Posted on 02/24/2005 1:05:27 PM PST by Willie Green
For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.
RENO, Nev. - For the first time in more than a generation, the mustang - the very symbol of the American West - can be slaughtered for horsemeat.
In December, Congress repealed the 34-year-old ban on the slaughter of the wild horses that run free across the West. The move has brought a powerful backlash from activists, who want to reinstate full protection for the mustangs.
"It is really a slap in the face to the American people," said Betty Kelly, co-founder of the horse protection group Wild Horse Spirit in Virginia City, Nev.
Acting on behalf of ranchers who say the horses eat forage needed by cattle, Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., attached the amendment in December to a spending bill that President Bush signed into law.
It allows for the sale for slaughter of some older and unwanted horses that are captured during the periodic government roundups aimed at reducing the wild population, now estimated at 33,000 across 10 Western states. About 19,000 of the horses are in Nevada.
A bill to reinstate the slaughter ban was introduced in Congress last month.
Responsibilty for rounding up horses on federal land and selling them rests with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which has yet to send any of the animals to slaughter.
BLM officials said the agency is reaching out to animal protection groups and is optimistic that before the summer, it will find new homes for the 8,900 horses and burros that could be subject to slaughter.
"We realize it is a challenge, but we think there are owners out there that would provide the kind of care we are looking for," BLM spokesman Tom Gorey said from Washington, D.C.
The issue has dogged the Interior Department and Congress since Nevada's Velma Johnson, also known as Wild Horse Annie, and a legion of schoolchildren persuaded Congress to outlaw the use of motor vehicles to hunt the mustangs in 1959. That was followed by the Wild Horse and Burro Protection Act of 1971.
Sylvia Fascio, a fifth-generation Nevada horse breeder, said there are too many wild horses roaming the BLM land next to her ranch, and some should be sold for slaughter.
"I enjoy the wild horses. I'm blessed to live out here among them and it's a very romantic thought. But there is such a thing as reality," Fascio said. "Since they can't seem to find homes for all of these horses all of the time, there is only one thing left. There are foreign countries that eat horsemeat. We don't now, but we did during World War II. I see nothing wrong with that."
The fate of the horses is also a question of cultural values, according to Mike Schroeder, a Washington state wildlife biologist. "I think of them more as livestock. But a lot of tribes I work with think of them as wildlife that should not be touched," he said in a speech to a Western Governors Association conference earlier this month.
It is a volatile issue. Scott Freeman, a defense attorney in Reno, defended one of three young men who were accused - and eventually acquitted of most charges - in the 1998 shooting deaths of 33 horses on the edge of Reno. The shootings outraged animal protection groups around the world and led to death threats against Freeman.
"I have lots of experience doing homicide cases, but I have never experienced the emotional outburst I did with the horse case," he said. "The rallying cry was for the defenseless animals and that the individuals - who in my case turned out to be innocent - should basically be strung up."
Burns said the repeal of the slaughter ban is necessary to manage the herds and protect the range. The measure allows the sale of horses more than 10 years old, as well as any that go unadopted three offerings in a row.
The BLM said it believes the 37,000 free-roaming wild horses and burros on the range are about 9,000 more than natural food supplies can sustain. Its aim is to bring the population down to about 28,000.
BLM Director Kathleen Clarke said the agency already is getting some responses in its effort to find homes for the animals and hopes to find a solution "in a way we feel good about."
ON THE NET: http://www.wildhorseandburro.blm.gov
BTT!!!!!!
which is better eating........a 6 or 8 cylinder Mustang?
We use it for dog and cat food.
Lots more horses and burros would be adopted except for all the goobermint redtape and restrictions.
A certain pasture and corral and other amenities that most folks don't offer their animals and they can't be bred for 3 or 5 years or some such....I honestly don't know all the particulars, just what I have overheard in other's conversations.
Main reason is folks don't want to give some civil service employee the unfettered right to just walk on their property at will and go nosying around.
AH A VEGITARIAN. This explains it. Vegitarians all love to tell everyone else what they can and cannot eat.
The whole thing stinks. The unadoptable horses sitting in holding pens, the idea that wild horses are rounded up to make room for private cattle on public lands, the sale of any horse to slaughter makes me sad... All of it does. I really really can't think of one thing on the planet people have actually improved.
So there's a cheerful ping.
Very volatile issue here in Nevada. Very little that the BLM or Congress does is to our benefit (Nevada) so we aren't surprised. Our own Harry Reid was in on this, again, no surprise.
The difference is more evident if you put a saddle on a pig or cow and try to ride it somewhere.
I don't know the particulars about other restrictions, but one of the restrictions that does make sense is the specification that fencing must be safe wood or pipe fencing or something equally strong and tall enough. A wild horse will go right through a barbed wire or electric fence. They aren't like our pets.
These horses need to be culled, just like any other wild game.
They have no natural predators anymore, and exceed the lands ability to feed them.
I have witnessed plenty of sickly animals coming into populated areas for easier food sources.
If you don't understand wildlife management and practices, and why they are used,you should not even comment. You would be better off asking questions.
I never have used a saddle.:-)
They aren't being cleared out to allow enough forage for native species, they are being cleared out to make room for privately owned cattle who lease pasture rights on public land. Argue the benefits of that, if you wish, but it has nothing to do with nature.
They actually are sent that way, unfortunately. I know a shady horse dealer that sells slaughter cases at auction, and that is the preferred method of shipment. The Frenchies prefer to have the "product" to be "alive" when it reaches France, plus they have some special way of cutting the meat. Like I said, I'm not against slaughtering them, it's the lack of accountability that the US has. We're supposed to be the world leader, and we're stooping to French and Korean level just to be rid of a problem.
Thanks for the suggestion to censor myself. I think I'll pass. There are plenty of other ways to control the population, like auctions and sterilization. Just to knee-jerk and say kill the bastards is not only lame (pardon the pun), but unimaginative and not very productive in the long run.
Horse meat does not sell for hundreds of dollars a pound. Actually, the number of horses sent to slaughter in the US has dropped considerablly in the last few years. The wild horse situation in this country is a mess. These animals are not special. They are simply feral horses that no one wanted, just like all the feral cats and dogs in this country. Just because they have established themselves in the wild, doesn't mean they belong there. Horses are extremely hard on land and can destroy the habitat for the real wildlife
The government has done the horse a disservice by getting into the horse business. They sell (or adopt) out animals that under cut the prices legitimate horse breeders can get. These animals generally go to inexperienced people and there are a lot o horror stories out there both horse and people injuries.
As a long time breeder on Quarter horses it's the pits having the government undercutting your business with products sold way below cost. Adding to that is the movement to ban all horse slaughter. The slaughter market has always put a floor under price of horses. Now the market is terrible. I fear that many animals will be left to starve if they have no value. I have never sold a horse for slaughter, but sometimes it's the only humane option.
From the West coast, they are shipped to Japan. I hear they ship most horses intended for human consumption overseas live since there are few, or no horse slaughter houses here that bother with USDA human consumption standards.
It's never the only humane option. It isn't a humane option at all. It might be the only option that will make money. Just be to make you clear. :~)
There is no logical reason to protect them for any reason at all.IMO. Same thing with the burros, mules and all the rest.
It is insane and it not something that epitomizes what once was. There is nothing to save here. Nothing to protect but utterly nonsensical opinions of domesticated city dwellers who have no clue.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.