Glimpse into Horse Slaughter – Eagle Pass, Texas (raw video)

“Quietly and behind the scenes the Equine Welfare Alliance and Wild Horse Freedom Federation have been watching, taking note and documenting more than just the unnecessary roundups of wild horses and burros by the BLM; but also paying attention to where tens of thousands of American horses and donkeys (domestic and wild) disappear to without even so much as a final wave goodbye. Horse Slaughter has not been banned in the USA instead it has only moved across our borders and both our beloved domestic equines and our protected wild horses and burros continue to end up on the dinner plates of foreigners across the globe. Below is simply raw video of what the horses go through as they cross the border from Texas to Mexico in the final hours of their precious lives. No commentary, no music, no opinions as the footage speaks for itself. We have simply released it to emphasis the need to act, of things to come and to remind those who participate in this predatory blood business that we are watching and taking names. Yes, we are paying attention as the victims cannot speak for themselves but we can. Let the kill buyer beware. Keep the faith, my friends. We are paying attention.” ~ R.T.

via Glimpse into Horse Slaughter – Eagle Pass, Texas (raw video) — Straight from the Horse’s Heart

Video supplied by investigators from EWA and WHFF

BLM Set to Wage War on Wyoming’s Wild Horses, AGAIN! | Straight from the Horse’s Heart

Sources: Multiple

“Using poor science and bad numbers the BLM continues to ensure that the wild horses of Wyoming will have no families, freedom or future. Unedited, propaganda article posted below. (Herds do not double in size every four years – Fake News)” ~ R.T.

Adobe Town ~ photo by Carol Walker

ROCK SPRINGS, Wyo. — The Bureau of Land Management is proposing to remove about 1,000 wild horses from three herd management areas, including Adobe Town, in southwest Wyoming in order to meet population level objectives.

Kimberlee Foster, field manager for the Rock Springs BLM field office, said there are too many horses on the land, and rules require them to remove horses when they are above management levels.

Foster said the gathered horses will go to the Rock Springs Holding Facility where they will be put up for adoption.

The BLM plans to remove 210 horses from Adobe Town, 584 from Salt Wells Creek and 235 from Great Divide Basin.

There are many reasons the BLM must carefully maintain certain population ranges for wild horses in Wyoming. For one, there are no natural predators for horses in the state and equines can be prodigious breeders.

“Typically a herd management area can double in size every four or five years,” Foster told the Rawlins Daily Times (http://bit.ly/2mayVKA ).

If wild horse populations become too large, the natural forage on the land won’t be able to support them.

Herd management is based around the usage of the land, Foster said, as well as the amount of available forage for the animals. Additionally, the BLM has agreed to act to reduce herd sizes should population levels reach a certain point.

The BLM is accepting public comment until April 4 on its horse roundup plan.

Source: BLM Set to Wage War on Wyoming’s Wild Horses, AGAIN! | Straight from the Horse’s Heart

House Leadership Renews Push to Reinstate Horse Slaughter in US | Straight from the Horse’s Heart

Source: Equine Welfare Alliance PR

Chicago (EWA)– EWA has learned that Mr. Douglas A. Glenn, Director, Office of Financial Management, Department of the Interior, has notified his department in a letter dated 22 February, that the GAO (Government Accountability Office) has been tasked to study any changes in the state of equine welfare in the US from 2010 to the present.

The request to the GAO was made by the Chair of the House Agriculture Committee and the Chair of House Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration.

Attached to the letter was a statement of the scope of the work to be performed, including addressing four questions:

What is known about changes and trends in the U.S. horse market since 2010?
What impact, if any, has the prohibition on USDA funding for horse slaughter inspection had on horse welfare and on states, local governments and Indian tribes?
What is known about the number of abandoned and unwanted horses in the U.S. and associated environmental impacts?
What is the current capacity of animal welfare organizations and shelters to accept and care for unwanted and abandoned horses?

Source: House Leadership Renews Push to Reinstate Horse Slaughter in US | Straight from the Horse’s Heart

FOUR ISPMB ‘HALLELUJAH HORSES*’ HEADING FOR FULL CELEB STATUS | Straight from the Horse’s Heart

by Elaine Nash as published on FaceBook

Animal Planet Here We Come

As I posted earlier, we saw 10 mares off on their several-month long journey to Alaska yesterday. Six of them will be going to the Chena Hot Springs Resort near Fairbanks. The other four have an even more exciting life ahead of them because they have been adopted by Dr. Dee Thornell, who’s featured as ‘Dr. Dee’ on the Animal Planet show, Alaska Vet. In addition to being a celebrity vet who flies to remote Alaskan villages to help animals of just about every sort, she is a horse driving enthusiast and well known national competitor. Dr. Dee asked me to select four big, beautiful bay mares from our herds for her, so they can be trained to become a competitive four-in-hand team. She hopes to show people all over the world that mustangs are very versatile, athletic, fast, and fun to show off!

Before heading north, the four big bay mares (real beauties!) will join the Chena Hot Springs Resort horses in WY for needed care, gentling, and training (and probably foaling) before heading up the AlCan highway this spring or summer to their new home with Dr. Dee!

CONGRATULATIONS, LADIES!
We’ll look forward to seeing you four on TV and cheering for Dr. Dee’s Hallelujah Horses!

Previous episodes of Alaska Vet can be seen at http://www.animalplanet.com/tv-shows/dr-dee-alaska-vet/.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/ISPMB.Adoptable.Horses/

WE STILL NEED LOTS OF HELP to get the rest of these horses cared for, placed, and transported by March 26th, our deadline. Still many horses to get out of there! Here’s how you can help:

DONATE: www.ISPMBHorseRescueMission.org

ADOPT:
Lots of nice, healthy horses still available. We also need adopters for dozens of BLIND HORSES, SENIOR HORSES, and STALLIONS (If adopting stallions, ask about the gelding subsity of $100. provided by the National Equine Rescue Network.)
https://docs.google.com/…/1FAIpQLSdXEVFZhWzY6qKuPr…/viewform

TRANSPORT:
We need as many adopters as possible to arrange for and transport your own horses. Time is of the essence at this point, and there’s not time nor manpower to arrange for a lot of individual Fleet of Angels transports for you at this point.

We also need teams of drivers who have large trailers (40′-ish) that are capable of hauling 15-20 horses at once, and who can take load after load until the end of the month.

*Hallelujah Horses is the nickname given by Fleet of Angels to the 810 horses impounded and seized from ISPMB (Int’l Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros) in South Dakota. Fleet of Angels was given custody of all the horses, so each horse could be properly evaluated, treated and cared for, adopted, and transported to a safe new home. www.FleetOfAngels.org

Source: FOUR ISPMB ‘HALLELUJAH HORSES*’ HEADING FOR FULL CELEB STATUS | Straight from the Horse’s Heart

Feel Good Sunday: Short & Sweet, in more ways than one | Straight from the Horse’s Heart

“We have a brief but funny one for you on this day of rest, folks. Nothing will give you the chuckles over your morning coffee or Bloody Mary like a herd of wild minis’ stampeding through a barn with a dog in the lead, ya just gotta luv it!

Have a great day with family and friends, be they two legged or four, and we will jump back into the fray in the morning. Keep the faith.” ~ R.T.

Source: Feel Good Sunday: Short & Sweet, in more ways than one | Straight from the Horse’s Heart

BLM Violates Own Wild Horse Welfare Standards | Straight from the Horse’s Heart

Source: The Cloud Foundation

Roundup Incident Sparks Outcry

photo by Terry Fitch of Wild Horse Freedom Federation

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO – On February 12, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) conducted a helicopter roundup of wild horses at Cedar Mountain Herd Management Area (HMA) in Utah. The Cloud Foundation (TCF) and advocates across the country contend that BLM’s actions at the roundup violate standards in their own Comprehensive Animal Welfare Program (CAWP).

Eyewitness, Mosie Trewhitt, a professional horse trainer, photographed the incident of a lone pinto mare being driven by a helicopter. The mare could not keep up with her band but the helicopter kept pushing her. Then a wrangler joined the pursuit and both helicopter and wrangler chased the mare on a dead run along a barbed wire fence line. The wrangler tried to rope her numerous times and was finally successful. The mare lurched and flipped over or tried to jump the fence. She became entangled in the barbed wire, and ended up on the other side of the fence.

The mare escaped, dragging the rope behind her and has not been seen since the incident according to BLM who also contend she was uninjured. Trewhitt’s blog, Voices of the Herd, documents the incident with vivid photographs. Fears persist that this mare who appears to be pregnant may be strangled by the rope or suffer from infection due to an obvious gash on her right rear leg.

Read the entire article at the Source: BLM Violates Own Wild Horse Welfare Standards | Straight from the Horse’s Heart

‘Skin Trade’ Donkeys ‘Waiting to Die’ at ‘Horrific’ Markets | Straight from the Horse’s Heart

by Rachael Turner as published on Horse and Hound

“There’s about 700 donkeys coming here to wait to die. There’s no food, there’s no water…”

The ‘horrific’ conditions facing donkeys in markets in Tanzania have been highlighted by welfare groups.

The Donkey Sanctuary’s Alex Mayers and Thomas Kahema, founder of The Tanzanian Animal Welfare Society, recently visited a donkey market in Tanzania believed to be serving the skin trade.

Read the entire article at the Source: ‘Skin Trade’ Donkeys ‘Waiting to Die’ at ‘Horrific’ Markets | Straight from the Horse’s Heart

I-Team: Federal agency spends more than $100M to kill predatory animals | Straight from the Horse’s Heart

“Wildlife Services is a welfare program for ranchers, and on top of all the other ones where the government comes in, they do aerial gunning, they use traps and snares…They use all kinds of horrible poisons to kill animals.”

Click Image to View Video

LAS VEGAS – DISCLAIMER: Some of the images in this story may be disturbing.

Nevada Lawmakers are debating a plan that would remove hundreds of thousands of dollars from a program that targets predators such as coyotes, mountain lions, and bears. The money is raised from hunters when they obtain their licenses, and it goes into programs that kill predators which prey on trophy animals such as deer or big horn sheep.

But the state program is a drop in the bucket compared to a little known federal agency that spends more than $100 million in public funding per year to kill animals.

The I-Team discovered that Nevada is a bloody battleground for coyotes and other predators. An obscure federal agency called Wildlife Services, which was created in the late 1800’s, spends huge sums each year to shoot, trap, and poison predators, such as coyotes, foxes, lions, bears, and birds. […]

Read the entire article at the Source: I-Team: Federal agency spends more than $100M to kill predatory animals | Straight from the Horse’s Heart

Under the Skin: How ejiao threatens the common ass | Straight from the Horse’s Heart

The dark side of holistic medicine …

By Merritt Clifton editor of Animals 24-7

“…donkeys fall into a unique and difficult niche: that of a species formerly kept almost exclusively in poorer parts of the world as a work animal…”

Click Image to Download Report

BEIJING––Can demand for a commodity that constitutes only one ten-thousandth of the global market for traditional Chinese medicine really pose what Donkey Rescue World blogger David C. Duncan calls “an existential threat” to barnyard animals as abundant worldwide as donkeys?

This is not about highly endangered tigers, rhinos, elephants, or even pangolins, all eight species of which were once listed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species as “species of least concern,” but since July 2014 are all considered “vulnerable” or “endangered” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. […]

Read the rest of the article at the Source: Under the Skin: How ejiao threatens the common ass | Straight from the Horse’s Heart

Feel Good Sunday: Rescued Donkey Acts Like A Puppy

“Okay, time out, folks. It’s Sunday and all of us deserve a few moments of quiet reflection, a hug, a smile and perhaps even a big smooch. We can ramp back up for the fight tomorrow morning but for now hug each other and above all, scratch the forehead or backside of your four legged […]

via Feel Good Sunday: Rescued Donkey Acts Like A Puppy — Straight from the Horse’s Heart