Category: KDCL Media

Are wild horses & burros being categorized for slaughter?

debbiecoffey's avatarStraight from the Horse's Heart

Terry Fitch of Wild Horse Freedom Federation at Palomino Valley

SOURCE:  The Cloud Foundation

Press Release:  For immediate release

Are Wild Horses being Categorized for Slaughter?

Colorado Springs, CO 07-01-2017 – The Cloud Foundation received an anonymous tip that Department of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and/or top Bureau of Land Management officials have ordered all wild horses currently in short term holding facilities be categorized by weight and age in anticipation of the approval of the federal budget.  The current recommendation for this budget would allow for “sale without limitation” many or most of the wild horses currently in holding.  This, of course, can eventually lead to the barbaric slaughter of our iconic wild horses.  The tipster stated that this categorization was to ensure the BLM was ready to ”ship out” horses older than five years of age.  The only place to “ship out” these horses would be to slaughter. …

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Speak Up for Wild Horses — Before It’s Too Late!

R.T. Fitch's avatarStraight from the Horse's Heart

Source: Return to Freedom and endorsed by Wild Horse Freedom Federation

“At Wild Horse Freedom Federation we stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Return to Freedom and their call for immediate action to save our dwindling wild horse and burro herds.  You can make a difference and the time to make that difference is “right now’.

Please take the actions, listed below, and be a voice for those who cannot speak for themselves.” ~ R.T. Fitch, co-founder/president of Wild Horse Freedom Federation

photo by Carol Walker of Wild Horse Freedom Federation and Living Images

Word from Washington, D.C., is that it has been too quiet from wild horse & burro supporters. We must turn that around – *NOW* — before thousands of wild horses and burros are lost to foreign slaughterhouses or felled by bullets paid for by our own tax dollars.

Here’s how you can help America’s wild horses &…

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ANIMAL CRUELTY CASE VS. U.S. FOREST SERVICE SIDELINED

debbiecoffey's avatarStraight from the Horse's Heart

Source:  PEER (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility)

Map of Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests

Two Horses and a Mule Died of Dehydration in Arizona’s Apache-Sitgreaves Forest

Washington, DC — An attempt to criminally prosecute U.S. Forest Service employees for acts of cruelty to animals resulting in the death of two horses and a mule has been dropped, according to court records posted today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).  The dismissals followed an assertion of federal sovereign immunity in order to block prosecution in state court.

More than most federal agencies, the U.S. Forest Service uses horses and mules in its daily operations. Consequently, care and maintenance of equine livestock is an important duty on many national forests.

But there was a major breakdown of those responsibilities on the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest in Arizona.  In May of 2016, two horses (named Snip and Diesel) and a mule (named Little Bit) were…

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From Animal Welfare Institute: USDA Still Stonewalling on Access to Enforcement Records — Straight from the Horse’s Heart

” When BuzzFeed, which consulted with AWI for an April 28 story on the issue, filed a Freedom of Information Act request for records pertaining to the site scrub, the USDA provided 1,771 pages of records with every single page completely blacked out—all information redacted.” – Animal Welfare Institute SOURCE: Animal Welfare Institute at awionline.org […]

via From Animal Welfare Institute: USDA Still Stonewalling on Access to Enforcement Records — Straight from the Horse’s Heart

Journalists are in love with cowboys, and so wild horses will die.

Vickery Eckhoff's avatarVickery Eckhoff

Ryan Zinke, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, U.S. Secretary of the Interior

I’ve made a subspecialty out of writing to journalists about wild horses and, more importantly, cattle.

Below is a letter I wrote to Matthew Shaer of Smithsonian, whose May 2017 article, “How the Mustang, the Symbol of the Frontier, Became a Nuisance,”  is typical of how journalists cover wild horses. It is also typical of what senators can expect to hear today, June 21, when U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke testifies before the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee in support of the Trump budget plan, which will lift Congress’ ban on removing protections for wild horses and burros and selling them for slaughter.

This is not journalism that speaks truth to power. My solution is to speak truth to journalism. Here’s my letter, dated May 5, 2017:

Dear Mr. Shaer,

I read your Smithsonian article, “How the Mustang, the Symbol of the Frontier, Became a…

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Wild Horses Heading For Extinction: The Bureau Of Land Management And The Facts

R.T. Fitch's avatarStraight from the Horse's Heart

By Capt. William E. Simpson as published Western Journalism

“Any person or any agency who says that wild horses are not native to North America is just uneducated…”

First of all, let’s set the record straight:

photo by Terry Fitch of Wild Horse Freedom Federation

Wild horses are an American native species, according to Ross MacPhee, Ph.D., Curator of the Division of Vertebrate Zoology at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

Given this man’s impeccable credentials and experience, his findings are beyond reproach or debate.

Here is an article by Dr. MacPhee that is crystal-clear: Wild horses are native to America.

This finding is also shared by many other highly credible scientists, including Dr. Jay F. Kirkpatrick.

Any person or any agency who says that wild horses are not native to North America is just uneducated, misinformed or intentionally lying for some reason, usually motivated by…

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The High Cost of Cheap Grazing on Public Land

R.T. Fitch's avatarStraight from the Horse's Heart

By Andy Kerr as published on his Public Lands Blog

“Bovine bulldozers have caused more harm to the public lands than mining or logging…”

Private “Welfare Cattle” being herded onto BLM Antelope Complex in Nevada, while Wild Horse roundup was being conducted ~ photo by Terry Fitch of Wild Horse Freedom Federation

It costs more to feed a domestic house cat than to graze domestic livestock on federal public lands.

This has generally been the case since the early 1900s, when the federal government first required ranchers to pay a fee for grazing their livestock on millions of acres of federal land, primarily in western states.

Each January the USDA Forest Service and the USDI Bureau of Land Management calculate what the federal grazing fee will be for that year. For 2017, it’s $1.87/animal unit month (AUM), down from $2.11/AUM in 2016. An AUM is the amount of forage…

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Tracking Canada’s Horse Slaughtering Trade from Alberta to Japan

R.T. Fitch's avatarStraight from the Horse's Heart

by Anna Brooks as published on VICE

The practice is legal in Canada, unlike the United States

Walking through the Calgary International Airport, you’ll pass a bronze statue of wild horses running.

Entitled “Breakaway,” the immortalized horses were intended to be a metaphor for Calgary’s spirit and strength.

But there’s another story of horses at the Calgary airport, a story some veterinarians are calling a “huge animal welfare issue.”

For years, animal advocacy groups like the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition (CHDC) have opposed the transport of live draft horses to Japan for slaughter. In Canada, alongside Mexico and parts of Europe, this practice is legal, unlike countries like the US where horse slaughterhouses are banned.

Horse meat is a delicacy in Japan, and places like Kumamoto specialize in fresh dishes like basashi—horse sashimi. Horse oil is also a sought after beauty product in Hokkaido, where it’s used to treat…

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Feel Good ‘Father’s Day’ Sunday: Wild Burro Dads of the Black Mountains

R.T. Fitch's avatarStraight from the Horse's Heart

By Carl Mrozek

“In honor of Dads everywhere, CBS Sunday Morning will feature wild burro jacks shepherding their family bands in the Black Mountains of Arizona, where I filmed them this spring. The nature segment is the last one of this magazine-style program.

Enjoy the burro clip and the wild world around you !”

Click Image to view video

“Also, I would like to include the Mom’s Day video: Mustangs  of the Music Mountains featured on on CBS Sunday Morning on Mom’s Day: http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/ nature-horses/

for a belated Happy Mom’s Day to all moms !”

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Call to Action: Wild Horses and Burros Need Your Voice NOW

R.T. Fitch's avatarStraight from the Horse's Heart

Open letter by Grandma Gregg

“There is no time to waste! Please feel free to use the sample letter below and using the form (link below) send your own message to the US House of Representatives, Committee on Appropriations.” ~ Grandma Gregg

https://appropriations.house.gov/contact/contactform.htm

photo by Terry Fitch of Wild Horse Freedom Federation

“Do not allow the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), United States Forest Service (USFS), Farm Bureau and the extraction and mining giants and the domestic livestock grazing associations to pull the wool over your eyes. There are no excess wild horses and burros on their legally designated land. Per the unanimously passed United States 1971 Congressional Wild Horse and Burro Act, the land is to be devoted principally although not exclusively to the wild horses and wild burros’ welfare in keeping with the multiple-use management concept of public lands.

The recent National Academy of Sciences study found…

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