A Horseback Exclusive: Laura Leigh’s Report From the Field – Another Death at Calico

Horseback Magazine

December 1, 2011

By Laura Leigh, Horseback Magazine, President, Wild Horse Education

Yesterday, 11/29/2011, at the Calico Complex roundup in Northwestern Nevada a mare broke her neck on the panels.
THE CALICO COMPLEX, Nev (Horseback) – The young grulla mare’s death came after she was captured, separated from her family, processed, corralled, reprocessed and PZP treated. She was the last horse to load for the day to be released back to the range. The mare was agitated. She hit her head on a panel, broke her neck and was euthanized.
Operations in what BLM is referencing as the “Tri-State Calico Complex Gather” plan on the removal of 1,300 wild horses and 140 wild burros. The press release from the agency says that as many as 350 may be released back to the range with as many as 115 mares receiving the 22 month contraceptive, PZP-22.
The title “Tri-State Complex” has created some confusion among the public. The Calico Complex itself is not located in three states, but resides within Washoe and Humbolt counties within the state of Nevada. The label of “Tri-State” was added as an alleged symbol of interagency/inter district  management between Sheldon National Wildlife refuge (USFWS) to the North into Oregon, the High Rock Complex of Western Nevada/Eastern California (BLM), Twin Peaks of Nevada/California (BLM) as well as the Calico Complex of Nevada. However in practice the only “change” has been a dialogue about decreasing population numbers based on alleged populations of adjoining areas.
No operational procedures are “joined” and even basic protocols in field offices during roundup operations remain separate events.
Release procedures during the High Rock roundup included mixed sex group releases and stallions receiving a brand, prior to release, to identify them in the future to gain more information on population movement after the disruption of the roundup. At the “Tri-state” operation 50 stallions were released in a single sex group without any mark back into the range where a trap was still located and in use.
When questioned as to why the same procedure was not being followed at the “Tri-state” Complex Gene Seidlitz, district manager over the operation replied, “They did that?”
Serious questions arise about any designation of this “Tri-state” complex creating any management strategy other than a justification process for increased removals. If this complex system were designed for “management” why is there no infrastructure in place to to gain credible data for true management?
Serious questions arise when the “birth control” options do not take into account the stressors that a wild population would undergo as they enter the most fragile time of year on the range, winter. Family bands are hard wired for survival dependent on the structure of “the band.” Why is there no effort to release groups in even the most limited pretense of band structure, mixed sex release?
As operations continue through the end of the year, in this supposed “Tri-state” complex that proposed a “new” form of cooperation, it has yet to demonstrate anything but an acceleration of the “old” forms of communication and protocol.
Contact: Laura Leigh is founder and president of Wild Hore Education and is an accredited  journalist/photographer  for Horseback Magazine on assignment in the West to cover activities of the federal Bureau of Land Management and other agencies of th U.S. Department of Interior.
WildHorseEducation@gmail.com
By Laura Leigh, Horseback Magazine, President, Wild Horse Education

 

Horses could soon be slaughtered for meat in US

KTAR Radio

Horses could soon be butchered in the U.S. for human consumption after Congress quietly lifted a 5-year-old ban on funding horse meat inspections, and activists say slaughterhouses could be up and running in as little as a month.
Slaughter opponents pushed a measure cutting off funding for horse meat inspections through Congress in 2006 after other efforts to pass outright bans on horse slaughter failed in previous years. Congress lifted the ban in a spending bill President Barack Obama signed into law Nov. 18 to keep the government afloat until mid-December.
It did not, however, assign any new money to pay for horse meat inspections, which opponents claim could cost taxpayers $3 million to $5 million a year. The U.S. Department of Agriculture would have to find the money in its existing budget, which is expected to see more cuts this year as Congress and the White House aim to trim federal spending.
The USDA issued a statement Tuesday saying there are no slaughterhouses in the U.S. that butcher horses for human consumption now, but if one were to open, it would conduct inspections to make sure federal laws were being followed. USDA spokesman Neil Gaffney declined to answer questions beyond what was in the statement.
Barbara Beck is a volunteer state leader for American's Against Horse Slaughter. "President Obama made a campaign promise to end horse slaughter and transportation outside of the United States. He has gone against his promise," Beck said.
The American's Against Horse Slaughter group is concerned about the way the horses are put down, claiming that they use a device devised for cattle, and it does not work correctly on horses, causing the horses unnecessary pain."This is wrong on so many levels," Beck said.
The group advocates responsible ownership of a horse, and encourages owners who can't afford to own a horse to take the animals to a shelter or pay to have a vet euthanize the horse.
However, pro-slaughter activists say the ban had unintended consequences, including an increase in neglect and the abandonment of horses, and that they are scrambling to get a plant going- possibly in Wyoming, North Dakota, Nebraska or Missouri. They estimate a slaughterhouse could open in 30 to 90 days with state approval and eventually as many as 200,000 horses a year could be slaughtered for human consumption. Most of the meat would be shipped to countries in Europe and Asia, including France and Japan.
A report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office determined that about 138,000 horses were transported to Canada and Mexico for slaughter in 2010, nearly the same number that were killed in the U.S. before the ban took effect in 2007. The U.S. has an estimated 9 million horses.
But U.S. Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., is lobbying colleagues to permanently ban horse slaughter because he believes the process is inhumane.
"I am committed to doing everything in my power to prevent the resumption of horse slaughter and will force Congress to debate this important policy in an open, democratic manner at every opportunity," he said in a statement.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report>

 

BLM Wild Horse Stampede Pilot Continues Dangerous Antics

Straight from the Horse's Heart

by R.T. Fitch ~ Author/President of Wild Horse Freedom Federation

Worthy of FAA Investigation?

First horses, now humans in danger ~ photo by Laura Leigh 11/27/2011

In a matter of days, a federal judge will either rule or hold a hearing on the “Humane Care” case brought by plaintiff Laura Leigh, of Wild Horse Education (WHE) and the Wild Horse Freedom Federation (WHFF), against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for their alleged gross negligence in the handling of wild horses chased and captured by their contractor Sun-J during wild horse helicopter stampedes.  One of the most glaring and motivating pieces of documentation is Ms. Leigh’s video of an exhausted horse being dangerously prodded by the landing skids of a helicopter.  This footage was so provocative that the federal judge issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) against the BLM and their contractor only to have the BLM conclude the contested stampede.
Since that date, careful documentation has taken place to strengthen the argument that the helicopter pilot behaves in a reckless and dangerous manner for the horses and humans on the ground alike.  Yesterday, against increasingly difficult access Ms. Leigh was able to capture a shot of the pilot nearly taking the head off from one of the contract wranglers at the scene of the much contested Calico stampede.  When queried as to the identity of the reckless pilot the BLM, again, refuses comment.
Judicial action on this case will be rendered in the short term as the evidence stacks up against the inhumane and reckless activity of Obama’s Bureau of Land Management.

Tour a Horse Slaughter Plant

Erbe: Revival of horse slaughter to cost taxpayers

Scrippsnews

Submitted by SHNS on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 13:05

• By BONNIE ERBE, Scripps Howard News Service
• editorials and opinion

ShareThis

Last week while you weren't looking Congress and the president did something the vast majority of Americans oppose. The president signed an omnibus-spending bill approved by Congress that makes it legal to slaughter horses in the United States once again. Polls show more than 70 percent of Americans oppose horse slaughter and few if any eat horse meat. Given the fact we are divided politically by a gap the size of the Grand Canyon, recognize that a 70 percent majority is an unheard of amount of backing.
But wait, it gets worse. The reintroduction of horse slaughter plants in the United States comes with a hefty price tag, much of which goes to line the pockets of people in other countries who own these dens of incalculable abuse. The way it works is that ever since 2005, there has been a section of the Agriculture appropriations bill that de-funds (to wit, bars the expenditure of taxpayers' dollars on) a program for the USDA to inspect foreign-owned horse plants. Now that the de-funding law has been deleted, supporters of the grisly, completely inhumane process of horse slaughter will go back to lobbying Congress for millions of dollars annually to run the inspection program. Without inspection, it is illegal to transport horsemeat across state lines. Once they succeed, horse slaughter will resume here.
Let's forget for the moment that candidate Barack Obama in 2008 pledged to keep the ban on horse slaughter permanent (another promise to voters reneged?) Let's forget, too, that American horses are not bred or raised for consumption. Let's forget that the few countries where horsemeat is consumed (France, Belgium and Japan among them) are ignoring the outright cruelty to horses that raises the hackles of right-thinking Americans. The simple question is: do we want our tax dollars spent to inspect horses who were slaughtered in incredibly cruel fashion (a bolt through the forehead that doesn't kill them immediately) so foreign owners of slaughter plants can profit? In the midst of a recession when other crucial programs such as Medicare and education are suffering deep cuts, the answer is a resounding, "no."
Supporters of horse slaughter say the reintroduction of slaughter plants in the U.S. will create jobs. An article in the Desert Independent in Blythe, Calif., this month noted, "Horse slaughter plants operating until 2007...never created a total of more than 178 jobs." The kind of jobs they do create are of dubious economic value to the individuals who take them and to the communities where slaughter plants are located.
The Independent quotes Paula Bacon, former mayor of Kaufman, Texas, where a horse slaughter facility operated for years as saying, "Horse slaughter means very few, very low wage jobs, meaning workers and their families overtaxed local resources like the hospitals and government services. This so called business brought in virtually no tax revenues and local governments incurred substantial enforcement costs in trying to regulate these facilities. The standard of living dropped during the time horse slaughter facilities operated. Having a horse slaughter facility drove away good businesses."
Studies have shown that when slaughter plants are opened in rural areas, violent crime quickly rises. Think about it. Horses are sometimes cut into pieces while still alive and screaming. What kind of person would accept the minimum wage to engage in this horrific behavior? The question answers itself.
Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., sponsored the de-funding amendment in the House version of the Agriculture Appropriations bill. He said he regrets voting for the overall bill (which did not include the de-funding language) but felt compelled to do so, to keep the government operating. He said the only alternative is to assure passage of a permanent ban on horse slaughter, which he and other compassionate members of Congress are working to do. Let's wish them success.
(Bonnie Erbe is a TV host and writes this column for Scripps Howard News Service. E-mail bonnieerbe(at)CompuServe.com.)

WLKY Investigates: Thoroughly Slaughtered - Video - WLKY Louisville

WLKY Investigates: Thoroughly Slaughtered - Video - WLKY Louisville

DID YOU RECEIVE YOUR LETTER FROM BOB ABBEY at the B.L.M. ? … HERE’S WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT

The Persian Horse's Blog

Dedicated to the Horses and Burros who Shed their Blood, Gave up their Freedom and Lost their Lives for BLM.

.

Are you one of the 6,198 U.S. Citizens who recently signed a Petition at the New White House, We The People, Petition Site, asking President Obama to Protect Wild Horses and Burros; Reform Inhumane Interior Department Management Program That Wastes Tax Dollars?

If so, you have by now received your Insulting, Slap-In-The-Face Response; Not from the Obama Administration – AS PROMISED; but from none other than Bob Abbey of the BLM.

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEND THE LETTER BELOW, (click on the Contact Button)  which has been prepared by American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign, expressing your disappointment at the deceptive invitation from The White House, promising that the Obama Administration would consider the Petition if it received 5,000 signatures within a 30 day period.

The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign would like you to know that  if you signed the Wild Horse and Burro petition on the White House’s “We the People” website, you have received the same canned response that they  received from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) director, Bob Abbey.

They are as frustrated and disappointed as you are with this insulting and dismissive response to the sincere concern of thousands of American citizens who seek reform of the costly and cruel federal Wild Horse and Burro Program.
They have sent a  letter to President Obama’s chief of staff, William Daley, highlighting the inadequacy of the response and the White House’s utter failure to consider this issue, as promised in the “We the People” initiative.
To the thousands of you who took the time to sign the petition – THE AMERICAN WILD HORSE PRESERVATION CAMPAIGN  THANKS YOU and promise to continue to fight for our wild horses and burros. They  hope that you will continue to join them.

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEND THE FOLLOWING LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA

Dear President Obama:

I am writing on behalf of the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign and the thousands of Americans who signed the “We the People” petition titled “Protect Wild Horses and Burros; Reform Inhumane Interior Department Management Program That Wastes Tax Dollars” to register our grave disappointment with the November 17, 2011 response from the White House. The petition calls on the Obama Administration to stop the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from wasting millions of tax dollars to roundup and remove wild horses by the tens of thousands from public lands in the West, and to instead implement a cost-effective policy to manage these national icons on the range using proven and humane cost-effective methods.
The White House’s canned response to this petition, signed by thousands of American citizens, was authored, not by a White House policy official, but rather by BLM Director Bob Abbey - the very individual responsible for the mismanagement of the federal Wild Horse and Burro Program, which is the subject of the petition.
In unveiling the “We the People” initiative, the White House promised “a new way to petition the Obama Administration” and that “White House staff will review” the issue. However, there was nothing new in the response. The White House merely delivered the old familiar BLM rhetoric that has been used for the past several years to rationalize the agency’s mismanagement and waste of tax dollars. Included is the touting of a “new strategy” that is being implemented despite the receipt of tens of thousands of public comments opposing the majority of the strategy’s components.
Had we, the people who signed the petition, wanted a response from the BLM, we would have written to the BLM. Or better yet, since the response is just a cut-and-paste of BLM propaganda, we could have read it on the agency’s website and saved ourselves the considerable time and effort it took to log into the White House’s website and sign the petition!
President Obama, you have the full authority to reform the federal wild horse and burro program and could do so with one telephone call to YOUR Secretary of the Interior. The fact that the White House didn’t even take the time to review this petition is a slap in the face to the American citizens who believed in the President’s promise that their concerns would be seriously considered. As a result, we are left to conclude that the entire “We the People” website is little more than a re-election campaign gimmick.
I conclude this letter with a final plea for President Obama’s attention to this issue and a request for a meeting with White House staff to discuss badly needed reform.  To such a meeting, The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign would bring wild horse and range experts to discuss the humane, cost-effective solutions, which have already been proposed but continue to be ignored by the BLM and Mr. Abbey.
It’s time that President Obama intervened in this issue to fulfill his promise for hope and change for the future.
I await your prompt response.

********************

YOU MAY ALSO CALL THE WHITE HOUSE AT  (202) 456-1414 TO EXPRESS YOUR OUTRAGE AT THE SHOCKING DECEPTION PERPETRATED BY THE “WE-THE-PEOPLE” PETITION WEBSITE CREATED BY THE WHITE HOUSE.

FOR BEST RESULTS, IN ADDITION TO THE LETTER, SEND FAXES WITH YOUR MESSAGES OF SHOCK AND OUTRAGE.    THE FAX NUMBER TO THE WHITE HOUSE IS:  (202) 456-2461 

CLICK HERE FOR FREE FAX LINK.  YOU MAY FAX FROM YOUR COMPUTER.  YOU DO NOT NEED A FAX MACHINE. YOU DO NOT NEED A CREDIT CARD.  

 

The Night Wild Horses Came to Manhattan

The Atlantic

Nov 18 2011, 12:15 PM ET 25
The Wild Horse Act act celebrates its 40th birthday, but only a shell of its protections for America's herds remain

Tamara Didenko/Shutterstock

As near as anyone today can tell, America's wild horse herds never came anwhere close to Manhattan before they were either slaughtered or confined to dusty rangelands out West. And it is hard to imagine a venue more different from those rangelands than brick-lined Vanderbilt Hall, at the New York University School of Law, where on a rainy Wednesday night a group of 50 or so wild horse enthusiasts met to discuss the past, present and future of the mustang, whom author Deanne Stillman calls "North America's gift to the world."

Yet there we were. Among others, there was Dick Loper, the soft-spoken rangeland expert from Wyoming, trying to soothe some of the anger Easterners feel about the way wild horses are treated out West. There was Ross MacPhee, from the American Musuem of Natural History, come to remind the audience that the horse is a native species. And there was Deniz Bolbol, communications director for the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign, who has chronicled some of the recent abuses America's mustangs have endured.

Sponsored by NYU's Environmental Law Journal and its Environmental Studies Program, the legal forum "Managed To Extinction?" was designed to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the passage of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, the federal measure signed into law on December 15, 1971 by President Richard Nixon. At the time, Nixon cited Henry David Thoreau -- "We need the tonic of wilderness" -- when he pledged to protect America's wild horses from the human forces arrayed against them. Those were the days.

Forty years later, the Wild Horse Act is a shell of what it once was and was supposed to be. Weakened by subsequent amendments, beseiged by politicians who are emboldened by lobbyists for the ranching industry, and administered by a distracted federal agency which is captive to that industry, the act is what one panelist called a "thumb in the dike" against the political, economic and cultural realities of our time. If Velma Bronn Johnston -- also known as "Wild Horse Annie"-- were alive today she'd be disgusted at the perversion of her life's work.

The discussion Wednesday evening alternated between an ersatz Occupy Wall Street session -- "Americans stand up!" one audience member practically shouted -- and a reality check from the panelists, some of whom sounded positively war weary for having fought so long on behalf of the horses. The consensus? "Science is not governing things," McPhee said. "The law is not governing things. Power and politics control." Hey, all you global warming tribunes out there: sound familiar?

Sadly, no representatives of the Bureau of Land Management were present. Federal officials were invited to provide balance to the panel but they hemmed and hawed in responding before deciding, at the last minute, not to come. Ed Roberson, Assistant Director of the BLM, told organizers last week that the Bureau believed the Forum was "unbalanced by designed" because of its title and its "list of invited panelists who predominantly have a negative stance regarding the BLM's management of wild horses and burros."

By refusing to provide the balance forum organizers sought, the Bureau then refused to participate because of a lack of balance on the forum. The dodge. The refusal to confront opponents in honest debate. The unwillingness to be accountable to taxpayers. These are all classic ways in which bureaucracies sustain themselves, perpetuate their power, and avoid making the tough choices that are supposed to make government work well. The Bureau's absence Wednesday is a perfect symbol for its failed stewardship of the horses.

The BLM thought the session would be a two-hour diatribe against its policies and practices. But there was a great deaI of talk about potential solutions. Some wild horse advocates say that "non-hormonal fertility control" would help control horse populations so that livestock ranchers would have less cause to complain. Others say that ranchers should be allowed to voluntarily retire their "allotments" of public land so that more can be given back to the herds. Everyone agreed there should be more dialogue. And the Bureau missed it all.

So did the ranchers, the true adversaries of the horses. They, too, were invited to New York to offer their assessment of the Wild Horse Act at its 40th birthday. But they do their talking mostly in court these days. The Rock Springs Grazing Association, for example, filed a lawsuit earlier this year asking a federal judge in Wyoming to get rid of all of the wild horses in Sweetwater County, in the southern part of the state. The losers talk, I guess, and the winners walk all over the horses a federal law was designed to protect.

Congressman Speaks Out Against Committee’s Inaction to De-fund Horse Slaughter Inspectors

Straight from the Horse's Heart

Politicians Cave-In to Minority, Radical, Horse Slaughter Fanatics

Washington, DC – Congressman Jim Moran, Northern Virginia Democrat, released the following statement after the House of Representatives voted to approve H.R. 2112, the Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-Science & Transportation-HUD Appropriations Bill. H.R. 2112 also included a Continuing Resolution to fund the federal government until December 16, 2011.

EWA President John Holland presenting Congressman Jim Moran with commemorative award during the International Equine Conference ~ photo by IEC staff photographer Terry Fitch

“This year, Tea Party inspired intransigence threatened to shut down the Federal Government, cause a default on our debt, and resulted in a downgrade of our credit rating for the first time in 100 years. Funding the government and paying our bills are the primary responsibilities of Congress. This legislation, while imperfect, is responsible in that it keeps the government up and running while the remaining appropriations bills await final consideration.
“While I ultimately supported this appropriations bill, I have serious objections with the conference committee’s decision to remove House-approved language preventing horse slaughter, language that had been in the bill for the past five years and I authored this year.”
“I want to thank Agriculture Appropriations Ranking Member Sam Farr for his efforts to maintain the language during the conference process. While those dedicated to reinstating this inhumane practice succeeded today, we’ve far from seen the last word on this issue.

“I am committed to doing everything in my power to prevent the resumption of horse slaughter and will force Congress to debate this important policy in an open, democratic manner at every opportunity.  Now, more than ever, it is crucial that Congress pass the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (H.R. 2966) to permanently prohibit the slaughter of American horses.”

Related articles

• Video: Confessions of a Horse Slaughter Kill Buyer (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
• EWA Takes Horse Slaughter Issue to Law Makers (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
• Ag Bill Passes Without Prohibition Against Federal Horse Meat Inspectors (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
• Pro-Horse Slaughter Monsters: Are They Worth Any Notice? (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
• Obama Urged to Keep ” No Horse Slaughter” Campaign Promise (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
• Horse Slaughter: What YOU can do NOW to Stop it’s Return (rtfitch.wordpress.com)

Animal’s Angels Investigates New Holland Slaughter Sales

Straight from the Horse's Heart

Report Issued by Animal’s Angels

AA Needs Help Identifying Horse

New Holland, PA – Investigators arrived at the weekly auction at 4:00am. Trucks were arriving to unload animals and most of the pens in the sheep & goat barn as well as the pig barn were already occupied. No dying or injured animals were found. However, investigators saw several dead pigs in the pen area. Many of the pens still have no access to water for the animals.
When the horse auction started it was noted that kill buyers Bruce Rotz & Brian Moore were present as well as horse trader Frank Carper. When investigators looked at Bruce Rotz’s trailer they saw that three Thoroughbreds were inside the trailer. One of them was very thin. They were able to identify two of them by their lip tattoos as former race horses named Hawser and Bobcat Bandit. Bobcat Bandit had last raced at Laurel Park on October 29, 2010. Hawser had last raced at Gulfstream Park on February 12, 2011.
When the owners were contacted that same day, very little, plausible explanation was offered as to why their horses were on a kill buyer’s trailer. However, miraculously, Hawser and Bobcat Bandit both returned to their owners a few days later. When questioned, the owner of bobcat bandit provided the statement that her mare “apparently” had “just got a ride about an hour north and was dropped off at a small farm to be used as a tease/broodmare”.
Hawser’s owner ensured Animals’ Angels that the thin gelding would receive very good care and that they were currently trying to “get some weight back on him”.
Animals’ Angels has no knowledge in regards to what happened to the third horse they unfortunately were not able to identify. (If you recognize the horse in the picture, please email information to info@animalsangels.org.    Likely it ended up at the same destination kill buyer Bruce Rotz delivers thousands of horses to every year, the Richelieu Meats slaughter plant in Quebec.
The Director of Racing for Laurel Park stated that the track would no longer take any horses in its entries from the owner of Bobcat Bandit.

Related articles

• Horse Slaughter: What YOU can do NOW to Stop it’s Return (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
• EWA Takes Horse Slaughter Issue to Law Makers (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
• For Horse Lovers Everywhere: The Truth About Horse Slaughter (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
• Animal’s Angels Investigate Known Texas Horse Slaughter Buyer (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
• Video: Confessions of a Horse Slaughter Kill Buyer (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
• New Mexico Feedlot Sends Hundreds of Horses across Boarder to Slaughter (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
• Alleged Horse Trainer BBQs Horses for Clients (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
• New USDA Transportation Regulations for Slaughter-Bound Horses Applauded (rtfitch.wordpress.com)

Pro-Horse Slaughter Monsters: Are They Worth Any Notice?

Straight from the Horse's Heart

OpEd by R.T. Fitch~ Author/President Wild Horse Freedom Federation

Filth First Thing in the Morning is a No Go!

It was late Sunday night when I sat before the computer contemplating what to write for Monday in the way of Equine news.  While my mind was churning away I browsed through the comments regarding our weekly Sunday “feel good” story and noted how many people sincerely enjoy taking a break from the stupidity and insanity of equine neglect, abuse and slaughter.  Everyone needs to catch their breath and regain their footing.

So I asked myself several questions in regards to what people might want to read on a Monday morning, starting another work week with Friday seeming so very far away…and I took notes:

Graphic used in Wallis/Duquette email blast about American horses

1.)  Would our readers be interested in learning that Equine Terrorist “Slaughterhouse” Sue Wallis and her trusty lap dog, Dave “Doink” Duquette were once again caught defrauding the public and legislators this time by using a picture of a dead Spanish horse in their printed propaganda claiming it was a horse that American Advocates had starved?  Probably not, it’s nothing new.  From bogus truck raffles to misuse of 501(c)3s nothing surprises anyone anymore.  There is no bottom in the barrel of how low these two can sink.

2.)  Would it peak anyone’s interest that the deadly duo publicly admitted the above fraud that was transmitted through their shady United Horseman organization and then shrugged it of with a BFD (Big F#%$king Deal) comment on Facebook?  Nahhh, low life scum-balls experience great difficulty when attempting to articulate their twisted opinions and bogus agendas in public.  It’s a struggle for them not to cuss.

Copyrighted picture hijacked from Spanish Newspaper then altered by Wallis/Duquette.

3.)  Anyone care if the horse eating fanatics have become so afraid of the light that they created a bogus page on Facebook in an impotent and juvenile attempt to mock our book which is centered on equine connection and love with profits going to a non-profit horse rescue?  Hey, what do you expect, they are desperate and swimming upstream against 3/4 of public opinion that does not want bloody horse slaughter on U.S. soil. They are backed into a corner and sitting around they find that playing with themselves is more fun that researching fact and truth.

4.)  Would good folks care if after condoning and pledging support for a woman who killed her horse, stripped off her clothes and climbed inside the horses body so that her boyfriend could take pictures of her inside it before they ate it that Sue Wallis and Duquette posted gruesome pictures on their Facebook page, wrote fraudulent rescue stories and then bragged about how offensive they were?  Nope, everyone already knew that, no surprises there.

5.)  Do folks know that it is legal to give one’s opinion of celebrities, personalities, politicians but it is not lawful to attempt to cause fiscal damage by inaccurately defaming products or services which is the line that the two horse eaters have crossed and publicly documented with their advocate attacks on their kindergarten page?  No, educated, compassionate and self-actualized human beings innately are aware of such things if not firmly versed in appropriate law and conduct.

6.)  Does anyone care about the horrible and grotesque legacy that these two are leaving for their offspring and the emotional damage that they must be doing to the people around them?  That would probably be a big 10-4 on that one.  Children look up to their parents, even in an abusive household, but it always helps the emotional and intellectual growth of a child if they have some sort of pride or respect factor that they can latch onto instead of a preoccupation with death, blood and a sub-culture of killing and eating family pets and friends.  It is shameful, sad and unfortunate that young, susceptible spirits cannot pick their parents.  I am certain that many people feel that their hearts go out to those who are trapped against their will in the cold and slimy pit of the dark side with no way out and no means in which to cleanse themselves.  For those there is great pity.

Soooooo…I took the coward’s way out and wrote nothing but in so doing you all were spared a seedy and grotesque beginning to the first day of the work week and perhaps can better handle such perverted revelations later in the day.

It’s important that we stay abreast of the unsavory tactics utilized by the dark-side but at least tonight, you can sip on a Wrangler Iced Tea while you clear your mind of the filth.

Click (HERE) to view Horseback Article on Wallis/Duquette Graphic and Propaganda

Click (HERE) to view Spanish Article where Wallis/Duquette Hijacked Photo

 

Huge Bronze Statue Honors 'Horse Soldiers'

Breaking News: Wild Horse Abuse in Utah Facility

The Cloud Foundation

11 November 2011

Inhumane wild horse management plagues BLM Utah facilitiesLisa Friday followup report exposes more mustang abuse
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (November 11, 2011) – The Cloud Foundation (TCF) has received a report from wild horse advocate, Lisa Friday, regarding the conditions of two Bureau of Land Management (BLM) wild horse holding facilities in Utah. Friday was following up on the wild horses she found living in squalor at the Herriman holding facility outside Salt Lake, who have been moved to other facilities in the state. Despite finding the horses living in clean pens with plenty of hay, Friday's report contains stills and video which reveal more inhumane treatment of wild horses.
"I saw captive wild horses in Utah with severely long, curled hooves," explains Friday. "Dozens of mustangs were very lame with shocking sled-runner feet. When I asked why their feet were not trimmed I was told they did not have the funding to hire a professional farrier and were just beginning to 'train' a fellow to trim hooves. I would like to see the two facilities (Delta & Gunnison) allocate funding to have the mustangs' feet cared for by a professional. The facilities have a paid public relations specialist on staff but no professional farrier to care for the horses. Their priorities are mixed up."
In March of this year, Friday revealed wild horses living in knee-deep mud, manure and urine with no dry place to lie down at the Herriman facility. As a result of her video, released by TCF, and subsequent BLM reviews, the facility is closed for the winter with plans to close  permanently within the next two years.
Friday was not permitted to take pictures or video when she visited the Gunnison Correctional Facility on October 27th, however she reports seeing the same long, uncared for hooves and lameness. She even saw an inmate riding a lame mustang with severely long toes.
"This is definitely gross neglect,” states Dr. Lisa Jacobson, an equine veterinarian in Clyde Park, Montana who examined Friday’s photographs. “There is no excuse for allowing hooves to be in this crippling state.”
Friday took pictures of 20 or more captive wild horses in the Delta Facility with severely curled hooves and reported that the Gunnison facility had the same problems. Horses in the care of private citizens are often trimmed every 6-8 weeks. Hoof health is essential for horse health.
“I have never seen wild horses in the BLM Canon City, Colorado holding and training facility with hoof problems like those in Lisa’s pictures,” explains Ginger Kathrens, Executive Director of The Cloud Foundation, who has been visiting the Colorado facility for the past 13 years. “BLM schedules all horses for regular hoof care every two months or so in Canon City. If Utah cannot do the same, they should not have horses warehoused there.”
Friday also discovered a bay mare (Neck tag #7081) in the Delta facility with a very severe-looking eye condition. The veterinarian for the facility did not know what had caused the problem. Eye problems in horses can cause blindness. Two weeks later, the condition has yet to be diagnosed or treated.
“I visited a holding facility and adoption center this year in Mississippi,” says Friday.  “All the horses seemed very well taken care of—quite a contrast with the Utah facilities.”
Friday attended the Winter Ridge roundup near Vernal, Utah two months ago. She wanted to check in on those horses now in holding who were shipped to the Delta facility. She was shocked to see a lot of the wild horses were not freeze branded and did not have ID tags.
"Why weren't the Winter Ridge horses branded and wearing their ID tags? asks Lisa Friday. "Without indentification, captured wild horses are at risk of slipping into the slaughter pipeline. What's going on here?"
In August, a trailer was stopped at a port of entry outside of Helper, Utah under suspicious circumstances and 64 BLM mustangs bound for slaughter in Mexico were impounded.

# # #