Tag Archives: Equine Protection

Unwanted Horse Coalition Media Roundup

November 29, 2011 – Edition 26

UHC’s Operation Gelding Continues with More Clinics
The Unwanted Horse Coalition’s [UHC] Operation Gelding program has aided in gelding 276 stallions to date. The program, which was first launched in late August 2010, is able to continue aiding in the castration of stallions thanks to the support and seed money provided by the American Association of Equine Practitioners Foundation [AAEP]. Operation Gelding is designed to offer funding assistance to organizations, associations, and events that wish to conduct a public gelding clinic under the name and guidelines of Operation Gelding. An organization that has completed an Operation Gelding clinic will receive funding of $50 per horse, $1,000 maximum, to aid in the costs associated with the clinic.
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Free Listings for Equine Care Facilities and Rescues on the Nation’s Largest Transactional Horse Website
The Unwanted Horse Coalition is joining forces with the Equine Network, the nation’s leading publisher of equine-related content, to help connect people looking for horses to rescue horses in need of homes through the new A Home for Every Horse Program. Rescue organizations can list their horses for free on Equine.com, the horse, trailer and horse property sale site that receives 2,865,600 unique annual visitors. Click here to find out how:
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Continue reading Unwanted Horse Coalition Media Roundup

Park Service Puts Up Pryor Signage

Climbs High, May 2011

Dear Supporters of the Pryor Wild Horse Herd;
I want to share the following letter (link below) we received this week from the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area (BCNRA) regarding signage which they have erected along the paved Park Highway. It alerts motorists that there are animals on the road. We appreciate your emails and letters encouraging this action by the BCNRA in response to the hit and run deaths of the band stallion, Admiral, and his yearling son, Climbs High (Kapitan is his BLM name) along the park highway last summer.

As you may recall, the driver of a truck, Adam Finn of Germantown TN, was intoxicated when he ran them down at 2 am on July 24th. His case is being heard in the Lander, WY U.S. District Court and, as yet, no decision has been reached. Mr. Finn drove away from the accident, but his truck broke down about a mile from the crime scene. Authorities found him still drunk in his truck the next morning.

Continue reading Park Service Puts Up Pryor Signage

Handful of Legislators Condemn Horses to USDA Approved Abuse

Washington, D.C. (November 15, 2011) – It would appear that some in Congress are all talk when it comes to seriously reducing federal spending and decreasing the size of  government.  Despite overwhelming objections from the American public and the horse community, and despite Congress’ own supposed belief in fiscal restraint, the fate of America’s horses was undermined by three Members of Congress and their staffs behind closed doors this week.  For years, an amendment to the annual Agriculture Appropriations bill has prevented tax dollars from being used to “inspect” horse slaughter facilities in the U.S.  The House of Representatives voted this year to again include it in the Fiscal Year 2012 Agriculture Appropriations bill, but three members of the Conference Committee, Representative Jack Kingston (R-GA),  Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI), and Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO), removed it from the final bill.  A fourth member of the Conference Committee, Representative Sam Farr (D-CA), was the lone objector.

“I have been in Washington for a long time and this move baffles me.  Both parties talked about making the hard cuts in federal spending and yet behind closed doors, three of the four men thought it was a good use of taxpayer dollars to ignore their colleagues and restore a federal program that will cost Americans at least $5 million a year and pull limited USDA inspectors from ensuring the humane treatment and safety of our nation’s food supply. To make matters worse, this was all done to appease a few foreign companies and Big Ag,” said Chris Heyde, deputy director of AWI’s government and legal affairs department.  “This action shows the true nature of some elected officials — that they are more concerned about helping special interests than doing what they were elected to do.”

Continue reading Handful of Legislators Condemn Horses to USDA Approved Abuse

President Obama Urged to Keep Campaign Promise

November 2, 2011 – Chicago (EWA) – During his 2008 campaign, President Obama promised his unequivocal support for a ban on horse slaughter. “Now is the time for you to keep that promise, Mr. President,” says John Holland, president of Equine Welfare Alliance.

Calling it “paramount to public health”, the Equine Welfare Alliance (EWA) and Animal Law Coalition sent a letter to President Obama, urging him to support a ban on equine slaughter for human consumption.  The groups also presented the president with more than 6,000 signatures on a White House petition calling for an end to equine slaughter for human consumption.

At the time the petition was created, the White House indicated the administration would consider any issue with at least 5,000 signatures. The equine slaughter ban petition easily gathered more signatures, more quickly than a petition created to reinstate equine slaughter for human consumption in the U.S. The opposition petition was lacking 2,750 signatures when the petition to ban horse slaughter reached 5,000.

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Owner Assistance Program Capable of Rescuing Thousands of Horses from Neglect This Winter

A pilot horse owner assistance program operated last winter by three independent nonprofit equine rescue sanctuaries in the Pacific Northwest had a 100 percent success rate in keeping horses in safe homes with financially struggling but committed owners and is ready to be expanded nationwide.

Project Safety Net for Horses has the potential of saving literally thousands of horses from neglect, abandonment, premature euthanasia or the brutality of equine slaughter for a minimal investment per animal, according to Allen Warren of the Horse Harbor Foundation (HHF), who developed and implemented the innovative program along with two other horse rescuers, Sara Penhallogen and Janean Doezal, in response to sanctuary capacity being at or beyond capacity in their three-county area on the Olympic and Kitsap Peninsulas across the Puget Sound from Seattle.

“In this economy when millions of Americans, including many good longtime horse owners, are struggling just to put food on their own tables and pay the mortgage, many who love their animals and have always provided good care find themselves in a  terrible dilemma,”  Warren states.

Continue reading Owner Assistance Program Capable of Rescuing Thousands of Horses from Neglect This Winter

Updated AWI Horse Slaughter Brochure and Action Alert Insert Now Available

For years, the Animal Welfare Institute’s brochure on horse slaughter has been used by horsemen and activists across the US to help raise awareness about this cruel industry.  AWI has just released an updated version of this fact filled color brochure and will be providing copies for free to those working to help educate the public.  We have also created an insert filled with information about how you can take action in support of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act currently pending before Congress.

If you would like come copies of this brochure and the new insert, please send an email to chris@awionline.org with the quantity of each you would like.

Thanks for your continued help with this important issue.  While you are waiting for your brochures please visit AWI’s Compassion Index to see how your Representative and Senators stand on horse slaughter and other animal protection measures.  While there, be sure to send them an email in support of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act: http://capwiz.com/compassionindex/issues/?style=D&.

CHRIS HEYDE
Deputy Director
Government and Legal Affairs

ANIMAL WELFARE INSTITUTE
900 Pennsylvania Ave., SE
Washington, DC 20003
www.awionline.org ~ www.compassionindex.org

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Animal-Welfare-Institute/11601155278
Twitter: http://twitter.com/AWIOnline

A Field Account of a Colorado Roundup

Ginger & Trace in the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness, Colorado. Photo by Ann Evans

Dear Friends of the Wild;
I moved to Colorado nearly 40 years ago, captivated by the wild beauty of this inspiring place. Here I could immerse myself in true wilderness where opportunities existed to glimpse animals I had only seen in pictures — mountain lions, bighorn sheep, mule deer, elk, black bears, golden eagles, mountain goats, and even wild horses.

Much has changed in these last four decades. Colorado has been highly developed on the front range of our magnificent Rockies, but there are still those hauntingly beautiful, undisturbed landscapes I once dreamed about. Linda Hanick, an extraordinary Colorado wild horse advocate, writes about one of them in her report below.

Our state has only a few hundred wild horses remaining and often they live tucked away in secluded country like that visited by Linda last week. She was present on the last day of the largest roundup of the year in Colorado. Over two hundred robust, glowing mustangs were stampeded by a helicopter, losing in an instant what they value most — their freedom and their families. I encourage you to read the account of her journey to Colorado’s western slope.

Continue reading A Field Account of a Colorado Roundup

Equine Instructors Face Off against Medical Experts over Horse Meat

October 4, 2011 – Chicago (EWA) – In a press release today titled “Equine Scientists Debunk Horsemeat Health Risk Claims”, United Horsemen (UH), an extremist pro horse slaughter group, cited a letter from four equine instructors ostensibly written to the Journal of Food and Chemical Toxicology complaining about the accuracy of the landmark study that found that the meat derived from horses administered the carcinogen phenylbutazone (PBZ/bute) is being shipped to the European Union for human consumption.

In an embarrassing attempt to discredit the peer reviewed paper, Association of phenylbutazone usage with horses bought for slaughter: A public health risk, the instructors cherry picked facts to make their case, but merely succeeded in demonstrating the risk of offering a professional opinion outside of one’s area of expertise.

None of the authors of the UH letter are medical doctors and they provided no information that is contrary to the mandate by the EU and FDA banning Phenylbutazone in all food producing animals, including horses.

The letter begins by stating the paper’s authors did not cite the levels of Phenylbutazone (PZB, bute) in the study horses. But there are no acceptable levels. One only needs to prove the administration of bute at any time in the horse’s life to make the horse ineligible for human consumption. The paper by Drs. Marini (PhD/MD neurology), Dodman (PhD/DVM) and Blondeau (PhD in neuroscience), did exactly that. The study proved without doubt, through tracing race track drug records, that horses given bute are making their way into the food supply.

Continue reading Equine Instructors Face Off against Medical Experts over Horse Meat

Willie & The Nelson Family Release “Wild Horses” Video to Help Raise Awareness for America’s Wild Horses

Monday, October 3, 2011 — Washington, D.C. — Earlier this year, the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) was honored to announce the exclusive release of the Rolling Stones’ classic “Wild Horses” – performed and produced by the legendary Willie Nelson and his family members. Now, Willie & The Nelson Family have followed up with the release of a video for the song featuring Willie, his daughter Paula, son Lukas and many others from the Nelson family. The video, filmed and produced by Luck Films, was shot at Willie’s ranch in Luck, Texas and features some of the over 40 horses, both wild and domestic, that Willie has helped rescue from slaughter. Willie & The Nelson Family are donating the proceeds from the sale of the song to AWI’s campaigns on behalf of wild and domestic horses. Willie and the entire Nelson family are long-time supporters of AWI and its efforts to end horse slaughter and preserve the right of wild horses to roam free.

“The BLM has been rounding them up at an alarming rate, supposedly for their own good. Sadly, there are more wild horses in holding pens than in the wild. Something is wrong with that, so we must act now before the BLM has managed these magnificent animals into extinction,” said Willie Nelson. “It’s time for the cowboys to stand up for the horses.”

The Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act was enacted in 1971 to halt the disappearance of these iconic animals from public lands in the American West. Since then, however, over 21 million acres of land set aside by Congress for wild horses have been removed from their range, even as the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) – the very agency charged with their protection – claims there is not enough land to support existing herds. The BLM is unnecessarily removing horses based on spurious claims of damage to range and other adverse impacts. The BLM’s mismanagement of America’s wild horses is largely designed to benefit a livestock industry that has, for decades, exploited western public lands while profiting from massive subsidies funded by taxpayer dollars. Willie & The Nelson Family and AWI are calling on the BLM and the Obama administration to immediately halt all wild horse round-ups, restore the land provided by law to wild horses and stop warehousing horses on private lands at even greater expense to the taxpayer.

Continue reading Willie & The Nelson Family Release “Wild Horses” Video to Help Raise Awareness for America’s Wild Horses

Taking Action and Important Petition to White House against Horse Slaughter

There are a number of ways for you to voice your opposition to horse slaughter and register your support for a permanent ban on this practice, including responding to AWI eAlerts, taking action through AWI’s Compassion Index at www.compassionindex.org and calling the offices of your Members of Congress.

I wanted to let you know that the Obama administration has created a new petition website where citizens can communicate with the White House on issues that matter to them.  If a petition gets 5,000 signatures within a month of being posted, White House staff will review it, ensure it is sent to the appropriate policy experts, and issue a formal response.

The petition, https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions/!/petition/support-ban-horse-slaughter/q30gJg1k, was posted on September 23, 2011 asking for the Administration’s support of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, which was recently introduced in the Senate, S. 1176, and the House, H.R. 2966.  In order for the White House to respond, 5,000 signatures are needed by October 23, 2011.

Supporters of horse slaughter have also posted their own petition so it’s important that we speak up to protect our horses from this torturous treatment by those who seek to profit from their misery.  Thank you for taking action on their behalf.

CHRISTOPHER J. HEYDE
Deputy Director, Government and Legal Affairs
ANIMAL WELFARE INSTITUTE
900 Pennsylvania Ave., SE
Washington, DC 20003
T: (202) 446-2142 ~ F: (202) 446-2131
www.awionline.org
www.compassionindex.org

The Animal Welfare Institute has been working to alleviate the suffering inflicted on animals by humans since 1951.

Please join us in our work to protect animals – visit our website to find out more and to sign up for AWI eAlerts: www.awionline.org.