Topics: Partnership to Ban Horse Carriages’ chapters in Philadelphia, Dallas and New York City. Current campaigns to #FreeSpur, the huge African tortoise and #FreeRocky, a lonely coyote.
The mission of the Partnership to Ban Horse Carriages Worldwide is to effectively organize and work with multiple organizations around the world to streamline our identical purpose of banning the dangerous, cruel and unnecessary practice of horse drawn carriages.
In the middle of June, 2014, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) moved 1,493 wild horses from the Teterville Long Term Holding pastures in Oklahoma to the Beef Belt Feedyard in Scott City, Kansas. Over 13% of these wild horses died at this feedlot.
191 of the wild horses died in less than a year (7/7/14 – 6/30/15).
In a BLM “news” release dated 8/15/14 (over two years ago), the BLM announced that 57 wild horses had died at the BLM’s Scott City, Kansas “corral.” In this news release, the BLM stated that it had “launched an investigation” into the cause of deaths, and promised that “Once the investigation is concluded, the team will complete a report that will be made publicly available.”
To date, over two years later, the BLM has not made any report available to the public about the Scott City feedlot deaths.
Wild Horse Freedom Federation (WHFF) filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, and found out that 196 horses died at the Scott City feedlot from 6/17/14 – 8/2/16.
or listen to the show live on your phone by calling (917) 388-4520.
This is a one and a half hour show. It will be archived so you can listen to it anytime.
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Our guests Wednesday night are the Board of Directors of Wild Horse Freedom Federation (R.T. and Terry Fitch, Carol Walker, Marjorie Farabee, Dawn Reveley and Debbie Coffey), along with special guests John Holland, President of Equine Welfare Alliance, Ginger Kathrens,
photo by Terry Fitch of Wild Horse Freedom Federation
An investigation carried out in cooperation with Tierschutzbund Zuerich/Animal Welfare Foundation
Photo: Horse showing strong signs of fear
Uruguay is a small country but nevertheless has an estimated population of approximately 500,000 horses. More than 37,000 horses were slaughtered in 2014 so the meat could be exported. Like people in the U.S., Uruguayans do not consume horsemeat; they consider horses as companion, sport and work animals. Horses are not commercially bred for meat production and there is no traceability regarding drugs that have been administered to the horse during its lifetime. The last owner of the horse simply has to sign an affidavit and confirm that the horse has not been given any restricted substances during the last 6 months. In addition, Phenylbutazone and many other drugs can be readily purchased without prescription for owners to administer to their horses. Uruguayan law also mandates that sport horses are specifically excluded from slaughter for human consumption, but it remains uncertain if this is truly the case.
Animals’ Angels President and Lead Investigator, Sonja Meadows, will be a “Horse Defender” Panel Member at the Equus Film Festival in New York this November. The Horse Defender Panel will convene on Saturday, November 21st. With her vast experience and expertise in the fight against horse slaughter, Sonja will be a perfect addition to this panel of speakers. In addition to being a panel member, Animals’ Angels participated in or provided extensive footage for three fantastic films included at this year’s Equus Film Festival: Saving America’s Horses, Kill Pen, and Their Last Ride. We wish Katia Louise, Sharon Boeckle, and Neta Rhyne nothing but the best of luck at the Festival!
or listen to the show live on your phone by calling (917) 388-4520.
You can call in with questions during the 2nd half hour of the show by dialing (917) 388-4520, then pressing 1.
This is a 1 hour show. It will be archived so you can listen to it anytime.
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Our guest tonight is Sinikka Crosland, Exec. Dir. of Canadian Horse Defence Coalition, people and national groups that have joined together to ban the slaughter of equines for human consumption in Canada, as well as the export of live horses to other countries for the same purpose.
Sinikka will talk about horse slaughter in Canada, and the 7,000 horses transported live by air from Canada to Japan each year for slaughter. 3 or 4 large horses are crammed in wooden crates with little room to move around, let alone lie down to rest. No food or water is provided during the grueling journey to another continent. Canadian legislation permits horses to be transported without food and water for up to 36 hours, but sometimes, due to flight delays, the 36-hour period is breached.
The carrier responsible for shipping these horses to their deaths is Atlas Air, Inc., based in Purchase, New York.
The Truth About Horse Slaughter in Canada (WARNING: this video contains GRAPHIC SCENES):
After the massive backlash over the attempts to establish national, government owned herds of all kinds of livestock, which began in 2008, and raged on for several years, the USDA finally admitted defeat and backed off. At least publicly. Behind the scenes the efforts continued to find that one thing that would give them a foothold in establishing the National Animal Identification System. (NAIS ) Bingo! We got your handy dandy horses that can be used to get the ball rolling!
I have waited for someone to come out and say that “only the wild ones” will be tracked and tagged, and sure enough someone did. The problem with this is that the Bureau of Land Management, the agency charged with caring for, managing and protecting the wild herds, has been responsible for the slaughter of most of them. Very few of our wild horses, and even burros are left. Yet to hear the BLM tell it, there are untold hundreds of thousands of them on the herd management areas (HMA), and they are throwing litters of foals every year! That’s if you take the fabricated “scientific evidence” to heart and never ask why few of these animals can be located and when you can locate them they are on the back of a truck headed for slaughter plants in Mexico and Canada.
Clearly this effort to tag and track equines is a case of taking the path of least resistance. Especially when the BLM has been so successful in convincing ranchers that if they just get on the band wagon demanding the slaughter of the wild horses…why…….there would be just that much more land available for welfare grazing permits! With the cattlemen and the beef producers soundly behind the NAIS for horses, there should be little resistance from cattle producers, or at least not what it was when they were trying to steal their herds a few years back.
A word of caution: IF USDA is successful in forcing tracking on equines, it will be small potatoes to establish NAIS for ALL livestock. After all, equines are not even considered a food source in the US. But those cattle are as are other livestock herds.
This will be like watching someone shooting themselves in the foot, over, and over, and over…………
“BLM also considers themselves as being “above” Mother Nature too…”
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) publicly published the statement that they are above the law and the 1971 Congressional Wild Horse and Burro protection LAW DOES NOT PERTAIN TO THEM! BLM stated: “The … [Congressional] Act … is not pertinent to the overall management of the wild horse and burro populations by the BLM and USFS. In general, it protects the wild horses and burros from such actions by the general populous.”
Well … apparently the BLM also considers themselves as being “above” Mother Nature too because they insist wild horses must be removed from their legally designated land (our public land) because of current widespread “drought” and BLM has been pushing this same drought agenda for at least three years. Basically these “emergency” roundups are just a front/excuse to round up as many wild horses and burros as they want, when they want and behind the public’s back with no accountability by using bait/water trapping. Read this trapping article:
In order for anything to be considered normal or average there must be ups and downs. In 2011 the precipitation in Elko (mid-Nevada) was 125% of normal, 2012 was 63% of normal and as of April 2013 Elko had 78% of normal precipitation and since then [May] it has had another almost half-inch of rain and today’s forecast states, “BRIEF HEAVY RAIN” and “MODERATE TO LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN IS CURRENTLY FALLING” and “RAINFALL RATES OF ONE-QUARTER TO ONE-HALF INCH PER HOUR IS POSSIBLE IN THIS [storm] BAND”. More
Confusion at BLM over sage grouse and horses…they can’t tell the difference!
In a Freedom of Information Act response that includes resumes of the crew of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) contractor Sun J Livestock, Inc., whose actions sparked a notorious internal investigation (AKA cover-up), it seems the BLM’s contractor hired a sub-contractor that is grossly under-qualified.
After numerous complaints since October, 2010 about BLM’s round up contractor, Sun J Livestock, Inc., and their sub-contracted helicopter pilot, the BLM started an internal investigation in January, 2011, and issued a report in February, 2011 stating:
“Experience of the Contractor”
The gather contract solicitation requires that all proposals demonstrate a minimum of 1,500 hours of flying experience in similar projects for the proposed primary and secondary helicopter pilots. To be considered for a contract award, the contractor needs overall experience of humanely capturing a minimum of 3,000 wild horses and/or burros while using helicopter- drive trapping. The contractor and proposed key personnel needed this overall experience in similar projects during the time from 2007 to the present. Sun J Livestock met all of the above criteria and qualified to have a contract awarded to it. Overall, the contractor has gathered over 40,000 wild horses…” (emphasis mine)
BLM’s interpretation (once again) borders on wild fantasy. First of all, I added up the numbers of wild horses that the people sending in their resumes claimed to have rounded up, and the total came to 24,473. (Once again, it seems BLM is almost doubling their numbers). Not only that, if you’ve been to a roundup, you’d know that Jody Holmes, as the BLM’s Wild Horse & Burro Specialist, didn’t go out and there and round up those horses herself. She watched. More
We agree with and support the premise of issue 2 but not as a constitutional amendment.
The same objective to thwart PETA and HSUS could have been accomplished by including the key words “agricultural best management practices for such care and well-being” in section 900 of the Ohio Revised Code. This we do support.
Our problem with this constitutional amendment is the excessive power it places in the hands of a 13-member group of non-elected bureaucrats. This constitutional amendment places in the Board’s hands the power to mandate whatever they choose, and it is the Department of Ag that will implement and enforce those decisions of the Board. (see the text of proposed amendment at The text of the amendment includes “consider factors that include, but are not limited to,” which gives the Board authority far beyond the scope of its stated purpose. In the text “agricultural best management practices for such care and well-being” is the part that will thwart HSUS and their cronies. “Biosecurity,” “disease prevention,” “animal morbidity and mortality data,” “food safety practices,” and “the protection of local, affordable food supplies” are already covered in Ohio Revised Code. More
We agree with and support the premise of issue 2 but not as a constitutional amendment.
The PPJ Gazette 