the BLM’s “Record of Decision” released this Tuesday to wipe out two wild horse herds in southern Wyoming. It includes a massive round up and removal of most horses in the area, but it also implements the spaying of mares and the gelding of all stallions to be returned to the White Mountain and Little Colorado herd management areas.
In case you missed the session on Lummis’ amendment, below is the Congressional Record Text. Some of it wasn’t displayed in the record but only in captions so I grabbed what I could – that’s the reason for the difference in format toward the bottom.
This link will get you to the videos, captions and official record. The videos are tricky – I had to hit “next clip” several times to get to the next clip.
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/videoLibrary/clip.php?appid=600117137
WASHINGTON, (EWA) – A last ditch attempt by supporters of horse slaughter crumbled on a procedural issue Wednesday afternoon after Representative Cynthia Lummis (R/WY) introduced a last minute amendment to the agriculture budget that proposed to allow horse slaughter plants to pay for their own inspections.
Cynthia Lummis (WY) has withdrawn her amendment that would have countered Moran’s amendment by striking the language defunding inspections. I missed her but heard from several that saw her speaking that she was not a happy camper and appeared very angry.
This morning the Rock Springs, Wyoming BLM office published a Decision Record for the White Mountain and Little Colorado Herd Areas.
Here it is:
http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/wy/information/NEPA/rsfodocs/whitemtn-wind/rev-ea.Par.54148.File.dat/DR.pdf
Normally these decision records come as no surprise – despite thousands of comments from the public against the roundup, (over 7000 in this case) usually the Alternative A is chosen, what the BLM wanted all along: bringing the herd numbers down to the lower end of AML, using birth control on the mares, and more recently, a crude twist – skewing the sex ration favoring stallions over mares.
Not this time.
We, the undersigned Organizations urge you to consider the following when voting on the Agricultural Appropriations Bill that currently contains Congressman Jim Moran’s Amendment to De-fund USDA Inspections for Post Mortem Inspections of Horses Slaughtered in the U.S. for Human Consumption.
Chicago (EWA) –United Horsemen (UH), a 501c3 non-profit organization that promotes horse slaughter, has launched an advertizing and editorializing campaign that defies credulity. The campaign is an obvious attempt to derail the Rep. Moran (VA) amendment to the agriculture budget that continues a policy of defunding horse meat inspections.
Running in fear of the newly introduced “American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011” the cruel and misguided Wyoming state Rep. Sue Wallis has unleashed a weekend full of internet misinformation and out-and-out lies. As she sees the bloody yet limited profits of predatory horse slaughter ooze between her twisted, pudgy fingers she has flailed out with a continuous stream of twisted propaganda that has run head-on into an educated brickwall…that brickwall being one, John Holland, president of the Equine Welfare Alliance.
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
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