Forbes
Every small-town mayor is bedeviled by something. For Paula Bacon of Kaufman, Texas, it was Dallas Crown, which slaughtered horses next door to her friend Mary Nash’s 40-acre farm off Highway 175. Read MORE...
Showing posts with label animal abuse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label animal abuse. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Take a Stand Against Horse Slaughter at Town Hall Meetings in Your Community
Animal Welfare Institute
It is time to put a face to the message that horse slaughter must end immediately! The most direct way for you to help educate your elected officials on the importance of banning horse slaughter is to talk with them face-to-face. The easiest way to do this is to attend local town hall meetings hosted by your U.S. Senators and Representative and urge them to cosponsor and support the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, if they haven't already done so. If your Senators and/or Representative are already cosponsors, a public thank you can help motivate them to action when back in Washington, D.C., as well as educate others at the town hall meeting. Your voice can make a difference!
In light of November’s passage of the FY2012 Agriculture Appropriations bill - which for the first time since 2005 did not include language blocking the use of federal funds for USDA horse meat inspections - the door has once again been opened for horse slaughter in the U.S. We must respond to this failure by redoubling our efforts to pass the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, which would once and for all ban horse slaughter in the U.S. and prevent the export of horses for the same purpose.
In past years, you faithfully emailed and called your legislators’ offices to let them know where you stand. This potent new threat calls for renewed action that puts a face to the message: speaking on behalf of horses at town hall meetings held by your legislators in your local communities. These town hall meetings are likely to take place in convenient settings in your community, and their formats make it easy for you to voice your opposition to horse slaughter directly to legislators and urge their support of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act.
Horse slaughter proponents are spreading a great deal of misinformation through the media in an attempt to cloak the grim realities of horse slaughter. It is important for legislators to get the facts and know that their constituents do NOT support horse slaughter and want a complete ban on the practice.
What You Can Do
Your legislators’ district offices can tell you when and where town hall meetings are scheduled in your community. Call their offices, or visit their websites to see if information on the meetings is posted online. You can visit AWI’s online Compassion Index to obtain contact information for the local offices of your U.S. Representative and Senators. Once you determine the time and place of such meetings, invite friends to attend with you so they can speak up for the horses as well. We have provided some talking points below for you to consider. If you discover a legislator has no town hall meetings planned, inquire why not - you should then request a meeting with your legislator (not staff) when they are next in town!
After you have attended a town hall meeting or met with your legislator please take a minute to visit AWI’s Compassion Index again and fill out the follow up survey. It will allow you to easily provide valuable feedback to AWI that will help in our efforts to educate Congressional staff in Washington, D.C. Be sure to fill this form out after each event you attend.
Please share this Dear Humanitarian eAlert with friends, family and coworkers, and encourage them to take action today!
Sincerely,
Chris Heyde
Deputy Director
Government and Legal Affairs
Public speaking is not easy for many people - but the more you do it, the easier it gets. Brief, clear, and polite comments receive the most regard from lawmakers. To help guide you, we have drafted talking points around which you can frame your presentation. You should also review our more detailed fact sheet on the subject before you go.
1. I am here today to express my opposition to the slaughter of American horses and to request you cosponsor the American Horse Slaughter Protection Act (H.R. 2966/S. 1176) which would end this gruesome practice.
Date:
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
S. 1176/H.R. 2966 - American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011
Dear Humanitarian:It is time to put a face to the message that horse slaughter must end immediately! The most direct way for you to help educate your elected officials on the importance of banning horse slaughter is to talk with them face-to-face. The easiest way to do this is to attend local town hall meetings hosted by your U.S. Senators and Representative and urge them to cosponsor and support the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, if they haven't already done so. If your Senators and/or Representative are already cosponsors, a public thank you can help motivate them to action when back in Washington, D.C., as well as educate others at the town hall meeting. Your voice can make a difference!
In light of November’s passage of the FY2012 Agriculture Appropriations bill - which for the first time since 2005 did not include language blocking the use of federal funds for USDA horse meat inspections - the door has once again been opened for horse slaughter in the U.S. We must respond to this failure by redoubling our efforts to pass the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, which would once and for all ban horse slaughter in the U.S. and prevent the export of horses for the same purpose.
In past years, you faithfully emailed and called your legislators’ offices to let them know where you stand. This potent new threat calls for renewed action that puts a face to the message: speaking on behalf of horses at town hall meetings held by your legislators in your local communities. These town hall meetings are likely to take place in convenient settings in your community, and their formats make it easy for you to voice your opposition to horse slaughter directly to legislators and urge their support of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act.
Horse slaughter proponents are spreading a great deal of misinformation through the media in an attempt to cloak the grim realities of horse slaughter. It is important for legislators to get the facts and know that their constituents do NOT support horse slaughter and want a complete ban on the practice.
What You Can Do
Your legislators’ district offices can tell you when and where town hall meetings are scheduled in your community. Call their offices, or visit their websites to see if information on the meetings is posted online. You can visit AWI’s online Compassion Index to obtain contact information for the local offices of your U.S. Representative and Senators. Once you determine the time and place of such meetings, invite friends to attend with you so they can speak up for the horses as well. We have provided some talking points below for you to consider. If you discover a legislator has no town hall meetings planned, inquire why not - you should then request a meeting with your legislator (not staff) when they are next in town!
After you have attended a town hall meeting or met with your legislator please take a minute to visit AWI’s Compassion Index again and fill out the follow up survey. It will allow you to easily provide valuable feedback to AWI that will help in our efforts to educate Congressional staff in Washington, D.C. Be sure to fill this form out after each event you attend.
Please share this Dear Humanitarian eAlert with friends, family and coworkers, and encourage them to take action today!
Sincerely,
Chris Heyde
Deputy Director
Government and Legal Affairs
Public speaking is not easy for many people - but the more you do it, the easier it gets. Brief, clear, and polite comments receive the most regard from lawmakers. To help guide you, we have drafted talking points around which you can frame your presentation. You should also review our more detailed fact sheet on the subject before you go.
1. I am here today to express my opposition to the slaughter of American horses and to request you cosponsor the American Horse Slaughter Protection Act (H.R. 2966/S. 1176) which would end this gruesome practice.
a. If you have a horse and/or have rescued a horse be sure to include this in your opening presentation.
b. If your Member of Congress is already a cosponsor, please thank him/her for their support and encourage their assistance in getting the bill adopted. Members are rarely thanked by their constituents, so this gesture is much appreciated.
2. American tax dollars should not be paying for horse slaughter.a. We don’t eat horse meat in the U.S.
b. Horse slaughter is not a job creator and is a burden on local communities.
c. The government shouldn’t be spending tax dollars to inspect plants that will support foreign industries.
d. Horses give their hearts to us. They helped us settle this country, carried us into battle, and continue to work hard for us every day. It is a betrayal to sell them to foreign butchers.
3. Slaughter is not humane euthanasia. It is animal cruelty.a. Horses’ instinctual flight response makes them ill-suited for stunning, so they often endure repeated blows and sometimes remain conscious during their dismemberment.
b. U.S. government documents graphically indicate cruelty was widespread at the former U.S. plants, even with USDA oversight. Instead of regulating abuse poorly, we should ban the practice entirely.
c. Part of responsible horse ownership is providing a humane end for a horse through euthanasia, not slaughter. That is what the majority of horse owners do already.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Friday, July 29, 2011
Wild Horses Are (Again) Losing Their Home On The Range
Straight from the Horse's Heart
article by Andrew Cohen from the pages of the Atlantic
It’s been a hot, stormy summer on the Red Desert range in southern Wyoming, around Rock Springs and the state’s southern boundary with Colorado, where Interstate 80 takes long-haul truckers and tourists through one of America’s least hospitable landscapes. The desolate land even includes Sweetwater County, one of those romantic cowboyesque names that mockingly crop up from place to place in the Rocky Mountain West, more an aspiration than a reality when you consider that there isn’t much water there and what there is isn’t so sweet.
In this forlorn place are two “herd management areas” called “White Mountain” and “Little Colorado,” places were some of America’s wild horses roam free pursuant to federal rule and regulation. According to Bureau of Land Management statistics, the federal government owns or controls 849,033 acres of land in the area, Wyoming owns another 15,877 acres, and private entities own 149,647 more. BLM officials estimate that, after the 2011 foaling season, there are approximately 970 wild horses on White Mountain and Little Colorado lands.
If you do the math, based only upon the federal land figure, it comes to 875.29 acres per horse. Do a little more math and you learn that 875 acres equals approximately 1.37 square miles. Ask any horse owner you know if she could get by on that horse-to-land ratio and the answer is an immediate and emphatic “Yes!” At first glance, it seems like a perfectly harmonic arrangement; our nation’s wild horses peaceably tending to our nation’s less desirable lands out of the way of most human traffic. The symbol of our nation’s history and growth simply left alone to graze land most of us would never see if we were to live a hundred lifetimes.
But alas it’s a lot more complicated than that. Intertwined private ownership of lands within the management areas, differing land-use priorities, a lack of bureaucratic courage and creativity, and a 30-year-old deal between ranchers and a long-gone horse group, all have eliminated the possibility of simply working the acreage numbers for the benefit of the horses. The herd areas themselves are part of a “checkerboard” pattern of public and private land (the ratio is close to 50-50, say ranchers) and the horses themselves haven’t helped their own cause. During the winter, they often migrate from public land onto private land, where they are considered a nuisance to some property owners.
This natural pattern has persisted for generations and it’s been closely monitored by the feds for at least the past 30 years. With this history, geography, and horse biology in mind, the BLM announced last month that there were, again, too many wild horses on the two Wyoming ranges. Wildlife officials now plan in mid-August to begin to cull roughly 70 percent of the herds out of Little Colorado and White Mountain in a particularly controversial way. And, in response, wild horse advocacy groups and others filed a federal lawsuit Monday in Washington, D.C. seeking a restraining order that would halt the roundup.
All the time and all over the West, horse advocacy groups battle the federal government over the fate of wild horses. The story is almost always the same. The “horse lobby” cannot compete politically (i.e. financially) with the cattle or ranching industries. Invariably, it’s the wild horses which lose out to the cattle or to the sheep or to other business interests. And invariably, its the federal government, acting through regulators who are captive to the industries they are supposed to regulate, which helps ensure that this occurs. In this case, for example, we see the federal agency responsible for protecting wild horses struggling to justify a decision that undoubtedly will harm a great many of those horses and, indeed, the future of those herds.
Going forward, the two herds will be genetically limited in ways the government has not yet fully evaluated. This is perhaps the most significant part of the new BLM plan. It doesn’t just purport to addres the current “overcrowding” it sees on these ranges. It seeks to impact the ability of these herds in the future to breed the way wild horses have bred for thousands of years. It’s a sort of genetic engineering which horse advocate groups say needs a lot more scientific review before it can be implemented in the wild.
Among the many options that were considered and rejected by the BLM was the concept of revising the existing “management level” so that more than 205-300 horses would be considered an “appropriate” number to graze on the hundreds of thousands of empty acres. Those figures (205-300) arose in 1981 as part of a settlement in a federal lawsuit over the fate of the horses. The party that sought (and obtained) the drastic limitation on the number of wild horses on the lands is an organization known as the Rock Springs Grazing Association. In 2007, according to the Wyoming Business Report, the Association celebrated “100 years of unity.”
Here’s what else the business paper had to say about the group:
article by Andrew Cohen from the pages of the Atlantic
America’s wild horses are in trouble, and the federal government isn’t helping
“An excellent must read for all!” ~ R.T.Why did this animal that had prospered so in the Colorado desert leave his amiable homeland for Siberia? There is no answer. We know that when the horse negotiated the land bridge… he found on the other end an opportunity for varied development that is one of the bright aspects of animal history. He wandered into France and became the mighty Percheron, and into Arabia, where he developed into a lovely poem of a horse, and into Africa where he became the brilliant zebra, and into Scotland, where he bred selectively to form the massive Clydesdale. He would also journey into Spain, where his very name would become the designation for gentleman, a caballero, a man of the horse. There he would flourish mightily and serve the armies that would conquer much of the known world.
– James Michener
Photo by Terry Fitch
In this forlorn place are two “herd management areas” called “White Mountain” and “Little Colorado,” places were some of America’s wild horses roam free pursuant to federal rule and regulation. According to Bureau of Land Management statistics, the federal government owns or controls 849,033 acres of land in the area, Wyoming owns another 15,877 acres, and private entities own 149,647 more. BLM officials estimate that, after the 2011 foaling season, there are approximately 970 wild horses on White Mountain and Little Colorado lands.
If you do the math, based only upon the federal land figure, it comes to 875.29 acres per horse. Do a little more math and you learn that 875 acres equals approximately 1.37 square miles. Ask any horse owner you know if she could get by on that horse-to-land ratio and the answer is an immediate and emphatic “Yes!” At first glance, it seems like a perfectly harmonic arrangement; our nation’s wild horses peaceably tending to our nation’s less desirable lands out of the way of most human traffic. The symbol of our nation’s history and growth simply left alone to graze land most of us would never see if we were to live a hundred lifetimes.
But alas it’s a lot more complicated than that. Intertwined private ownership of lands within the management areas, differing land-use priorities, a lack of bureaucratic courage and creativity, and a 30-year-old deal between ranchers and a long-gone horse group, all have eliminated the possibility of simply working the acreage numbers for the benefit of the horses. The herd areas themselves are part of a “checkerboard” pattern of public and private land (the ratio is close to 50-50, say ranchers) and the horses themselves haven’t helped their own cause. During the winter, they often migrate from public land onto private land, where they are considered a nuisance to some property owners.
This natural pattern has persisted for generations and it’s been closely monitored by the feds for at least the past 30 years. With this history, geography, and horse biology in mind, the BLM announced last month that there were, again, too many wild horses on the two Wyoming ranges. Wildlife officials now plan in mid-August to begin to cull roughly 70 percent of the herds out of Little Colorado and White Mountain in a particularly controversial way. And, in response, wild horse advocacy groups and others filed a federal lawsuit Monday in Washington, D.C. seeking a restraining order that would halt the roundup.
All the time and all over the West, horse advocacy groups battle the federal government over the fate of wild horses. The story is almost always the same. The “horse lobby” cannot compete politically (i.e. financially) with the cattle or ranching industries. Invariably, it’s the wild horses which lose out to the cattle or to the sheep or to other business interests. And invariably, its the federal government, acting through regulators who are captive to the industries they are supposed to regulate, which helps ensure that this occurs. In this case, for example, we see the federal agency responsible for protecting wild horses struggling to justify a decision that undoubtedly will harm a great many of those horses and, indeed, the future of those herds.
Sell the cow, buy the sheep, but never be without the horse. — Irish Proverb
On June 14th, the BLM announced a plan to remove all of the wild horses on Little Colorado and White Mountain and to then return a small number of castrated or spayed horses to the range. Here is how the Bureau describes how the roundup occurs:Multiple capture sites (traps) would be used to capture wild horses within the White Mountain and Little Colorado HMAs… Capture techniques would include the helicopter-drive trapping method and/or helicopter-roping from horseback. Bait trapping may also be utilized on a limited basis, as needed.(These roundups can be so disturbing that they warrant their own treatment in a future article. I will try to get to it later this summer). Just one week later, however, under heavy fire from mortified advocacy groups, the Bureau partially changed its tune. It increased the number of horses that would be returned to the lands and decided not to spay the mares. Still, nearly 700 of 970 or so horses now on the Little Colorado and White Mountain range will soon be gone if the BLM gets its way. Here’s how Interior Department officials described their new plan:
This modified decision returns about 177 geldings to the two HMAs to reach appropriate management level (AML). AML is the point at which the herd’s population is consistent with the land’s capacity to support wild horses in balance with other public rangeland uses and resources. The projected wild horse population remaining on the range following the gather would be about 205 in the White Mountain HMA and about 69 in the Little Colorado HMA.There is no evidence that the horses are harming each other. And no factual detail about how their population has created an “imbalance” upon the vast range lands. Instead, Lance Porter, Field Manager at the Rock Springs office of the BLM, justified the “modified” decision” by writing that he had “concluded that gathering the excess horses is necessary to preserve and maintain a thriving ecological balance and multiple-use relationship” on the land. By bringing back only castrated stallions to the two Wyoming herds, Porter’s plan was meant to “prevent the necessity to gather more frequently due to lower population increases over time.”
Going forward, the two herds will be genetically limited in ways the government has not yet fully evaluated. This is perhaps the most significant part of the new BLM plan. It doesn’t just purport to addres the current “overcrowding” it sees on these ranges. It seeks to impact the ability of these herds in the future to breed the way wild horses have bred for thousands of years. It’s a sort of genetic engineering which horse advocate groups say needs a lot more scientific review before it can be implemented in the wild.
Among the many options that were considered and rejected by the BLM was the concept of revising the existing “management level” so that more than 205-300 horses would be considered an “appropriate” number to graze on the hundreds of thousands of empty acres. Those figures (205-300) arose in 1981 as part of a settlement in a federal lawsuit over the fate of the horses. The party that sought (and obtained) the drastic limitation on the number of wild horses on the lands is an organization known as the Rock Springs Grazing Association. In 2007, according to the Wyoming Business Report, the Association celebrated “100 years of unity.”
Here’s what else the business paper had to say about the group:
Click (HERE) to read this article in it’s Entirety
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Wild Horse Deaths Mount at Contested BLM Helicopter Stampede July 28, 2011
Straight from the Horse's Heart
Eyewitness report by Laura Leigh, VP of Wild Horse Freedom Federation
Yes, the tone of this report is terse. But being with this contractor every day but two during Antelope, and now watching this at Triple B, is like chewing on tin foil.
I am usually very patient and quiet. I do my observations and reports.This time I am trying very hard not to allow the frustration to drive me.
On another front there may be some good news soon, but that will have to wait for another day. So pray that sanity can begin to take root somewhere.
Day 4 brought with it frustration after frustration.
It began with the excuses about water and food, with no indication that anything would change. It continued with the absurd assertions about the injured foals.
At the trap the radio was again left so I could not hear anything until one time Heather Emmons left it loud enough that I could pick up a call. It was the pilot asking Alan Shepherd to glass a horse that could not keep up. I was given no further information as to the age or reason the horse could not keep up… and of course I was held to a position that did not allow me any observation.
The horses the pilot drove into the trap came in two groups.
Then 4 runners went out and the pilot. The pilot asked Shepherd the location and was told it should be “right under you.” It was apparently a bush.
I asked if I could go to the rise and look. I said that all eyes should be utilized. I was not granted permission, nor was it denied. I stayed behind the tape. It is my belief that this agency attempts to push the limits of control until we are tempted to break them… only to utilize the unreasonable restraints against us.
After almost an hour of no information, BLM personnel reading newspapers, I asked to go give my dog water and check on him. That permission was granted. I hung out in the vehicle with the dog, as it is much cooler there. I saw two runners beating it back to the trap so I went back to the observation area only to find out that the runners were coming back… not because they had found anything… but because the pilot was driving horses to the trap.
Shepherd had given the authorization for resources to abandon the search and begin operations. The other two runners also returned to the trap. I expressed my outrage in no uncertain terms. I informed personnel that I had called people from my vehicle and the public knew they had stopped looking. I informed them I was not leaving until the horse was located.
After the drive Heather was called down to speak with Alan.
Miraculously the horse that had now been missing for over an hour and a half had been found. It had “run back home” and hooked up with a stud. A trailer went down the road and in less than ten minutes came back… with a load that looked much like it did when it left.
As I am not permitted to travel the same road as the trailer it would take me about an hour longer to reach holding. I would not see this animal unload.
The animal was allegedly a 4 month old that was so deformed it couldn’t run correctly and was euthanized. The same animal that ran almost to the trap and back again… I can not confirm that there was an animal even picked up off that range.
Have you pulled out all your hair yet? Have you gritted your teeth so badly that you have broken molars? Have you bitten your lip so hard it bleeds? Have you vowed to god you will not allow this “spoiled child agency” to continue without challenge… no matter what it takes?
If you can help me with expenses please donate to http://wildhorseeducation.org
Eyewitness report by Laura Leigh, VP of Wild Horse Freedom Federation
Day Four of Bloody BLM Triple B Stampede
This is the last video that will be posted for a bit. Editing video takes an incredible amount of time. I will go back to archiving the video in case the documentation is required and posting still images. But I think this series of three days gives you an idea how frustrating this is. It will not give you a clear picture of the wear and tear on your vehicle, the damage done to your equipment or the toll it takes on your face.
Day 4 began at holding and the lame excuses about the medical treatment of these foals (that were now euthanized) set the tone. Sometimes my hands will shake from the stupidity. It is like being a teacher in Kindergarten… but the Kindergartners make the rules.Yes, the tone of this report is terse. But being with this contractor every day but two during Antelope, and now watching this at Triple B, is like chewing on tin foil.
I am usually very patient and quiet. I do my observations and reports.This time I am trying very hard not to allow the frustration to drive me.
On another front there may be some good news soon, but that will have to wait for another day. So pray that sanity can begin to take root somewhere.
Day 4 brought with it frustration after frustration.
It began with the excuses about water and food, with no indication that anything would change. It continued with the absurd assertions about the injured foals.
At the trap the radio was again left so I could not hear anything until one time Heather Emmons left it loud enough that I could pick up a call. It was the pilot asking Alan Shepherd to glass a horse that could not keep up. I was given no further information as to the age or reason the horse could not keep up… and of course I was held to a position that did not allow me any observation.
The horses the pilot drove into the trap came in two groups.
Then 4 runners went out and the pilot. The pilot asked Shepherd the location and was told it should be “right under you.” It was apparently a bush.
I asked if I could go to the rise and look. I said that all eyes should be utilized. I was not granted permission, nor was it denied. I stayed behind the tape. It is my belief that this agency attempts to push the limits of control until we are tempted to break them… only to utilize the unreasonable restraints against us.
After almost an hour of no information, BLM personnel reading newspapers, I asked to go give my dog water and check on him. That permission was granted. I hung out in the vehicle with the dog, as it is much cooler there. I saw two runners beating it back to the trap so I went back to the observation area only to find out that the runners were coming back… not because they had found anything… but because the pilot was driving horses to the trap.
Shepherd had given the authorization for resources to abandon the search and begin operations. The other two runners also returned to the trap. I expressed my outrage in no uncertain terms. I informed personnel that I had called people from my vehicle and the public knew they had stopped looking. I informed them I was not leaving until the horse was located.
After the drive Heather was called down to speak with Alan.
Miraculously the horse that had now been missing for over an hour and a half had been found. It had “run back home” and hooked up with a stud. A trailer went down the road and in less than ten minutes came back… with a load that looked much like it did when it left.
As I am not permitted to travel the same road as the trailer it would take me about an hour longer to reach holding. I would not see this animal unload.
The animal was allegedly a 4 month old that was so deformed it couldn’t run correctly and was euthanized. The same animal that ran almost to the trap and back again… I can not confirm that there was an animal even picked up off that range.
Have you pulled out all your hair yet? Have you gritted your teeth so badly that you have broken molars? Have you bitten your lip so hard it bleeds? Have you vowed to god you will not allow this “spoiled child agency” to continue without challenge… no matter what it takes?
If you can help me with expenses please donate to http://wildhorseeducation.org
Related articles
- Wild Horse Babies Killed by BLM at Triple B Roundup (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
- Fitch Outs BLM Employee Who Advocates Hunting Season on Wild Horses (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
- BLM Employee/Contractor Publicly Promotes Hunting Season on Wild Horses and Burros (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
- BLM Mismanagement Reason for Wild Horse Death, Abuse and Neglect (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
- HSUS Misses the Mark on BLM Wild Horse Stampedes (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Wild Horse Babies Killed by BLM at Triple B Roundup
Straight from the Horse's Heart
Report from Laura Leigh ~ VP of Wild Horse Freedom Federation
So I added an extra two hours of driving to my day and headed to holding.
There I saw three youngsters treated for injury. I do not know how many were treated prior to my arrival. (note: it is interesting that I asked about the injuries and am only given information on the treatment I actually saw, with no other information offered. It always seems like “If they don’t see it, it didn’t happen”).
A big bay stud and his band have really hit me hard. He was in the last group (or at least the last group I knew of). One of his foals (the only one that came in with his band) was injured. They put his mare and injured foal in the pen next to him. He kept all the other horses from the fence line. He called to them non-stop while I was there. He was there at the fence line when I arrived in the morning. I was pretty upset by some comments Alan Shepherd made so I got a few quick takes and did not get one of his calls as they began to load that am.
I quickly headed to the roundup site instead as the day before they had already captured 40 horses before my arrival. Leaving holding early didn’t change anything, they still had about 40 prior to my arrival on Day 4. Keep in mind we leave our “meeting” spot at 4:30 am, that’s how much driving is involved.
The comments from Shepherd that were so distressing go like this: ”The palomino foal had weak tendons. The little chestnut has a bad mom. The other foal that was treated has a laceration to a leg, but it’s pre-existing. The animals drain the water and it needs to be refilled a couple times.”
Did that hit you like it hit me from the State Lead for Nevada’s Wild Horse and Burro program, Alan Shepherd? Did that hit you like it hit me from the man that constantly blames the animal for it’s situation? (Old Mare at Antelope) Did that hit you like it hit me from the man that took part in several “Final solution” conversations for our wild horses? (2009 Article animal Law Coalition) Did that hit you like it hit me from the man that answered in Federal Court that there were “no fences, no cows, no water” in the Owyhee HMA? (Gorey’s explanation to Horseback)
At the Antelope Complex Roundup this past winter there was the exact same situation with this contractor, Sun-J (it is a pattern). When I pointed out the deficiency Ben Noyes, the WH&B specialist in Ely, simply grabbed more tubs for water and placed them in the pens. He directed the contractor to appropriately distribute feed. He made no excuse.
Perhaps a man like Ben Noyes, that is able to admit a deficit and comprehends that the equation for the amount of horses translates into water consumption, should be the state lead and Mr. Shepherd should go muck at the Burns Corral until he comprehends what horses are?
I was told the runners went out to get the two injured foals. We already know that is also not the truth.
This IS foaling season. ALL foals have weak legs, that is why you don’t run a foal. It IS over 90 degrees during the day and horses need water. The fact that this conversation has to occur at all with an agency tasked for the last 40 YEARS with the humane treatment and management of our wild herds is OBSCENE.
note: and the more I review my tapes the more I believe that the roan is NOT that little chestnuts mom. The chestnut mare at the trap is most likely his mom. They even look alike. A bay dad and a roan mom will most likely not produce a chestnut baby. That baby was leaning against ANY family member he could because he could NOT stand. I’ll bet that’s why she was so agitated. I wonder where her baby is? I wonder so much about the ability to actually OBSERVE and not just process inventory in this agency. I need to see that chestnut foal.
Report from Laura Leigh ~ VP of Wild Horse Freedom Federation
The Injured Babies in this Report were later Killed by the BLM
At the roundup we had runners go off with no explanation. We had a baby come in that I could see was injured.So I added an extra two hours of driving to my day and headed to holding.
There I saw three youngsters treated for injury. I do not know how many were treated prior to my arrival. (note: it is interesting that I asked about the injuries and am only given information on the treatment I actually saw, with no other information offered. It always seems like “If they don’t see it, it didn’t happen”).
A big bay stud and his band have really hit me hard. He was in the last group (or at least the last group I knew of). One of his foals (the only one that came in with his band) was injured. They put his mare and injured foal in the pen next to him. He kept all the other horses from the fence line. He called to them non-stop while I was there. He was there at the fence line when I arrived in the morning. I was pretty upset by some comments Alan Shepherd made so I got a few quick takes and did not get one of his calls as they began to load that am.
I quickly headed to the roundup site instead as the day before they had already captured 40 horses before my arrival. Leaving holding early didn’t change anything, they still had about 40 prior to my arrival on Day 4. Keep in mind we leave our “meeting” spot at 4:30 am, that’s how much driving is involved.
The comments from Shepherd that were so distressing go like this: ”The palomino foal had weak tendons. The little chestnut has a bad mom. The other foal that was treated has a laceration to a leg, but it’s pre-existing. The animals drain the water and it needs to be refilled a couple times.”
Did that hit you like it hit me from the State Lead for Nevada’s Wild Horse and Burro program, Alan Shepherd? Did that hit you like it hit me from the man that constantly blames the animal for it’s situation? (Old Mare at Antelope) Did that hit you like it hit me from the man that took part in several “Final solution” conversations for our wild horses? (2009 Article animal Law Coalition) Did that hit you like it hit me from the man that answered in Federal Court that there were “no fences, no cows, no water” in the Owyhee HMA? (Gorey’s explanation to Horseback)
At the Antelope Complex Roundup this past winter there was the exact same situation with this contractor, Sun-J (it is a pattern). When I pointed out the deficiency Ben Noyes, the WH&B specialist in Ely, simply grabbed more tubs for water and placed them in the pens. He directed the contractor to appropriately distribute feed. He made no excuse.
Perhaps a man like Ben Noyes, that is able to admit a deficit and comprehends that the equation for the amount of horses translates into water consumption, should be the state lead and Mr. Shepherd should go muck at the Burns Corral until he comprehends what horses are?
I was told the runners went out to get the two injured foals. We already know that is also not the truth.
This IS foaling season. ALL foals have weak legs, that is why you don’t run a foal. It IS over 90 degrees during the day and horses need water. The fact that this conversation has to occur at all with an agency tasked for the last 40 YEARS with the humane treatment and management of our wild herds is OBSCENE.
note: and the more I review my tapes the more I believe that the roan is NOT that little chestnuts mom. The chestnut mare at the trap is most likely his mom. They even look alike. A bay dad and a roan mom will most likely not produce a chestnut baby. That baby was leaning against ANY family member he could because he could NOT stand. I’ll bet that’s why she was so agitated. I wonder where her baby is? I wonder so much about the ability to actually OBSERVE and not just process inventory in this agency. I need to see that chestnut foal.
Related articles
- Scientists Demand Obama’s BLM Cease Stampeding Wild Horse Foals and Mares (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
- Triple B: Day 2 Video (artandhorseslauraleigh.wordpress.com)
- BLM Employee/Contractor Publicly Promotes Hunting Season on Wild Horses and Burros (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
- BLM Boss Bob Abbey Plays Congress (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
- BLM Roundup of Alleged “Estrays” in Oregon (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
- HSUS Misses the Mark on BLM Wild Horse Stampedes (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
- Wild Horses: “D” is for Destroy, Devastate and Decimate – the BLM’s plan for Wyoming’s Wild Horses (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
- Another Win in Saving Colorado Wild Horse Herd from BLM Eradication (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
- BLM Wild Horse Stampede Schedule for 2011 (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
- BLM Mismanagement Reason for Wild Horse Death, Abuse and Neglect (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
Week 1: Triple B Complex Roundup
American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign
After legal efforts to block the roundup did not meet with success (information on the lawsuit available here), the Bureau of Land Management is began the Triple B roundup on July 20, 2011. The action will permanently remove 1,700 wild horses from their families and homes on public lands in Northeastern Nevada. Due to the timing of the roundup, very young foals will be stampeded in the helicopter drive. Horses will be run for miles in the middle of the hot desert summer. In addition, the horses have adapted to and are operating on low water resources, meaning they are prone to dehydration after being subjected to miles long helicopter chases.
Reports from the front lines of this mass capture operation follow. READ MORE.
The Massive Removal Begins
Photo by Laura Leigh
Reports from the front lines of this mass capture operation follow. READ MORE.
Triple B Wild Horse Roundup: Day 2
Follow WildHorseEducation on Youtube.
2nd Horse Injured, 2011 Cheyenne Rodeo
Follow SHARKonlineorg for MUCH more!
Uploaded by SHARKonlineorg on Jul 25, 2011
July 25, 2011, one day after killing another horse, this horse is injured. The announcer doesn't even mention it. When the horse goes down, they make fun of her. They don't want to sled another horse out, so they force him to run, even though he is clearly trying to stop.
Additional injuries include four calves and four steers, all but one of which were hauled out, and the rodeo is only half over!
The shame of Cheyenne is the shame of the US.
Additional injuries include four calves and four steers, all but one of which were hauled out, and the rodeo is only half over!
The shame of Cheyenne is the shame of the US.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Breaking News: Federal Judge Rules Against Wild Horses and American Public
Straight from the Horse's Heart
Reno, Nev. — Today U.S. District Court Judge Howard McKibben issued a decision in favor of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) which allows the BLM to proceed with the Triple B gather to remove excess wild horses on Saturday, July 16.
“The BLM is pleased with the decision of the court that allows us to move forward with the Triple B gather, where the wild horse population is five times over the minimum appropriate management level,” said Amy Lueders, BLM Nevada Acting State Director.
The BLM will gather and remove approximately 1,726 excess wild horses from in and around the Triple B, Maverick-Medicine and Antelope Valley herd management areas (HMA) and the Cherry Springs Wild Horse Territory located approximately 30 miles northwest of Ely and 70 miles southeast of Elko, Nev. Removal of the excess wild horses is necessary to prevent degradation of rangeland resources and to ensure sufficient forage and water is available for the wild horse population.
The estimated population for the entire gather area is 2,198. The appropriate management level (AML) for the entire area is 472-889 animals. Any horses gathered above targeted removal numbers will be released back to the range so that the remaining population is within AML.
Any gathered mares released back to the range will be vaccinated with the PZP-22 (Porcine Zona Pellucida) fertility control vaccine. Additionally, sex ratios of gathered animals to be returned to the HMAs may be adjusted to achieve an approximately 60 percent male/40 percent female ratio.
The gathered animals will be transported to the National Wild Horse and Burro Center at Palomino Valley (PVC), in Reno, Nev., Gunnison Correctional Facility in Gunnison, Utah, and the Delta Wild Horse Corrals in Delta City, Utah. The animals will be prepared for the BLM adoption program or for long-term holding.
The Cloud Foundation, Craig Downer and Lorna Moffat filed a lawsuit on Wednesday, June 29, 2011, and moved to enjoin the Triple B gather. Judge McKibben held a hearing Thursday morning and denied the motion to enjoin the gather.
Unedited Press Release from BLM Propaganda Central
Judge McKibben Rules in Favor of BLM Triple B Wild Horse Stampede
The Horses Lose AGAIN!!!
“The BLM is pleased with the decision of the court that allows us to move forward with the Triple B gather, where the wild horse population is five times over the minimum appropriate management level,” said Amy Lueders, BLM Nevada Acting State Director.
The BLM will gather and remove approximately 1,726 excess wild horses from in and around the Triple B, Maverick-Medicine and Antelope Valley herd management areas (HMA) and the Cherry Springs Wild Horse Territory located approximately 30 miles northwest of Ely and 70 miles southeast of Elko, Nev. Removal of the excess wild horses is necessary to prevent degradation of rangeland resources and to ensure sufficient forage and water is available for the wild horse population.
The estimated population for the entire gather area is 2,198. The appropriate management level (AML) for the entire area is 472-889 animals. Any horses gathered above targeted removal numbers will be released back to the range so that the remaining population is within AML.
Any gathered mares released back to the range will be vaccinated with the PZP-22 (Porcine Zona Pellucida) fertility control vaccine. Additionally, sex ratios of gathered animals to be returned to the HMAs may be adjusted to achieve an approximately 60 percent male/40 percent female ratio.
The gathered animals will be transported to the National Wild Horse and Burro Center at Palomino Valley (PVC), in Reno, Nev., Gunnison Correctional Facility in Gunnison, Utah, and the Delta Wild Horse Corrals in Delta City, Utah. The animals will be prepared for the BLM adoption program or for long-term holding.
The Cloud Foundation, Craig Downer and Lorna Moffat filed a lawsuit on Wednesday, June 29, 2011, and moved to enjoin the Triple B gather. Judge McKibben held a hearing Thursday morning and denied the motion to enjoin the gather.
Related articles
- HSUS Misses the Mark on BLM Wild Horse Stampedes (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
- Another Win in Saving Colorado Wild Horse Herd from BLM Eradication (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
- Federal judge to rule on Nevada wild horse roundup (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
- Sheldon Wild Horses and Burros: We Will Not Forget You, Again (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
Thursday, July 14, 2011
BLM Roundup of Alleged “Estrays” in Oregon
Straight from the Horse's Heart
Information supplied by Wild Horse Education.org
Wild Horse Education has discovered that an unscheduled, unannounced, secret roundup was being carried out east of Baker City,(Baker County) Oregon today, July 14, 2011. This removal of 30 to 70 horses is in the Vale BLM District. There is a question if these “estray” horses could actually be wild horses.
“Looking at the BLM schedule, the contractor was not scheduled to fly again until August 2,” said Laura Leigh founder of Wild Horse Education “This lead us to investigate other areas where operations could be occurring.”
Marilyn Wargo was told this roundup was taking place by Vale District BLM employee Kelly Skerjanec, who said District manager Pat Ryan and BLM WH&B Specialist, Shaney Rockefeller were at this roundup. BLM Baker City Office employee Mark Pierce confirmed that this action was set up on the ground yesterday and was carried out today.
Wargo was told the private rancher, whose property adjoins BLM land, was not claiming these horses (there was a court case in 2004 in this matter). BLM considers them feral estray. Pierce stated this was not a BLM Oregon helicopter and that a contractor was involved and it could be the one used at Kiger/Riddle just South of Vale District. This would be the Cattoor Livestock Company. At this time no operations official will confirm or deny the contractor.
Pierce elaborated saying: BLM intended to remove horses found only on the BLM lands and not the private property. The horses are considered “trespassers” on public land. The ranchers name was not available at this time.
Piece also said the mares with foals would be sent to Vale District and all others to Prineville.
These offices do not have holding facilities and the destination of these horses is being investigated.
Natural Resources Specialist John Raddemacher from the BLM Baker Office is in charge of this action.
Mark Wilkening of the BLM has confirmed that this operation may be going on tomorrow as well. He has informed us that the horses have no brands. Wilkening has said that this area has never had horses before.
This is in addition to discovering the pending roundup at Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge, in Oregon and Nevada.
Ms. Leigh is the Founder of Wild Horse Education.org, Vice President of the Wild Horse Freedom Federation and writes a blog about her wild horse and burro advocacy.
Information supplied by Wild Horse Education.org
Obama’s “Transparent” BLM Up to Covert Operations, AGAIN
Wild Horse Education has discovered that an unscheduled, unannounced, secret roundup was being carried out east of Baker City,(Baker County) Oregon today, July 14, 2011. This removal of 30 to 70 horses is in the Vale BLM District. There is a question if these “estray” horses could actually be wild horses.“Looking at the BLM schedule, the contractor was not scheduled to fly again until August 2,” said Laura Leigh founder of Wild Horse Education “This lead us to investigate other areas where operations could be occurring.”
Marilyn Wargo was told this roundup was taking place by Vale District BLM employee Kelly Skerjanec, who said District manager Pat Ryan and BLM WH&B Specialist, Shaney Rockefeller were at this roundup. BLM Baker City Office employee Mark Pierce confirmed that this action was set up on the ground yesterday and was carried out today.
Wargo was told the private rancher, whose property adjoins BLM land, was not claiming these horses (there was a court case in 2004 in this matter). BLM considers them feral estray. Pierce stated this was not a BLM Oregon helicopter and that a contractor was involved and it could be the one used at Kiger/Riddle just South of Vale District. This would be the Cattoor Livestock Company. At this time no operations official will confirm or deny the contractor.
Pierce elaborated saying: BLM intended to remove horses found only on the BLM lands and not the private property. The horses are considered “trespassers” on public land. The ranchers name was not available at this time.
Piece also said the mares with foals would be sent to Vale District and all others to Prineville.
These offices do not have holding facilities and the destination of these horses is being investigated.
Natural Resources Specialist John Raddemacher from the BLM Baker Office is in charge of this action.
Mark Wilkening of the BLM has confirmed that this operation may be going on tomorrow as well. He has informed us that the horses have no brands. Wilkening has said that this area has never had horses before.
This is in addition to discovering the pending roundup at Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge, in Oregon and Nevada.
Ms. Leigh is the Founder of Wild Horse Education.org, Vice President of the Wild Horse Freedom Federation and writes a blog about her wild horse and burro advocacy.
Update: Prison Horses Found in Waco
Horseback Magazine
Story and Photos by Steven Long
HOUSTON, (Horseback) – At least some of the horses once belonging to the State of Texas and in custody of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice have been found after being sold at auction. The TDCJ prison horses were located at a facility owned by a former Texas prison inmate and equine kill buyer whose wife confirmed that the horses were the same ones purchased Monday night at a Huntsville, Texas livestock auction.
“We are not selling these horses for food,” said TDCJ chief spokeswoman Michelle Lyons. “They were sold at a public auction to the public.”
The horses were sold as culls from the prison system’s extensive livestock program.
“We cannot speak intelligently as to the buyers’ intent,” Lyon’s told Horseback Magazine late Thursday, “but have been informed by the auction house that there were at least 10 different buyers of TDCJ horses.”
Asked if TDCJ was aware of recent concerns raised about the chemicals used to medically treat U.S. horses, Lyons said “Without an extensive review of the horses’ veterinary records, we cannot make assurances regarding what medications they have or have not taken.”
Drugs such as phenylbutazone (Bute), wormers, and a variety of other drugs routinely administered to horses here, possibly including prison horses, are strictly prohibited for use in food animals.
One of the most genetically perfect herds of horses in North America was hit hard by the selloff of 61 animals at a public auction, their most likely destination, a Mexican slaughterhouse notorious for unspeakable cruelty. The herd is genetically and historically important because they have been part of a captive breeding program for more than a century with little outside genetic influence. On the rare occasions other horses have been introduced, they have been foundation pedigreed lines.
The horses were part of a herd of 1,600 owned by the State of Texas and managed by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Huntsville, according to Lyons.
The state’s captive herd is subject to the most advanced breeding techniques and is held to exacting standards that are world class. The horses are not grade horses but are beneficiaries of the very best techniques of modern agricultural science. The livestock managers are products of the renowned schools of agriculture at Texas A&M University and the nearby Sam Houston State University. The horses are primarily Quarter Horses with substantial Percheron blood.
The information that the horses had been sold at auction came to Horseback Online Monday night when a confidential source who was at the Huntsville cattle auction called and said that a large number of prison horses had been sold to slaughter and had been loaded on a truck south heading down I-45.
“People who work at the prison are really upset about this,” the man said during a phone call to the magazine’s offices.
The Texas prison system holds “Premium Auctions” of horses only rarely where the public is invited to bid after extensive advertising of the sale. No such ads were placed for the 61 horses sold Monday. They were quietly sent to auction where a large truck was already waiting, according to the source who said the horses sold for about 40 cents a pound.
Lyons confirmed the prison system auctions 90-100 “cull” horses each year from its program.
Livestock auctions are the primary sources of horses sent abroad for food.
The Texas prison system breeds big horses, big enough to hold a 300 pound guard for an eight hour shift in the fields, hence the draft horse bloodlines brought into the herd. The stout corrections officer is known in prison parlance as “The Boss.” The horses and their human counterparts guard men dressed in white garb as they work fields with a garden hoe called by the derisive name, an “aggie.” The horses are bread for Texas’ 176 prison units which boast approx. 75 mounted guards or more.
There is one boss for each 25 inmates.
The prison horses are almost as wide as their bellies are deep. They hold saddles made behind the walls. The animals and men herd the system’s 20,000 cattle that are sold on the open market by the state. None of the meat is kept by TDCJ. The cheaper cuts fed to prisoners are bought at market price for the institution’s commissaries. Officials are quick to point out that prison inmates don’t eat steak but consumers may be lucky enough to eat beef raised behind prison walls.
Besides security and agriculture duty, the horses follow dogs chasing escaped convicts.
The state’s ideal prison horse is three quarters Quarter Horse and one quarter draft horse. Throughout his life a prison horse is freeze branded so that extensive records can be maintained in the system. The markings include a tattoo on the inside of the lip, a Texas star, the birth year, and ID number on the back left, and an additional identification on the horses left cheek near the anus. Like their fellow inmates, the horses have no name, only their number to identify them. The records are so extensive that a manager can track the record of a 20 year old horse and know every significant event of its life just by looking up his record.
The auction buyers Monday didn’t get the records of the horses they bought. When a horse leaves the prison system, only its Coggins certificate and ID sheet follow.
The state has achieved its ideal confirmation of broadness, horses that have hardly any withers, and are short of back.
Story and Photos by Steven Long
HOUSTON, (Horseback) – At least some of the horses once belonging to the State of Texas and in custody of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice have been found after being sold at auction. The TDCJ prison horses were located at a facility owned by a former Texas prison inmate and equine kill buyer whose wife confirmed that the horses were the same ones purchased Monday night at a Huntsville, Texas livestock auction.“We are not selling these horses for food,” said TDCJ chief spokeswoman Michelle Lyons. “They were sold at a public auction to the public.”
The horses were sold as culls from the prison system’s extensive livestock program.
“We cannot speak intelligently as to the buyers’ intent,” Lyon’s told Horseback Magazine late Thursday, “but have been informed by the auction house that there were at least 10 different buyers of TDCJ horses.”
Asked if TDCJ was aware of recent concerns raised about the chemicals used to medically treat U.S. horses, Lyons said “Without an extensive review of the horses’ veterinary records, we cannot make assurances regarding what medications they have or have not taken.”
Drugs such as phenylbutazone (Bute), wormers, and a variety of other drugs routinely administered to horses here, possibly including prison horses, are strictly prohibited for use in food animals.
One of the most genetically perfect herds of horses in North America was hit hard by the selloff of 61 animals at a public auction, their most likely destination, a Mexican slaughterhouse notorious for unspeakable cruelty. The herd is genetically and historically important because they have been part of a captive breeding program for more than a century with little outside genetic influence. On the rare occasions other horses have been introduced, they have been foundation pedigreed lines.
The horses were part of a herd of 1,600 owned by the State of Texas and managed by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Huntsville, according to Lyons.
The state’s captive herd is subject to the most advanced breeding techniques and is held to exacting standards that are world class. The horses are not grade horses but are beneficiaries of the very best techniques of modern agricultural science. The livestock managers are products of the renowned schools of agriculture at Texas A&M University and the nearby Sam Houston State University. The horses are primarily Quarter Horses with substantial Percheron blood.
The information that the horses had been sold at auction came to Horseback Online Monday night when a confidential source who was at the Huntsville cattle auction called and said that a large number of prison horses had been sold to slaughter and had been loaded on a truck south heading down I-45.
“People who work at the prison are really upset about this,” the man said during a phone call to the magazine’s offices.
The Texas prison system holds “Premium Auctions” of horses only rarely where the public is invited to bid after extensive advertising of the sale. No such ads were placed for the 61 horses sold Monday. They were quietly sent to auction where a large truck was already waiting, according to the source who said the horses sold for about 40 cents a pound.
Lyons confirmed the prison system auctions 90-100 “cull” horses each year from its program.
Livestock auctions are the primary sources of horses sent abroad for food.
The Texas prison system breeds big horses, big enough to hold a 300 pound guard for an eight hour shift in the fields, hence the draft horse bloodlines brought into the herd. The stout corrections officer is known in prison parlance as “The Boss.” The horses and their human counterparts guard men dressed in white garb as they work fields with a garden hoe called by the derisive name, an “aggie.” The horses are bread for Texas’ 176 prison units which boast approx. 75 mounted guards or more.
There is one boss for each 25 inmates.
The prison horses are almost as wide as their bellies are deep. They hold saddles made behind the walls. The animals and men herd the system’s 20,000 cattle that are sold on the open market by the state. None of the meat is kept by TDCJ. The cheaper cuts fed to prisoners are bought at market price for the institution’s commissaries. Officials are quick to point out that prison inmates don’t eat steak but consumers may be lucky enough to eat beef raised behind prison walls.
Besides security and agriculture duty, the horses follow dogs chasing escaped convicts.
The state’s ideal prison horse is three quarters Quarter Horse and one quarter draft horse. Throughout his life a prison horse is freeze branded so that extensive records can be maintained in the system. The markings include a tattoo on the inside of the lip, a Texas star, the birth year, and ID number on the back left, and an additional identification on the horses left cheek near the anus. Like their fellow inmates, the horses have no name, only their number to identify them. The records are so extensive that a manager can track the record of a 20 year old horse and know every significant event of its life just by looking up his record.
The auction buyers Monday didn’t get the records of the horses they bought. When a horse leaves the prison system, only its Coggins certificate and ID sheet follow.
The state has achieved its ideal confirmation of broadness, horses that have hardly any withers, and are short of back.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Texas Prison Horses May be on One Way Trip to the Mexican Border
Horseback Magazine
Story and Photos by Steven Long
HUNTSVILLE, (Horseback) – One of the most genetically perfect herds of horses in North America was hit hard by the selloff of 61 animals at a public auction, their most likely destination, a Mexican slaughterhouse notorious for unspeakable cruelty. The herd of Texas prison horses that were sold had been part of a contingent of animals so remarkable, and even historic, they were subject of a February 2004 cover story in Horseback Magazine’s predecessor publication, Texas Horse Talk.
The horses were part of a herd of 1,600 owned by the State of Texas and managed by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Huntsville, according to Michelle Lyons, chief TDCJ spokeswoman.
“These were what we call cull horses,” she told Horseback Magazine.
The horses that prison livestock managers call “culls” boast some of the purest blood lines in the nation dating back to the mid nineteenth century. The state’s captive herd is subject to the most advanced breeding techniques and is held to exacting standards that are world class. The livestock managers are products of the renowned schools of agriculture at Texas A&M University and the nearby Sam Houston State University. Only the finest bloodlines are introduced into the herd, and that is done rarely. The horses are primarily Quarter Horses with substantial Percheron blood.
The information that the horses had been sold at auction came to Horseback Online Monday night when a confidential source who was at the Huntsville cattle auction called and said that a large number of prison horses had been sold to slaughter and had been loaded on a truck south heading down I-45.
“People who work at the prison are really upset about this,” the man said during a phone call to the magazine’s offices.
The Texas prison system holds “Premium Auctions” of horses only rarely where the public is invited to bid after extensive advertising of the sale. No such ads were placed for the 60 highly blooded horses sold Monday. The were quietly sent to auction where a large truck was already waiting, according to the source who said the horses sold for about 40 cents a pound.
Lyons confirmed the prison system auctions 90-100 “cull” horses each year from its program.
Livestock auctions are the primary sources of horses sent abroad for food. Yet Lyons categorically denies the Huntsville prisons sent their horses to auction with the knowledge they would be sold for slaughter.
“We have had calls from a woman who claims this very thing, and probably is the same person who claims to have witnessed this,” Lyons said. “She alleged that 70 horses went to one bidder. We only had 61 horses in the auction – we don’t know how many non-TDCJ horses was also part of the auction.”
“The fact is that we participate in these public auctions as a way to keep the horses (from) going to a slaughterhouse – we don’t condone the sale of our horses for slaughter,” Lyons said.
The primary source for horses going to slaughter is public auctions.
Lyons was asked to provide the name of the buyer of the large number of TDCJ horses that went to auction on Monday. She said prison livestock managers didn’t know who bought the horses. Asked by Horseback if they would call the auction house to ask the name of the buyer, she said the men declined.
Horseback Magazine called Huntsville Livestock Services, Inc. and spoke with manager Tommy Oates who declined to name the buyer of the TDCJ horses, saying “I don’t have to tell you a damned thing, ask the state,” before slamming down the phone on the reporter.
The Texas prison system breeds big horses, big enough to hold a 300 pound guard for an eight hour shift in the fields, hence the draft horse bloodlines brought into the herd. The stout corrections officer is known in prison parlance as “The Boss.” The horses and their human counterparts guard men dressed in white garb as they work fields with a garden hoe called by the derisive name, an “aggie.” The horses are bread for Texas’ 176 prison units which boast approx. 75 mounted guards or more.
There is one boss for each 25 inmates.
The prison horses are almost as wide as their bellies are deep. They hold saddles made behind the walls. The animals and men herd the system’s 20,000 cattle that are sold on the open market by the state. None of the meat is kept by TDCJ. The cheaper cuts fed to prisoners are bought at market price for the institution’s commissaries. Officials are quick to point out that prison inmates don’t eat steak but consumers may be lucky enough to eat beef raised behind prison walls.
Besides security and agriculture duty, the horses follow dogs chasing escaped convicts.
The state’s ideal prison horse is three quarters Quarter Horse and one quarter draft horse. Throughout his life a prison horse is freeze branded so that extensive records can be maintained in the system. The markings include a tattoo on the inside of the lip, a Texas star, the birth year, and ID number on the back left, and an additional identification on the horses left cheek near the anus. Like their fellow inmates, the horses have no name, only their number to identify them. The records are so extensive that a manager can track the record of a 20 year old horse and know every significant event of its life just by looking up his record.
The auction buyers Monday didn’t get the records of the horses they bought. When a horse leaves the prison system, only its Coggins certificate and ID sheet follow.
While most of the horses aren’t registered, some boast the bloodlines of pure Texas equine royalty including pedigrees from the famed Waggoner Ranch. TDCJ has also bought other Foundation Quarter Horse stallions as well. Other bloodlines go back to the days when the state first built prisons. The Walls unit in Huntsville dates to 1849 shortly after the end of the Republic of Texas. The state’s prison captive breeding program is indeed, very, very, old. The prison herd has been steadily improved for nearly 162 years, and dramatically improved in recent years.
The state has achieved its ideal confirmation of broadness, horses that have hardly any withers, and are short of back – no long backed high withered horses such as a Thoroughbred are allowed.
The horses are tough, powerful, and as potent as the 300 pound guards who ride them.
And when they go to an auction where the public is given notice, prison horses sell for considerably more than 40 cents a pound.
Story and Photos by Steven Long
HUNTSVILLE, (Horseback) – One of the most genetically perfect herds of horses in North America was hit hard by the selloff of 61 animals at a public auction, their most likely destination, a Mexican slaughterhouse notorious for unspeakable cruelty. The herd of Texas prison horses that were sold had been part of a contingent of animals so remarkable, and even historic, they were subject of a February 2004 cover story in Horseback Magazine’s predecessor publication, Texas Horse Talk.The horses were part of a herd of 1,600 owned by the State of Texas and managed by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Huntsville, according to Michelle Lyons, chief TDCJ spokeswoman.
“These were what we call cull horses,” she told Horseback Magazine.
The horses that prison livestock managers call “culls” boast some of the purest blood lines in the nation dating back to the mid nineteenth century. The state’s captive herd is subject to the most advanced breeding techniques and is held to exacting standards that are world class. The livestock managers are products of the renowned schools of agriculture at Texas A&M University and the nearby Sam Houston State University. Only the finest bloodlines are introduced into the herd, and that is done rarely. The horses are primarily Quarter Horses with substantial Percheron blood.
The information that the horses had been sold at auction came to Horseback Online Monday night when a confidential source who was at the Huntsville cattle auction called and said that a large number of prison horses had been sold to slaughter and had been loaded on a truck south heading down I-45.
“People who work at the prison are really upset about this,” the man said during a phone call to the magazine’s offices.
The Texas prison system holds “Premium Auctions” of horses only rarely where the public is invited to bid after extensive advertising of the sale. No such ads were placed for the 60 highly blooded horses sold Monday. The were quietly sent to auction where a large truck was already waiting, according to the source who said the horses sold for about 40 cents a pound.Lyons confirmed the prison system auctions 90-100 “cull” horses each year from its program.
Livestock auctions are the primary sources of horses sent abroad for food. Yet Lyons categorically denies the Huntsville prisons sent their horses to auction with the knowledge they would be sold for slaughter.
“We have had calls from a woman who claims this very thing, and probably is the same person who claims to have witnessed this,” Lyons said. “She alleged that 70 horses went to one bidder. We only had 61 horses in the auction – we don’t know how many non-TDCJ horses was also part of the auction.”
“The fact is that we participate in these public auctions as a way to keep the horses (from) going to a slaughterhouse – we don’t condone the sale of our horses for slaughter,” Lyons said.
The primary source for horses going to slaughter is public auctions.
Lyons was asked to provide the name of the buyer of the large number of TDCJ horses that went to auction on Monday. She said prison livestock managers didn’t know who bought the horses. Asked by Horseback if they would call the auction house to ask the name of the buyer, she said the men declined.
Horseback Magazine called Huntsville Livestock Services, Inc. and spoke with manager Tommy Oates who declined to name the buyer of the TDCJ horses, saying “I don’t have to tell you a damned thing, ask the state,” before slamming down the phone on the reporter.
The Texas prison system breeds big horses, big enough to hold a 300 pound guard for an eight hour shift in the fields, hence the draft horse bloodlines brought into the herd. The stout corrections officer is known in prison parlance as “The Boss.” The horses and their human counterparts guard men dressed in white garb as they work fields with a garden hoe called by the derisive name, an “aggie.” The horses are bread for Texas’ 176 prison units which boast approx. 75 mounted guards or more.
There is one boss for each 25 inmates.
The prison horses are almost as wide as their bellies are deep. They hold saddles made behind the walls. The animals and men herd the system’s 20,000 cattle that are sold on the open market by the state. None of the meat is kept by TDCJ. The cheaper cuts fed to prisoners are bought at market price for the institution’s commissaries. Officials are quick to point out that prison inmates don’t eat steak but consumers may be lucky enough to eat beef raised behind prison walls.
Besides security and agriculture duty, the horses follow dogs chasing escaped convicts.
The state’s ideal prison horse is three quarters Quarter Horse and one quarter draft horse. Throughout his life a prison horse is freeze branded so that extensive records can be maintained in the system. The markings include a tattoo on the inside of the lip, a Texas star, the birth year, and ID number on the back left, and an additional identification on the horses left cheek near the anus. Like their fellow inmates, the horses have no name, only their number to identify them. The records are so extensive that a manager can track the record of a 20 year old horse and know every significant event of its life just by looking up his record.
The auction buyers Monday didn’t get the records of the horses they bought. When a horse leaves the prison system, only its Coggins certificate and ID sheet follow.
While most of the horses aren’t registered, some boast the bloodlines of pure Texas equine royalty including pedigrees from the famed Waggoner Ranch. TDCJ has also bought other Foundation Quarter Horse stallions as well. Other bloodlines go back to the days when the state first built prisons. The Walls unit in Huntsville dates to 1849 shortly after the end of the Republic of Texas. The state’s prison captive breeding program is indeed, very, very, old. The prison herd has been steadily improved for nearly 162 years, and dramatically improved in recent years.
The state has achieved its ideal confirmation of broadness, horses that have hardly any withers, and are short of back – no long backed high withered horses such as a Thoroughbred are allowed.
The horses are tough, powerful, and as potent as the 300 pound guards who ride them.
And when they go to an auction where the public is given notice, prison horses sell for considerably more than 40 cents a pound.
Mexican slaughter auction targeted by welfare groups - video
Mexican slaughter auction targeted by welfare groups - video | Horsetalk.co.nz - International horse news
Supporters of the campaign are calling on the Mexican Government to shut down the San Bernabe Slaughter Auction in the Municipality of Almoloya de Juárez.
The response to date includes a 5000-signature petition that was delivered to the Mexican embassy in Washington on June 27.
A Youtube video appeal was released on July 3, revealing the treatment of some horses at the auction.
San Bernabe is said to be the largest such unregulated facility in Mexico.
It has been in operation for 70 years and, according to the Equine Welfare Alliance, an umbrella group for horse welfare groups, is well known for the abusive treatment of animals in violation of several federal regulations.
The alliance says American horse owners should be concerned because US horses are sent to the facility.
It added that US horses were being sent to Mexican slaughter facilities long before the US plants closed.
Between the years 1989-2006, 775,474 US horses were exported for slaughter to Canada, Mexico and Japan.
As long as horse slaughter exists, US horses are in jeopardy of being sent to this and other facilities, the alliance says.
The alliance, along with the Animal Protection Association of Mexico, the Animal Law Coalition, Animals' Angels, APASDEM, Animal Recovery Mission, Commission for San Bernabe Market and Anti-Fur Society called for global support to join us in an appeal to shut the doors of San Bernabe forever.
"We are appealing to all members of the US Congress to prevent American horses from enduring the fate awaiting them at San Bernabe by swiftly passing federal legislation (S. 1176) to prohibit horse slaughter in the US and export over our borders."
A petition seeking its closure can be found here here.
July 10, 2011
Horse welfare groups are rallying to help their Mexican counterparts force the end to what they describe as blatant cruelty and abuse at a long-standing slaughter auction. A still from the video below about San Bernabe. |
The response to date includes a 5000-signature petition that was delivered to the Mexican embassy in Washington on June 27.
A Youtube video appeal was released on July 3, revealing the treatment of some horses at the auction.
San Bernabe is said to be the largest such unregulated facility in Mexico.
It has been in operation for 70 years and, according to the Equine Welfare Alliance, an umbrella group for horse welfare groups, is well known for the abusive treatment of animals in violation of several federal regulations.
The alliance says American horse owners should be concerned because US horses are sent to the facility.
It added that US horses were being sent to Mexican slaughter facilities long before the US plants closed.
Between the years 1989-2006, 775,474 US horses were exported for slaughter to Canada, Mexico and Japan.
As long as horse slaughter exists, US horses are in jeopardy of being sent to this and other facilities, the alliance says.
The alliance, along with the Animal Protection Association of Mexico, the Animal Law Coalition, Animals' Angels, APASDEM, Animal Recovery Mission, Commission for San Bernabe Market and Anti-Fur Society called for global support to join us in an appeal to shut the doors of San Bernabe forever.
"We are appealing to all members of the US Congress to prevent American horses from enduring the fate awaiting them at San Bernabe by swiftly passing federal legislation (S. 1176) to prohibit horse slaughter in the US and export over our borders."
A petition seeking its closure can be found here here.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Feds Launch Roundup of Famed Kiger Mustang Herd in Southeast Oregon
American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign
Preservation Group Warns Against Plan to Remove 120 Wild Horses, Calling Action Dangerous and Wasteful of Tax Dollars
Burns, Oregon (July 8, 2011). . . The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) yesterday launched a controversial roundup of the prized Kiger Mustang Herd in southeastern Oregon. In response, the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign (AWHPC), a national coalition, warned that the BLM’s plan to permanently remove 120 of the estimated 210 Kiger horses that remain in the wild will further erode the genetic viability of this historically significant herd and waste tax dollars.
“We’re disappointed by the BLM’s plan to permanently remove 120 mustangs from this historically significant herd,” said Suzanne Roy, AWHPC Campaign Director. “The allowable population levels that the BLM has set for the Kigers are already so low that they compromise the health and genetic viability of the herd.”
UPDATE: The Kiger roundup is complete. For eyewitness account, visit Wild Horse Education blog.
The Kiger mustangs are prized for their genetic lineage that links them to the horses brought by Spanish conquistadors to North America in the 1600’s. The BLM website <http://www.blm.gov/or/resources/whb/kiger_gather.php> states that “There is no other horse in America is quite like the Kiger Mustang. . . Since the Kiger Mustangs may well be one of the best remaining examples of the Spanish Mustang, their preservation is extremely important.”
Yet the BLM allows a maximum of only 138 Kiger mustangs to live in the Kiger and Riddle’s Mountain Herd Management Areas (HMAs), which span nearly 55,000-acres. Meanwhile, the agency allocates five times more forage to privately-owned livestock than to federally-protected wild horses in these HMAs, authorizing the equivalent of 688 cattle to graze the area.
“It’s disheartening that the BLM is unwilling to manage 200 horses on the range. These roundups and removals waste tax dollars, traumatize and destroy the natural diversity and development of the wild herds,” observed Neda DeMayo, founder and CEO of Return to Freedom, who spearheaded the creation of the AWHPC Coalition.
DeMayo, whose sanctuary houses the famous Kiger stallion “Spirit,” the inspiration for the computer animations in the Dreamworks film of the same name and the offspring of Kiger Mustangs, added that the BLM has over-managed the Kiger herd to produce desirable horses for adoption/purchase, selecting for color and conformation instead of allowing natural selection to take its course.
“We appreciate that there are reputable Kiger breeders and enthusiasts who actively participate in the adoption program and have created private Kiger breeding programs, however, we feel strongly that the free roaming herds on public lands should be allowed to live in viable herds allowing natural selection and diversity to develop. This is such a small herd already, minimally intrusive management could easily replace costly and traumatic roundups.”
The AWHPC is calling on the BLM to increase the allowable population for the Kiger Mustangs to genetically sustainable levels, reduce livestock grazing in these federally-designated wild horse habitat areas, and utilize fertility control, if necessary to manage the horses on the range to minimize or avoid costly removals entirely.
The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign is dedicated to preserving the American wild horse in viable free-roaming herds for generations to come, as part of our national heritage. Supported by a coalition of over 40 organizations, its grassroots campaign seeks:
* A suspension of roundups in all but verifiable emergency situations while the entire BLM wild horse program undergoes objective and scientific review;
* Higher Appropriate Management Levels (AML) for wild horses on those rangelands designated for them;
* Implementation of in-the-wild management, which would keep wild horses on the range and save taxpayers millions annually by avoiding the mass removal and stockpiling wild horses in government holding facilities.
Preservation Group Warns Against Plan to Remove 120 Wild Horses, Calling Action Dangerous and Wasteful of Tax Dollars
Burns, Oregon (July 8, 2011). . . The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) yesterday launched a controversial roundup of the prized Kiger Mustang Herd in southeastern Oregon. In response, the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign (AWHPC), a national coalition, warned that the BLM’s plan to permanently remove 120 of the estimated 210 Kiger horses that remain in the wild will further erode the genetic viability of this historically significant herd and waste tax dollars.
Kiger Stallion Free No More. Photo by Laura Leigh
UPDATE: The Kiger roundup is complete. For eyewitness account, visit Wild Horse Education blog.
The Kiger mustangs are prized for their genetic lineage that links them to the horses brought by Spanish conquistadors to North America in the 1600’s. The BLM website <http://www.blm.gov/or/resources/whb/kiger_gather.php> states that “There is no other horse in America is quite like the Kiger Mustang. . . Since the Kiger Mustangs may well be one of the best remaining examples of the Spanish Mustang, their preservation is extremely important.”
Yet the BLM allows a maximum of only 138 Kiger mustangs to live in the Kiger and Riddle’s Mountain Herd Management Areas (HMAs), which span nearly 55,000-acres. Meanwhile, the agency allocates five times more forage to privately-owned livestock than to federally-protected wild horses in these HMAs, authorizing the equivalent of 688 cattle to graze the area.
“It’s disheartening that the BLM is unwilling to manage 200 horses on the range. These roundups and removals waste tax dollars, traumatize and destroy the natural diversity and development of the wild herds,” observed Neda DeMayo, founder and CEO of Return to Freedom, who spearheaded the creation of the AWHPC Coalition.
DeMayo, whose sanctuary houses the famous Kiger stallion “Spirit,” the inspiration for the computer animations in the Dreamworks film of the same name and the offspring of Kiger Mustangs, added that the BLM has over-managed the Kiger herd to produce desirable horses for adoption/purchase, selecting for color and conformation instead of allowing natural selection to take its course.
Just-captured Kiger mares and foals in BLM holding pen. Photo by Laura Leigh
The AWHPC is calling on the BLM to increase the allowable population for the Kiger Mustangs to genetically sustainable levels, reduce livestock grazing in these federally-designated wild horse habitat areas, and utilize fertility control, if necessary to manage the horses on the range to minimize or avoid costly removals entirely.
The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign is dedicated to preserving the American wild horse in viable free-roaming herds for generations to come, as part of our national heritage. Supported by a coalition of over 40 organizations, its grassroots campaign seeks:
* A suspension of roundups in all but verifiable emergency situations while the entire BLM wild horse program undergoes objective and scientific review;
* Higher Appropriate Management Levels (AML) for wild horses on those rangelands designated for them;
* Implementation of in-the-wild management, which would keep wild horses on the range and save taxpayers millions annually by avoiding the mass removal and stockpiling wild horses in government holding facilities.
PLEASE sign petition on change.org
OVERVIEW
SAN BERNABE IS THE LARGEST ILLEGAL UNREGULATED LIVESTOCK MARKET IN MEXICO. It makes a mockery of humanity and is one of the most shameful examples of animal brutality and ill health in Mexico. The San Bernabe market has existed for over 60 years. Origin of horses at the San Bernabe market – Estado de Mexico, Chihuahua, Michoacan and the United States.
It is located at the 22.5 km northeast of the city of Toluca, on the Toluca-Atlacomulco road which belongs to the Municipality of Almoloya de Juárez, and in turn the Mayorazgo community of Leon, Estado de Mexico.
The institutions and authorities, federal and local governments, have full powers of inspection and surveillance, and therefore have the capacity to solve the problem, but remain passive and sluggish. The market is a place for animal trafficking, extreme dirt and dismal sanitary conditions, and tremendous cruelty to the animals being sold. The San Bernabe footage and photos have appeared on many news reports and national TV, so the authorities cannot feign ignorance.
Seen for sale on site are donkeys, horses, mules, dogs and wildlife, whose origins are uncertain and many are visibly sick, arrive and depart transported in sadistic and deplorable conditions with exposed fractures, bleeding open wounds and ulcers. Others are hung with ropes, when they no longer have the strength to stand upright. These suffering “animal waste” are kept alive just because a kilo of live meat costs twice that of a dead one. If an animal finally ends its agony and dies it is cut open right there and its vescera is extracted and thrown on the ground in the middle of the market.
There is no animal health control. Animals are sold directly for two purposes either privately as live animals (for work or food) or to a slaughterhouse (called the “rastro”). Obviously, the sale of live animals is done in less cruel way than that of animals that are sold to the rastro, since the horses going to the slaughterhouse are considered waste and therefore are treated in a very brutal manner, they are kicked, poked with electric barbs that are prohibited for horses. Bats and pipes are used to hit animals, they are tied with ropes. Animals suffer fractures or they fall dead, others arrive with broken limbs because the owners want to get some extra money by selling them and the animals are forced to walk down to the transport truck in these conditions. In the best case, the animals are transported sick, infected with tumors or open wounds, and later sold to the highest bidder. At worst, their corpses are left on the ground without being buried, with animal viscera strewn about in violation of standard NOM-024-ZOO-1995.
Water troughs often don’t contain water, the pens are underutilized – some are overcrowded, others are empty. There is a shed that was scheduled to install a sacrifice room for broken or injured animals that cannot continue the trip. It is important to mention that it is a living sacrifice room and not a slaughterhouse, and has created problems of assessment with the authorities i.e. the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (SAGARPA) because they do not accept the installation of a slaughterhouse, in the absence of the necessary infrastructure to do so.
Another problem is the presence of federal local police who sometimes, instead of asking for documentation and health guidance, ask for a financial share to allow access to trucks. Recently, it has become known that there is a dispute between groups to control the market of San Bernabe. Meanwhile, there is total anarchy in violation of animal protection laws, the state and official rules for the transportation of animals, and livestock markets.
Over the years, people of recognized knowledge, experts and advocacy groups for animal rights have talked with local, state and federal agencies, seeking to bring order to the problems of the San Bernabe market. However, the sanitary conditions and the treatment of the animals have not improved. Often laws and rules are not enforced, either because the authorities are unaware of their existence, or they simply ignore them. The Health Ministry has taken up the matter even though there are no laws in place of hygiene and public health. There are dead animals and scattered viscera in the trucks, along with live horses, since they are gutted and the carcasses are transported together with the live animals to the slaughterhouse. No water is available. There is no animal inspection by the SAGARPA, or monitoring of transport by the Federal Highway Police or the Ministry of Communications and Transport.
For several years the market has been controlled by a municipal councilor. The market is located on both sides of the road and while it also sells cars and clothes, most activity is in the trade in live animals. We know that this market has generated a lot of profit that is not quantified, including fees for land use, collection of bills for sale of animals in addition to other fees paid by those who provide service for the sellers of food, fruits, vegetables, shoes, clothing, etc.
The San Bernabe market is in violation of two federal and four state sanitary laws concerning animal health, ecological balance and environmental protection, which state the importance of dignified and respectful treatment of animals.
At San Bernabe, in many cases the cattle are slaughtered without any restriction. They are beaten with sticks, pipes, rods, or touches on the genitals causing them high levels of stress in breach of standard NOM-033-ZOO-1995. In addition, the market does not have appropriate landing ramps, so that the legs of the animals break constantly. Some animals are mixed in the pens, where cattle have injuries, trauma, fractures, wounds or worms. The most obvious abuse is called “scrap yards” where the animals are in poor condition and are sold to be taken directly to slaughterhouses.
A brief description of a horse slaughterhouse in Mexico:
“… The horse shakes its head frantically when the door killing box is closed and trapped within it. A worker buried in his back, around his neck, a small, sharp knife, seven, eight, nine times. She, with her eyes wide, frantically lowers and raises her head while the worker stabs her again and again. On the tenth stroke of the knife, she falls to the ground, bloodied and paralyzed, but still alive. She lays there for two minutes before being hoisted by her leg and lifted into the air, hung upside down to be bled slaughtered in the midst of terrible pain, fully conscious and terrified … “
What happens in San Bernabe is not a new topic, since the flea market has been operating for 60 years every Monday in the same place, and it is estimated that the site has sold over 10, 000 different animals of various species.
Since September 2007 Animal Protection Association of Mexico (APASDEM), has worked hard on a campaign to protect the animals sold at the San Bernabe Market.
En Almoloya de Juárez, Estado de México, se encuentra el Mercado llamado San Bernabé, donde se comercia principalmente, con caballos mulas y burros, en condiciones de crueldad y falta de higiene extremas, violando consistente y permanentemente, las leyes de protección animal y de sanidad. Las autoridades, teniendo plena facultad y pruebas para clausurar el sitio (a través de imágenes mostradas en múltiples medios), han hecho caso omiso a este reclamo.
Los animales en venta, en su mayorÃa, están visiblemente enfermos; son transportados en condiciones deplorables, y arrastrados sádicamente, sin importar que tengan fracturas expuestas, estén sangrando o tengan llagas. Cuando ya no pueden sostenerse en pie, son colgados con mecates para simular que aún tienen fuerza. Carecen de atención médica, agua y alimento y si mueren antes de llegar al rastro, son abiertos en el mismo sitio en que se encuentran, tirando sus vÃsceras al piso.
Les llaman "animales de desecho", y se les mantiene con vida hasta el último momento, en una lenta y gran agonÃa, porque el kilo de carne viva cuesta casi el doble que el de la muerta. Read Petition Letter
CLICK HERE to Sign Petition!
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