Has it occurred to anyone else that, if a politican looks at a horse slaughter as a means to and end to get their little bite of appropriations pork, they probably don't hold us in much higher regard?
Posted on 11/26/2004 5:37:54 PM PST by mommadooo3
Congress Approves Mustang Slaughter
PLEASE HELP, PLEASE PASS ON.......................
Stealthily tucked within a much larger appropriations bill (HR 4818) while no one was watching, Congress approved measures this weekend to end 33 years of Federal protection for an America Treasure, our "Living Legends" - wild free-roaming horses and burros on public lands. This bill seems to have broadsided everyone, including many BLM personnel, who had drafted their own plans to handle the problem, and thought their plan would work. Since both House and Senate have already passed it, the only hope left is to get Bush not to sign it - which he will do tomorrow, unless enough public outcry can be generated within the next less-than-24 hours.
The Wild Horse & Burro Act was signed into law in 1971, after a long campaign led by Velma Johnson, "Wild Horse Annie" and thousands of school children. Congress received more mail about wild horses than about Viet Nam. In today's crisis-weary world, is this the end for America's wild horses?
LINK to bill: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/Z?r108:H19NO4-0085:e758617:247850 The BLM part is about 1/3 of the way down the page.
I would suggest to EVERYONE you can get hold of, through phone calls, e-mails, chat rooms, equestrian sites, etc, anything......get them to call the president's comment line, fax letters to the fax number, and to e-mail both the president and vice president IMMEDIATELY. Please pass on to everyone for immediate action. Currently there are over 23,000 wild horses in holding facilities within BLM and their contract sanctuaries. 1100 new horses are being gathered from the Calico Mountains this month and next. If this passes, ALL, could potentially be sold to slaughter.
President Bush president@whitehouse.gov
VP Cheney vice.president@whitehouse.gov
202-456-1111 phone 202-456-2461 fax
Calico mountains horses slated to be gathered this month. Will they go to slaughter?
Tuesday, November 23, 2004 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Congress passes less-restrictive wild horse bill
Measure sparks concern among animal activists who say it opens door to killing
By SAMANTHA YOUNG STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON -- Aging wild horses and those that cannot be auctioned off as pets could be sold for slaughter under a bill that Congress passed over the weekend.
The legislation immediately sparked concern among wild horse advocates who said it could lead to the killing of thousands of healthy horses as the government drives to reduce herds on public lands.
Wild horses older than 10 or those that have unsuccessfully been put up for adoption three times may be sold "without limitations," at local sale yards or livestock facilities, according to the bill.
"If someone under this program can now buy 300 horses and ship them to a slaughter house people will start making money," said Howard Crystal, attorney for the Fund for Animals. "I would expect under this law we're going to have far higher numbers of horses going to slaughter."
The bill strips from federal law a clause that no wild free-roaming horse or burro can be sold or transferred for processing into commercial products.
The provision was tucked into a 3,000-page year-end spending bill that lawmakers largely completed on Saturday.
Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., chairman of the appropriations subcommittee that funds the Bureau of Land Management, placed the measure into the bill after consulting with Sense. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and Harry Reid, D-Nev., Burns spokeswoman Jennifer O'Shea said.
"We've got to get the number of animals down to appropriate management levels and keep them there, but do it in a way that doesn't bankrupt us," Burns said in a statement. "This language is a step in the right direction. It gives BLM another tool to help get this under control."
Lawmakers have grown increasingly frustrated with the BLM's handling of the wild horse program, whose costs have skyrocketed as more and more horses have been taken off the range and placed into government-run holding fa- cilities.
Giving the BLM the authority to sell those horses could solve the agency's long-standing budget problems while allowing the agency to continue gathering thousands of wild horses from the public lands, a Senate aide said.
For each horse that is placed in a long-term holding facility, the BLM spends about $465 annually, or about $6.8 million a year.
The agency estimates there are about 36,000 horses in the wild, roughly 7,000 more than the government contends the land can sustain.
BLM spokeswoman Celia Boddington declined to comment on the congressional action.
"We've not yet reviewed the language," she said.
Unlike the adoption program, in which buyers are limited to four horses and must sign an affidavit promising not sell the horse to slaughter, the new sales would not have such restrictions, Senate aides said.
BLM officials long have contended that adopters don't want to buy older horses, forcing the government to place them at the long-term holding facilities at taxpayer expense.
In fiscal 2004, the BLM adopted out 6,650 horses out of the 9,900 horses it gathered from the range. The rest were sent to long-term sanctuaries in the Midwest.
Crystal said the new law would empower the BLM to round up herds of horses for adoption, knowing that many could later be sold for profit.
"You could have an adoption of year-old horses on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday with no advertising, and then sell to people at a yard sale," Crystal said.
Chris Heyed, a policy analyst with the Society for Animal Protective Legislation, called Congress' latest move "a systematic attack on wild horses."
"There is no other real other intent of dumping them into the market and slaughter is the only outlet," Heyed said.
In addition, the bill makes clear that it is no longer a crime to sell an aging or horse for slaughter, Crystal said.
These horses are an integral part of our American heritage.
They may be just a 'dumb horse' to some. But then again, there was the issue of a 'dumb bird/bald eagle' to some.
And like any OTHER of GOD'S creatures, they have NO VOICE, unless WE speak up for them.
BLM talks about their 'aging horses'. But YET, if 'you' were to talk to the horse pros, you'd find that the horses are not considered 'contest worthy' UNLESS they are 10-12 y.o.!(barrel-racers...dressage...etc) AND, if you want a horse that is kid-safe/bomb-proof, you look for a horse that is 10 y.o. or OVER.
I HOPE there are enough horsey/pet-minded FReepers who will speak up for these magnificant animals that are so near and dear to the Lord's heart.
If the horses are near and dear to the Lord's heart, I'm sure he will find a way to save them.
I'll speak up for them. What is the best thing to do? Email the prez?
Has it occurred to anyone else that, if a politican looks at a horse slaughter as a means to and end to get their little bite of appropriations pork, they probably don't hold us in much higher regard?
Thinning them out is way overdue!
All they are good for is dog food.
I know you're not a PETA type. These horse are an asthetic and historic part of our history. This is the type of legislation that will make money for a few commericial types and would only have been slipped into legislation because some friend of a Senator lined their pockets to get it in there.
This type of thing has no other valid purpose.
The folks in DC are there to do whatever they can to perpetuate themselves and their buddies as long as what they do results in $$ and power..that's the name of the game. And it is a damned shame. I say throw them all out.
I have a buddy that is an extreme conservative and Bush supporter and an American Indian [her term] and will be really POed to read this one. You don't have to be a commie liberal to be against this one.
I am horrified at this, and will do the contacts. I hope it helps, but I won't hold my breath!
Sorry, wild horses are not indigenous to North America. They were introduced by the Spanish and are crowding out native vegetation and other wild life. They are inbred and most of them are not pet quality. This is not a Disney Flick. We are spending millions of tax payer dollars on a nuisance that is getting out of control.
Meanie!
Wrong! These horses are a non native invasive species and should be removed from the land. It always amazes me that the same environmentalists who rave about over grazing by cattle do nothing to fight this non native grazer.
the only hope left is to get Bush not to sign it - which he will do tomorrow, unless enough public outcry can be generated within the next less-than-24 hours.
I was one of those school children back in '71, and signed one of those letters.
And I'm not a PETA type either.
I grew up in a "horse town," and slowly watched our local culture and heritage circle the drain as more and more development barged in. If the wild horses out on the plains don't speak of our American heritage as a whole, I don't know what does.
What harm are they doing?
Doesn't FR have a Saddle Club to ping on this issue?
There are more animals than the land can carry. Either humanely slaughter some or watch all the animals suffer and starve for months until enough die slowly to make room.
SO9
THANK YOU for your concern and interest.
Hmmm, well let's take a closer look at Equus cabalus. It might interest you and others to know that the horse first evolved on the North American continent some 55 million years ago. It vanished from this continent only about 8,000 years ago -- due both to environmental changes and human predation. See this link for more details:
http://www.pbs.org/wildhorses/wh_origin/wh_origin.html
Further, if we want to measure worth based on breeding, then I guess the cheetah isn't worth protection either, since it is severely inbred. Many, including myself, would even argue that we humans would have to include ourselves in that number, since there is more genetic variation in a single troop of chimpanzees than there is in the entire human clade. I don't have the citation for the last statement handy, but I can dig it up, if you insist.
Finally, we are spending many millions more on an even bigger nuisance -- illegal aliens -- than we ever will on horses. We need to get our priorities straight.
well hold on -- most of us are a non-native, too.
i don't know what to think of this measure, but i'm not going to make illogical comments like saying anything brought over is a waste of space.
let's not help the DUmmies make claims about our reasoning skills.
conservative thought deserves better than that.
ping:'(
The Spanish Mustang is a very tough pony......endurance is awesome.
Thanks for this alert.
I wish that we could switch our fedgov with these ponies.
We'd be much better off.
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