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Signs of Hope for the West’s Wild Horses?

Straight from the Horse's Heart

Source: By Kerry Drake as published at WyomingNews.com

“The BLM has failed in its mission 100 percent, on purpose,”

Ken Salazar may not have totally destroyed the Wild Horse and Burro Management Program while he was head of the Interior Department, but he made an already terrible situation far worse.

Now advocates for the animals hope a change at the top leads to some positive changes in a program they believe has been a disaster since it was created by Congress in 1971.

Cloud and family after release from BLM capture in 2009 ~ photo by Terry Fitch of Wild Horse Freedom Federation

Ginger Kathrens, a filmmaker who has spent the past 19 years documenting the activities of the Pryor Mountain wild horse herd in Wyoming and Montana, said Salazar was a rancher who viewed the animals as pests and implemented policies that treated them as such.

He left office dodging questions about the sale of 1,700 wild horses to one of his Colorado neighbors, who had them slaughtered. The matter is still under investigation.

Under Salazar, the program’s budget more than doubled while most of its efforts failed miserably. The agency now spends 60 percent of the program budget on expenses related to the more than 50,000 horses it rounded up.

The rest is spent “managing” the remaining 38,000 wild horses left roaming the West. But as a damning report issued in June by the National Academy of Sciences noted, that estimate is nothing but a guess.

Kathrens, who lives on a ranch in Westcliffe, Colo., said BLM has just wanted to see wild horses gone, literally managed to extinction. Jeannine Stallings, a long-time animal advocate in Cheyenne, agrees.

“The BLM has failed in its mission 100 percent, on purpose,” Stallings charged.

Stallings, 83, has watched the agency for years. When I interviewed her about the wild horse program in 1987, she said the agency had ignored its studies “because they didn’t get the results they wanted.”

Wearing a yellow T-shirt that proclaims, “Americans Don’t Eat Horses,” Stallings said while she voted for Barack Obama twice and considers him a good president, “He certainly hasn’t been a friend to wild horses.”

Why should anything be different now?

Kathrens said that Sally Jewell, the new secretary of Interior appointed by Obama, doesn’t have the personal animosity toward wild horses that Salazar had.

“She brings with her a love of the wild and open spaces,” she explained. “If she appoints people to key positions who agree with her … things could change.”

Time will tell if Jewell is able to n or even wants to n change the program’s direction, but in the meantime, the lives of thousands of wild horses are at risk here and in nine other Western states.

“In Wyoming, we have a tragedy in the making,” Kathrens said, referring to BLM’s plan to “zero out” the Rock Springs herd on private land.

That will mean taking all of the horses off public land as well. The animals would be rounded up and moved to Salt Wells and Adobe Town in the Red Desert, where forage is scarce.

The Rock Springs herd has become a great tourist attraction, she noted, but under BLM’s plan, people would no longer have access to see the horses.

Kathrens has likely done more than anyone else to raise the public’s awareness of the multitude of problems facing America’s wild horses. She has produced three films for PBS’s “Nature” series, focusing on the Pryor Mountain herd and in particular the life of Cloud, a wild pale palomino stallion.

Stallings said Cloud has been rounded up several times up by BLM but always freed.

“They could never take Cloud off the range,” she said. “They know the public just wouldn’t stand for it.”

The nonprofit Cloud Foundation started by Kathrens is dedicated to preventing the extinction of Cloud’s herd through education, media events and public involvement. It is also dedicated to protecting other wild horse herds on public lands, especially isolated herds with unique characteristics and historical significance.

For years, BLM has defended its management program and maintained that the roundups are necessary. But some former BLM officials are now decrying what the agency is doing.

What should happen to the 50,000 wild horses being kept in pens by the feds? Kathrens said the obvious solution is to “take some of the 24 million acres of public land where the herds have been ‘zeroed out’ and put them back on the range.”

Her fear, though, is that the agency will surreptitiously get rid of the animals by selling them to be slaughtered when the public isn’t paying attention.

Stallings shares her concern.

“The fact is that BLM is winning and we’re losing,” she said. “Things have always been bad, but it’s much worse today, and it’s going to take a national outcry (for things to improve). I just hope it doesn’t end in a horrendous, final tragedy.”

Thanks to Stallings, Kathrens and other animal advocates’ abilities to stir up the public, wild horses have not disappeared from the range yet.

But they’ve been right about these issues for decades and are still largely ignored by the federal government. It’s time someone in charge seriously listens to them, and I hope Jewell is the one who does.

Veteran Wyoming journalist Kerry Drake is the editor-in-chief of The Casper Citizen, a nonprofit, online community newspaper.

Click (HERE) to join the conversation atWyomingNews.com

UK Horsemeat Scandal: Two Arrested Over Fraud

Straight from the Horse's Heart

Source: Multiple

“Regardless of Location, Horse Slaughter is a Magnet for Criminal Activity”

Two men have been arrested on suspicion of fraud as part of an investigation by British police into the horsemeat scandal, it was revealed yesterday.

City of London Policesaid that since launching an inquiry in May it has held two men on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and interviewed a further two men under caution.

The force said it has only released details now due to “operational reasons” and would not say when the men were arrested or reveal their nationalities.

Detective Chief Superintendent Oliver Shaw said: “This is an extremely complex investigation covering a number of jurisdictions and a variety of businesses.

“We are working closely with police forces, other law enforcement agencies and regulators to determine whether horsemeat being used in a range of meat products was deliberate and coordinated criminal activity.”

City of London Police was asked to work with the Food Standards Agency(FSA) as part of its inquiry into the scandal.

It reviewed evidence from law enforcement agencies in Europe and the UK, as well as from the FSA.

The force launched an investigation in May and said it made the arrests “during the initial stages” of the inquiry. Officers have also carried out searches at businesses and homes in the UK.

Last month MPs condemned the slow pace of the national investigation into the scandal, with no prosecutions six months after the problem was first identified.

The Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee said authorities in both the UK and Ireland – where horse DNA was first discovered in processed beef products – had yet to acknowledge the scale of the illegal activity involved.

It said: “The evidence we received from retailers and food processors in the UK and Ireland suggests a complex, highly organised network of companies trading in and mislabelling frozen and processed meat or meat products in a way that fails to meet  specifications and that is fraudulent and illegal.

“We are concerned at the failure of authorities in both the UK and Ireland to acknowledge the extent of this and to bring prosecutions.

“We are dismayed at the slow pace of investigations and would like assurance that prosecutions will be mounted where there is evidence of fraud or other illegal activity.”

The FSA has already agreed to an independent review of its response to the scandal.

Exclusive: Wild Horse and Wild Burro Good News and Bad News from Twin Peaks HMA

Straight from the Horse's Heart

Posted on August 28, 2013 by R.T. Fitch

Exclusive report from “Grandma” Gregg, Environmental Researcher and Jesica Johnston, B.A., M.A in Biology and Environmental Planning

“The forage has grown back from last summer’s fire and there is an abundance of food…”

Last weekend several experienced wildlife observers with binoculars and long-distance camera lens thoroughly combed 77 miles of the Twin Peaks Herd Management Area (HMA) and found only 27 wild horses and 5 wild burros.  Is this good news or bad news?  This is good news for those few wild horses and burros that remain on their legally designated land, but bad news for the Twin Peaks HMA as a whole.  The forage has grown back from last summer’s fire and there is an abundance of food as was obvious by the condition of the few vigorous and healthy wild horses and burros that were observed, but this is still a small and discouraging number of wild horses and burros. This survey is consistent with previous surveys and documentation supporting the impacts of an enormous and devastating roundup in 2010. There seems to be few remaining wild horses and burros in the Twin Peaks HMA. In our two days of ground observation the BLM’s mantra of the term “excess” was on our minds as we traveled numerous miles; most of which had no wild horses or burros or even signs of wild horses and burros.  This public land is set aside by Congress principally for wild horses and burros, but there are very few that remain since the roundup of 2010.  It is hard to believe when the BLM says there are 1,750 out here again…

Click (HERE) for the entire independent observers’ summary report and many photos.

There has been no further official round-up announcement for Twin Peaks since last fall’s after the Rush Fire Environmental Assessment was published by BLM stating that they were going to capture and remove all but about six-hundred wild horses and burros. It is unknown at this time when this capture has been rescheduled for but in the meantime BLM did an aerial population survey in April of this year and stated there were 1,750 wild horses and burros on the Twin Peaks HMA.  This data was FOIA’d and although that number was written on the aerial log, they only photographed 460. They had two photographers in the helicopter and per their map a very thorough coverage of the HMA was done, but they only physically photographed 460 wild horses and burros.  Even though we paid with our tax money for four BLM employees and the cost of the helicopter to document the actual population of wild horses and burros … they did not. Over the four days in flight only 26% of the wild horses and burros that were “counted” were photographed.

In fact there were far more photos taken of coyotes, elk, antelope, and other landscape features than of wild horses and burros. Although there was ample opportunity, this left 1.290 wild horses and burros that they “counted” undocumented with photos during the census flight.  Why? The aerial census over the four days clearly fails to sufficiently document BLM’s stated wild horse andburro population.

In the meantime, this Thursday will be an important day for the future of the Twin Peaks HMA and all wild horses and burros. This is the first time in the history of the Wild Horse Act that an Appeals Court will determine whether the BLM’s interpretation of the Act is consistent with Congress’s intent to protect these living symbols of the West over 40 years ago.

The 2010 Twin Peaks roundup resulted in the permanent removal of more than 1,500 wild horses and 160 burros from the range. As of August 2012, 977 of the wild horses and burros removed from the range were still in “holding” and hundreds more have died or been sold by BLM to “questionable” buyers and they cannot be accounted for. The BLM failed to consider data regarding ecological resources in the herd management area, and also illegally harassed and captured horses that were not even considered “excess” by BLM’s own standards. Don’t miss this important hearing – please fill the courtroom and show your support for the Twin Peaks wild horses and burros. They need you there…

What: Appeal Hearing for the Twin Peaks Wild Horses and Burros
When:  Thursday, August 29, 2 pm – please arrive no later than 1:30 pm
Where:  Ninth Circuit Courthouse, 125 South Grand Ave., Pasadena

Click (HERE) to download complete report

Horse Slaughter Case: All Parties Want it to End

Straight from the Horse's Heart

Posted on August 28, 2013 by debbiecoffey

SOURCE:    FOOD SAFETY NEWS
Agreement in Horse Slaughter Case: All Parties Want it to End
By Dan Flynn | August 28, 2013
The parties suing USDA to stop horse slaughter before it can start up again in the U.S. agree with the government on one thing: they, too, want to get the court case they brought over as quickly as possible. Bruce A. Wagman, attorney for the plaintiffs, has filed a motion with the U.S. District Court in New Mexico supporting the government’s request for an expedited hearing and briefing on the merits.

Wagman, who represents the Humane Society of the U.S. and several other animal welfare and horse rescue groups, has suggested a schedule that could put the issue in the hands of Federal District Court Judge M. Christina Armijo by Oct. 10. New Mexico Attorney General Gary K. King joined in Wagman’s motion, which was filed Tuesday.

Judge Armijo has scheduled a Sept. 3 status conference, which attorneys can access by telephone.

Wagman still wants Armijo to rule on his motions to change the Aug. 2 temporary restraining order that blocks two companies with grants of inspection for horsemeat packing from starting those operations unless permitted by the court and to reduce or eliminate the costly bond plaintiffs must come up with for the case to proceed.

On the TRO, Wagman wants it to only prohibit USDA from providing equine inspection services to Valley Meat in New Mexico and Responsible Transportation in Iowa. Currently, it also prohibits those companies from operating horse-slaughter businesses, even though the plaintiffs are not suing them. As long as USDA is barred from doing inspections, horses cannot be slaughtered for human consumption.

That became a big concern for the plaintiffs after a federal magistrate imposed a bond against them of nearly $500,000 a month to cover the possibility that USDA wins the case. In other words, it’s meant to cover the economic harm imposed by the plaintiffs if they lose.

Government attorneys representing USDA’s top three food-safety officials say it’s time to end the court battle that has temporarily banned horse slaughter in the U.S. They’ve asked the U.S. District Court in New Mexico to move immediately to an expedited hearing and ruling on the merits of the case.

This would eliminate the next step that had been anticipated in the case – a hearing on whether to grant the plaintiffs a preliminary injunction. They already won a temporary restraining order.

National Academy of Science tells BLM to use Delphi (manipulate you)

Straight from the Horse's Heart

Posted on August 27, 2013 by debbiecoffey

SOURCE:  PPJ GAZETTE

by Debbie Coffey        Copyright 2013           All Rights Reserved.

While some advocacy groups quickly lauded certain aspects of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report regarding the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Wild Horse & Burro Program,  Ann Novak of Protect Mustangs noticed something and brought it to my attention:

On page 275 of this report, under the Chapter 8 topic of Social Considerations, the NAS Board advised the Bureau of Land Management:

“One possible method to gather the latest information from experts and to focus it on a particular problem is to use a Delphi process.”

What’s troubling about this?   The Delphi process was developed in the 1950s by the Rand Corporation, and has since been used for the purpose of maneuvering segments of the public into accepting predetermined government policies.

In other words, the Delphi process gives the illusion of public input and participation, but the input isn’t really considered and participation doesn’t matter.  It’s basically just a way for the government to pretend there is public participation and accountability.

   BLM photo of National Wild Horse & Burro Advisory Board meeting

Here’s how the Delphi process works:  There is a predetermined outcome.  (Most likely, not the one you’d hoped for.)   And who picks the supposedly unbiased ”experts” who will be submitting “the latest information?”  Who chooses what to “focus” on?  (Not you.)

There may be a series of meetings where people are broken into smaller groups and sit at different tables around the room.  The purpose of this is that if knowledgeable people arrive together, they’ll have to sit with strangers and hopefully be more subdued.

Each table will have a facilitator, who will know which way to help “steer” the group.  The people will be instructed to answer some questions among themselves, then arrive at a table “consensus.”

The Delphi process often uses surveys to bring about this “consensus,” but the questions on the survey are loaded and skewed to manipulate the desired outcome.  The survey will use grading like “agree all of the time, agree most of the time, agree some of the time, and don’t agree.  Or, the survey will ask respondents to use ratings like “most important, moderately important and least important.”

After the first survey, people are told most people agreed or somewhat agreed with the predetermined outcome.  Then, people are given another survey and are asked if they can be flexible and try to rethink the “few remaining” areas of disagreement.  Then, the respondents are told that the majority achieved a “consensus” (which is the direction that the group leading this meeting wanted:  the predetermined outcome).

Someone is chosen to speak for the table, most likely a person who has been secretly pre-briefed about the desired Delphi outcome.  The table “spokesperson” is the only one allowed to address the podium and there will be little, if any, opportunity to address the podium or the crowd directly.

What is APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY?

Under Chapter 8 of the NAS report, the committee also advises the BLM to use Appreciative Inquiry (AI).  AI creates a situation where people in a group only talk about positive things, not any problems or “negative” aspects of an issue.

An example of this might be if you had to rack your brain to think of something good about the BLM’s mismanaged Wild Horse & Burro Program, you might think “Well, sometimes a few horses are adopted by nice people.”

So, using AI, you’d ONLY be able to talk about nice people adopting wild horses.  You wouldn’t be able to talk about the BLM’s skewed population inventories/estimates with no photos or videos to back up their wild claims of excessive horses and burros.  You wouldn’t be able to bring up issues like the BLM’s roundups and inhumane handling of wild horses and burros.

You wouldn’t be able to express concerns about the lack of public access and accountability with BLM’s blanket bait trapping contracts, where the public doesn’t know when or where these roundups are taking place.  You wouldn’t be able to talk about horses needing shade while warehoused in feedlot conditions in sweltering temperatures.  You also wouldn’t be able to ask about the many thousands of wild horses and burros that most likely have gone to slaughter.

I’m not sure who would appreciate “Appreciative Inquiry,” but I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be wild horse & burro advocates.

Appreciative Inquiry has been critiqued for being almost evangelically focused on “the positive” (Dick 2004) and too “Pollyanna-ish” (Fitzgerald, Murrell & Newman, 2001).  Rogers and Fraser (2003) question whether AI encourages “unrealistic and dysfunctional perceptions, attitudes, and behavior.”  Golembiewski (2000) noted that AI discourages analysis.

Most importantly, if you don’t look at problems, how can you fix them?   This process isn’t about fixing problems, it is about controlling your participation and input.

BLM has already been denying problems with their program for a long time.  It showed callousness (and a lot of gall) for a BLM employee to speak at a National Wild Horse & Burro Advisory Board meeting and say “You have to go slow to go fast” in referring to developing a humane treatment policy, after the BLM has blatantly ignored their mandate to care for the wild horses and burros for 42 years.  (That’s going pretty slow.)

The NAS suggestions in Chapter 8 of the report seem to squelch your right to speak at a public meeting.  (There is already little opportunity to speak at most BLM meetings now, even at the upcoming National Wild Horse & Burro Advisory Board meeting.  Public comment time is always strictly limited on the agenda.)

With the Delphi process, anyone who tries to speak out in opposition may be told from the podium “We don’t have time to discuss that now,” or “We discussed that on another date,” or “We can discuss that after the meeting.”

In other words, your comments won’t be on public record, and the predetermined outcome will then look like a unanimous decision.  They may even try to discredit you.  This technique is meant to bully people into submission.

It has been advised that people who don’t want to be manipulated by the Delphi process arrive separately, and sit far apart.  Remain polite, smile, but be firm.  The Dephi facilitators are trained to make anyone who doesn’t accept their agenda look aggressive or silly.

If the facilitators interrupt you, listen politely, then ask your question or make your comment again.  If they try to distort your question or your comment, clarify to the group that this is not what you were saying, and then repeat your comment or question verbatim.  If your friends do the same, and you persist, you may retain some control over free speech and the democratic process.  Or, go hold your own meeting at another location and give your plan to the government agency.

This isn’t just about the BLM and wild horse & burro advocates.  This issue should be of concern to everyone who cares about our Constitution and free speech.

SOURCES:

http://www.rand.org/topics/delphi-method.html

http://www.santarosaneighborhoodcoalition.com/delphi.html

http://appreciativeinquiry.case.edu/uploads/critical%20evaluation%20of%20appreciative%20inquiry.pdf

http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/whbprogram/Advisory_Board.html

Call to Action: American Horse Advocate S.A.F.E. Pledge

Straight from the Horse's Heart

Posted on August 25, 2013 by R.T. Fitch

Source: Habitat for Horses and Wild Horse Freedom Federation

“It’s ‘Feel Good Sunday’ and today we tender a means in which you can personally make a difference in the ongoing, bloody war against predatory horse slaughter.  Some of us old timers have been at this for many, many years and in a recent discussion with Jerry Finch of HfH it became glaringly obvious that we almost seem to be in the same position that we were over a decade ago in this fight except the only change is/are the people we are fighting.  Somehow the old adage, ‘If you always do what you always did you will always get what you always got!’ popped out of both our mouths about the same time.

It’s time to do something different and the time to do it is NOW.  We two Texans have taken the pledge, below, and it’s a tough pill to swallow but if it makes a difference for the horses it goes down pretty sweet.

Join us individually, as a group and hopefully as a nation; the horses are dying and we need to put an end to it once and for all.  Keep the faith.” ~ R.T.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The S.A.F.E. Act – S.541/HR 1094 – A bill to prevent human health threats posed by the consumption of equines raised in the United States.

To the American Cattle Rancher,

Enough.

We tried to reason, we spent our money in courts fighting you, we’ve taken those we’ve managed to save and watched our government bow to the horse slaughter industry. We’ve filed bills in Congress and watched them die, spent a ton of money trying to stop the roundups and slaughter, yet it continues unabated.

One hundred seventy thousand horses a year, 472 a day, one every 4.8 minutes, die in a slaughterhouse. Year after year, we have sought to bring it to an end. No one listened, most of the cattle industry laughed at us.

It’s time for that laughter to end.

The beef industry  has always been in full support of the horse slaughter industry. You’ve worked hand-in-hand with the AQHA and the BLM as they push for horse slaughter, and your influence in all 50 state Farm Bureaus has been consistent. You’ve taken every word from the paid propagandists and force feed them to the Farm Bureau members.

Knowing full well that your facts are pure lies, you have convinced those inside the Beltway to believe that you are the saviors of the horse industry.

You aren’t. You are horse killers, wanting nothing better for the horses of America than you want for your cattle – to be slaughtered and served to the consumer for a profit.

Now it’s time for the 80% to strike back in a way that will force you to listen.

Starting now, we pledge that we will not buy nor consume another bite of beef until the S.A.F.E Act is passed and signed into law. No hamburgers, no BBQ beef, no steak, no fast food with beef. And we ask that every person that is against horse slaughter do the same.

Beef is out until the S.A.F.E. Act is in.

You brought this on yourself. In all your wisdom, you decided it was to your benefit to promote horse slaughter and without thinking, accept the lies you were told as truth. You accepted with open arms the stories about “the slippery slope.” You believed and promoted, without question, the “unwanted horse” propaganda.

You support the extreme minority who make money killing America’s horses instead of listening to the 80% of Americans who want it to stop. You have turned your back on the very people who buy the beef you sell and you expect us support you.

That support ends – NOW. Weep, cry, scream, do whatever you want to do, even tell us that it doesn’t matter, but as of this moment, BEEF is off the table.

Our Pledge:

As an American horse advocate, I pledge that I will not buy beef of any kind until the SAFE Act is passed and the American horse is free from the threat of slaughter!

Not a dollar of my money will enter your pocket until you and your supporting organizations take the action necessary to support and pass the SAFE Act.

Sign the Pledge!

________________

Leave a pledge on the Facebook page of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association

Leave a Tweet for the Nattional Cattlemen’s Beef Association- @beefusa

Leave a pledge on the Facebook page of the American Farm Bureau Foundation

Wild horse advocate says BLM round-up facility is failing horses

Digital Journal

"The entrenched abuse of our tax funds is demonizing the horses and more are rounded up, while close to nothing is being spent on better range solutions."

By Elizabeth Batt

Aug 22, 2013 - 22 hours ago in Environment

 16  509  27  0 Google +3

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Reno - Advocate Monika Courtney is tackling a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) holding facility in Reno, NV., over its lack of shelter and basic care for rounded-up wild horses. Digital Journal spoke with Courtney and BLM's Debbie Collins on the convoluted issue.

Courtney, who has been exposing what she says is BLM cruelty for the past five years, told Digital Journal that animals at the federal government's Palomino Valley Adoption Center (PVC) in Reno, are being exposed to triple digit temperatures on a regular basis this summer, yet have no access to shelter in which to escape the heat.

Monika Courtney

Entrance to the BLM adoption facility in Reno, NV,

Like this image

"Horses are in there for a long time, until adopted," said Courtney, "it's obvious they need shade." With, "no enrichment, not even salt licks or mineral blocks, the paddock areas resemble feedlots," she said.

Debbie Collins from the Marketing and National Information Center for the BLM's National Wild Horse & Burro Program, told Digital Journal that during

Bureau of Land Management/Palomino Valley Center

BLM: Palomino Valley Center does supply salt blocks to its captured horses.

Like this image

the Aug. 6th public tour, "we pointed out the water troughs that had electrolytes and the salt/mineral blocks available in pens ... so, not sure if she didn't understand what they were, but they were very obvious."

Monika Courtney

Courtney: This horse will never have a future as it may be lame already. She was limping badly. Compliments of your tax dollars. Collins responded: The public was told why we had some horses at PVC with long feet during the tour. We didn't try to hide it. The tilt chute was down for a week and we couldn't do any hoof trimming. The public was shown the pen that would be shod the next day. Hoof trimming was shut down for the Aug. 6 public tour.

PLEASE click HERE to read more. It is important that publications like this draw national attention. More here at the site!

Fallon Slaughter

Over the weekend, wild horses were sold to kill buyers for slaughter, something which is against the law.

(Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971)

PLEASE stay up to speed with what is happening, and share with everybody you know. We are going to need an ARMY.

Several things you need to read.

“Wild Horse Chaos, Thanks to Obama”

A Slick In The Night

_____________________________

The dirt from Fallon: FIve or six mares were ripped away from their mothers on Saturday and sold in a group and the scared and grieving babies were sold separately. We got most of them I think....thanks to my dear and wonderful new friend Chris Fairbanks that won the bids for them. It was heartbreaking watching them cry for their mothers in a very horrible and scary auction ring. It would have made the most strong of people break down in tears. Then we had to watch the mares come in as a whole group...six or so I think and Zena the kill buyer won the bid...she shipped those mares without one chance for them to be saved by anyone. In fact she told me she shipped them that very night. Those babies were crying their eyes out the next day when we moved them off the lot and to their safe spots.....and the auction staff said we were inhumane because the TRO stopped the other 140 or so from selling...hello people those 140 horse would be in trucks to slaughter right this minute because we bought and save every single horse we could with the private homes, rescues and large private good hearted and amazing people that made a huge difference in this sad and disgusting show of greed and soullessness. We watched horses hurt beyond imagination run around and sold for meat. We know that 50 horses that they forced into trailers had broken legs, hips and piece of their shoulders and other large fleshy parts hanging off their bodies. those horses never made it to the auction and because they were of no value were most likely shot too. Two mares were killed by fighting and they lost the battle and their babies orphaned they were still in need of milk. A baby was kicked in it's head by a violent interaction and he was shot and killed. His mother was hurt and she is the black mare with a very damaged foot. My guess is that one shipped already. So, this was what those of us that were there saw and more. We were called names by the horrid woman that worked in the office of that auction. She was working hard and just started yelling at us as we were trying to get the horses in the name of all of those that paid for them. She only wanted to sell to kill buyers. She had the nerve to tell me that they were a great asset and played a role that was needed I said, "What to send horses to slaughter?" She told me nobody there was sending horses to slaughter. It was all I could do to not take her out back and beat her to a bloody mess. So, I told her she was lying and the she told me it was a service and horse just had to go to slaughter. This was not the only parts that were so horrible for all of us....the horses there sad and soulful eyes...there pleads to us to save them...the Stallions....those beautiful and powerful stallions....don't forget..those horses were just a way for those Indians to make a little money of the hanging meat price. Now we are dealing with emotional blackmail by the kill buyers that have horse that we want to save.....do you think that we can get the Safe Bill passed friends? Shut these people down....take a stand and make history about stopping this for the horses.