Footage reveals "equine house of horrors"

Horsetalk
April 4, 2010

This mare and foal were among sick, young, and pregnant horses at an Ontario kill buyer feedlot.

A Canadian horse welfare group has released hidden camera footage from two slaughter plants it says shows that both facilities fail to meet humane slaughter standards. The Canadian Horse Defence Coalition says it is "compelling proof that puts into question the effectiveness of the assembly-line slaughter of horses".
Its release prompted a call from the Humane Society of the United States to ban the export of horses to Canada for slaughter.
One noted veterinarian who watched the footage labelled one plant an equine house of horrors.
Equine Canada said it had contacted the Canadian Food Inspection Agency over the material, which can be viewed at http://www.defendhorsescanada.org (warning: graphic content).
The organisation's release of the material was accompanied by a statement from the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), which said it was "appalled by evidence of grossly inhumane slaughter of horses taking place in Canada".
London-based farm animal programme manager, Dr Rasto Kolesar, and Toronto-based programmes manager for the WSPCA in Canada, Patrick Tohill, commented on the footage, saying: "It is clear that neither the facilities nor the behaviour of the personnel shown are suited to the humane slaughter of horses, and that extreme suffering results for many individual animals.
"Problems include failure to restrain each animal's head properly before shooting, shooting from too great a distance, shooting in the wrong part of the head or body, failure to follow up with an immediate second shot in animals that were not killed by the first, hoisting apparently conscious animals, and - in the case of [one] plant - cruel handling and treatment of the horses, including excessive whipping and overuse of an electric prod, as well as an apparent callous disregard for the animals' suffering.
"An additional cause of very major concern is the presence of what appear to be either plant supervisors or inspectors who observe the employees' actions and yet do nothing."
The WSPA called on the appropriate authorities "to take immediate action to close both these plants down and ensure that those responsible are disciplined".
Neither plant, the pair said, should be reopened until or unless they have been redesigned to meet humane slaughter standards, "and all staff in contact with these intelligent animals have been trained to treat them with the dignity they deserve".
It said the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) needed to audit plants to ensure problems were not occurring at other plants.
"Measures must be taken to ensure that procedures at the slaughterhouse are carried out in accordance with legislation, including the Canadian Meat Inspection Act which requires that all animals should be slaughtered humanely," they said.
The CFIA should guarantee avoidance of practices that inflict extreme pain and suffering on slaughtered animals, they said.
"The WSPA would be happy to provide advice on appropriate facilities and training for humane slaughter, if required, to help protect animals from needless suffering."
Equine Canada, the country's governing body for equestrianism, said it was notified of the material on March 30.
"While recognising that no aspect of these allegations is confirmed, Equine Canada immediately contacted the CFIA.
"Equine Canada has been assured that the CFIA takes allegations of abuse very seriously and that their officials are investigating this case.
"The CFIA has further assured Equine Canada that their routine surveillance indicates that most producers, transporters and processers in this sector are committed to treating the horses in their care humanely.
"In those rare cases when abuse is determined, the CFIA has a range of enforcement options at their command."
Equine Canada said it will monitor the proceedings and provide an update when findings are available.
The Humane Society of the United States said the footage further demonstrates what it has documented for years about horse slaughter: "Foreign-owned horse slaughterhouses have set up shop just over the border, and US horses will continue to suffer both during long-distance shipping and then during a gruesome butchering process - all for the culinary whims of foreign gourmands."
The society noted that some horses in the footage bear tags from the US Department of Agriculture, indicating animals shown in the video originated in the US.
"Every day while Congress delays, 'killer buyers' are transporting American horses to Canada and Mexico, and there the animals are meeting an awful demise, often after a painful and harrowing journey," said Wayne Pacelle, the society's president and chief executive.
Pacelle said cruelty in the industry will end only when the Congress passes the Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act.
He said about 100,000 US horses are purchased by "kill buyers" at auctions across the US annually, to be transported to slaughter plants in Canada and Mexico.
"Despite Canada's regulations and inspection standards for plants that process horses, this investigation shows how ineffective they are at preventing suffering."
Nicholas Dodman, a noted veterinary behaviorist, a founding member of Veterinarians for Equine Welfare, and Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine professor, reviewed the videos for the society, labelling one of the plants an equine house of horror.
"Horses kicking after they have been shot, sinking down and rising up; sometimes periods of struggling or paddling before a second or third shot has to be administered.
"This atrocity goes against all veterinary guidelines for humane euthanasia. Terror and suffering is the rule at this equine house of horrors ... and all in the name of the gourmet meat market."
The society urged federal lawmakers to pass legislation to prevent US horses being exported for laughter for human consumption.

Horse slaughter in the news

Landmark Paper Links Bute to Chemical Contamination

Horseback Magazine

Story and Photo by Steven Long

HOUSTON, (Horseback) – Decades of USDA studies asserting U.S. and Canadian horse meat as chemically harmless have been branded as bogus by a new peer reviewed scientific study.

The paper, titled "Association of Phenylbutazone Usage With Horses Bought for slaughter: A Public Health Risk" appeared in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology.

It questions USDA (US Department of Agriculture) and CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) testing programs. The programs have consistently given bute and scores of other dangerous chemicals a clean bill of health in U.S. horsemeat exported for human consumption in the dining rooms of Europe and other destinations abroad.

The paper begins by putting the dangers of bute into historical perspective citing 14 prior scientific studies..

“Phenylbutazone (PBZ) was marketed in the United States for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and gout in 1952. Serious and often fatal adverse effects such as aplastic anemia and agranulocytosis appeared in the literature within three years of its use ( Benjamin et al., 1981; Böttiger and Westerhom, 1973; Cameron et al., 1966; Chaplin, 1986; Deaths due to butazolidin, 1952; Dunn, 1972; Etess and Jacobson, 1953; Hale and DeGruchy, 1960; Leonard, 1953; Mauer, 1995; McCombs, 1958; Nelson et al., 1995; Ramsey and Golde, 1976; Risks of agranulocytosis and aplastic anemia, 1986; Steinberg et al., 1953 ). The serious adverse effects of PBZ culminated in its unavailability for human use in the United States.”

Agricultural interests have long touted the USDA studies as valid proof supporting the assertion that domestic horsemeat is harmless for human consumption.’

The European Union last year banned the import of U.S., and Canadian horsemeat citing the use of bute and scores of other dangerous and carcinogenic chemicals.

Agricultural interests in at least five states have mounted serious legislative efforts to again legalize the slaughter of horses for the export of their meat for human consumption abroad.

______________________

EWA Praises Bute Study

CHICAGO, (EWA) - A peer reviewed scientific study tracing race horses sent to slaughter for human consumption has found that 100% of the horses in the study group had been administered phenylbutazone, a banned carcinogen that can also fatally damage the bone marrow of humans. The findings appear to validate the European Union’s recent tightening of traceability requirements on horse meat from third countries.

The paper, titled Association of phenylbutazone usage with horses bought for slaughter: A public health risk, appeared in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology and calls into question the reliability of the USDA (US Department of Agriculture) and CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) testing programs which have consistently failed to detect the substance.

The manuscript(1), which was authored by Drs. Nicholas Dodman(2), Nicolas Blondeau(3) and Ann M. Marini(4), followed eighteen Thoroughbred (TB) race horses that were identified by matching their registered name to their race track drug record over a five year period and were given phenylbutazone (PBZ, Bute) on race day and were subsequently sent to slaughter for human consumption.

The study also traced records on sixteen TB race horses that were given PBZ on race day and would have also entered the food chain had they not been rescued. The study was limited to race horses because of the availability of drug records, but phenylbutazone is one of the most common drugs used in the treatment of musculoskeletal injuries in horses.

Because of the bone marrow toxicity caused by PBZ in humans, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has set no safe levels of PBZ and bans its use food producing animals, including horses. While PBZ is but one of the numerous banned substances that are routinely given to US horses, it is one of the most dangerous.

Defenders of horse slaughter have long pointed to USDA testing records which consistently showed no positive results for PBZ. The new study shows that the USDA testing could not have been accurate. Indeed, the study uncovered a pilot test performed by the USDA in 2004 and 2005 that used a different testing technique and found 8.3% of the meat to be contaminated with PBZ. The pilot program had been subsequently discontinued.

The study estimates that sixty seven million pounds of horse meat derived from US horses were sent overseas for human consumption in 2008. If 8.3% of this meat contained phenylbutazone residues, it would translate to over 5 million pounds of contaminated meat.

Opponents of horse slaughter have long warned that US horses are not raised as food animals and mechanisms to ensure the removal of horses treated with banned substances from the food chain are inadequate at best.

Equine Welfare Alliance recently issued a discussion paper with their partners, Canadian Horse Defence Coalition on the serious drug issue concerning North American horses. The comprehensive paper covers concerns over the ability to meet compliance with European Commission regulations on food safety.

(1) Article is cited as, Dodman, N., Blondeau, N., Marini, A.M., Association of phenylbutazone usage with horses bought for slaughter: A public health risk, Food and Chemical Toxicology (2010), doi: 10.1016/j.fct. 2010.02.021
(2) Tufts University, Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, North Grafton, MA
(3) Institut de Pharmacologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire - I.P.M.C, UMR 6097,
C.N.R.S/Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis, 660 route des Lucioles, Sophia Antipolis
06560 Valbonne, FRANCE
(4) Department of Neurology and Program in Neuroscience, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD.

Association of phenylbutazone usage with horses bought for slaughter: A public health risk.

NCBI:  The National Center for Biotechnology Information

Horsetalk

Horses given bute entering food chain, study shows

April 3, 2010

A United States study has shown that horses given phenylbutazone have been sent for slaughter, raising questions around the safety of the meat for human consumption. The paper, entitled "Association of phenylbutazone usage with horses bought for slaughter: A public health risk", appeared in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology.
The paper, by Drs Nicholas Dodman, Nicolas Blondeau and Ann Marini, followed 18 thoroughbreds whose drugs records showed they had been given phenylbutazone, also known as bute. The horses were subsequently sent for slaughter.
The study also traced records of 16 thoroughbreds that were given the drug on race day and would have also entered the food chain had they not been rescued.
The study was limited to racehorses because of the availability of drug records.
"The permissive allowance of such horsemeat used for human consumption poses a serious public health risk," the authors said, noting that 67 million pounds of horsemeat derived from American horses were sent abroad for human consumption last year.
"Horses are not raised as food animals in the United States and, mechanisms to ensure the removal of horses treated with banned substances from the food chain are inadequate at best," they said.
Phenylbutazone is one of the most common drugs used in the treatment of musculoskeletal injuries in horses.
Because of the bone marrow toxicity caused by phenylbutzone in humans, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has set no safe levels of the drug and bans its use food-producing animals, including horses.
The Equine Welfare Alliance (EWA), which has long pointed out the likelihood that meat contaminated with the drug is entering the human food chain, said the study called into question the reliability of US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) testing programmes, which have consistently failed to detect the substance.
"Defenders of horse slaughter have long pointed to USDA testing records which consistently showed no positive results for PBZ," said EWA representatives John Holland and Vicki Tobin.
"The new study shows that the USDA testing could not have been accurate.
"Opponents of horse slaughter have long warned that US horses are not raised as food animals and mechanisms to ensure the removal of horses treated with banned substances from the food chain are inadequate at best," they said.
The European Union is bringing in traceability requirements for horses entering the food chain in a bid to ensure drugs such as bute do not enter the food chain. The move is likely to impact heavily on the American slaughter industry, centred on Canada and Mexico.

Horse slaughter in the news Horse doping in the news

New Mustang Research Spurs Greater Understanding

Holistic Horse

Written by L A Pomeroy

Know this about wild horses: older really is wiser.  Just ask Karen Sussman, president of the International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros (ISPMB) in Lantry, South Dakota.

The ISPMB maintains four wild horse herds, and over the past decade, has witnessed how Bureau of Land Management (BLM) round-ups and selective removal management methods have wreaked havoc on herd dynamics.

Tearing apart the social fabric of a wild horse herd (or band) not only displaces entire families but has a devastating effect over time on its structure. When harem stallions are separated from their mares during frequent gathers (every 2-3 years), and are released again to the wild after the selective removal of animals ages five and younger for adoption, such stallions often lose some of their mares to younger stallions. “Over time,” says Sussman, “without the guidance and wisdom of older role models, a herd’s once-evolved educational structure deteriorates.”

 

Over the last decade Sussman and the ISPMB have observed that young mares, without the benefit of a wise and stable harem stallion to fend off bachelor stallions, are becoming pregnant at very young ages. “Yearlings are now being bred when, in stable herds, fillies are not bred until they are three or four years old. With younger and younger mothers there is a higher incidence of foal abandonment and death.” Sussman has seen recruitment rates (or fertility rates, as BLM refers to data tracking increases or decreases in an equine population) explode from a fairly consistent 10-14% a few decades ago among stable, multi-generational bands (according to the National Academy of Science) to more than 20% in h

Photo: Tori Seavey

erds today.  

“Any time a herd’s recruitment rate goes up, we are looking at problems. We’ve destroyed the older, social order,” Sussman claims.

 

FOUR HERDS, ONE BIG LESSON

Sussman’s conclusions are based on equine behavior speaking for itself. The ISPMB oversees four vastly different bands of wild horses: White Sands, Gila, Catnip, and Virginia Wild Range herds.

 

Sussman refers to the White Sands herd, which ISPMB began overseeing in 1999, as one of the “healthiest, behaviorally-functional herds, and among the last to be removed from its natural range.” Thanks to local range riders who were fond of the horses, the White Sands herd remained relatively untouched or manipulated by outside management. “For almost a decade, this herd was never gathered, removed, or harassed. They lived as truly wild horses.”

 

In 2000, ISPMB took in 30 wild horses from Arizona, christened the Gila herd. In 1996, US Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt had declared this band the last wild and “free roaming” horse herd in America; less than four years later, the BLM declared the horses feral “problem animals” responsible for tracking weed seeds onto farmers’ alfalfa fields, and recommended that the horses be collected for removal. ISPMB stepped in.

 

In marked contrast to these relatively untouched wild bands, the Catnip herd (under U.S. Fish and Wildlife management until 2004, when the ISPMB took over) was “dysfunctional and displaying totally different behavior. This herd had a nearly 100-year-old history, but had endured constant onslaughts of eradication.” The result was a herd without a single animal over the age of 10. “There was very little band structure, no harem stallion to protect mares, and the young mares, sometimes no more than yearlings themselves, were terrible mothers. Babies were having babies and the result was that birth rates exploded and younger mothers walked away from their foals and left them to die.”

 

“The Catnip herd,” Sussman continues, “were dysfunctional because they lacked the socialization and education set by older, wiser leaders. When the BLM breaks apart harems every two or three years it results in a constant upheaval of the social structure.”

 

Sussman hopes the fourth and most recent herd to come under the ISPMB aegis, the Virginia Wild Range herd, will be released back into the wild this year. “We know disruption has occurred in this band in the past, but it has been running free for at least six years, and while the mares have been penned separately, they tend to be older and so far, have all proven to be good moms with their foals.”

 

QUESTIONABLE “MANAGEMENT”

Selective or “gate” cuts (which indiscriminately trap entire bands rather than specific animals or ages/genders) create problems “because not everybody bands up the same afterwards,” Sussman notes. “When you separate older stallions from mares, it creates disruption because it opens up the opportunity for younger (age six and under) stallions to take over, and young stallions have no socialization or wisdom to teach band structure. Young bands epitomize an all-out grabbing for mares. Over time, this leads to destruction of hierarchy and social order.”

 

Sussman adds, “We can no longer separate stallions from their own band, nor try to co-mingle stallions. Mustangs cannot be managed like livestock. They need to be managed like a wildlife species. We need to stop selective or gate cutting and gathering, and instead, collect horses through water or bait trapping (using protein blocks as bait), or focus on capturing bachelor bands rather than herds of multi-generational families. It’s better to bait/trap individual young horses and be more selective in our removals.”

 

Sussman concludes, “It is critical to never remove a herd stallion from its harem, or to remove older mares. These are the older horses that teach younger ones how to behave and survive. In comparison, a stable herd, with an established leader, is like a classroom taught by a Harvard professor. Everybody benefits from his wisdom. But when you disrupt that order, what’s left is the equivalent of a sixth-grader trying to teach a bunch of first-graders: everyone is left vulnerable by inexperienced leadership.”

 

ENTERING THE DOMESTIC WORLD

Maryland trainer Caroline Rider, who has worked with the East Coast’s most famous wild herds, the ponies of Chincoteague and Assateague islands, asserts it is the responsibility of humans to educate themselves on how to prepare both positive and productive environments for wild horses.

 

“The way I see it,” offers Rider, “is these horses are our responsibility. We take them out of their natural surroundings and introduce them into our human world. And when we do this, we often forget that they have instincts and deep levels of self preservation that inhibit them from trusting until we know how to communicate on their level, and in a language they understand.”

 

In looking at the role people play in the socialization and integration of domesticated horses, Rider, referring to the Chincoteague stallions she has retrained, says, “I see it time and again where people have horses with all sorts of stress and anxiety issues, aggression, and even depression, and the owners either don’t know how to read it or don’t now what to do about it.”

 

“Most of the horses I see are either misunderstood, or out of control due to a lack of discipline and social order, meaning, in the wild, they have behaviors within the herd dynamic that communicate what is acceptable behavior (i.e., in the best interests of the herd) and what is not. We must understand that we need to provide social structures in their new environment that support their need for friendships, pecking orders, social structure, and safety. If these needs are not met, they will revert to their instincts, fending for themselves emotionally and physically.”

 

“In the end,” says Rider, “all horses want to feel safe, comfortable, and to form healthy (not aggressive or domineering) relationships.”

 

For a mustang, whether still free in the wild or entering a new domestic world, a consistent social structure is the surest way of ensuring a healthy, productive, and long life for this icon of the American West. Anything less is but a pit stop on the way to a short and doomed fate.

 

L.A. Pomeroy of Northampton, Massachusetts, has been an equestrian photojournalist, award-winning publicist, and member of American Horse Publications since 1992, working with the U.S. Equestrian Team, Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games, Equisearch.com, and Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association, as well as heading development and marketing for zoological institutions in New England. She enjoys trail riding in her native Catskill Mountains of upstate New York, collecting/researching equestrian art and collectibles, and making life better for the animals that share this planet with us.

DIANA

One example of the critical role older, wiser mustangs play in the overall survival of their band is a mare Karen Sussman named Diana (on right), after the Roman goddess of the hunt. Being hunted, by man, was something Diana had become all too accustomed to, having grown up watching others in her band killed off by gunfire. Her wellbeing, and that of others in the herd, depended on shrewd survival skills.

      Sussman estimates the dun mare with one white sock was born in the wild around 1984. “Out of all the horses I’ve known, she truly hated humankind.” Diana was the oldest mare of the Gila herd, and had learned to avoid gunfire by taking the herd out to feed and find water only at night. By day, she would drive them into the densest possible tree groves as shelter against a rifle’s crosshairs.

      “She died in 2006 with peace in her heart. In her final years, she got past her hatred of humans and would walk up to our tourists’ trucks, although she could always tell the difference, by color and sound, which ones she recognized or still distrusted.”

 

EWA Press Release | Contaminated Horse Meat a Health Risk, According to Study

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts:

April 2, 2010

John Holland

540.268.5693

john@equinewelfarealliance.org

Vicki Tobin                        

630.961.9292

vicki@equinewelfarealliance.org

Contaminated Horse Meat a Health Risk, According to Study

 

CHICAGO, (EWA) – A peer reviewed scientific study tracing race horses sent to slaughter for human consumption has found that 100% of the horses in the study group had been administered phenylbutazone, a banned carcinogen that can also fatally damage the bone marrow of humans. The findings appear to validate the European Union’s recent tightening of traceability requirements on horse meat from third countries.

 

The paper, titled Association of phenylbutazone usage with horses bought for slaughter: A public health risk, appeared in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology and calls into question the reliability of the USDA (US Department of Agriculture) and CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) testing programs which have consistently failed to detect the substance.

 

The manuscript(1), which was authored by Drs. Nicholas Dodman(2), Nicolas Blondeau(3) and Ann M. Marini(4), followed eighteen Thoroughbred (TB) race horses that were identified by matching their registered name to their race track drug record over a five year period and were given phenylbutazone (PBZ, Bute) on race day and were subsequently sent to slaughter for human consumption.

 

The study also traced records on sixteen TB race horses that were given PBZ on race day and would have also entered the food chain had they not been rescued. The study was limited to race horses because of the availability of drug records, but phenylbutazone is one of the most common drugs used in the treatment of musculoskeletal injuries in horses.

 

Because of the bone marrow toxicity caused by PBZ in humans, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has set no safe levels of PBZ and bans its use food producing animals, including horses. While PBZ is but one of the numerous banned substances that are routinely given to US horses, it is one of the most dangerous.

 

Defenders of horse slaughter have long pointed to USDA testing records which consistently showed no positive results for PBZ. The new study shows that the USDA testing could not have been accurate. Indeed, the study uncovered a pilot test performed by the USDA in 2004 and 2005 that used a different testing technique and found 8.3% of the meat to be contaminated with PBZ. The pilot program had been subsequently discontinued.

 

The study estimates that sixty seven million pounds of horse meat derived from US horses were sent overseas for human consumption in 2008. If 8.3% of this meat contained phenylbutazone residues, it would translate to over 5 million pounds of contaminated meat.

 

Opponents of horse slaughter have long warned that US horses are not raised as food animals and mechanisms to ensure the removal of horses treated with banned substances from the food chain are inadequate at best.

---

Equine Welfare Alliance recently issued a discussion paper with their partners, Canadian Horse Defence Coalition on the serious drug issue concerning North American horses. The comprehensive paper covers concerns over the ability to meet compliance with European Commission regulations on food safety.

 

(1) Article is cited as, Dodman, N., Blondeau, N., Marini, A.M., Association of phenylbutazone usage with horses bought for slaughter: A public health risk, Food and Chemical Toxicology (2010), doi: 10.1016/j.fct. 2010.02.021

(2) Tufts University, Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, North Grafton, MA

(3) Institut de Pharmacologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire - I.P.M.C, UMR 6097,

C.N.R.S/Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis, 660 route des Lucioles, Sophia Antipolis

06560 Valbonne, FRANCE

(4) Department of Neurology and Program in Neuroscience, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD

The Equine Welfare Alliance is a dues free, umbrella organization with over 100 member organizations. The organization focuses its efforts on the welfare of all equines and the preservation of wild equids.

www.equinewelfarealliance.org

 

HSUS calls upon Congress to Ban the Export of US Horses to Slaughter

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Humane Society of the United States Urges Congress to Ban the Export of U.S. Horses to Slaughter in Light of New Canadian Undercover Investigation

Video shows horses conscious as they are shot multiple times

(April 1, 2010)— New undercover video footage released Tuesday by the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition confirms the horrible abuses inherent in the slaughter of our horses for human consumption, and illustrates the need for the U.S. Congress to bar the export of tens of thousands of U.S. horses each year to slaughter plants across the border. At the Bouvry Exports plant in Canada, a chestnut horse is shot three times while a gray mare waits in the kill box. As the chestnut horse panics and struggles—as horses are biologically wired to do—the gray mare is shot. She remains alive and kicking even as two more .22-caliber shots are fired at her face. She languishes. The pattern repeats itself.

The CHDC’s video footage, titled “Chamber of Carnage,” further demonstrates what The Humane Society of the United States has documented for years about horse slaughter: Foreign-owned horse slaughterhouses have set up shop just over the border, and U.S. horses will continue to suffer both during long-distance shipping and then during a gruesome butchering process—all for the culinary whims of foreign gourmands.

To see the "Chamber of Carnage" video, click here. Some horses in the CHDC footage bear tags from the United States Department of Agriculture, indicating animals shown in the video originated in the United States.

“Every day while Congress delays, ‘killer buyers’ are transporting American horses to Canada and Mexico, and there the animals are meeting an awful demise, often after a painful and harrowing journey,” said Wayne Pacelle, The HSUS’ president and CEO. “This new investigation affirms again that there is unmistakable cruelty in this industry and it will only end when the Congress passes the Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act.”

The footage is consistent with similar footage obtained by The HSUS of horses cruelly butchered in foreign-owned plants on U.S. soil as well as that of horse slaughter in Mexico. One theme runs through every investigation – U.S. horses are generally not raised for food and where this trade occurs, there is inherent abuse.

Horse slaughter is not a form of humane euthanasia – something The Canadian Horse Defence Coalition’s video clearly shows. Horses are trusting, majestic creatures, and extreme flight animals. They fight or try to flee, and they suffer in these slaughter houses. Approximately 100,000 U.S. horses are purchased by “kill buyers” at auctions across the United States, who frequently outbid good horse owners to secure the fattest, healthiest horses, and are then transported cross-country often with no food, water or rest to slaughter plants in Canada and Mexico, where they are butchered. Despite Canada’s regulations and inspection standards for plants that process horses, this investigation shows how ineffective they are at preventing suffering. 

Nicholas H. Dodman, D.V.M., one of the world's most noted and celebrated veterinary behaviorists, a founding member of Veterinarians for Equine Welfare, and Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine professor, reviewed the videos for The HSUS and echoed the same sentiment: “Noise, blood and suffering is what you get at the Bouvry equine slaughter plant: Horses kicking after they have been shot, sinking down and rising up; sometimes periods of struggling or paddling before a second or third shot has to be administered. This atrocity goes against all veterinary guidelines for humane euthanasia. Terror and suffering is the rule at this equine house of horrors ... and all in the name of the gourmet meat market.”

The HSUS joins CHDC and hundreds of other horse industry and animal welfare groups in calling for the immediate passage of H.R. 503/S. 727 to prevent our horses from the cruelty of horse slaughter for human consumption. This legislation, authored by Reps. John Conyers, D-Mich., and Dan Burton, R-Ind., and Sens. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and John Ensign, R-Nev., has 181 House cosponsors and 29 Senate cosponsors.

-30-

Media Contact: Pepper Ballard: 301-258-1417; pballard@humanesociety.org

Follow The HSUS on Twitter.  

The Humane Society of the United States is the nation’s largest animal protection organization – backed by 11 million Americans, or one of every 28. For more than a half-century, The HSUS has been fighting for the protection of all animals through advocacy, education and hands-on programs. Celebrating animals and confronting cruelty -- On the web at humanesociety.org.

Pigeon Fever Outbreak Uncovered as BLM Continues Closed Door Policy

Media Contacts:                

Makendra Silverman 

Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org 

Tel: 719-351-8187

Anne Novak

Anne@TheCloudFoundation.org

Tel: 415-531-8454  

For Immediate Release 

Captured Nevada Mustangs Suffer Pigeon Fever and Degrading Conditions under BLM’s Veil of Secrecy 

Newborn horses unaccounted for as BLM denies public observation of Calico wild horses and keeps up closed-door, business-as-usual protocol

Fallon, NV (April 1, 2010)—The public questions the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) ability to care for the more than 1800 captured wild horses in Nevada noting a Pigeon Fever outbreak as well as a growing number of newborn horses not accounted for. It appears that only one licensed veterinarian is caring for thousands of horses in both the Palomino and Fallon feedlot style holding facilities. The BLM denies daily access to the facility by experienced humane observers and chooses to work behind closed doors on private land.

Large chest abscesses due to the highly contagious Pigeon Fever bacterium have been observed by the public and reported at the Fallon Holding Facility in Nevada where the Bureau of Land Management is holding, continuing to brand, process and sort over 1800 captured wild horses on private property at taxpayer expense. More than 81 equine deaths and 40 late term abortions have been recorded to date as the over stressed Calico wild horses wait an uncertain fate in feedlot-style holding pens. 

The public has discovered that BLM does not count or report foals who are born and die in the pens and at least one newborn has died to date. With babies being born almost daily, advocates want them to be identified and publicly reported. More than 75 foals have now been born in the pens with their captured mothers. 

“Mustangs born ‘in facility’ don't exist in BLM records, so the lives and deaths of these phantom foals are only reflected in the eyes of other horses,” states Phantom-stallion series author, Terri Farley, who first noted BLM’s refusal to document foal deaths during a site visit. 

In keeping with a marked lack of transparency, the BLM has cancelled this week’s only public entrance period—of an insufficient two hours. Advocates understand the Easter cancellation but question why BLM has denied repeated requests for an alternative public observation period this week, effectively hiding the public’s horses for a 14-day period despite enormous global concern and interest in their well-being. 

Advocates continue to request daily site observation and BLM refuses to cooperate, choosing instead to work in secrecy.

According to frequent humane observer, Elyse Gardner, three cases of Pigeon Fever were noted at Fallon on March 21^st. By March 28^th at least 12 cases were evident. Absessing horses were left with the general population—not isloated or placed in hospital pens to reduce spreading the infection. Several years ago, during a Pigeon Fever outbreak in a BLM holding facility, BLM isolated the horses into two pens so the disease did not spread into the general community. Advocates want these horses to be cared for humanely and given proper care.

In response to the public outcry, the BLM now suggests that the horses had Pigeon Fever when coming off the range in December – February despite BLM statements to network news that “these horses are healthy” and no prior reports of Pigeon Fever. Experts and witnesses throughout the roundup and capture process call BLM’s spin an absurdity and tag Pigeon Fever as a new Fallon phenomenon among these once healthy mustangs. 

“It is unlikely that the Calico wild horses contracted this disease in the immensity of their wild home. This is the opinion of many equine professionals. In 16 years I have not seen or heard of the illness in a wild population of horses. What we may be seeing is yet another BLM attempt to deflect criticism of their actions. In this case, management decisions have resulted in unthinkable cruelty to the once vibrant mustangs of the Calico Mountains,” stated Ginger Kathrens, Emmy-award winning filmmaker and Executive Director of The Cloud Foundation.

Pigeon fever, sometimes called Dryland Distemper, is highly contagious and infectious, caused by the bacterium Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis, which can live and multiply in the soil for up to 55 days. Frequently transmitted by flies, the fever is painful, causing lethergy, reluctance to move and, in some cases, horses abscess internally—resulting in serious conditions with up to a 40% fatality rate. Infected horses should be isolated, heat and cold packs applied to abscesses (most often on the chest area) and carefully lanced. There is no vaccine. Antibiotics may be given but do not always help speed recovery and can aggrivate absesses to develop internally. With proper treatment (nearly impossible with one wild horse, let alone dozens) recovery time is from 14-60 days. Given that the bacterium spreads most rapidly in the heat, the public is concerned that the spread of pigeon fever will increase exponentially as the weather warms and BLM fails to isolate infected animals from the larger population.

“If the public could view what’s being done to wild horses, the public would stand up and take action,” states Michael Blake, author of Dances with Wolves.

Links of interest: 

CNN Report, Issues with Jane Valez-Mitchell and guests Wendie Malick, Ginger Kathrens and Madeleine Pickens – March 25^th http://bit.ly/dvl7NE

Pigeon Fever http://oregonvma.org/care-health/pigeon-fever

Horse Management of Stampede to Extinction? Reno Gazette Article 3/21/10 http://bit.ly/92DxBo

BLM Daily Reports from Calico Roundup/Fallon Holding: http://bit.ly/aSaeVc

Author Terri Farley on Pigeon Fever and Phantom Foals http://terrifarley.com/blogger.html

News Story on Calico, rising death toll & skewed numbers from George Knapp (KLAS- Las Vegas): http://bit.ly/9f1DYb

American Herds Blog http://americanherds.blogspot.com/

Humane Observer blog http://humaneobserver.blogspot.com/

San Francisco Chronicle Oped by Barbara Clark’s “ Wild horses - symbol of the West moving east?” http://bit.ly/aRcEfX

Rebuttal to Salazar’s plan in LA Times: http://bit.ly/a3T6GJ

Frequently Asked Questions on Wild Horses http://www.wildmustangcoalition.org/id44.html

Stampede to Oblivion: An Investigate Report from Las Vegas Now  http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225

Unified Moratorium letter and 200 signatories  http://bit.ly/6ck87L

Roundup Schedule- updated February 2010  http://bit.ly/da7Ziy

 

Photos, video and interviews available from:

The Cloud Foundation, 719-633-3842, makendra@thecloudfoundation.org

past press releases online: http://bit.ly/cVM0EB

The Cloud Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to the preservation and protection of wild horses and burros on our Western public lands with a focus on protecting Cloud's herd in the Pryor Mountains of Montana.

107 S. 7th St. - Colorado Springs, CO 80905

www.thecloudfoundation.org

Wild horses - expendable livestock?

Wild horses - expendable livestock?

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