Tag: horses

Feel Good Sunday: Pink Pinto Horse is the Result of an Honest Miscommunication

Chuckle with my tea.

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

Source: The HorseChannel.com – story by By Leslie Potter

“There’s a lot of negative news and activity swirling around the world of equines so a brief second of giggles is welcomed by all.  Enjoy your human and critter family, today, as tomorrow we get back after it, my friends.  Be safe.” ~ R.T.

The story of Rosy the pink horse has provided a bit of levity as British Columbia residents deal with wildfire threat.

Out of a serious situation comes an amusing anecdote, and one very bright pink horse.

First, the serious situation. More than 200 wildfires are currently burning in vast sections of inland British Columbia, Canada. Some areas have been placed under evacuation orders as crews struggle to contain the most destructive fires.

Evacuating horses and large livestock is always a challenge in cases of natural disasters as owners may not have sufficient trailer capacity readily available…

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Judge Rejects Utah Welfare Ranchers Bid to Evict Wild Horses

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

Source: The Salt Lake Tribune – Story by BRIAN MAFFLY

“Public lands » Utah argues BLM is failing its duty to manage wild horses, while advocates decry ‘inhumane’ roundups…”

Last terrorized seconds of freedom for native wild horses being rounded up on public lands ~ photo by Terry Fitch of Wild Horse Freedom Federation

A federal judge on Tuesday tossed a lawsuit brought by Utah ranchers demanding the Bureau of Land Management remove “excess” wild horses from several areas in the West Desert they say are overrun with free-roaming horses that displace their cattle.

Represented by Karen Budd-Falen, a Wyoming lawyer who sources say is undergoing final vetting to serve as the BLM’s next director, the ranchers argued that federal law requires the removal of horses that exceed population targets the agency has set for particular herd areas. But U.S. District Judge Jill Parrish ruled that roundups are not…

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BLM’s Lust for Wild Horse & Burro Blood is Nothing New

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

“…Remember this?’ ~ R.T.

June 11, 2009

BLM’s Secret Planning Documents “Alternative Management Options”

Documents obtained by the Freedom of Information Act:

BLM Alternative Management Options Draft Plan + Markup

BLM Implementation Team minutes + markup

BLM Implementation Team minutes + markup

https://thecloudfoundation.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/alternativemanagement_optionsblm10_2008_markup.pdf

https://thecloudfoundation.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/blm_implementation_team_minutes_2008_markup.pdf

http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/news/press-releases/archived-press-releases/350-blm-s-secret-planning-documents-alternative-management-options

Documents Reveal BLM Secret Plan to Destroy Wild Horses

Former wild horses imprisoned by the BLM photo by Terry Fitch of Wild Horse Freedom Federation

Documents obtained from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) via the Freedom of Information Act by a Phoenix-based non-profit, The Conquistador Program, reveal shocking and detailed plans to destroy healthy wild horses in government holding facilities as well as those still remaining in the wild on public lands.

BLM employees as well as a USDA veterinarian held weekly “Implementation Team” meetings beginning in July of 2008 in which they discussed and developed strategies aimed at ridding BLM of thousands of mustangs…

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Wild Horses and Burros Need Your Voice TODAY!

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

Information supplied by Daniel Cordero Fernández

“We must relentlessly call Congress until they ask for mercy and remove the two offending sections legalizing wild horse killings and enabling horse slaughter in Appropriation Bills…”

photo by Terry Fitch of Wild Horse Freedom Federation

Focus on all the member of the House and Senate appropriations committees but also contact your own Congressman and two Senators. This is because, in all likelihood, the two pro-slaughter sections (one removing the USDA slaughter inspections ban and other adding language to allow BLM to kill and sell for slaughter wild horses in holding) will be passed by the appropriations committees since western pro-slaughter folks have the majority and they have already discussed the matter and have allegedly agreed to pushing this to the full Congress to bring horse slaughter back. In my humble opinion, it is a done deal.

When contacting both your own legislators and…

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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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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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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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Update on Wild Horses and Burros in Jeopardy

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

An open letter by Ginger Kathrens

“Interior Sec. and Utah Congressman present fictional account of wild horses..”

Dear Friends;

I just got back from a trip to the Pryors and to the Red Desert Complex of south central Wyoming. The horses all look so fabulous and the Red Desert is horse heaven with abundant forage and so much room to roam. Maybe that is why the Congressional Public Resource Sub-Committee hearing today threw me for a loop! Here is that section of the hearing with Chris Stewart of Utah questioning and commenting to Secretary Zinke.

Secretary of the Interior testifies before Congressional Sub-Committee June 8, 2017. The Secretary is being questioned by Congressman Stewart of Utah. 5 minute clip.

This Congressional conversation bears no resemblance to what I am seeing first hand on our ranges. After I left the Pryors, I visited four Herd Management areas in Wyoming called the…

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Feel Good Sunday: Hay – The Final Frontier

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

Story by Johnny Oleksinski as published on NYPost.com

“I must say that Capt. Kirk and I share several mutual passions regardin our feelings for our brother/sister equines friends.  But his celebrity status aside, we do differ on one glaring obvious issue: he has hair and I do not…sigh.” ~ R.T.

Shatner rode a horse alongside Patrick Stewart in the 1994 movie “Star Trek: Generations.”

William Shatner, who played Captain Kirk on “Star Trek” for three seasons and seven movies, is peeling back yet another layer of his complex personality: He’s come out as an equestrian.

Hollywood’s jack-of-all-trades, Shatner is a Shakespearean actor who’s starred in “Henry V,” a musician who’s recorded trippy spoken-word covers of “Rocket Man” and “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” and a prolific author who’s written or co-written more than 30 books.

Now the 86-year-old opens up about his love of horses — a passion so…

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Speak Up Against BLM’s Plans to Decimate Wyoming’s Red Desert Wild Horse Herds

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

by Carol Walker as published on Wild Hoofbeats

“The BLM should raise the Appropriate Management Level for the Red Desert Complex wild horse populations…”

Red Desert Wild Horses at Risk of Removal and Slaughter

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is planning a massive roundup and removal of 2,096 horses, or 80% of the 2,620 horses in the Red Desert Complex that includes Antelope Hills, Crooks Mountain, Green Mountain, Lost Creek, and Stewart Creek Herd Management Areas.  BLM wants to end up with a  low Appropriate Management Level of only 524 wild horses on 753,000 acres of public land.

Please also consider that any horses currently in short and long term holding, as well as any removed from their homes on public lands this year will be in jeopardy of being sold without limitation and may end up at slaughter if the Trump Budget is passed.

There is no…

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