Urgent! Action Alert: Horse Slaughter Canada

STOP THE RE-OPENING 
OF NATURAL VALLEY

AT ISSUE

Purchase and Re-Opening of Natural Valley

Community members at Carry the Kettle First Nations near Neudorf, Saskatchewan are being pressured by their Chief to vote in favour of purchasing the now-defunct Natural Valley Farms/Natural Meat Company horse slaughterhouse!

NVF/NMI was closed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency in February, 2009 citing food safety concerns.
A report by CBC National also showed severe environmental and welfare violations:-  Link to CBC report.
Up to 30% of the horses were being butchered while still conscious:- CHDC Investigation Report.

• The vote is to take place tomorrow, Tuesday, January 12th at 10 AM in the community, and Wednesday, January 13th at 5 PM in Regina.

• We must ensure that residents of Carry the Kettle First Nations get out and vote "No".
  

• If only 10 people show up to vote and 6 of them vote "yes", the plant will be reopened and begin slaughtering horses.

For specific information on why Carry the Kettle First Nations SHOULD NOT buy NVF, please see the report written to address this potential purchase.

TAKE ACTION

 Facebook Members

The following link is a site created by the band members but the Chief and his sisters have taken it over and are urging members to vote "yes".

• Please post your comments and concerns and tell them about the nightmare they will be buying:-

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=244029969525&index=1

• We have  been finding that the Chief's sister has been removing our comments as we post them but if enough of us do so, perhaps they won't be able to keep up with them (we can hope and that's all the horses have at this point).

Everyone

• Make sure you send your comments here as well. We believe all residents of the community can see these comments.  Faxing comments may not be seen.
  

Here is the band's site:-

http://www.carrythekettle.ca/?go=contact.

Talking Points

• Statements by NVF investor and director Henry Skjerven who said the plant was a money-losing venture the day they decided to kill horses;

• That 16 million gallons of raw horse blood has been left in a retaining pond above the Qu'Appelle River threatening drinking water for 2 cities in MB;

• That new EU regulations will cripple them financially;

The slaughter of horses is inherently cruel creating an environment of brutality and depression that would negatively impact their culture.

Thank you,
Twyla Francois
Central Region Director
Canadian Horse Defence Coalition
www.defendhorsescanada.org 

Stop the Roundups of America's Wild Horses & Burros

PLEASE SIGN PETITION HERE.

An immediate moratorium on all but emergency roundups is called for in this resolution. Please sign to help protect our remaining wild horses and burros on our western public lands. 

Wild horse population riding off into the sunset – Presentation Thursday at Ignite: Tucson

Tucson Citizen

Wild horses may not be dragging anyone away – they are too busy being slaughtered and harassed, advocates say. They are also pretty tangled up in a debate about their fate.

Photo Ryn Gargulinski

While more than a million mustangs used to prance around our plains less than a century ago, the number has dwindled to fewer than 40,000. Some put the estimates at 37,000 or so, while Jody Blaylcock, lifelong horse owner and equine advocate, says it’s even lower.
“There are only 15,000 horses left in the wild in the United States (despite false and misleading numbers being circulated by the Bureau of Land Management),” she wrote in an e-mail.
Two camps are clearly drawn in the wild horse debate.
One side consists of animal advocates, like Blaylock and organizations such as the Cloud Foundation, who say wild horses should continue to roam free in the West.
The other side, which supports a recent proposal put forth by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, wants the horses moved East and Midwest where they say the population can be better cared for and controlled.
What is Salazar’s plan?
The $96 million proposal is to buy two ranches and contract with five other private ranches to house the wild horse population, according to a report in USA Today. No locations were given for any of the ranches.
Salazar supporters say wild horses will do better in this controlled environment where they won’t conflict with cattle and don’t have the threat of starving to death.
This plan, although expensive, is also supposed to save money in the long run, as keeping horses out in the West is costing a pretty penny. Or several million of them.
This year’s horse program’s price tag has been estimated at $50 million, most of which goes for food, care and moving many of the horses from the 29 million acres of federal land to private accommodations in Oklahoma, South Dakota and Kansas, the USA Today report said.
The report also quotes BLM spokesman Tom Gorey saying the wild horses should be neutered so no more than 17,500 are in the breeding population and the overall herd size should be dwindled to down 26,600.

Photo Ryn Gargulinski

Those opposing the plan have already seen the havoc wreaked by BLM, according to a report in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
“Late this summer, using helicopters, (BLM) rounded up most of the herd, 146 horses, but then let 89 go, keeping 57 to auction off,” Jonathan Storm wrote in his piece: What Menaces the Mustangs.
“Strong lobbying from ranchers, who want the federal land for their 3.2 million sheep and cattle, keeps pressure on the puny population of mustangs,” he said. His article was a review of the TV show Challenge of the Stallions, which featured wild mustang Cloud, for whom the Cloud Foundation was formed.
Animal advocates also fear what fate awaits the remaining horses.
“If the BLM gets its way the remainder will soon all be shipped to Mexico (where they are being slaughtered in the most horrific ways imaginable) or broken apart into genetically unviable herds as per Ken Salazar’s recent plan,” Blaylock said. “The ROAM act (S-1579) is before the house right now, and if passed would reinstate the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act, offering some protection to those animals who are left.”
What is the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act?
I’ll let the Wild Horse Preservation Campaign, which mentions wild horses on public lands are outnumbered by cattle 200 to 1, answer that one:

In 1971, more letters poured into Congress over the threat to our nation’s wild horses than over any issue in U.S. history, except for the Vietnam War. And so Congress unanimously passed the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act, declaring that “wild horses and burros are living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West; that they contribute to the diversity of life forms within the Nation and enrich the lives of the American people; and that these horses and burros are fast disappearing from the American scene.” The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) were appointed to implement the Act. Most herd areas are under BLM jurisdiction.
Fast-forward thirty years: in 2001, after decades of failed herd management policies, the BLM obtained a 50% increase in annual budget to $29 million for implementation of an aggressive removal campaign; in 2004, the 1971 Act was surreptitiously amended, without so much as a hearing or opportunity for public review, opening the door to the sale of thousands of wild horses to slaughter for human consumption abroad.

Sigh.
The entire fiasco is yet another example of man versus nature, with nature losing no matter which way you turn.

Photo Ryn Gargulinski

Learn more:
Jody Blaylock, who is speaking out for horses on her own behalf, is also a member of the Pima County Sheriff’s Mounted Posse, which is its search and rescue group; the Tucson Saddle Club; and the American Quarter Horse Association. She grew up in a cattle ranch in western Oklahoma and has owned horses her entire life, including the three she now owns.
Blaylock will be giving a presentation as part of Ignite: Tucson
What: Wild horse presentation as part of Ignite: Tucson
Where: The Screening Room, 127 E. Congress St.
When: Thursday, Oct. 29 – Doors open 6:30 p.m., show starts at 7 p.m.
How much: $5

What do you think?

Are wild horses worth preserving or are they simply bothersome?

Are you sick of wildlife getting killed off or do you like how man can rule with annihilation?

Commentary: Love, Loss and Lessons of the Wild Horses

“Straight from the Horse’s Heart“

October 26, 2009 R.T. Fitch 

Leave a comment Go to comments

by R.T. Fitch, author of “Straight from the Horse’s Heart“

Image, Cloud's grandson captured by the BLM - (Photo by Terry Fitch)

I have sat at this computer and tried to put into words my feelings after viewing Ginger Kathrens‘ third installment of the “Cloud” series on PBS last night.  It’s not coming easy as there are a variety of emotions at play.

 

I’ve come to realize that I have not nor can not shake the feeling of helplessness and pain I felt as we stood next to Ginger, Makendra, Ben, Ann, Pam, Carol and other wild horse advocates and watched the Cattoor helicopter torture and torment Cloud and his family on Labor Day, September 7th, 2009.  We had done everything that we could think to do to stop the BLM assault, but all to no avail.  We had begged and pleaded with news agencies and politicians to get the word out and maybe someone, somewhere would pull the plug.  Perhaps even the new President might show some compassion, but all our cries fell upon deaf ears and as we sat, day after day, watching the helicopter drive the horses out of the mountains in 95+ degree heat, our hearts sank.

 

I watched Ginger’s presentation which delved deeply into the family ties and instincts that both drive and bond a wild horse band together, only knowing that Cloud’s family was, now, ripped to pieces by the BLM.  Not only did he lose family members, but his mares were pumped full of chemical contraceptives so that they will not bear foals for him for many years, it could be the end of his blood line.

 

I watched the documentary and took note of how hard Cloud tried to keep his family together, over the years, only to be fully aware that his children and grandchildren would be stripped from his herd to be sold at auction, never again to live free of fences and human meddling.

 

It was difficult to appreciate the fantastic and spectacular cinematography skill of Ginger Kathrens as my eyes were clouded by tears and the images often where nothing more than moving, colored blurs as I fought to maintain my composure.

 

So much lost, nothing to gain and I could garner no joy by watching Cloud on the TV knowing that in the future, our current past, he would be abused, maligned and mismanaged into oblivion by the very same government agency that is bound by law to protect him.  There is no justice.

 

I recall Cloud’s bravery as he would not follow the straight and narrow path that the abusive helicopter sought.  I will never forget him stopping well in front of the trap’s gate and turning to face his enemy, the helicopter.  Forever carved into mind is the image of Cloud turning and trotting with head held high into his awaiting prison cell; pride and supremacy ran from every pore of his body.  And I will never forget him trying to stay near the pens, once released, as he did not want to leave without all of his family…I will forever remember  his courage, dignity and his family bond.

 

How is it that a horse, a wild one at that, can act and live with more dignity and grace than the so-called leaders of our political juggernaut, I shall never know?

 

 

Editor’s note: (from R.T. Fitch) The Documentary is fantastic, insightful and thought-provoking.  The feelings, expressed here, are driven by the misguided actions of the BLM and do not reflect upon the quality or intent of the PBS documentary.  It is important for the plight of the wild horse to be out in front of the American people and Cloud puts the face on that issue.

What is BLM Hiding?

Horseback Magazine

Contractor Denies Horseback Request for Access to BLM Gather

Photos by Terry and RT Fitch

HOUSTON, (HORSEBACK) - Horseback Magazine requested access an upcoming Wyoming BLM roundup, even offering a signed release by our observer and photographer if they were permitted to watch the operation up close from beginning to end alongside the BLM contractor's pilot and wranglers..

The contractor, Sue Cattoor responded to the request that was forwarded by the government agency to her company. Request denied.

Today we met with Roy Packer, the Lander, Wyoming BLM Wild

Horse and Burro Specialist and Melanie Gilbert, the Rawling, Wyoming BLM

Wild Horse and Burro Specialist at Baroil, Wyoming near Muddy Gap to do

the required Pre Work and finalize the plans for the Red Desert Wild Horse

Gather.  As always we discussed the interested public that had contacted

either the BLM or us as the contractor.  There are several people that

plan to attend the roundup.  Roy also said you were interested in

attending.  He said the BLM will be contacting you but because we kind of

know each other I told them I was going to email you also.  We set up our

holding facility and temporary trap today and plan to start gathering on

Green Mountain tomorrow if the weather is agreeable.  It was very windy

today.  This Red Desert Complex consists of five different HMA's (Herd

Management Areas).  Green Mountain with approximately 398 wild horses -

Crooks Mountain with approximately 70 wild horses - Antelope Hills with

approximately 141 wild horse - Lost Creek - with approximately 260 wild

horses and Stewart Creek with approximately 300 wild horses.  The BLM will

pick out mares and studs to release back on the range and the mares will

be given contraceptives.  The numbers to be released will depend on how

many we capture.  The goal is to get each area down to the lower end of

AML (appropriate management level) so the herds will not have to be

gathered again for several years.  The AML range for the entire complex is

480 to 724.  We are the contractor assigned to gather these areas and we

will be using a helicopter.  You are most welcome to come out and watch

and take pictures.  We always try to find a place for any visitors where

they can observe and take pictures but still not cause stress for the wild

horses or put our wranglers in any danger.  No one but our employees are

ever allowed to ride in the helicopter.  Our insurance does not allow for

any other passengers.  And no visitor is allowed to be horseback during a

roundup.  We have saddle horses at the gather site but the wranglers only

use them to bring in a foal or other horse that drops back from the band

and that is very seldom.  There will be an APHIS on site everyday and a

contract vet on call.  But you need to come out and spend some time and

see what we do as a contractor and what the BLM does.  The BLM is not

trying to climate the wild horses in the west.  Their job is to manage and

protect these wild horses and each and every wild horse specialist is

doing their job to the best of their ability.  And I am very proud of our

organization.  We have sometimes a very unpopular job but we have

wranglers who really care about all animals, horses, and wild horses.  We

do the job as humanely as possible and we have lot of things we do to do

this.  You need to come see for yourself.  I read with interest your

report on our death loss.  You make it sound like we are being very cruel

and lots of animals die or are injured.  We are working with wild animals

and things can happen but the 1% death loss includes every animals on

every gather.  Even the ones humanely destroyed to relieve their

suffering.

I think that number is very low compared to other wild life captures or

problably even cattle and horse ranches.  Let me know if you need any other information. Sue Cattoor

THE Solution

THE Solution -(the only totally correct solution) simply stated, is to leave them alone to run and evolve freely on areas of natural lands that are sufficiently large to their needs, as wild horses.

U.S. Wild Horses

However, as the adage goes, "the devil is in the details".  And, until such time as nature obliterates most of the present human overpopulation of the U.S. and the world, the above stated solution seems totally unrealistic.  So, from all present indictions, this SOLUTIONS page will remain very much a frequently changing "work in progress", because so much of what possibly could be actually doable, best possible, alternative plans for wild horses is intertwined with state, national and world politics, public ignorance and apathy and a characteristic, often attributed to Americans, of nearly always looking for a quick fix, band-aid type treatment of the symptoms and ignoring the actual cause of the problem, until it's too late. 

The political climate in America now appears to be in the throes of what may be a significant degree of upheaval over the issue of government corruption that caters to the greed of so called special interests.  And, as this political climate continues to change, certain updates and revisions may be appropriate to some material on this page. 

In the interest of honestrly identifying and labelling editorial opinion, as separated from attempts at objective reporting of actually observed facts, it should be noted that in much of the material in this page, this reporter is presenting far more of a highly subjective and personal opinions than appear probably anywhere else on this web site.  That is because this reporter has gone on record charging that virtually all of the now existing, so called wild horse protection/preservation groups are influenced by their own special interests, very often to a degree that puts them at about the same level as the government bureacracy which they purport to oppose.

What Needs to be Done

1. Legislation needs to be passed, classifying wild horses in the same officially designated category of natural wildlife that presently includes such other animals as bears, bighorn sheep and eagles, thus granting them equal protection, as may become appropriate, as a "threatened" or "endangered" species.

2. For many specific aspects of stopping government mismanagement of wild horses and infliction of cruelties and abuses upon these animals, lawsuits and related legal actions against various administrative agencies and individuals in the federal government and its private contractors may be the only effective recourse.  Unfortunately, these actions often may be very costly, sometimes involving prohibitive legal fees just to try to determine the actual feasibility for success, of any such legal efforts.   And, the non specific and/or highly discretionary and interpretive nature of so much of the present wild horse management and "protection" legislation may adversely effect attempts at successful prosecution of many such legal cases.  Hopefully, however, there will be news media publicity attendant to such legal actions, which may serve to at least slightly increase public awareness of these problems.

3. All grazing of privately owned livestock on public lands needs to be stopped and eliminated, permanently.  Federal legislation which established this condition, in the first place, may have seemed like a good idea back in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  But it most certainly has absolutely no place in the 21st century, here in America.  The Taylor Grazing Act of 1934, allowing the Department of the Interior to withdraw public lands to be allocated as grazing districts very simply should be repealed.  The practice of so-called "Welfare Ranching" is totally counter to modern day public interest in America.  Why should public tax dollars continue to be used to subsidize a particular commercial enterprise that allegedly is known to cause continuing and increased destruction of public property and public health?

4. New federal legislation needs to be created and passed into law, to replace the Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971, so as to withdraw the present discretionary powers of the Secretaries of the Departments of Interior and Agriculture and very specifically outline the geographical areas to be preserved for all time as natural habitats for free roaming wild horses, burros and other wildlife.  Such legislation should clearly identify and classify wild horses as belonging to a native North American species of wildlife, having full entitlement to federal protections accorded to endangered or threatened species, if and when such protective designation may be appropriate.

5. New federal legislation needs to be created to place the management of wildlife habitats under a separate administrative department, created for the sole purpose of establishing and preserving ecologically balanced and naturally evolving areas for ALL wildlife, including wild horses, where their presence is appropriate to such balance and evolution.  The director of such an agency should be on the same level as the presidental cabinet secretaries (such as the Secretaries of Defense, Agriculture, Interior, etc.), but whose appointment will be made either, by act of congress or by popular election, not be subject to presidential veto and not be made on the same years as presidential elections.  Legislative and administrative details of how this might be accomplished, need to be discussed further by members of our own wildlife groups, before a more specific proposal may be posted here.  But, the idea is to take the presidential and special interest politics and conflicts out of this area to the greatest extent possible in our democratic form of government.

6. Federal law needs to be passed that totally would outlaw and prohibit horse slaughter in the United States.  Passage of the still pending House Resolution 503 would be a good start to solving this part of the problem.   Federal legislation which established this condition, in the first place, may have seemed like a good idea back in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  But it most certainly has absolutely no place in the 21st century, here in America.  The Taylor Grazing Act of 1934, allowing the Department of the Interior to withdraw public lands to be allocated as grazing districts very simply should be repealed.  The practice of so-called "Welfare Ranching" is totally counter to modern day public interest in America.

7. Private and public educators need to get together with politicians and the public to generate an awareness of a need for there to be basic and comprehensive public education in the principles of ecology and nature preservation, before it is too late.  Mandatory courses in this should be taught to our nation's children, beginning in the very early elementary grades and extending through high school curriculums.  At the present time, there also is a need for more education in this for adults, especially for politicians and members of the news media, who think that a better environment can be achieved simply by creating better filters for water faucets and auto exchaust pipes.

8. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) should be directed to tear down all internal fencing on the public lands that are managed by that agency.  After that job is done, the BLM, itself, should be discarded (elimited).  This proposal is in lieu of fully prosecuting and holding BLM officials and employees fully accountable for all its years of misappropriations of public funds, destruction to public property and cruelty to animals.  The BLM always has USED the land (apparently most often in a highly discriminatory fashion for special interests), NOT PRESERVED the land for present and future generations of Americans, as is its stated mission.  And, it should be done away with entirely.  (This, incidentally, would result in a huge saving for American taxpayers.)

What I Saw

From Horseback Magazine

Author and activist R.T. Fitch and his wife Terry spent six days on Montana's Pryor Mountain during the BLM roundup of the wild horses there. The following is his take on what transpired there.

By R.T. Fitch

Photo by Terry Fitch

MAGNOLIA, TX (Horseback) - Cloud, the world’s most famous wild horse thanks to filmmaker Ginger Kathrens, was released from the Bureau of Land Management’s Montana holding pens at the base of Pryor Mountain on September 09, 2009. Cloud’s family was partially destroyed as a unit by the BLM leaving him with only half of his band’s population. All of the mares were chemically sterilized for the next two years with PZP-22, an anti-fertility drug used by the BLM, which is still considered experimental in the wild. With these tactics, there is little hope that Cloud's bloodline will be able to survive genetically.

Now that Cloud has been released, independent observers have verified that he, and what is left of his band, has returned to their lush pastures in the upper altitudes of the Pryor Mountains. Cloud and most of the other adult horses, however, are now footsore and lame after a helicopter driven stampede down 5,000 feet of rocky trails instituted by the BLM.

Video of the injured animals has spread across the Internet like a California wildfire.

As if the BLM’s ill-conceived and grossly mismanaged round-up was not enough of a travesty, in its own right, the techniques they used cause extreme risk to the safety and welfare of the wild horses. Chasing horses down a rocky mountainside in 95 plus degree heat belies common sense.

At the onset of the roundup, a press day was held for the media. The temperatures reached into the upper 90’s so, by noon, the BLM decided to pull the plug on the day’s operations. They stated that it was just “too hot” to push the horses. Once the media’s cameras disappeared, however, things soon began to change. The following day the temperatures also reached into the upper 90's, but the agency continued to push bands of wild horses down the mountainside until 4:00 p.m.

On September 8, a band was pushed so far and so hard that one of the mares became “tied-up.” The BLM ushered the remaining independent observers away from the observation bluff, at 5:00 p.m., so that they could not witness the exhausted horses being driven into the pen. Earlier that same day, they also pressed a distant band so long and so hard that a foal and her mother could not keep up and were left behind and abandoned.

That night, several foals were lame and footsore in the BLM holding facility. Of those two bands driven to exhaustion, only one horse was slated for removal; so, what was the point?



Why torture these animals for no reason other than to pump the mares full of PZP so as to ensure that there will be NO babies for the next 2-3 years, if not longer? These are questions that demand an answer from Washington in hearings before Congress.

On September 11, the BLM banned Humane Observer Elyse Gardener from checking on the status of the remaining 57 horses being held in captivity at their Britton Springs holding facility. That group of 57 includes older horses that should have never been removed from the herd since they bear the knowledge and the herd’s store of information on water and winter food locations and are virtually un-adoptable at their advanced ages.

Those captives also include Conquistador and his band ripped out of the Custer National Forest, never to return to their native home. Initially, this was to be a selective removal not a “total” remove operation. Without previously agreed access granted to our observer, there is no way that we can verify the health, safety, and welfare of these horses or even if they are still present and accounted for. What would be the BLM’s “Mustangate” motives for this last breach of trust and honesty? What could they be hiding and why do they think that they can continue to operate with total immunity from the laws and the wishes of the American people?

These are valid questions that should be asked of your congressman,
Bob Abbey, the director of the BLM, Secretary of the Interior Department Ken Salazar, and the president himself. Just ask - why?