Posted on 04/18/2014 1:26:50 PM PDT by Jim Robinson
The Bureau of Land Management is clearly having an image problem. As the outrage over its intimidating show of force during last weeks showdown at the Bundy Ranch in Nevada proved, the federal agency is now caught up in a controversy originating in Wyoming.
According to recent reports, agents herded a large group of wild horses in the state before ceding control of the majestic animals to state authorities. At that point, Wyoming officials sold them off to a slaughterhouse in Canada.
Obviously, this development outraged countless advocates already incensed by accusations that BLM officers gunned down multiple cows at the Bundy Ranch.
Paula Todd King, a wild horse advocate with Colorados Cloud Foundation, said it would have taken very little to do this in a more effective way so that horses are not just sent off to slaughter indiscriminately.
Though wild horses, which have roamed throughout the American West for hundreds of years, are protected by federal law, the BLM contends these animals do not qualify for such protection. Instead, agency spokesperson Sarah Beckwith contends they are strays descended from rodeo horses from four decades ago.
King, however, wondered how such a distinction is made.
How long does a horse have to live wild and free before its considered wild? she asked.
(Excerpt) Read more at westernjournalism.com ...
Apparently horses have birth certificates.
I’m certain PETA’s springing into action on this *sarc*
Does this mean they have done MtDNA studies on them?
Rodeo horses must die, die, die - Barack Obama
I’d like for the states to take possession of all BLM/USFS/USPS land, but I can’t imagine either of my REPUBLICAN senators - John McCain and Jeff McFlake - supporting such a move. Goodness knows, they don’t give a rat’s rear for ANY of my opinions...
However, when wild horses and cattle are competing for the same forage, I come down on the side of the cattle.
I like my little BLM mustang, but he has gone thru at least 6 owners before me. His previous owner reached the point of either shipping him off to auction (probably for slaughter in Mexico, which is an obscene option) or giving him away. After several months of offering him for free to anyone, I took him.
He’s a very sensible little fellow on the trail. A horse who has lived wild knows that running in panic gets you killed, so he watches his footing. He stays within sight of the other two horses and takes care of himself (and thus his rider). If I was in the market for another horse, I’d consider a mustang in a heartbeat, but 3 horses combined with the price of hay in southern Arizona has me maxed out. That is the problem - feral horses breed a lot more than the land can support, so either someone removes them or they destroy the land and then starve. The ‘humane’ folks generally won’t back their good feelings up with money, hay, etc. With hay here running $17/100 lb bale, there aren’t many takers for horses.
Where is PETA?
Where is the Humane Society?
Where is the Sierra Club?
Where is the Society for the protection of cruelty to animals?
Where is Hoolywod who have made millions from the movies they have made about Wild Horses?
Where are the people that hug horses when not hugging trees?
When Feudal Lord Reid of the US Bureau of Feudal Land Management tried to compensate for his senility and impotence by killing the last private herd of cattle in Clark County, Nevada all the doormat Republican Leadership in Congress did was their usual nothing.
Now feudal Lord Reid has invaded Canada to kill off the last of the Wild Horses, and ball once again is in the proverbial court of our sorry, cave-in, doormat Republican Leadership in Congress.
Impotent and senile Reid appears to be able to do whatever the doormat republican Leaders allow him to do.
BTW, has anyone noticed that Canada is not yet part of the good ol’ USA?
Maybe Obama includes Canada as one of his 57 States.
Do Canadians eat horsemeat?
The States would do this as well if they owned the land.
Yes, and remember our USDA will not fund horse slaughter in America. We lose altogether. Typical.
I don’t know your circle of horse friends or where you live, but over 75% of the horse people we know know in Oklahoma are AGAINST horse slaughter, and AGAINST opening horse slaughter houses in the U.S.A., and AGAINST horses for food.
Other than the obvious humane-related issues (e.g like eating your pet dog or cat when they pass on), sending horses to slaughter for food is nuts, as they are not raised for consumption, and can have all sorts of chemicals, antibiotics, etc. in them that are prohibited in cattle, dairy cows, poultry, swine, etc.; and wild horses can harbor diseases that are not present in normal food animals. Just unsafe as heck.
There is a horse breeding problem in the country; not a problem that will be solved by indiscriminate slaughter of these animals.
Disclaimer: we own 5 horses, and manage a horse boarding facility with over 60 board horses.
It must have been the Odumbo mask that gave away that these were rodeo horses.
>>, so that every wild horse born will be able to live to a ripe, old horse age? <<
I presume you are talking about their off-spring being able to live to a ripe, old horse age too. Exactly where do you plan on keeping these horses because right now the West is overflowing with them! They are eating themselves out of house and home. That’s why they get rounded up and sent to the slaughter houses.
If states rights becomes and issue in the next election or even the next decade, all the now public lands will be turned over to the states that legally own it. At that time just how big of a fight do you expect there will be when county voters get to decide just how much taxes they are willing to pay to let them graze to this ripe, old horse age that you so keenly desire.
I suggest that you get the Wild Horse Old-timers Association (WHOA) to start a collection fund right now.
I have no objection to horses as food. I probably won’t eat my horses when they die, but neither do I see anything immoral about eating a horse.
Horses who are slaughter can be checked for diseases, just as cattle are.
There isn’t a horse breeding problem. The problem is that horses live 30 years, and the market goes up and down several times in 30 years. My mare was a well-bred Arabian. In 2001, there was an excellent market. She comes from good CMK lines. But by 2012, I could not have sold her for over $1000. Of course, 5 years from now the market might be back...it probably would already have come back, if we didn’t have an Obama market and Harry Reid as Senate Majority Leader.
Heck, a few years ago, beef cattle were being slaughtered due to drought. Now the market for cattle is great.
In any case, the feral mustangs are not being bred for ANY market. There are few natural predators, they are very fertile, and they will reproduce and destroy the range. Once you destroy a desert range, it takes a long time to come back. Therefor, I support either killing them here, or capturing them and sending them off for food. If I can eat a deer, I can eat a horse.
They are not pets.
No, but I think our kitties and doggies do. At least our tropical fish have more taste than that.
No wonder they couldn’t drag me away. Thanks JimRob.
“Exactly where do you plan on keeping these horses . . ..?
I do not plan to keep them any place. Their numbers should be tightly controlled by whatever humane means are practicable. We have gov’t regulations for limiting the numbers of wolves and other wild animals, for the convenience, safety and other human interests and needs, such as maintaining numbers of ungulate game animals for the benefit of sport and meat hunters. Very, very few of ever see a wild horse in its “wilderness” habitat, or even really want to.
Yup, Great Image!
The action-proven purpose of the US Obama Federal Government is to destroy all private enterprises, and then confiscate all that the all-talk-and-no-action, doormat Republicans in Congress will allow them to.
Feudal Lord Reid and his Outlaw Rustler Gang recent raid on Nevada Rancher Bundy’s Ranch have made that transparently clear, beyond a “smidgen” of doubt!
BTW, what has the US Federal Government ever confiscated, Nationalized or otherwise controlled that has ever made a profit?
BTW, BTW, how much more Permanent Debt, confiscation, Nationalization and otherwise control does the Obama Federal Government have to do to qualify the United States of America as an Official Third World Country?
Is that “Tex” Reid sitting on top of Mitch McConnell ?
>>Very, very few of ever see a wild horse in its wilderness habitat, or even really want to.<<
Come to Nevada. We’ve got more horses than we do coyotes.
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