Chicago (EWA) – Following a ban funding for USDA inspections, and state legislation in Texas and Illinois, the last three horse slaughter plants in the US were closed in 2007. The result was that the horses were shipped to Canada and Mexico for slaughter. Last year the prohibition on funding was lifted, but now the very market for the meat from US horses is in question.
A news report has circulated recently about a massive population of free-roaming horses currently destroying land in the Navajo Nation and in New Mexico. The report, by Deanna Sauceda, asserts “Tens of thousands of horses are roaming the state and there’s no where to put them.” Based on no pointed sources, it’s ‘estimated’ there are as many as 90,000 horses roaming the Navajo Nation’s lands:
“There are no hard numbers as to how many horses are wild, abandoned or feral in New Mexico, but some estimates are as high as 90,000 on the Navajo reservation alone.” – intimating that there are far more throughout the rest of the state.
Meet Psy. He’s a Korean pop star, and his music video “Gangnam Style” will do more to popularize equestrian sports than Rafalca ever could.
Since the video was posted on YouTube on July 15, it’s received nearly 50 million views and counting. It’s at the top of the K-Pop Hot 100 chart, and crossed the ocean to American iTunes charts, where it currently resides at number 65. The lyrics refer to a posh, Beverly Hills-like area of Seoul, so “Gangnam Style” alludes to ostentatious wealth and a sort of #YOLO, devil-may-care attitude.
HOUSTON, (Horseback) – Texas Parks and Wildlife, the state agency charged with the welfare of animals in their natural habitat didn’t have enough respect for 11 domestic horses to give them a quick and painless death. Instead, on the orders of park superintendent Barrett Darst of Big Bend Ranch State Park, the horses, mares and foals, were sent to a painful slaughter, Mexico style.
Fame is a powerful commodity, yet how many celebrities parlay this fame into something that will make a real difference in the world? And beyond that, how many actually go beyond writing a check or lending their endorsement to actually turning their commitment into full-time work?
Shane and Sia Barbi, the blonde bombshell models known as the Barbi Twins, jokingly refer to themselves as “famous for nothing.” Although they are certainly known to millions who bought their calendars, posters, and bestselling Playboy issues in the 1990s (among the dorm rooms their posters graced was that of Prince William), there are equally as many in the animal rights world who only know of the Barbis for their current animal activist work — defying not only Fitzgerald’s “no second acts” rule about American lives but seriously stretching what Shane and Sia call their respective “7.5 minutes” of fame allotment.
HOUSTON, (Horseback) – The director of the largest state park system in the continental United States has embroiled himself in a controversy that has already stirred the passions of animal advocates nationwide. Furthermore, he has possibly been enmeshed in an outright lie.
Chicago (EWA) – Wild Horse Freedom Federation (WHFF) and Equine Welfare Alliance (EWA) have announced a new working relationship with a team of professional undercover cruelty investigators. This new alliance will increase WHFF and EWA’s ability to inform law enforcement, lawmakers, the media and the public regarding all forms of cruelty to domestic and wild equines.
Grandma Gregg: “The Twin Peaks Herd Management Area fire (Rush fire) might have started with lightening but allowing it’s non-stop devouring of 313,911 acres (so far) was a management decision. Why do I think that?”
For years, Julie Caramante was a leader the fight to shutter Dallas Crown, Kaufman’s infamous horse slaughterhouse. Dallas Crown closed in 2007, as did the Beltex slaughterhouse in Fort Worth, but Caramante, a lifelong equine welfare advocate, has continued to keep a close eye on the horse slaughter industry.
The Twin Peaks Wild Horse and Burro Herd Management Area is covered in fencing to accommodate the livestock permittees. These fences restrict natural migration, water resources, impact free-roaming behavior, restrict gene flow, and now have put the wild horses and burros and other wildlife in significant danger as the wild fire burns through their herd management area.
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