Once preparation for adoption is completed, and the animals have fully transitioned to a diet of domestic feed and hay, they will be ready for shipment to adoption venues and be available to the public for adoption through the BLM’s Adopt-A-Horse or Burro Program. A future adoption event for some Calico horses will be held at the BLM’s Palomino Valley Facility near Sparks, NV.
Animal Cruelty Issues:
Unspeakable Horror in New Orleans: (please sign petition below): Monday, February 22, 2010 Couple Commits Horrid Act of Violence New Orleans, LA - Earlier this week, New Orleans police arrested Richard and Marian Kreutzer on charges of severe animal cruelty and neglect after more than 130 corpses of dogs and other animals were discovered buried in their backyard. The discovery was made after the house had been sold and the new owners were digging flower beds. "We found the first few bodies and thought nothing of it." The current homeowners commented. "We thought that maybe they had just not marked where their pets were buried. But when we kept finding bodies all over the yard, some one on top of the other, we knew something was wrong." All in all, it took 10 people over 6 hours to exhume all of the remains and police speculate that there could be more buried deeper. "There really is no way of knowing exactly how long this went on." An officer stated. "They could have been at this for years." Early examination of some of the fresher remains shows that they endured severe torture both pre and post mortum. Burns, lacerations and dismemberment to name a few. The animal rights community in Louisiana is currently in outrage over these events and is calling for the couple to be jailed for life. "Never should people like these be allowed to walk free." Said one protester outside the prison where the couple is currently being held. The police have yet declined to comment on exactly how the Kreutzer's came to have so many animals but have noted that more than 30 were shelter rescues and most of their remains still contained microchip implants. "It make me sick to my stomach." Noted an employee of a local animal shelter. "They killed so many of these animals that wanted nothing more than a loving forever-home." The couple has been set to be arraigned next week. You may sign a current petition to see to it that these monsters get the maximum sentence allowable by clicking here or following the link below. (The text links don't always work.) http://www.thepetitionsite.com/186/justice-for-murdered-shelter-animals INFO FROM THE PETITION: Justice For Murdered Shelter Animals Target: New Orleans Municipal Court Sponsored by: CLAWS Help us bring justice to the 130 animals slaughtered by this vicious couple by making your voices heard and demanding that the perpetrators of this horrendous crime recieve the maximum sentence! The full story can be viewed here: http://coloradoclaws
Prices soaring for unwanted horses
by John Holland
March 18, 2009
The auctions call them “loose” horses because they are run through the auction ring without riders and are sold mostly to “killer buyers”. Slaughter advocates including the AQHA (American Quarter Horse Association) call them “unwanted” horses because they clog up the market for new foals and new registration fees. But whatever you call them, they are suddenly in increasingly short supply.
The last three horse slaughter plants in the US were closed in 2007, but the industry quickly shifted to exporting the horses for slaughter in Canada and Mexico. By the middle of 2008, there were more horse slaughter houses killing American horses than at any time in the past decade. Yet the closings galvanized the meat packing industry which saw them as a dangerous victory for “animal rights advocates” and their perceived “vegan agenda”.
Within weeks of the first closings, countless anecdotal stories began appearing about how America is awash in unwanted horses. Lawmakers in almost a dozen agricultural states have put forward initiatives aimed at bringing slaughter back to the US, based largely on these accounts. But the actual sales statistics from the horse auctions tell a very different story.
For example the New Holland auction in Pennsylvania is one of the largest slaughter auctions in the country. In October of 2008, they sold a total of 815 slaughter grade horses at an average price of $323, but despite rapidly worsening economic conditions, by February that number had dropped by 28% to 582 horses and the average price had risen by 31.6% to $425. It is largely the same story at auctions across the country.
Leroy Baker, owner of the Sugar Creek Auction in Ohio, has been heard publicly assigning the shortage of sellers to bad publicity including an HBO documentary about race horses going to slaughter through his auction.
Moreover, the USDA recently fined Baker an unprecedented $162,800 for numerous violations of the Commercial Transport of Equines to Slaughter Act (CTESA). The act prohibits the transport to slaughter of late term pregnant mares, foals, blind horses and horses that cannot support their weight on all four legs; prohibits the use of double deck trailers; and specifies minimal rest and feeding intervals.
And Baker has not been the only source of bad publicity for the horse slaughter industry. In response to a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request, the USDA recently disclosed 900 pages of photos documenting some of the grizzliest violations imaginable that occurred at the Texas slaughter plants prior to their being ordered closed in 2007.
The photos, which were taken in an attempt to enforce compliance with the CTESA, show horses with horrific injuries ranging from severed legs to crushed skulls. Still other photos show blind horses, newborn foals and even a mare standing on the unloading docks with her placenta still draping to the manure covered floor.
The exposure of these photos was a double embarrassment to the AVMA (American Veterinary Medicine Association). The evidence surfaced just as the AVMA was getting traction on a well financed PR campaign to convince lawmakers that the US plants should be reopened because they had been more humane.
Every indication is that the supply of unwanted horses will only get worse because production has been destroyed. The reason for this lies in the nature of the source of slaughter horses.
Contrary to popular perception, most horses sent to slaughter are not old, but young and healthy. They are largely the “culls” from an industry that over breeds in a quest for perfection. When times are good, the profits are made on the best foals and the culls (be they slow race horses or simply horses of the wrong color) are dumped to slaughter.
But the market for top grade riding and performance horses has tanked, once again proving the old adage “The best way to make a small fortune in horses is to start with a large one.” So breeders have cut back. With less breeding there are fewer culls.
Some breeders liquidated in response to the low horse prices and high feed prices, while still others were forced out of the business when their properties were lost to foreclosure.
A Kentucky breeder, for example, gave away his entire prized Arab bloodline to keep the horses from going to slaughter.
And the “kill auctions” are losing yet another source of horses. Slammed by bad publicity, an increasing number of horse tracks have put in place “zero tolerance” programs that ban owners and trainers caught selling their horses to slaughter. In October, the Magna Entertainment Corporation announced that all nine of their tracks would have a zero tolerance policy and they were quickly joined by at least three other tracks.
Kill buyers have adapted to the shortage in a number of ways, including placing ads on sites like Craig’s List. In one memorable case, a kill buyer and his wife showed up at the seller’s house saying they thought the horse would be a perfect starter horse for their young daughter. The horse was a Thoroughbred (racing) stallion.
But there remains one possible reservoir of unwanted horses. Since the first plants were closed in Texas, there have been countless unsubstantiated stories about horses being abandoned. Some slaughter advocates have estimated that as many as 170,000 such horses were abandoned just last year. This valuable pool of unwanted horses could serve as a kind of “petroleum reserve” for the horse slaughter industry if only they could be found. And for that matter, there are always the unicorns.
--------------
John Holland is a freelance writer and the author of three books. He frequently writes on the subject of horse slaughter from his small farm in the mountains of Virginia, where he lives with his wife, Sheilah, and their 12 equines. Holland is a charter member of the Equine Welfare Alliance and serves as senior analyst for Americans Against Horse Slaughter, an organization composed entirely of volunteers.
John Holland PO Box 386 Shawsville, VA 24162 540-268-5693
Take action! -- click here to contact your local newspaper or congress people: Support H.R.503 to end horse slaughter
Click here to see the most recent messages sent to congressional reps and local newspapers
BLM Statement regarding Madeleine Pickens' Wild Horse Sanctuary Proposal
3/17/09
The Bureau of Land Management is grateful to Madeleine Pickens for her interest in helping the BLM deal with the challenges of managing wild horses and burros, both on and off Western public rangelands. The BLM is committed to continuing its discussions with Mrs. Pickens to address these challenges, which include the effective management of wild horses and burros and the protection of taxpayer dollars expended through the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program.
Last November, Mrs. Pickens offered to take over the care of thousands of wild horses that the BLM holds in facilities across the United States by setting up a private foundation that would care for the animals at no cost to the government, potentially saving American taxpayers millions of dollars.
Mrs. Pickens’ more recent proposal seeks a BLM stipend of $500 per horse, per year for the life of each horse. Under this plan, Mrs. Pickens' foundation would first take about 10,000 wild horses currently in BLM short-term holding facilities (corrals), the costs of which are significantly greater to the BLM than those of keeping horses in long-term holding (pastures).
To realize these potential savings to the BLM, however, Mrs. Pickens’ sanctuary plan would need to meet certain requirements for wild horse management. First, Mrs. Pickens’ plan to care for these animals at $500 per horse, per year is similar to the long-term holding contracts that the BLM currently has with private landowners in the Midwest, where about 22,000 unadopted or unsold animals are cared for at an annual cost of about $475 per horse. The animals graze on private pastures in Oklahoma, Kansas, and South Dakota, where forage and water are abundant. In contrast to these annual contracts, Mrs. Pickens has asked the BLM to commit to lifetime payments. Because Congress appropriates the agency’s funding on an annual basis, the BLM is not authorized to make such an unlimited commitment.
Second, Mrs. Pickens’ plan proposes to take the animals from private pastures and facilities and instead graze them on private and public lands on a large ranch in Nevada. However, current Federal law prohibits the BLM from using allotments associated with that ranch for grazing wild horses. The Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act restricts animals to the areas where they were found roaming when the Act was passed in 1971. Unfortunately, none of the BLM grazing allotments that Mrs. Pickens proposes for her sanctuary were areas where wild horses roamed in 1971.
Congress would have to amend the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act to address this aspect of Mrs. Pickens' proposal.
As an alternative, the BLM has offered to advertise a holding contract on private land and welcomes a bid from Mrs. Pickens’ foundation. Open bidding on such a contract would ensure that taxpayers get the maximum benefit from their investment.
The BLM is committed to working with Congress, stakeholders, and the public to ensure the welfare of wild horses and burros, both on and off public rangelands, while also protecting these Western lands from the destructive effects of herd overpopulation.
History of Sheldon Hart
In the late 1800s, a whirlwind of men, women, and their livestock swept into the dry sagebrush country of southeastern Oregon and northern Nevada. With the native Indians displaced, cowboys and sheepmen drove their herds from horizon to horizon, seriously overgrazing most of the land. Horses were known to inhabit the area of NW Nevada at the turn of the century. The horses in Sage Hen hills and Gooch table were typical small mustangs. Ranchers frequently caught wild horses, and turned their saddle horses loose on the range. Many saddle horses disappeared into the wild horse herds. Brood mares ran free, and were gathered at weaning time. In the early part of the century, many private lands were fenced, but open BLM rangeland had no fencing. Horses, both wild and domestic from many ranches over a large landscape could mix. At each gather, several brands were represented, as well as unbranded mustangs. On what was to become Sheldon NWR, saddle horses that had originated in the Wilson herd, returned to their home territory from the ZX Ranch in Paisley, Oregon, over 120 miles away.
The famous ranchers, Miller and Lux, ran cattle on Sheldon and Hart Mountain and the surrounding area in the early part of the 1900s. These ranchers used well-bred standardbred horses because they are large, can go all day in the rocks, and are calmer than thoroughbred horses. They also raised a few mules. The horses in the Big Spring herd, which have long manes and tails, feathered legs, and are bays, grays, and blacks, may be descended from some of Miller’s horses. Harry Wilson worked as buckaroo boss for Miller and Lux. In the second decade of the 1900s, Miller and Lux went broke.
Harry Wilson bought out Miller’s mares and went into business with the federal government as the only ranch in the area raising horses for the army. Wilson provided standardbred mares from Miller’s remuda, and the government furnished him with thoroughbred studs. Wilson’s horses were all colors except pinto. At one time he had 27 palomino saddle horses. Wilson usually had over 1700 head of horses at any one time. His horses ran over more than a million acres from High Rock and Yellow Hills north to the Oregon border, including all of Sheldon NWR. In this area there were no fences. In summer the horses were gathered, sorted, and gelded. They were driven in huge herds to Cedarville or Alturas, CA, from Alkali Ranch, located on what is now Sheldon NWR, a distance of 60-80 miles over rough ground. At nights, the horses were herded in shifts. The buckaroos found that as soon as the horses left their native territories, they were more tractable and easier to manage. One or 2 buckaroos led the horses about 200-300 yards in front. The other herders rode beside and behind the herd. Much of the horse drive was done at a trot or lope. The first day, they made it to Coyote. The second day to Massacre. The 3rd day they reached 49 Mountain and entered the Surprise Valley. The horses were kept in the fenced fields of local ranchers overnight. The 4th day, they were driven through Deep Creek to the railroad yards south of Alturas. The last big drive occurred in 1946, when 450 horses were herded by 12 men.
The government got the first pick of geldings for remounts, purchasing them green and unhandled. Wilson could sell the rest as he wished. Kern County Country and Land Co. in central California (Glenn County) bought most of the surplus horses. The ZX ranch was the 2nd buyer. Local ranches purchased Wilson’s horses as well. Wilson also provided bucking stock to Alturas and Cedarville, CA, rodeos for 10-15 years. He raised horses into the 1940s. At that time the government was mechanizing, and quit purchasing horses. Harry Wilson assumes that after the government ceased needing horses for the war, the animals were slaughtered.
In the 1930s, Sheldon was set aside as public land to protect the rapidly-declining pronghorn population from over hunting, and secondarily to supply a source of forage for domestic livestock. Sheldon was managed jointly by the BLM and the FWS for domestic livestock grazing and wildlife. In the late 1930s, pintos were introduced into the gene pool accidentally by the Sheldon Refuge manager, John Sharp, when his horses got loose. During the depression era, money was scarce, and many horses were killed for their hides, which brought $.75 each.
In the late 1940s, the BLM wanted to get rid of horses on the range because they were utilizing too many cattle AUMs. Marvin Meyer used an airplane to gather horses from Shoestring Valley, which runs into Cottonwood Canyon, south of the refuge. He also gathered the Alkali and Virgin Valley Ranch areas, and Big Springs on the refuge. He captured 1725 horses. 750 of them were branded and owned by local ranchers. The rest were oreanas. 90% of the oreanas were shipped to an area north of Sacramento to be made into chicken feed. Meyer used Monatha or Paratha horses (Judas horses) to lead the wild ones into the traps. The wings were made of sagebrush and rope, and led into willow stockades of upright mountain mahogany and juniper trunks cabled together.
In 1941, Harry Wilson converted his horse operation to cows. In 1945 he bought the Royal Peacock mine for his wife. He continued to raise horses in the Horse Pasture at Alkali Ranch, but switched to the quarter horse type. Wild horses were still plentiful, and the Ray Perry field south of Alkali Lake was the trap. Buckaroos would hold horses at the canyon wall for 2-3 hours until Nellie, the Judas horse, was turned loose. She led the wild horses into the stockade corrals at Alkali Ranch. Hay was cut for horses in the Alkali Ranch meadows. The Virgin Valley Ranch meadows were hayed for cows.
The government leased land to several cattle companies throughout the 1940s, 50s, and 60s, and their horses added to the genetic mix of wild horses on Sheldon NWR. In 1976, the Game Range Bill (P.L. 92-223) transferred jurisdiction of Sheldon from joint BLM-FWS management to FWS to be managed as part of the National Wildlife Refuge System. Sole jurisdiction eliminated the ongoing problem of conflicting management purposes.
Between 1980 and 1994, the legendary horse catcher, John Rattray, was hired to gather horses on Sheldon. He did his gathers by horseback, and kept the refuge horse population low. He prides himself for improving the horse herds by turning back the best horses. He was a bucking stock contractor, and kept some horses for bucking stock. He sold the rest at auction.
In 1999, Sheldon experienced a large wildfire and was consequently funded to gather 240 horses. Money to catch horses was provided by the Burned Area Emergency Rehabilitation fund for the purpose of keeping horses off the rehabilitating burned area. All horses were adopted out by the contractor who gathered the horses.
Sheldon Horse Update
Fish & Wildlife to proceed with removal of wild horses. Loss of one of our American Heritages not far off.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today released the final Environmental Assessment (EA) documenting its proposed action for managing non-native horses and burros at Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge (Sheldon) in Northwestern Nevada. Populations of non-native horses and burros on Sheldon’s lands exceed the refuge’s carrying capacity and are destroying habitat important for native fish and wildlife species. Sheldon’s Horse and Burro Management Program seeks to reduce destruction of important wildlife habitat by reducing horse and burro population numbers to management objective levels. This will be accomplished by periodic roundups and a horse and burro adoption and placement program, which would move horses and burros off refuge lands in a humane manner.
The Service’s proposed action includes minor refinements to the current program including modifying the corral system to reconfigure large pens to safer small pens and improve the water delivery system, testing the use of contraception to reduce the rate of horse population growth, and exploring techniques for marking animals. The modifications are expected to increase the efficiency of holding and sorting horses, and reducing risks to animals and personnel. The Service’s proposed action would be implemented until a Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP) for the refuge is completed. Development of the CCP is scheduled to begin later this year and conclude in 2010.
The Service considered a reasonable range of alternatives in the EA for managing populations of non-native horses and burros on the Sheldon Refuge. These alternatives ranged from discontinuing the current program to using private contractors or Service employees to run the program and arrange for adoptions. The alternatives were developed based on several factors, including: past experiences of Service personnel familiar with horse and burro management on the Refuge; review of many scientific, planning, and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) documents developed by the Service, other agencies, and non-governmental parties; review of public comments received during the scoping period; review of information provided on horse-management related web sites; and discussions with interested, affected, and knowledgeable parties. The final EA was adjusted to reflect input received from more than 770 public comments received during the 37-day comment period after release of the Draft EA.
The Service expects to implement the Horse and Burro Management Program beginning July 30, 2007. A copy of the final Environmental Assessment can be obtained on the Service’s website: http://www.fws.gov/sheldonhartmtn/ sheldon/horseburro.html Questions can be e-mailed to sheldon-hart@fws.gov.
