The Omnibus Budget Bill has had another provision added without notice to Congress or public that will allow the immediate slaughter of Wild Horses bought from the BLM Wild Horse Auction program.
The story today in the NYT details a provision inserted at the last minute by Sen. Conrad Burns of Montana,requires the sale to slaughter houses of wild horses that have been rounded up and are more than 10 years old or have unsucessfully offered for auction three times to the public. The UNANNOUNCED effect could be to remove the current prohibition against a member of the public from buying a horse at a legal BLM auction and immediately selling it to a slaughterhouse for use,generally, in Pet Food.
There is more detail to this story and the 'backstory' than easily meets the eye if you don't have a background in the subject. It's not short...but it's worth your time. So here goes:
The Wild Horse is one of the most symbolic remaining fixtures on the Western Ranges. Ranchers, using unfenced BLM range cattle grazing leases (a perfectly legitimate business), have commplained for decades that their cattle have to compete for scarse food on the ragnes which are primarily desert. This is true.
Also the Wild Horse herds, if left to simply inbred and overpopulate, do have a overgrazing effect on the land. Unfettered herds create conditions that mean that they cannot sustain themselves. This leaves more animals to suffer slow deaths from starvation and other causes.
The BLM for 3 decades has tried to create a system that thins the herds while keeping the horses alive. The latest version of this policy is to gather wild horses and, after some basic handing (but NOT MUCH!)offer them for sale to the public. Initially this was at a flat price ranging from an early price of $75 to $150 or so.
Now, in the West at least, they've gone to a true auction format where market value will prevail.
There is a provision in the current law that doesn't pass full title (allowing free resale) of the purchased Mustang for a year after purchase.
Mustangs are literally a different breed. They take special handling and training techniques. Here in California at least, the BLM has begun to require a fundamental class for buyers. Most buyers have NO idea the difficulties of starting and training a Mustang. It is NOT easy and not for the novice...who is the usual buyer. That's one of the reasons why the BLM as a one year moritorium on sale.
I'm a life-long horseman and have worked large ranches in my youth. I'm no bleeding heart. And there is a place for the unwanted, lame or infirm horse that no ones wants to care for to be sold to slaughter rather than to be starved to death or nearly so in a backyard. I recently 'put down' my great #1 horse of many, many years at 28 years old. Yet my vet bill for the illness and the act of putting him down, after a bunch of payments, is still $450. Classical by Parade of Stars was a great horse with great grace of spirit and died the same way...in my hands with a sigh.
Yet before someone says all these horses should be kept alive no matter what...the illness and suffering of the horse can be the unintended result if there isn't someone nearby who is willing to take the financial and emotional burden.
The HUGE problem in this bill is that it would allow a horse trader (and I do some myself...just sold two and made a deal for a new one) to bring a large trailer to a BLM auction...wait for all the ugly and lame to be left unsold after the inexperienced public, who really just want to own a piece of picturesque and beautiful West, to load that trailer at $150 a head or so and drive to the nearest slaughter house and sell the same herd for $500-850 per head based on weight.
This is profitable and would be legal under the new law. Maxine Shane, a spokeswoman for the BLM, estimates as many as 8,000 horses in captivity would be eligble for immediate slaughter under the new provison. This is NOT what the BLM or any government agency wants to happen.
So what's next? Will the President veto the Omnibus Budget Bill? Of course not.
But we can bombard our Senators and Congresspeople to immediately introduce new legislation to reverse this policy as soon as a new Congress is in session.
This is another example of the major problem of how legislation that MUST be passed can be hijacked at the last minute by special interests. In this case it's the ranching interests in the Western States. Senator Burns will argue that this is budget saving measure that only relieves the BLM of the cost of caring for aging and unsellable Mustangs. If it were restricted to those animals that might even be correct. But it's NOT limited to those horses.
With a six or eight horse trailer I could make a good living, (if I could face myself in the morning) going from BLM sale to BLM sale.
Let's use the power of dKos to stop another outrage that isn't only political but has immediate impact on a part of our population that depends on us, as American Citizens, to protect them as they cannot protect themselves against our actions!
Call...Call...Call...emails and letters won't have near the impact of your voice at your representatives local and Washington office!
There are a lot of Mustang Rescue and protection groups that will VERY up in arms about this act. You won't be alone in adding a voice. Yet your voice might be the one to tip the scales in that office!
Important piece of general misinformation!
Only two slaughterhouses in US are licensed to sell horsemeat for human consumption...usually in Europe. The majority of horses are sold for slaughter for other uses. Any information otherwise from other organizations is wrong.
PS: In California we've even outlawed the transportation of horses for slaughter across our statelines a felony. Therefore they can't get the two Texas slaughterhouses.
Sorry this ran so long...but it hit a real emotional spot and I want everyone to have as much balanced information as possible.