Sunday, August 16, 2009




Issue: Pending horse gather at Sheldon Wildlife Refuge

Priority: IMMEDIATE

Situation Report Summary

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at Sheldon (Nevada - Oregon) has claimed responsibility for managing some estimated 2,500 free roaming horses and a few hundred free-roaming burros that inhabit the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge in northern Nevada and Souteastern Oregon. These animals are not protected under the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. Past Sheldon gathers have been models of chaos and mistreatment of the animals. Contractors are paid $300.00 per head to haul the horses away and many have simply disappeared from the radar, presumably sold to slaughter.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service gather plans are typically faulty and in some instances rely on the roundups' single source contractors to provide input to justify the methods used.

Preparations are underway to challenge the U.S. Fish and Wildlife's authority to conduct the roundup and disposal of these horses as planned in light of recent legislation.

Sheldon Pictorial

Our Sheldon Horses - How Did This Happen?

The Unkindest Cuts

My Wild Horse Education
(Please contact the webmaster if you or your group wishes to contribute a story link for this section.)

Wild horse gathers are scary events in the best of circumstances. Large animals are chased into small spaces where they are sorted and then transported in stock trucks. This is not an activity for amateurs as even with the most well designed gathers using the most skilled crews, accidents do happen.

The horses and burros at the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge are not presently covered under the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. The Sheldon Wildlife Refuge is not bound by any of the requirements and safety standards as apply to BLM's horse operations. Sheldon can turn the horses over to anyone, including kill buyers. In fact the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been paying "select" contractors $300.00 per head to take horses. A truck load of horses can net a contractor a quick $12,000.00, not counting what can be made when the horses are dumped at a livestock sale.

Fairly recent legislation raises legitimate questions as to whether the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has the authority to conduct the gathers and disposals of horses as they are presently doing. A well founded theory is that since the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service doesn't actually own these horses, but rather considers them an "invasive species," the horses and burros are thus subject to protections and policies provided under certain "feral horse" statutes.

The recent West Douglas (Colorado) court decision showed that the courts are willing to declare that Federal agencies have exceeded their authority when valid evidence to that effect has been presented.

The Sheldon challenge has yet to be brought to court and the horse advocates are ready to test the validity of these statutes. It appears that this year is the appropriate time to have the court rule on the status of the horses and burros at Sheldon.

The advocates further hope that Congress will take notice of the issues surrounding "amatuer" Federal agencies tasked with managing free-roaming horses and burros, and include all free-roaming horses and burros found on Federal lands under the new Restore Our American Mustangs bill presently in the Senate.

The allied groups are presently raising funds to cover the legal costs involved in this effort, and due to the eminent nature of the upcoming roundup, these funds have to be raised quickly.

Lacy J. Dalton's Let 'Em Run Foundation has agreed to hold the funds for this effort. Let 'Em Run will not deduct "overhead" or administrative fees from these contributions. All funds will go to pay expenses related to the legal effort to protect these horses. If it turns out that a formal legal challenge is not needed or is somehow not appropriate, the donations will not be accepted. If any residual funds remain after legal expenses have been paid, those funds will cover any costs needed to ensure that the decision by the court is complied with.

The wild horse issue is now before the Senate. Concerned citizens can speak out and tell their Senators that the wild horse and burro program has to be straightened out and to urge them to support S.1579, the Restore Our American Mustangs Act.

What you can do.

Learn the facts about the Sheldon horses and tell your friends and those interested in the preservation and humane treatment of all of America's free-roaming horses and burros. Share the links to information provided on Page One in the Sheldon Situation Report.

Contact your Senators, express your views as to the conditions and treatment of horses at the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge, and encourage them to utilize S.1579 as a means to bring some coherent direction to the management of America's wild horses and burros. An analysis of S. 1579 and talking points can be viewed here. Information on how to reach your Senators can be found here.

Contribute to the Legal Fund so that the courts can make a determination as to the actual status of the horses and burros in Sheldon, and so that advocates can present a case that recent legislation that prescribes policies and procedures involving free-roaming horses in Nevada applies to them. You can find a link to contribute on the Let 'Em Run Foundation's Sheldon Page, or you can mail a check to Let 'Em Run Foundation, c/o Betty Retzer, 11625 US 50 W., Stagecoach, NV 89429. (If you clearly mark "Sheldon Horses" on your check, your donation will only be used for that purpose, or your check returned if not needed.)
Throughout recent history America's wild free-roaming horses and burros have been "rescued" from eradication by special interests through a grass roots movement of the American people. Once again the situation requires our intervention. We have an opportunity to make a difference. Get involved!

Images courtesy of The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

SLAUGHTERGATE!! CONTINUED....

MESSAGE FROM JOHN HOLLAND:

TV Station KHOU has done a powerful piece on the USDA cruelty documents that Julie Caramante and Animal's Angels received through her FOIA. It features Steve Long and Julie and it is both powerful and graphic.
http://www.khou.com/video/news-index.html?nvid=315146

Here is a text version off of Texas Cable News

http://www.txcn.com/sharedcontent/dws/txcn/houston/stories/khou081219_jj_horse-slaughter-transportation.7b642747.html
Thousands of U.S. horses slaughtered in Mexico for food
10:56 PM CST on Friday, December 19, 2008
By Brad Woodard / 11 News
Steve Long is a noted author as well as editor of Texas Horse Talk magazine. You can say he knows horses.

Thousands of U.S. horses slaughtered in Mexico
December 19, 2008

“They are the essence of beauty, everything about them, the way they move, the way they talk to each other, their personalities, they’re just magnificent,” he said.
He says that horses are not only deeply woven into the fabric of Texas History, but they are also great icons of the American West.
Still, despite that honor, records show that nearly 50,000 U.S. horses have been transported to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico for slaughter and ultimately destined for the dinner tables in Europe and Japan.
“It’s an obscenity. It’s a horror. It’s something that makes me want to throw up,” said Long.

Records show that nearly 50,000 U.S. horses have been transported to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico for slaughter and ultimately destined for the dinner tables in Europe and Japan.
Believe it or not, Long isn’t talking about the slaughtering practices in Mexico, although he finds them disturbing.
Long is talking about the horse slaughter industry, that until recently, thrived here in Texas and the United States.
“This is the biggest animal rights scandal since the Michael Vick case. This is slaughtergate,” said Long.
In fact, records show that there are two Belgian owned horse slaughtering facilities in the state. He says one of the facilities, Dallas Crowe, is in Kaufman, Texas and that the other facility, Beltex, is located in Fort Worth.
In 2006, 11 News reported that employees at both facilities used captive bolt guns and air guns on the horses instead of knives. That technique involves driving a steel bolt into a the brain of a horse.
Both Texas facilities were forced to close last year. Officials say that the closure came after a federal appeals court upheld a 1949 state law banning horse slaughter for human consumption.
Despite that action the slaughter horse business continues.
Julie Caramante is an animal cruelty investigator for the organization called Animal’s Angels and she often works undercover.
She said that it took her three years to obtain photos that document violations of the transportation of horses taken to Beltex between January and November of 2005.
“I saw horses that were dead in trailers, with their legs ripped off, with their faces smashed in, eyeballs dangling, and these horses, some of them were still alive. They were just standing there,” said Caramante.
Many of the injuries reportedly occurred when the horses were transported on double-decker trailers designed to haul cattle.
The U.S. banned that type of action last year, but there’s a loophole, said Caramante. She says that the double-deckers can still be used to haul horses thousands of miles to feedlots, like the one in Morton, Texas. It’s owned by the Belgian company, Beltex.
“They feed them and get them fattened up. The ones that live go to El Paso and then off to the plant in Mexico,” said Caramante.
While it’s currently illegal to slaughter horses for human consumption in Texas, 11 News has found that at least two states are considering measures that would make it legal.
Those who support horse slaughter say they’d like to see it resume here in the U.S. because of laws that protect horses from cruelty. They say it is a well regulated industry that provided humane euthanasia.
“Such things are laughable. And it would be funny if it wasn’t so tragic. U.S. humane laws have done nothing for the horse,” said Long.
E-mail 11 News reporter Brad Woodard