EWA and ALC produce evidence showing GAO Horse Welfare report was fraudulent

Equine Welfare Alliance

July 31, 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts:

John Holland, President, Equine Welfare Alliance

540.268.5693

john@equinewelfarealliance.org

Laura Allen, Executive Director, Animal Law Coalition

425.419.7301

lauraallen@animallawcoalition.com

EWA and ALC produce evidence showing GAO Horse Welfare report was fraudulent

EWA (Chicago) - The Equine Welfare Alliance (EWA) and the Animal Law Coalition (ALC) announced today that they have irrefutable evidence showing that the Government Accountability Office fraudulently misrepresented horse abuse and neglect data in their report GAO 11-228.

The GAO report blamed falling horse prices and increased abuse and neglect on the closing of the domestic slaughter plants in 2007. Shortly after GAO issued the report, a conference committee reinstated funding for horse slaughter inspections, opening the way for slaughter to return to the US. Widely quoted in the media, the report is also provided as evidence in the lawsuit filed by Valley Meats against the USDA.

The EWA and ALC have provided both a video and a white paper showing how the fraud was committed. The ten minute video, How the GAO deceived Congress about horse slaughter was released on YouTube, and shows step by step how the GAO hid information in its possession showing abuse and neglect was in decline and misrepresented the data as showing it was increasing.

The fraud was discovered by the EWA while collecting data for equine abuse and neglect rates across the country. "We were looking for the correlation between various factors such as unemployment, slaughter and hay prices on a state by state basis," explained EWA's John Holland, "and when we looked at the Colorado data, we were reminded of its mention in the GAO report."

The GAO claimed in the report to have contacted state veterinarians across the country and to have been told that abuse and neglect was increasing everywhere in the wake of the closing of the US plants in 2007. These were the same officials EWA contacted looking for states that kept records.

The EWA found data from six states; Oregon, Idaho, Illinois, Maine, Georgia and Colorado. The records showed that abuse and neglect had been in decline between 2008 and 2010 (the last year of the GAO study), and that the GAO had used the wrong dates on the Colorado data to make it appear abuse had increased 60%.

"We had accepted that abuse was probably increasing as the result of the bad economy," says Holland, "so imagine our surprise when we found it had been decreasing." The EWA study finally showed the reason: drought. Drought and the subsequent increases in hay prices correlated tightly with the abuse and neglect numbers, and outweighed the influence of the recession and other factors.

"Not only did the GAO misrepresent the data, they completely missed the importance of hay prices and availability." said Holland. The EWA filed a FOIA request for the data used by the GAO and the request was denied. The EWA also filed an IG complaint, and finally had a conference call with the GAO to request the report be withdrawn. The GAO refused any response except to say that their reports were flawlessly cross checked.

Victoria McCullough, owner of Chesapeake Petroleum and internationally known equestrian, said "Acceptance of lower standards results in failed policies and most significantly failures of public interest. Special Interest encroachment within Washington must not be allowed to erode public trust."

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Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSxUPNgzgn4&feature=youtu.be

White Paper:http://www.equinewelfarealliance.org/uploads/How_the_GAO_Deceived_Congress-final.pdf

  

The Equine Welfare Alliance (EWA) is a dues-free 501c4, umbrella organization with over 300 member organizations and over 1,000 individual members worldwide in 21 countries. The organization focuses its efforts on the welfare of all equines and the preservation of wild equids.www.equinewelfarealliance.org

The Animal Law Coalition (ALC) is a coalition of pet owners and rescuers, advocates, attorneys, law students, veterinarians, shelter workers, decision makers, and other citizens, that advocates for the rights of animals to live and live free of cruelty and neglect.www.animallawcoalition.com  

  

It’s a Wrap for Summer in the Rockies

Horseback Magazine

[Sharing mostly for the beautiful pictures!]

July 25, 2013

PARKER, CO (Phelps) - The crown jewel of the Summer in the Rockies six-week series, the $50,000 Parker Adventist Hospital Grand Prix, was held on Saturday afternoon of Week VI. It was Military Day at the Colorado Horse Park, honoring and welcoming military and first responders to enjoy family activities and great show jumping.

Title sponsor Parker Adventist Hospital was on hand for helmet fittings and distribution of free riding helmets to children as part of their Equestrian Safety Program. The evening began with lead line featuring cute ponies and children all walking away with blue ribbons, followed by fast and feisty Jack Russell terriers who raced against each other to the delight of the crowd of spectators.

Kristen VanderVeen and Bull Run’s Eternal. Photo by Mary Adelaide Brakenridge. Read more, and more pictures! Full results available at http://www.showplaceproductions.com/chp/resultsDivisionList.php?competition=23.

Letter to Editor Questions Horse Slaughter Plant in Iowa

Straight from the Horse's Heart


Posted on July 24, 2013 by R.T. Fitch

Source: The Toledo Chronicle

“The horse slaughter industry is a predatory, inhumane enterprise…”

Frozen foam could be seen overflowing a water-holding tank  at Cavel International, a horse-slaughtering plant in DeKalb, before they were shut down. Chronicle file photo CURTIS CLEGG

Iowa has become ground zero in the national debate on horse slaughter, now that the USDAhas cleared a horse slaughter plant to begin butchering horses here. Not only will our state earn the disdain of 80 percent of Americans who disapprove of horse slaughter, but Iowans will have a front-row seat to animal suffering and environmental degradation.

It happened in Kaufman, Texas, where horses were slaughtered until 2007. The plant flooded the local water supply with blood, the stench of dead horses permeated the air, and economies suffered. Slaughtering horses in Iowa could also tarnish our agricultural reputation-we would be contributing tainted meat to the food supply and risking the co-mingling of horsemeat in beef products, which happened in Europe. As animals raised for work and show, but not food, horses are given a variety of drugs that makes their meat unfit for human consumption.

The horse slaughter industry is a predatory, inhumane enterprise. It doesn’t ‘euthanize’ old and sick horses, but snatches up those that bring the best price per pound. It’s bad for horses, bad for communities and bad for human health. It should be outlawed, and Congress is considering legislation to do just that. Urge your legislators to support the Safeguard American Food Exports (SAFE) Act, S. 541/H.R. 1094.

Carol Griglione, Iowa state director for The Humane Society of the United States

Click (HERE) to Comment at the Toledo Chronicle

BLM to Remove 1,300 Wild Horses in West this Summer

Straight from the Horse's Heart

by Martin Griffith as published in the Deseret News

“The agency still has not gotten the message that the removal of wild horses from our Western public lands is inhumane, unsustainable, unscientific, and must come to an end…”

photo by Terry Fitch of Wild Horse Freedom Federation

RENO, Nev. — U.S. Bureau of Land Management officials say they plan to remove only 1,300 wild horses and burros from the range across the West this summer because of budget constraints and overflowing holding pens.

Overall, they intend to remove about 4,800 of the animals from the range during the current fiscal year ending Sept. 30, compared with 8,255 in the last fiscal year. The vast majority of targeted animals will be wild horses.

Nine of the BLM’s 16 summer roundups will be conducted in Nevada, home to roughly half of the estimated 37,000 free-roaming wild horses and burros in the West. The agency plans to remove 855 wild horses and burros in Nevada, 140 in Oregon, 105 in Arizona, 65 in New Mexico, 50 in Colorado and 25 in Idaho.

The BLM made the announcement Friday, about a month after 30 U.S. representatives urged new U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to make reforming the government’s wild horse management program and its spiraling budget a priority.

The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign coalition criticized the BLM’s plans, saying the captured animals will be added to government-funded holding facilities that are already at capacity with 50,000 wild horses and burros.

“The BLM is galloping ahead with rounding up more wild horses, despite the high cost to taxpayers and animals as well as the findings of an independent scientific review, which recommends against continued roundups,” coalition spokeswoman Suzanne Roy said in a statement.

“The agency still has not gotten the message that the removal of wild horses from our Western public lands is inhumane, unsustainable, unscientific, and must come to an end,” she added.

BLM spokesman Tom Gorey said most of the upcoming “gathers” have been scheduled in response to emergency conditions spurred by drought, and by public safety issues related to animals that roam near highways and residential and agricultural areas.

He said the schedule is subject to change because of continuing drought conditions across the West that are resulting in limited water and forage for wildlife, livestock and wild horses and burros.

“BLM managers are monitoring animal and range conditions, reducing livestock grazing, enacting fire restrictions and providing supplemental water in some locations for wild horses,” Gorey said in a statement.

Six roundups in Nevada will use helicopters to guide the animals to pens, while the rest of the operations will use bait and water to trap them in corrals.

The BLM has no plans to administer fertility control vaccines to horses this summer except for some mares in Colorado, Gorey said. Instead, the agency intends to use fertility-control treatments during roundups before breeding season — between November and February — when the vaccines are most effective.

An independent scientific review of horse roundups, which was released in May, recommended that the government invest in widespread fertility control of the mustangs and let nature cull any excess herds instead of spending millions to house them in overflowing holding pens.

The 14-member panel assembled by the National Academy of Sciences‘ National Research Council and Management concluded BLM’s removal of nearly 100,000 horses from the Western range over the past decade is probably having the opposite effect of its intention to ease ecological damage and reduce overpopulated herds.

By stepping in prematurely when food and water supplies remain adequate, BLM is producing artificial conditions that ultimately serve to perpetuate population growth, the committee found.

Click (HERE) to comment at the Deseret News

BLM: Let the Carnage Begin!

Straight from the Horse's Heart

Posted on July 19, 2013 by R.T. Fitch

For immediate release:                                                                         Contact: Tom Gorey

Friday, July 19, 2013                                                                           (202-912-7420)

BLM Announces Summer Schedule for Tormenting Wild Horses and Burros

photo by Terry Fitch of Wild Horse Freedom Federation

The Bureau of Land Management today announced its current summer schedule for gathering wild horses and burros roaming Western public rangelands.  The schedule is subject to change because of continuing drought conditions across the West that are resulting in significantly limited water and forage for wildlife, wild horses and burros, and livestock.  BLM managers are monitoring animal and range conditions, reducing livestock grazing, enacting fire restrictions, and providing supplemental water in some locations for wild horses.

Most of the gathers on the schedule will use bait and water trapping to attract, gather, and remove animals to off-range pastures and corrals over the next several months.  Because of access constraints, lack of suitable bait-water trapping sites, and the need for more immediate action related to animal condition, six of the proposed gathers will be conducted using helicopters.

Because of off-range holding capacity limits and funding constraints, the BLM will attempt to gather and remove only 1,300 wild horses and burros this summer.  Overall, the BLM anticipates removing about 4,800 animals from the range in FY 2013, as compared to 8,255 in FY 2012.

Most of the upcoming gathers have been scheduled in response to emergency conditions brought on by drought; public safety issues related to animals that roam near highways, residential areas, and agricultural areas; and requests from private landowners who have asked the BLM to remove from their property wild horses and burros that have strayed beyond Herd Management Area (HMA) boundaries.

With the exception of some re-treatments of mares in the Little Bookcliffs (Colorado) Wild Horse Range, the agency does not intend to administer fertility-control vaccine during any of the proposed summer gathers.  Instead, the BLM intends to implement fertility-control treatments through ground-darting operations and during gathers between November and February – before breeding season – when the vaccines’ maximum effectiveness can be realized.

The BLM is committed to providing as much public access to gathers as possible.  The terrain of and access to each HMA is different, as is animal temperament within each area, and thus viewing considerations may vary.  Public viewing opportunities will be provided during all helicopter gather operations.  Access to bait-trapping locations will be limited because of the need for minimal human presence near the sites.  The public is advised to visit local BLM field office Websites for specific schedules and viewing opportunities.

The BLM was successful in removing 38 wild horses during the 2012 Pryor Mountain (Montana) wild horse gather using the bait-trapping method.  To understand how bait gather operations work, please visit:  http://blm.gov/g8kd.

Animals removed during the gather season will be made available for adoption through the BLM’s wild horse and burro adoption program.  Those not adopted will be cared for in long-term and ecosanctuary pastures, where they retain their “wild” status and thus remain protected under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act.  The gather schedule, which is subject to change because of emergencies, is below:

Agency	HMA/ Territory	Start Date	# Planned Gathered	# Planned Removed	Bait Trapping ( B) or Helicopter Trapping ( H)
FS/BLM	Carracas Mesa/Jicarialla (NM)	7/15/13	65	65	B
FS/BLM	Murderers Creek (OR)	7/20/13	100	100	B
BLM	Outside Beaty’s Butte (OR)	8/15/13	40	40	B
BLM	Seaman/White River Has (NV)	TBD	50	50	H
BLM	Silver King (NV)	7/26/13	25	25	H
BLM	Delamar Mountains HA (NV)	7/28/13	30	30	H
BLM	Kamma Mtn (NV)	8/1/13	200	200	H
BLM	Maverick-Medicine HMA	8/1/12	60	60	B
FS/BLM	Hickison (NV)	8/1/13	30	30	B
BLM	Outside Big Sandy HMA (AZ)	8/1/13	60	60	B
BLM	Havasu-CA HMA (AZ)	8/1/13	45	45	B
BLM	Snowstorms (NV)	8/3/13	340	340	B
BLM	Fish Lake Valley (NV)	8/15/13	150	150	H
BLM	Gold Mountain (NV)	8/21/13	30	30	H
BLM	Sand Basin (ID)	9/1/13	25	25	B
BLM	Little Bookcliffs WHR (CO)	9/1/13	80	50	B
	Total		1330	1300