Big Bend Ranc Photo by Steven Long,, Starving Horse Photo by Ray Field HOUSTON, (Horseback) – Sources in the office of Presidio County Judge Paul Hunt have confirmed to Horseback Magazine that Sheriff Danny Dominguez has seized 250 horses in the Texas/Mexican border town of Presidio.
“They are being well taken care of,” said Marge Hughes, an assistant to the judge.
Currently, the county has taken jurisdiction of the horses based on a complaint filed by longtime wild horse activist Ray Fields, executive director of the Wild Horse Foundation.
The lawsuit has been set for a hearing in the court of Justice of the Peace Juanita Bishop. Horseback has not learned the date of the hearing; however, sources say it is in about 10 days.
Hughes could not confirm if horses bearing the distinctive brand of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice are involved in the seizure.
Presidio is directly across the border from Ojinaga, Mexico.
More than 30 of the prison horses suspected of being part of the seizure by county authorities were bough by a slaughter killer buyer based near Waco.
Presidio, long noted for consistently having the highest temperatures in the nation, sits along the Rio Grande in the Chihuahuan Desert. The National Weather Service has forecast a high there of 106 for Thursday.
Reports reached Horseback early Wednesday that wild horse rescuer Ray Field had discovered the horses during a fly over near Big Ben Ranch, Texas largest state park. Field placed an alleged photo of the horses on his Facebook page.
Field noted from the air that horses were starving in record heat and some had perished and were laying dead on the ground.
Wild horse and burro activists began passing this note early Wednesday, said to be written by Field, across the Internet.
” 1500 Horses and 600 cattle starving to death. by Ray Field on Wednesday, August 10, 2011 at 1:05am.1500 horses and 600 head of cattle starving in Presido, Texas holding pens. Today as I did a fly over of Big Bend Ranch State Park, drifting over the west rim I dropped down to see at the edge of town in Presido, Texas horses and cattle dead in the creek that feeds water into the town. Horses and Cattle both without water or food. The moron who is suppose to watching over the pens has been missing or drunk for days. The pens are located just past the Presido city dump to north east a couple of miles. The pens are leased to Jim Crennan of C4 Cattle Company in Burlington, Texas south of Rosbud southeast of Waco, Texas and he works for Ty Jones. The name of the pens, Alvardo Pens. The sad part is that while these horses are put here for sale to Inter meats, horse slaughter in mexico owned by former Dallas Crown Olivier Kemseke. Its a worse crime to slaughter animals but its even a worse (r) crime to starve them. As this is being written I have an agent on the group moving around 600-800 horses and hopefully most of the cattle. People this is Texas, it aint rained here in God knows when, hay is higher than gold, wait it is gold, and how do I ask for help is beyond my comprehension. The Sheriff’s office is livide and tomorrow we will try and get a court order but this is the tough part. Is it illegal to beat the crap out of the ignorant?”
The parks department claims the burros harm the ecosystem of the huge park which is 70 miles across.
Wild horse and burro advocates claim Texas Parks and Wildlife Department wants to eradicate the donkeys to make room for Big Horn Sheep, a native species coveted by big game hunters. The cash strapped department would allegedly charge large fees for permits to hunt big game.
Horseback will begin active coverage of the story Thursday.
Meanwhile, a federal investigation of horses taken from a BLM pasture and sold to a well known slaughter killer buyer will soon be presented to the U.S. Attorney’s office for likely prosecution as a felony.
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