BLM to pull 200 horses from Utah’s west desert

Tuesday's Horse

Wild Stallion Utah. Image captured by Tim Flach (2008).

Cross-posted from Salt Lake Tribune
by BRIAN MAFFLY

The federal Bureau of Land Management will likely clear most if not all the wild horses from a West Desert block of state land in July as part of a newly approved plan to remove 200 wild horses from Utah rangelands this year.

The Interior Department this week greenlighted Utah BLM’s request to gather these horses in the face of mounting pressure from state and local officials concerned that overpopulation of wild horses is damaging a parched range and could force ranchers to reduce cattle grazing levels.

“It’s a bittersweet thing to me,” said Beaver County Commissioner Mark Whitney. “Juan [Palma, BLM’s state director] means well, but it’s only a drop in the bucket in what needs to be done in the West Desert because they’ve let the problem get so out of…

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Wild Horse Herds – A Little Law – Who Owns Them?

Photojournalist - Journalist

“Connecting with the wilderness allows us to live in the flow of a meaningful, joyful life. Embracing this state of connectedness or oneness with other living beings including animals, as opposed to feeling an “otherness” or “separateness” brings a sense of harmony and enables us to be at peace with oneself and the world.” — Sylvia Dolson, Joy of Bears

The constant destruction from prolific human obnoxiousness toward America’s wildlife and environment somehow has become acceptable conduct. Similar is the term, Acceptable Animal Abuse, which relates to economic profits? How odd such a vial and disgusting situation as this has also become a sign, a signature if you will, of our times.

Humane treatment of animals, and people for that matter, is for all intents and purposes, thrown out the window by today’s politicians and business people! What had caught my eye the other day was a powerful statement, ironically…

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Press Release from MP Atamanenko on Bill C-571 yesterday

Canadian Horse Defence Coalition's Blog

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – May 15, 2014

PARLIAMENT DEFEATS FOOD SAFETY BILL

Alex Atamanenko, MP (BC Southern Interior) issued the following statement in Ottawa regarding parliament’s defeat last night of his Bill C-571 through which he hoped to overhaul the horsemeat industry in the interests of food safety:

“I am very dismayed that my Bill C-571 did not get quite enough support in Parliament to pass on to Committee stage where it would have received thorough scrutiny and proper debate. I had hoped to follow an example set by the EU to have the same food safety standards, transparency and accountability applied to the horsemeat industry as is required of all animals that are raised to produce food for the human food chain.

Horses are commonly and even routinely administered a long list of common medications labelled as toxic and not intended for use in food animals because no safe…

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Buriku, A National Treasure of Bonaire on the Brink of Extinction

Straight from the Horse's Heart

A film by Hendrik Wuyts Bonaire photo and film

Talking points:

– A Cultural Heritage: Dr. Dallen Timothy: “protecting the donkey population is in alignment with the goals of UNESCO in its efforts to protect natural and human heritage”.
– Bonaire government never produced a scientific document on our donkey population.
– Donkeys possess post gastric digestive system different than ruminants [goats]; food not as broken down;feed, or nourish, the ecosystem, starting with critically important soils whose micro-organisms, insects, etc., derive more sustenance from donkey feces, precisely because they are not as degraded; re-seeders.
– Donkey feces as contributor to more humus soil making the soil more water- retentive, thus elevating water tables; humus rich soils.
– Connection to the Critically Endangered Nubian Ass.
– Donkeys fitting into the ecosystem as it has developed during the approx. 500 years
– There are no official numbers of car accidents available.

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Update on the (almost) extinct donkeys of Bonaire

Be sure to tune in and listen to Marjorie Farabee, excellent friend to all animals, but esp. to our beloved donkeys and mules.

Straight from the Horse's Heart

Times for this Wednesday night show are:

6:00 pm PST … 7:00 pm MST … 8:00 pm CST … 9:00 pm EST

Listen Live HERE!

Call in # 917-388-4520

Please call in the last half hour of this 2 hour show if you’d like to ask questions.

The shows will be archived, so you can listen anytime.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tonight’s guests include:

Marjorie Farabee, Director of Wild Burro Affairs at Wild Horse Freedom Federation, Equine Manager of Todd Mission Ranch (home of TMR Rescue, Inc.) and President of the Wild Burro Protection League, who recently went to Bonaire (Dutch Antilles) to investigate this issue and speak at a public meeting. Marjorie took DNA samples from the donkeys in Bonaire to Dr. Gus Cothran, geneticist at Texas A & M, and the DNA proved to be a perfect match to that of a rare, globally endangered species.

Craig Downer, wildlife…

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Bill C-571 – Update

Canadian Horse Defence Coalition's Blog

MP Atamanenko presented his final push for C-571.  You can read what he said here.

Please go here to see responses from other MPs.   Each MP’s speech can be expanded.  They will vote today so please keep contacting your MP!

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9th Circuit Condones BLM’s Destruction of Wild Horse and Burro Herds

Straight from the Horse's Heart

Years of Litigation Leads to Lopsided Court Decision

Twin Peaks Wild Horses prior to 2010 stampede and removal~ photo by R.T. Fitch of Wild Horse Freedom Federation

A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a split decision on Monday upholding the government’s Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM)roundup of more than 1,600 wild horses along the Nevada-California line in 2010.

In the 2-1 ruling, the appellate panel in San Francisco rejected an appeal by wild equine advocates who accuesed the U.S. Bureau of Land Management of gathering too many wild horses and burros in violation of several laws, including the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971.

Judge Carlos Bea concluded in the majority opinion the BLM completed the necessary environmental reviews for the Twin Peaks roundup not far from the Oregon line, and that the court must defer to the agency’s expertise.

“In sum, the BLM’s actions fell…

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Too big to fact check? ‘Not our job’ says AP Editor

Tuesday's Horse

by VICKERY ECKHOFF

89 mainstream media outlets picked up the AP’s flawed Valley Meat coverage. Only one (The Christian Science Monitor) responded to public requests for correction.

Vickery Eckhoff. Google image.

A series of 18 AP news stories that repeated significant factual errors for a year and a half will not be corrected, according to AP West Editor, Traci Carl.

The articles, which Ms. Carl admits were not fact-checked, followed the attempts of a Roswell, NM, abattoir—Valley Meat—to slaughter horses based on the argument that it would diminish horse abuse and neglect. But there was a problem with that premise, which correlated data showing increasing horse abuse and neglect reported by the GAO (Government Accountability Office) with the closure of the last three domestic horse slaughter plants.

The AP reporter, Jeri Clausing, misreported the closing dates by a year, however, causing the correlation with the GAO data to turn…

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Photos From Alex Atamanenko’s May 8th Press Conference and Final Push For Our Horses!

Canadian Horse Defence Coalition's Blog

Left to Right: Senator Joseph Abruzzo, Victoria McCullough, Alex at podium, Sinikka Crosland, Dr. Ray Kellosalmi – 08May14

As the House of Commons heads to a vote next week on his horse slaughter Bill C-571,  we present you with photos from MP Atamanenko’s Press Conference.  Alex was joined here by CHDC’s Executive Director Sinikka Crosland,  medical and toxicology expert Dr. Ray Kellosalmi,  and US political allies Victoria McCullough and Senator Joseph Abruzzo. 

Senator Abruzzo is a Democratic member of the Florida Senate, representing the 25th District, which includes most of Palm Beach County, since 2012.  Victoria McCullough is an avid horse lover and the only child of the founder of the US’s largest, privately held petroleum company,  Chesapeake Petroleum.

With a vote on the Bill only days away,  this is our final pitch to reach our MPs.  We suggest that you can send your personal message to your…

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Why Canada’s EID Fails To Protect Consumers From Horsemeat

randomslate

The Toronto Star has written again about the horse slaughter issues here in Canada.  Granted, I appreciate their effort.  Their reach to educate the public is much farther than mine with my lowly little blog.  This is simply my personal concern and disgust with the system.

For some reason, the Star falls short or even seems to avoid calling out the true reason why Equine Information Documents (EID) fail.  They also seem to only refer to the racehorses entering the system being a problem when all horses are highly suspect of being drugged.  Pleasure horses are just as likely to be dosed with anti inflammatory drugs such as phenylbutazone or “bute” (a banned drug for human consumption).  It’s common and cheap.  Think along the same lines as when you take an advil or tylenol for various ailments, bumps, pains and inflammation.

The Canadian Horse Defense Coalition regularly posts the breed…

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