Tag Archives: horse slaughter

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Update from Congress: Amendment to End Horse Slaughter in the Senate Infrastructure Bill

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We are sorry to report that amendment 2296 to the Senate Infrastructure Bill sponsored by Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) was not adopted.

The amendment would have mirrored the House amendment (which passed) and would have banned the transport of equines for slaughter.

While this is disappointing, the fight is not over. Congress is on summer recess which means your Representatives are back in their districts.

While we know this time is chaotic on Capitol Hill – THIS is still the perfect time to take action.

Just a couple minutes of your day can make a critical difference.

The House had already adopted the provision to stop the transport of American horses and burros to slaughter. Now we need them to stand by that conviction.

Please call your Representative (find their phone numbers here).

Tell them (or leave a message):

1) Your name and that you’re a constituent who wants horse slaughter stopped for good.

2) Urge them to call on the Speaker of the House and push to include the Carter-Fitzpatrick amendment, which will end the transport of equines to slaughter, in the final Infrastructure Bill.

Then, take a second to send a quick email to your Congressperson and Senators.

The Cloud Foundation
www.thecloudfoundation.org

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Help End the Slaughter of American Horses & Burros

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The House of Representatives recently passed the INVEST in America Act (H.R. 3684) which includes the Carter-Fitzpatrick amendment to prohibit the transport of horses and burros across state lines for slaughter.

Now we need to make sure the Senate supports the Carter-Fitzpatrick amendment so that President Biden can sign the INVEST Act and end the end the brutal and barbaric slaughter of American equines (wild and domestic) once and for all.

In May, the New York Times published an investigative story that confirms what we all have known for years — that America’s wild horses and burros are sold into the slaughter pipeline after being “adopted.”

We must end the slaughter of all horses and burros — domestic and wild.

We are very close to making this a reality.  Please click here to take quick action now!

The Cloud Foundation
www.thecloudfoundation.org

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Freedom for Sale: Wild Horses to Be Slaughtered

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The wild horses and burros of the American West, symbols of American freedoms and values we share and hold dear, are under threat of losing the federal protections that keep them alive.

Protections defined by the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act are at tremendous risk since the Act was unanimously passed by Congress in 1971. The House Appropriations Committee has voted to allow the Bureau of Land Management, the federal body responsible for the care and stewardship of these animals, unlimited sales of captive wild horses and burros as part of the proposed 2018 budget. Now the Senate Appropriations Committee, followed by a joint House-Senate conference, will decide their fate. We have reason to believe that America’s mustangs are already being shipped for slaughter to Canada and Mexico – and as far afield as Japan where they are butchered and served as sushi.

It’s inexcusable. Unconscionable! And unless we press our lawmakers, the nightmare scenario of mass horse slaughter will become reality.

Taxpayer dollars would be used to fund and facilitate the roundup and sale of these animals from federal lands to a vicious and cruel slaughter. Federally funded horsemeat inspections and programs would pave the way for the return of barbarous horse slaughter to US soil.

If the proposed budget moves forward in its current form, as many as 96,000 captive and wild horses would be deemed “excess,” as if they were mere objects to get rid of. Mustangs and burros who are not already languishing in holding pens would potentially be gunned down on the very lands that were promised to sustain them decades ago.

To save America’s horses and burros from export and certain slaughter, we need your help and your donation of any amount to In Defense of Animals Wild Horse Campaign today.

In Defense of Animals has joined with the National Academy of Sciences and 40 other national organizations to propose humane, sustainable solutions for managing wild horses and burros on public lands. We are countering the ridiculous claims made by the Bureau of Land (mis)Management to smear the horses. Wild horses and burros have been made into scapegoats by the extractive and cattle industries which the BLM allows to exploit the very lands that were legally mandated to nurture our nation’s mustangs over 45 years ago – and all at taxpayer expense!

Your donation today will help In Defense of Animals fund and support practical solutions for the continued peaceful existence of our nation’s majestic mustangs.

Urgent action is needed! Our voices must be heard, and your donation today makes that happen.

Marilyn Kroplick, MD
President, In Defense of Animals

P.S. Our democratic process is being hijacked by wealthy special interests, and wild horses and burros are paying the price! More than 45 years ago, we promised as a nation to be stewards of these symbols of freedom. If we do not act soon, that promise will be broken and these living, feeling, majestic animals will be gone forever. Please fight for our nation’s horses and burros with your contribution to our Wild Horse Campaign now.

In Defense of Animals is involved in many projects to protect animals’ rights, welfare, and habitats. Money contributed to In Defense of Animals supports ALL of our worthy programs and gives us the flexibility to respond to emerging needs. Thank you for your support and consideration.

In Defense of Animals
3010 Kerner, San Rafael, CA 94901
Tel. (415) 448-0048 Fax (415) 454-1031
idainfo@idausa.org

Racing

Wild Horses and Burros Need Your Voice TODAY

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Photo by Terry Fitch of Wild Horse Freedom Federation.

We must relentlessly call Congress until they ask for mercy and remove the two offending sections legalizing wild horse killings and enabling horse slaughter in Appropriation Bills.

Focus on all the member of the House and Senate appropriations committees but also contact your own Congressman and two Senators. This is because, in all likelihood, the two pro-slaughter sections (one removing the USDA slaughter inspections ban and other adding language to allow BLM to kill and sell for slaughter wild horses in holding) will be passed by the appropriations committees since western pro-slaughter folks have the majority and they have already discussed the matter and have allegedly agreed to pushing this to the full Congress to bring horse slaughter back. In my humble opinion, it is a done deal.

When contacting both your own legislators and the members of the committees, you must ask:

1. Committee members:

– Ask them to vote no on any language allowing the killing of wild horses in holding and/or their sale without limitation, that is, for slaughter or “processing into commercial products” as they like to call it.

– Ask them to oppose any changes to refund horse slaughter inspections by USDA. Ask them to reintroduce the defunding language by means of a private amendment if necessary.

Cheltenham race,  April 2019. Even if you’re not entirely invested in betting on horse racing, the opportunity to bet on some of the bigger race meetings is something that a lot of people will take an interest in.  Enjoy race assistance at Cheltenam betting offers.

2. Rest of congressmen:

– Ask them to oppose any language allowing the killing of wild horses in holding and/or their sale without limitation and, if necessary, to introduce or support an amendment striking down any language in the appropriations bill allowing the killing and sale without limitation.

– Ask them to support any amendment reintroducing the ban on the use of tax money to fund USDA horse slaughter inspections.

Contact information for all members of Congress, including the ones from a specific committee, can be found together in this site:

https://www.contactingcongress.org/

Just select the committee you want contact info from the drop down menu and you are ready to go.

In the case of the agriculture appropriations one, whose text is already made but wasn’t formally introduced, they are aiming at removing Section 767 from the former appropriations bill, which contains the USDA defunding language that prevents horse slaughter plants to open up:

https://www.obpa.usda.gov/34gpexnotes2018.pdf

Go to Page 18 where it reads:

«Section 767: Prohibits inspection of horses for slaughter.

[Sec. 767. None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available in this Act may be used to pay the salaries or expenses of personnel — (1) to inspect horses under section 3 of the Federal Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 603);

(2) to inspect horses under section 903 of the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (7 U.S.C. 1901 note; Public Law 104–127); or (3) to implement or enforce section 352.19 of title 9, Code of Federal Regulations (or a successor regulation).]

This change deletes the entire section 767. This change is requested in order to permit the Executive Branch to carry out programs in the most efficient manner. » >>> They are deleting the ban entirely.

In the case of the Interior Appropriations Bill there is still no bill text (looks like these welfare ranching cowboys have problems putting two words together) but we have Trump’s budget request where HE VERY CLEARLY REQUESTS WILD HORSES IN HOLDING TO BE KILLED AND TO ALLOW SALES OF WILD HORSES FOR “ALL PURPOSES”, THAT IS, FOR SLAUGHTER:

https://www.doi.gov/…/u…/fy201 8_blm_budget_justification.pdf

Go to page 24 of the .pdf where it reads:

«Wild Horse & Burro Management Shift Management Strategies (-$10,000,000 / -29 FTE)

The WH/B budget is principally consumed by the cost to care for excess animals in off range facilities, […]. Animals for which there is no adoption demand are to be humanely euthanized while others that meet certain criteria are to be sold without limitation. Enacted appropriations bills from 1988 to 2004 and from 2010 to present have prohibited destruction of healthy animals and unlimited sale. […] The BLM must be able to use all of the tools included in the Act to manage this program in a more cost-effective manner, including the ability o conduct sales without limitation. The budget proposes to eliminate appropriations language restricting the BLM from using all of the management options authorized in the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act. An estimated $4.0 million of the $10.0 reduction will be achieved through savings resulting from unrestricted sales. »

The markup session where both bills (agriculture and interior) text will be formally redacted and introduced is WEDNESDAY July 12th. Make sure you keep calling and writing until these two languages are killed for good.

https://rtfitchauthor.com/2017/06/30/speak-up-for-wild-horses-before-its-too-late/

https://www.contactingcongress.org/

Information supplied by Daniel Cordero Fernández.

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Are Wild Horses and Burros Being Categorized for Slaughter?

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Terry Fitch of Wild Horse Freedom Federation at Palomino Valley.

Colorado Springs, CO – The Cloud Foundation received an anonymous tip that Department of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and/or top Bureau of Land Management officials have ordered all wild horses currently in short term holding facilities be categorized by weight and age in anticipation of the approval of the federal budget.  The current recommendation for this budget would allow for “sale without limitation” many or most of the wild horses currently in holding.  This, of course, can eventually lead to the barbaric slaughter of our iconic wild horses.  The tipster stated that this categorization was to ensure the BLM was ready to “ship out” horses older than five years of age. The only place to “ship out” these horses would be to slaughter.  The caller stated that the shipping would start with the smaller facilities so that wild horse advocates wouldn’t be able to impose an injunction before the plan was already started.  Although anonymous, the caller also told The Cloud Foundation that direction has been given to the one of the government’s top transportation officials to prepare for this shipping.

Ginger Kathrens, Volunteer Executive Director of The Cloud Foundation, said, “Surely Secretary Zinke would not allow for this devious, clandestine and under the radar ploy to destroy wild horses when 80% of Americans are against slaughter.  If only Secretary Zinke and other DOI and BLM officials would have implemented tried and proven on-the-range-management ideas as we have asked for over a decade, we would not be where we are today.”

“There are currently in excess of 50,000 wild horses that have been rounded up, torn apart from their families, and corralled at the taxpayer expense because on-the-range-management has not been implemented as hundreds of thousands of cattle and sheep graze at little or no cost,” says Lisa Friday, volunteer Vice President of The Cloud Foundation.  “Our indigenous American icons deserve better.”

Media Contact:
Lisa Anne Friday
The Cloud Foundation
1(804)389-8218
info@thecloudfoundation.org
Lisa_Friday@chs.net

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Tell Secretary Zinke to Save Our Wild Horses

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The persecution of our nation’s wild horses is at an all-time high, and it is disgusting to hear the Bureau of Land Management’s reasons for wanting to wipe out these American Icons. They have said on multiple occasions that they have no other options than to slaughter the horses that they round up – but there are many other alternatives that they refuse to entertain, because they just want this “problem” to go away so that they can appease the special interests in the swamp in Washington.

This is not a complicated issue, and it is absurd that our government insists on wasting time and taxpayer money when we stand ready to come in and fix this issue for them. We have the tools and resources to make this right, and we are ready and willing to work with the new administration to solve this issue once and for all. For years, Madeleine Pickens, Founder of Saving America’s Mustangs, has been working tirelessly, and investing millions of her own money into creating a sanctuary for America’s wild horses, Mustang Monument. Yet, despite her continued efforts, the BLM refuses to work with her, and instead have opted to implement copious roadblocks to keep her from operating her sanctuary, and sharing the wonder of these animals with the public.

Join us as we address Secretary Zinke directly, and tell him that we, the American people, are unwilling to allow this administration to slaughter tens of thousands of innocent horses, when we have real, sustainable alternatives available NOW. Our wild horses need a voice, and our government needs a solution – we ARE that voice, and we ARE that solution. Say NO to slaughter.

Sign our petition!

Madeleine Pickens
Saving America’s Mustangs

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Wild Horses Killed for Their Meat?

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If we don’t act now, thousands of America’s iconic wild horses may be culled — or sold off to meat slaughterhouses in Mexico and Canada, where torture and painful death await.

For nearly 3 decades, wild horses have been protected by a ban on the slaughter of healthy animals or any sale that “results in their destruction for processing into commercial products.”  But Trump’s 2018 budget proposal would allow “humane euthanasia and unrestricted sale of certain excess animals.”

No horse’s life is “excess,” and these animals do not deserve to be rounded up, slaughtered, and sold for meat just to give more land to rich cattle ranchers, as many speculate will be the case.

Instead of brutally killing America’s horses, the government should enact cruelty free population control measures, such as reducing births. Better yet, they should protect the public land on which these majestic creatures roam free.

Sign the petition to tell Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke that he must prohibit the slaughter and sale of America’s wild horses. Thousands of horses’ lives depend on it!

Sign the petition

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BLM Plotting War on America’s Wild Horses and Burros

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Photo by Terry Fitch of Wild Horse Freedom Federation.

“Turning to mass slaughter would mark a U-turn on the government’s response to wild horse management programs…”

The Department of the Interior, under the leadership of Secretary Ryan Zinke, has signaled its intention to strip decades-old federal protections for wild horses and burros and to allow them to be shipped to slaughter by the tens of thousands. Public comments and Congressional testimony from Zinke and other high-ranking government officials represents the most severe threat to wild horses since the ghastly and cruel killing practices of the 1960s prompted Congress to adopt the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971.

Turning to mass slaughter would mark a U-turn on the government’s response to wild horse management programs. It was only in April that Congress passed a spending bill with sensible wild horse provisions for the remainder of 2017. That bill included language preventing the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and its contractors from sending wild horses to slaughter for human consumption. It further directed the BLM to create a plan to maintain long-term, sustainable populations on the range in a humane manner.

Now, just two months after President Trump signed the 2017 Omnibus spending bill into law, the Department of the Interior is saying it is going to default to slaughter because it’s possessed with no other options. In the president’s budget request for 2018, the department has asked for the ability to maintain wild horse and burro populations at dramatically reduced levels and to get there by slaughtering the animals.

While there are always going to be major challenges in managing wild horses and burros on our western public lands and in satisfying the diverse stakeholders in the debate, there are certain options that should never even be considered because they are simply outside the bounds of how animals should be treated. Mass slaughter is one of those dreadful ideas, an action that flies in the face of the now longstanding prohibition on slaughter and of the instincts of millions of Americans to protect these magnificent symbols of the American West.

The BLM has never been exemplary at managing horses. Far from it. For 20 years, the agency’s primary strategy for wild horse and burro populations has largely consisted of rounding up and removing the animals from our public lands – an effort that has resulted in tens of thousands of wild horses and burros being kept in holding facilities at a cost now approaching $50 million a year — more than half of the BLM’s annual budget for the entire wild horse and burro program. Partly because the costs of caring for so many captive horses are undermining the larger program, the agency has failed to commit any additional money to implement sufficient fertility control programs, which have been long recommended by The HSUS and the National Academies of Sciences.

The aggressive and widespread use of fertility control is the only way to confront this crisis in the long term. The horses need to be managed, but in a humane manner. Fertility control works, but only if there’s a serious investment in the enterprise on the ground. By preventing the birth of foals, the agency will find itself under less pressure to round up so many horses. Fewer round-ups mean substantial cost savings, since not as many animals need to be pastured and fed in short-term and long-term holding facilities. A capture-and-kill strategy, on the other hand, will only make matters worse, because it will cause the horses to compensate by reproducing at a higher rate on the range.

We cannot readily resolve the politics of managing the captive and free-roaming wild horse populations without a struggle. It won’t be easy to get a handle on this. But one thing is for sure: sanctioning the slaughter of tens of thousands of horses is a disgraceful, shameful idea. It is an unacceptable idea that will produce protests in the streets, from Reno to Washington, D.C. Mass slaughter will happen only over the cries, protests, and interventions of the American people.

Tell Secretary Zinke that you do not support the slaughter of America’s wild horses by calling 202-208-7351.

By Wayne Pacelle as posted on Humane Nation

https://rtfitchauthor.com/2017/06/16/blm-plotting-war-on-americas-wild-horses-and-burros/

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Chevy Chase Adds His Name to Petition Urging Obama to End Horse Slaughter

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Dec 14, 2016 — One of America’s most beloved comedians and actors, Chevy Chase, has signed this petition urging President Obama and Vice President Biden to end the slaughter of America’s wild and domestic equines as part of their legacy. We all love Chevy’s performances on television and in film, and his hilarious appearances as one of the original cast members of Saturday Night Live which debuted in 1975. Chevy, his wife Jayni, and their children are all avid horse lovers. We thank them for their support of this petition and ask you to sign and share it as well.

https://www.change.org/p/barack-obama-obama-biden-end-the-slaughter-of-america-s-horses

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Colorado Rancher Illegally Kills 1,794 Wild Horses

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Last October, a report surfaced which shows that a Colorado rancher and livestock hauler purchased 1,794 wild horses and willingly and illegally sold each of these magnificent wild animals to suffer a brutal death at slaughterhouses in Mexico.

The rancher, Tom Davis, bought the horses through the Wild Horse and Burro Program, administered by the Bureau of Land Management. This government agency spent more than $140,000 to transport wild horses to Davis between 2008 and 2012. This means that $140,000 of taxpayers’ money has been spent toward illegal horse killings.

The Bureau has responded, stating, “Both the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado and the State of Colorado Conejos County District Attorney’s Office have declined civil and criminal prosecution.” They also add: “Accordingly there is no further action that the BLM may take specific to Mr. Davis.”

The BLM is attempting to wash its hands clean of the blood of thousands of wild horses. Justice must be obtained for the victims of this mass slaughter.

The Department of the Interior and the US Department of Justice have given little response so far. We must show them that horse killers like Davis must be prosecuted.

Click here to take action.

In Defense of Animals
3010 Kerner, San Rafael, CA 94901
Tel. (415) 448-0048 Fax (415) 454-1031
idainfo@idausa.org