Two more misdemeanor counts of animal abuse have been filed against a Billings man who authorities say left some 700 horses without food at a ranch east of Billings, while on another front plans to round up the horses and sell them are moving forward.
HOUSTON, (Horseback) – The federal government says plans from a rookie Nebraska legislator to bring horsemeat processing to Nebraska are as dead as the severed horse hooves at a Mexican abattoir.
Five years after a cow dubbed the “Unsinkable Molly B” leapt a slaughterhouse gate and swam across the Missouri River in an escape that brought international acclaim, the heifer has again eluded fate, surviving the collapse of the animal sanctuary where she was meant to retire.
Recent cases of animal cruelty and neglect in Montana are enough to make anyone angry or upset but one woman and a large crew of dedicated volunteers are working to make a difference in the lives of in-crisis animals every day.
James H. Leachman of Billings pleaded not guilty to 10 misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty Friday in Justice Court and said he will ask for a jury trial.
Billings Flying Service airlifted about 20 tons of hay, one round bale at a time, Thursday morning to hundreds of hungry horses on a ranch east of Billings along Highway 87E.
Fourteen hours after leaving Missoula, Montana, my plane landed in Houston’s Hobby Airport. None of the locals thought the 50 degree weather they were experiencing was warm, but I stood happily outside in shirt sleeves waiting for the shuttle. I doubt that I will ever complain about the cold weather of South Texas again, even on the rare day that it reaches freezing. Walking through frozen pastures at -10 is enough to convince me that the South is a place to call home.
HOUSTON (SFTHH) – Wyoming House Bill 51 sponsored by Rep. Sue Wallis, currently under investigation for alleged fraud, ethics violations and battery charges, died a quiet death in the house committee last Wednesday. Dubbed the “Industrial and Energy Development Protection Bill” it would have required taxpayers and organizations that wanted to question an industrial or energy development permit to post a bond to satisfy any delays or loses that the defending company might incur during the legal challenge.
Back home in South Texas, when the thermometer reaches fifty degrees, the ice, if there ever was any ice, disappears off the roads. Back home at fifty degrees, folks are wearing heavy coats and gloves, shivering before they walk into the mall. Western Montana is different. For two days now, with close to fifty degrees by mid-afternoon, the roads up in the mountains have turned into thick slush ice, the pastures are the same, and every step of man and beast is threatened with the possibility of a major fall, but the people are showing up without coats and in a few cases, in shorts. Things are different up here.
Hot Springs MT (SFTHH) – Eighty horses are receiving much needed veterinary care at a foster location while volunteers continue to move 650 llamas, two camels, several pot bellied pigs, donkeys, bison, cattle, goats, and sheep to safe locations for veterinary evaluation and future adoption campaigns.
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