We are, of course, referring to the heretofore enigma that was Sue Wallis, WY state representative and self-appointed scientist, veterinarian, medical doctor and omnipotent master of all aspects of horses and their welfare.
In recent years, Sue Wallis has effectively galvanized the pro-horse slaughter movement and become its undisputed leader. As she has accomplished this, she has become ever more vitriolic in her attacks against those she sees as “animal rights extremists”, blaming them for all manner problems facing the horse industry, and immediately proclaiming that any evidence emerging to the contrary is a lie.
The enigma was not that someone with no pertinent knowledge or experience could, through bluff and bluster, be able to rise to a position of leadership. Indeed, history is replete with examples of this phenomenon, and it was all the easier because no one of reputation in the horse industry wanted to publicly accept the crown of entrails.
No, the enigma was why a mother of seven children with no equine experience should be motivated to take up this grizzly crusade. Wallis portrays herself as representing the horse industry although she doesn’t own a horse. Clearly Wallis is trying to turn the horse industry into a meat industry, but how would that benefit her?
Wallis, a rural state legislator, spends her days and nights lobbying. She does this with a 501(c)(3), a charitable designation that only permits a small percentage of time to lobbying. The lobbying is done under the guise of “educating” so as not to arouse IRS suspicions. There are two things wrong with this picture. First, one must have facts to educate, and second, virtually every communication from Wallis is aimed at influencing Congress.
Her organization started as United Organizations of the Horse (UOH), a mutual benefit corporation that doesn’t allow tax deductible donations. To get around that, the donate button bounced over to the 501(c)(3) organization of her sidekick, quarter horse breeder Dave Duquette, titled United Horsemen’s Front. Possibly realizing that name portrayed too much, it was changed to United Horsemen (UH).
Earlier this year, UOH faded into the sunset as have numerous other websites of Wallis’ and then Dave Duquette disappeared. Currently, Wallis is sending all her “educational” materials from UH that was supposed to be moved to WY earlier this year.
Until now, nothing has raised an eyebrow among her devoted flock. Not when she sold them lotto tickets for a truck and then faked its presentation with a loaner from a dealership; not when she announced unregistered investment opportunities in a slaughter house in Wyoming that was never built; not when she came out in support of the indefensible abuse that is horse tripping; not when she claimed videos of abuse in horse slaughter facilities were faked only to have government agencies authenticate them; no, nothing shook their faith. Nothing that is, until now.
Over the past week, a young Oregonian woman and her boyfriend killed their horse, disemboweled it, and took a series of photos of the woman peering out of the abdomen of the horse as well as standing nude while apparently eating its raw heart.
The images were posted to YouTube and soon went viral. The story was so disturbing that we hesitated to even acknowledge it. But Sue Wallis felt otherwise.
Sue thought this was fun. Her exact blog quote was: “Wonder what the AR nutjobs will make of this? People humanely kill an old horse, butcher it to use the good meat, and decide to have some fun with it, and take pictures.”
She went on to ask her followers to support the couple who she felt were being unfairly criticized! This was finally too much for her minions. While they had no problem at all with killing or eating the horse, they were horrified that her statements showed her deeper motivation, and their fear was justified.
Suddenly Sue Wallis is a known entity, as exposed and disturbed as that young woman standing nude bathed in the blood of her horse. Whether it was the incident in England a decade ago when her refusal to mount a horse for a photo opportunity ruined her tour as a traveling “cowgirl poet”, or whether it was being kicked as a child, the disrespect in which she holds horses is now clear to all the world. She can no longer claim to care about their welfare.
Slowly at first, her supporters began to realize their leader had made a fatal blunder and to speak out. Across cyberspace her words were going viral and being irretrievably secreted away in a thousand caches.
Yet even after her supporters called her on the devastating admission and how it would reflect on slaughter supporters, she retorted with, “[name], if you had lived in my shoes over these last few years you would know that it doesn’t matter what I say or don’t say, “they” will make something up. It is all a Saul Alinsky style campaign to make it a personal attack on a single individual instead of a broader problem affecting every horse owning family and business in the U.S. I ignore it. It is irrelevant. Once you understand that simple concept, it is pretty easy to figure out what is going on.”
Meanwhile, Europeans continue to eat our horses, apparently oblivious to the fact that the meat is often contaminated with drug residues. We wonder if those who have been consuming Wallis’ “information” will now realize what a poisoned well they have been drinking from.
Contact Information: John Holland | 540.268.2693 | john@equinewelfarealliance.org
The Equine Welfare Alliance is a dues-free 501c4, umbrella organization with over 200 member organizations and hundreds of individual members worldwide. The organization focuses its efforts on the welfare of all equines and the preservation of wild equids. www.equinewelfarealliance.org