Sep 19 2017

Aurelia Skipwith, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks, addressed the “Slaughter Summit”

Aurelia Skipwith, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks

Although the National Horse & Burro Rangeland Management Coalition put “presentations” from their “Slaughter Summit” online, most of what happened at this secretive meeting is not available to the public, even now.  There is no video of what Dean Bolstad, the Division Chief of BLM’s Wild Horse & Burro Program, said to attendees when answering questions.  The “addresses” have not been made available to the public.

From a Las Vegas Sun article, we know that Aurelia Skipwith, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks, who “addressed” the invited guests of the “Slaughter Summit, and who has obviously been misinformed, said:

“There is nothing humane or majestic to see a wild horse starving to death or a wild burro dying of thirst,” said Aurelia Skipwith, deputy assistant U.S. Interior Secretary for fish and wildlife and national parks.

Skipwith said the first major solution is for Congress to pass President Donald Trump’s budget request that includes language allowing wild horses to be sold without the requirement that buyers guarantee the animals won’t be resold for slaughter.

Skipwith said the ability to sell horses “without limitation,” along with euthanizing horses and burros, is the “most humane way to address the issue.”  (Source:  Las Vegas Sun)

For one thing, these wild horses and burros will likely either be shot or sold and will end up in the slaughter pipeline.  Their deaths  will not be “humane.”

In reality, the scope in this proposed massive killing of America’s Wild Horses & Burros is akin to a genocide.

Aurelia Skipwith was appointed to this position by Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke in April, 2017.

Skipwith seems to have had a meteoric rise to this position.  Per her linked in page, she graduated from law school in 2015, and has only worked at some of her jobs as little as 7 or 4 months.  Skipwith’s longest period of employment in the past was with Monsanto.

Per her linked in page, her employment has consisted of:

Co-Founder and General Counsel of AVC Global, an “agricultural value chain platform that unites smallholder farmers and multinational buyers with the tools needed to meet the growing demand for food.” (1 year, 1 month)

Assistant Corporate Counsel and Regulatory Affairs Coordinator of Alltech, Inc.  (1 year 1 month)

Intellectual Property Consultant – United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Bureau for Food Security (for 7 months)

Research and Legal Intern USDA (4 months)

Sustainable Agriculture Partnership Manager Monsanto Company, Corporate Affairs Department – (1 year 2 months)

Molecular Analyst and Study Director Monsanto, Regulatory Sciences Department – (5 years 2 months)

Lab Technician I   Monsanto Company, Regulatory Sciences Department – (6 months)

 

 

Sep 19 2017

U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop of Utah “jokes” at the Slaughter Summit, “The French think every horse should be Sea-Brisket”

Utah’s Rep. Rob Bishop (photo: BYU)

What did Utah’s Congressman Rob Bishop, who chairs the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee, say at the recent secretive “Slaughter Summit” in Salt Lake City, Utah?  (That he likely wouldn’t say publicly.)

“U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop of Utah took the stage holding a children’s toy stick horse and cracked a joke about riding a horse to work as Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has done in the streets of Washington.

Bishop, who chairs the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee, said that despite his holding a toy, the summit was addressing a serious issue that many across the country and in Congress don’t understand because they’ve been swayed by activists “who care more about fundraising opportunities than the animals.”

“There are members of Congress who truly believe that every horse is Seabiscuit.  Of course, the French think every horse should be Sea-Brisket,” he joked.  (Source:  Las Vegas Sun)

Hey, Rob what about all the money that Dave Duquette gets paid by Protect the Harvest to pimp for horse slaughter?  Duquette is really the one who “cares more about fundraising opportunities than the animals.”  Duquette, as you can see on his facebook page, is even building himself a big ol’ house outside Hermiston, Oregon.

This “Slaughter Summit” consisted not only of Rep. Rob Bishop’s bad “joke” and false “facts,” but also of secretive, closed-door meetings between special interest groups and the government employees pandering to them.  But, what happened in Utah will not stay in Utah.

 

 

Sep 18 2017

Wild Horse & Burro Crisis – Your Action Is Urgently Needed

Support from our good friends at Equine Advocates

Wild Horse Crisis!

Survival of America’s Wild Horses & Burros Threatened!

Horse Slaughter Crisis!

This Repulsive and Un-American Practice Could Return to U.S. Soil for the First Time Since 2007!

Both of these vital equine issues are now hanging like large clouds over our country where the vast majority of Americans disagree with what some politicians are trying to pull off to satisfy special interests in the ranching, oil & gas, mining and horse industries. The history of both issues are long and complicated.

For right now, however, we have a RED ALERT, so please take action now:

The House Appropriations Committee recently passed the Stewart Amendment which would allow for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) under the Department of Interior to kill 92,000 healthy Wild Horses and Burros. Most will end up being slaughtered. This is not only outrageous and barbaric, but goes directly against the will of 80% of the American People who want them preserved and protected. The Senate Interior Appropriations Committee can do the right thing and decide to prevent the killing of these animals when they hold a hearing on this matter during the week of September 18th.

  1. Please take the time to call your two U.S. Senators. You can reach them at this number: (202) 224-3121 which is the switchboard for the U.S. Senate.
  2. Please identify yourself, providing your name and address.
  3. Tell them that you want the protections of Wild Horses and Burros in the 2018 Spending Bill for the Department of the Interior to remain and prohibit the killing and slaughter of our Wild Horses and Burros.
  4. Also call the two leaders of the Interior Appropriations Sub-Committee, Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Tom Udall (D-NM) and express the same sentiments to them.

There is no time to waste!  Please act now!   Thank you!

After you act, please read on:

  • What we do know is that Americans do not want Wild and Domestic Equines slaughtered for food. We want a law banning horse slaughter and horse slaughterhouses from operating in the U.S. as well as banning the transport of any live equines from the U.S. across our borders into Mexico and Canada for slaughter or to any other country for that purpose.
  • We want our Wild Horses and Burros preserved and protected. We want the round-ups to stop and we want the Wild Mustangs and Burros being held captive in holding facilities “managed” by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) turned back out on the range. We want the BLM dismantled and a new agency with real experts who can get together on ways to humanely manage and preserve these animals on the range to take over with a new approach that honors the will and sentiment of the vast majority of the American People on this issue.

However, right now, there exists a political climate in this country unlike anything we have seen in more than a decade.  There are more horse slaughter proponents in the current administration assuming positions of power than ever before, including two Cabinet members, Interior Secretary, Ryan Zinke and Agriculture Secretary, Sonny Perdue.

In addition, Forrest Lucas, billionaire oilman (Lucas Oil; Lucas Oil Stadium), rancher, horse slaughter proponent, and founder of the anti-animal lobbying group, Protect the Harvest, has been given access to the executive branch and has used his influence to add horse slaughter proponents and those committed to the destruction of our Wild Horses and Burros to this administration.  These are just three of many horse slaughter supporters, including Members of Congress, Governors and other elected and appointed officials working to take this country backwards and return horse slaughter to U.S. soil.

No Wild or Domestic Equine has been legally slaughtered in this country since 2007.  There also have been many Scientific Studies and White Papers released since 2010 to further support the many reasons why horses should not be slaughtered for food. One is the 2010 landmark study on the serious health risks for people who eat the meat of equines treated with the common drug Phenylbutazone or “Bute” for short. Click here to read that study.

Another is the 2015 Chapman University Study documenting the presence of horse meat in some chopped meat products in the American food supply.  Click here for this study.

On August 1, 2017, the Wild Horse Freedom Federation (WHFF) issued a White Paper, the result of years of research. It exposes the corruption within the BLM and its shocking and deadly agenda for America’s Wild Horses and Burros.

The WHFF documents vast discrepancies in BLM records, including the numbers of horses in certain BLM holding facilities, the numbers captured, the ones that disappeared, as well as many discrepancies pertaining to financial matters, including the misappropriation of funds.

Please take the time to read this important WHFF White Paper and the Exhibits (exhibits are on a separate tab at the bottom of the page).

What More You Can Do:

  • Please use these important documents and take them to your elected officials to illustrate why horse slaughter should be banned entirely and not allowed to return to the U.S. and why Wild Horses and Burros should be preserved and protected – and not destroyed which is the government’s agenda right now.
  • Please use Equine Advocates’ Horse Slaughter Fact Sheet 2016 as a guide as well.
  • It is imperative that you contact your members of Congress in the House of Representatives (we all have just one) and your two U.S. Senators as soon as possible (preferably during this month of September 2017) and let them know that you oppose the return of horse slaughter and that you want protections of Wild Horses and Burros restored and their sale to slaughter banned.

Please stay tuned as we provide updates and new developments about these two vital issues facing America’s horses.  To receive our online alerts, please click here:

Time is of the essence!

Thank you!

 

 Hayden & Nelson, rescued Wild American Mustangs residing at Equine Advocates Rescue & Sanctuary in Chatham, NY.  Photo by Kara Heniges.

Sep 17 2017

Feel Good Sunday Video: A Horse Lover’s Prayer

“It’s time to pause, dismount, loosen the cinch, pull off the headstall and bit, let your trail-buddy graze while you pull up a cool spot under a tree and sip on one of my homemade Wrangler Iced Teas…yes, it’s been a tough battle and the war is far from being won. 

This next week is going to be a rough one so take a few minutes to sit back, reflect and recharge on why we do what we do.  Whether you are lucky enough to live with equines or not, this video will give you pause and bring a tear to your eye. 

I raise my drink in honor of all those I stand shoulder to shoulder with; we will win, we will save them, each and every one of them.  May God bless you all!  Cheers!” ~ R.T.

Sep 15 2017

THE TRUTH #9 – Why did the BLM’s Palomino Valley wild horse & burro facility (or, the BLM, for that matter) spend taxpayer money to have CALVES rendered at Reno Rendering?

Wild Horse Freedom Federation issues THE TRUTH to share Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) documents and information with the public. Be sure to subscribe HERE to Wild Horse Freedom Federation, so that you can receive email alerts.

THE TRUTH #9 – Why did the BLM’s Palomino Valley Wild horse & Burro facility (or, the BLM, for that matter) spend taxpayer money to have CALVES rendered at Reno Rendering?

Below is invoice #723617, dated 1/31/15, from Reno Rendering to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), that includes rendering costs for 6 calves.  However, our records indicate that the contract for Reno Rendering is an agreement with BLM’s Palomino Valley Center, where only wild horses and burros are kept in holding.  No cattle are kept in the BLM’s Palomino Valley Center.  Where did these calves come from?  Why would Palomino Valley, or the BLM for that matter, send calves for rendering?

Read the rest of this article and see the FOIA document (HERE).

BLM’s Palomino Valley Wild Horse and Burro Center (PVC)

Be sure to subscribe (HERE) to Wild Horse Freedom Federation, so that you can receive email alerts.

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Sep 14 2017

Public Records Sought on EPA, Beef Lobby Collusion to Weaken Water Protections

Press Release from: Biological Diversity.org

Livestock operations have polluted 35,000 miles of U.S. rivers and contaminated groundwater in 17 states. Each year American beef production creates 489 billion pounds of manure.

WASHINGTON— The Center for Biological Diversity submitted a Freedom of Information Act request today seeking communications between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and beef-lobbying groups. The filing seeks information about EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s participation in a promotional video for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association in which he urges ranchers to flood the agency with comments in favor of repealing the Clean Water Rule.

“It’s bizarre and appalling that our nation’s chief environmental official starred in a beef-industry infomercial attacking protections for our water supplies,” said Jennifer Molidor, a Center senior food campaigner. “Americans deserve to know why Pruitt would support the private interests of this incredibly polluting industry.”

Livestock operations have polluted 35,000 miles of U.S. rivers and contaminated groundwater in 17 states. Each year American beef production creates 489 billion pounds of manure. Improperly stored manure creates toxic byproducts that frequently leak into rivers, lakes and streams. In addition 167 million pounds of pesticides and 17 billion pounds of fertilizer used to grow animal feed leak into waterways.

The Clean Water Rule, a clarification of the Clean Water Act ordered by the Obama administration, prohibited the dumping of waste in “navigable waters” without a permit. The rule exempts most agricultural drainage ditches.

As the attorney general of Oklahoma, Pruitt sued to halt the rule. Industry groups filed similar lawsuits. In all cases the rule was ultimately upheld.

“Pruitt took office already determined to slash Obama-era safeguards like the Clean Water Rule without concern for the dangerous fallout of losing these protections,” said Molidor. “It’s the EPA’s job to protect our environment from big polluters, not the other way around.”

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.5 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2017/beef-lobby-09-14-2017.php

Sep 14 2017

Secretive Slaughter Summit speakers slither out from under a rock

The National Horse & Burro Rangeland Management Coalition has released the videos of speakers from their “Slaughter Summit” that was recently held in Salt Lake City, Utah.  In a video that initially looks like the speaker is a talking hat and beard, we soon see it is actually John Ruhs, who is the Bureau of Land Management’s Nevada State Director and the BLM’s Acting Deputy Director of Operations.  You can watch this video HERE.

  John Ruhs

 Yes, John, there IS something wrong.  The wild horses & burros wouldn’t cost taxpayers “$50 million” a year if the BLM would manage wild horses and burros on the range, and we can save this money and solve this “problem” if the BLM would give back the 22 million acres of federally protected Herd Areas that the BLM took away from the wild horses and burros, (where they were grazing for free) and return all wild horses and burros that are currently in BLM holding facilities back on this land.  By the way, J.J. Goicoechea, 4th generation rancher and Nevada state veterinarian, is also a speaker on this video, and can be seen about 52 minutes into the presentation.

Well known Wild Horse Hater Callie Hendrickson can be seen HERE, at about 1 hr. and 4 minutes into the presentation.

You can watch Karen Budd-Falen, a prospective Trump choice to lead the BLM, HERE.

Rabid proponent of horse slaughter, The Wildlife Society, claims that “Over 100 groups representing youth, educators, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), Native American tribes, wildlife management and conservation groups, environmental organizations, public and private land managers, and horse advocates attended…” the Slaughter Summit.

But Ginger Kathrens, Exec. Dir. of The Cloud Foundation and member of BLM’s National Wild Horse & Burro Advisory Board, was not invited to attend.

No list has been provided to the public of the “100 groups” that were invited to attend this Summit.  You’d think that if these groups were so proud of what they were doing, they’d be proud to come out from under their rocks.

Here’s a list of the Steering Committee (the group that “invited other parties and helped determine the content of the Summit”):

Arizona Sportsmen
Audubon Society
Beaver County Commission
Berryman Institute
Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus
Idaho Wildlife Federation
National Horse and Burro Rangeland Management Coalition
Nevada Division of Wildlife
Oregon Cattlemen’s Association
Society for Range Management
Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife
The Wildlife Society
Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership
University of Wyoming
Utah Department of Natural Resources
Utah Public Lands Policy Coordination Office
Utah State University Extension
Western Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies
Western Landowners Alliance
White River and Douglas Creek Conservation Districts
Wyoming State Grazing Board

Sep 12 2017

John Holland (Pres., Equine Welfare Alliance) and Simone Netherlands (Pres., Salt River Wild Horse Management Group) on Dept. of Interior’s plan to kill over 46,000 wild horses in BLM facilities and on public lands, and on fighting against horse slaughter in the U.S., on Wild Horse & Burro Radio (Wed., 9/13/17)

painy

Wild_Horse_Burro_Radio_LogoJoin us on Wild Horse Wednesdays®, this Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2017

5:00 p.m. PST … 6:00 p.m. MST … 7:00 p.m. CST … 8:00 p.m. EST

Listen to the archived show (HERE!)

You can also listen to the show on your phone by calling (917) 388-4520.

You can call in with questions during the 2nd half hour, by dialing (917) 388-4520, then pressing 1.

This show will be archived so you can listen to it anytime.

Our guests tonight are John Holland, Pres. of Equine Welfare Alliance and Simone Netherlands (Pres. of The Salt River Wild Horse Management Group, and Spokeswoman for American Wild Horse Campaign).  They will be talking about issues including stopping horse slaughter from being approved in the U.S., and the Dept. of the Interior’s language in the 2018 Budget to kill over 46,000 wild horses & burros in holding, and tens of thousands more on public lands.

Equine Welfare Alliance (EWA), is a dues free, all volunteer 501(c)(3) umbrella organization representing over 330 member organizations, over 1,200 individual members worldwide in 23 countries and the Southern Cherokee Government. EWA is dedicated to ending the slaughter of American horses and the preservation and protection of Wild Horses & Burros on public lands.

The Salt River Wild Horse Management Group (SRWHMG) is an Arizona-based nonprofit organization dedicated to monitoring, studying and protecting the Salt River wild horses.

Advocates of Arizona’s wild horses delivered a 300,000-signature petition to Sen. Jeff Flake’s office in Phoenix, opposing the mass killing of federally protected horses and burros across the U.S.

The treatment tank at the Cavel horse slaughterhouse in DeKalb, IL, taken just months before it closed in 2007. Cavel was never in compliance on its discharge during its period of operation.

This show will be co-hosted by R.T. Fitch (Pres.) and Debbie Coffey (V.P. and Dir. of Wild Horse Affairs) of Wild Horse Freedom Federation.

To contact us: ppj1@hush.com, or call 320-281-0585

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/marti-oakley/2017/09/14/john-holland-pres-equine-welfare-alliance-and-simone-netherlands

TO LISTEN TO ALL ARCHIVED WILD HORSE & BURRO RADIO SHOWS, CLICK HERE. Continue reading →

Sep 12 2017

Wild Horse and Burro Hater Zinke continues to add lobbyists and DC insiders to Interior

Source: Western Values Project.org

Ahead of potential confirmation votes, check out profiles of Interior nominees at https://departmentofinfluence.org/

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is expected to vote on the nominations of Joseph Balash and Ryan Nelson to the Interior Department. Ahead of the vote, Western Values Project has taken a look at how the revolving door continues to spin between special interests, their lobbyists, and Secretary Ryan Zinke’s Interior Department.

Both nominees have been well documented on Western Values Project’s website for their lengthy histories of favoring big donors and special interests.

“Secretary Zinke is continuing to fill his cabinet with special interests and Washington insiders. While Interior continues to stack the deck with staff from the oil and gas industry, they seem set on ignoring the outdoor industry that our communities rely on. That explains why sportsmen, hunters and anglers are turning against the Secretary,” said Chris Saeger, Executive Director of the Western Values Project. “Balash and Nelson are merely the latest examples of Zinke’s refusal to keep his promise to preserve public lands and uphold his Montana values. With these nominations, it’s abundantly clear that Secretary Zinke does not value the outdoor heritage and public lands that communities in the West rely on.”

Joseph Balash

Joseph Balash, nominated to be assistant secretary of the Interior, land and minerals management, has a long history of favoring special interests over people in his home state of Alaska. In 2013, Balash was cited as one of the “key players on Gov. Sean Parnell’s bill to lower oil taxes.” In 2014, Balash used his time as the commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources to claim nearly 20,000 acres of the National Arctic and Wildlife Refuge to be offered for oil and gas leasing. He then approved lowered royalty rates on several leases operated by oil company Caelus Energy.

Ryan Nelson
Ryan Nelson, nominated to be solicitor of the Interior, has a background in using power to silence critics. During the George W. Bush administration, Nelson used his time as deputy attorney general for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division to argue against environmental groups and activists. Nelson has since spent his time in the private sector acting as general counsel to the health care product company Melaleuca, Inc. and its CEO Frank VanderSloot. Both Melaleuca and VanderSloot have used lawsuits and other bullying tactics to attack journalists and other critics.

http://westernvaluesproject.org/zinke-continues-to-add-lobbyists-and-dc-insiders-to-interior/

Sep 11 2017

BLM Releases Decision Record plan to wipe out the Red Desert Complex after they destroy the Checkerboard

by Carol Walker, Dir. of Field Documentation, Wild Horse Freedom Federation

BLM has announced it will be removing 2200 wild horses from the Red Desert Complex, starting in October 2017.  This would be after the Checkerboard Roundup, where the BLM is planning to remove 1560 wild horses starting in September.  This means 3760 wild horses will be removed from their homes and from their families, and this is over half the wild horses remaining in Wyoming.

This is insane.  Right now, Congress is considering the 2018 Budget which now includes language that will allow the killing of the 46,000 wild horses in short and long term holding as well as thousands more on the range.

Adding 3760 more horses makes absolutely no sense.  There is nowhere to even put this number of horses in short term holding unless the BLM has already begun shipping wild horses in holding to slaughter.

Rounding up and removing these horses is a death sentence to them if this budget passes without an amendment to protect the horses.

In the Red Desert Complex, the 5 herds will all be reduced to numbers below the 150-200 adults needed to maintain genetic viability. Stewart Creek will be at 150, Lost Creek at 60, Antelope Hills at 60 Crooks Mountain at 65 and Green Mountain will be left at the closest to the number needed, at 170.

The rationale is that the horses travel back and forth between areas so they consider the Complex as a whole at 480 wild horses.  But I dispute this.  There may be some mixing of the members of herds at the boundaries, but these are vast areas and horses tend to be territorial – they cannot guarantee that the horses will mix sufficiently to maintain genetic viability.  There is data provided on each herd’s genetic viability but most of this is very old data, not from the most recent roundup in 2011 and 2012.

Then they plan to use PZP-22 on all mares over 1 year old that are released back into the area.

This is a recipe for destroying these unique herds, not preserving them.

The BLM is making the worst possible decisions for the wild horses under their care, as they have been for decades.

Be sure to read Carol Walker’s blog, Wild Hoofbeats.