Nearly 2,000 wild horses sent to slaughterhouse instead of pasture after government sale, probe says

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Washington Post

Nearly 2,000 wild horses sent to slaughterhouse instead of pasture after government sale, probe says
By Lisa Rein November 2 at 1:20 PM



The government’s largest sale of wild horses was to a rancher who sent almost 1,800 mustangs to slaughterhouses across the Mexican border and lied to federal officials, a new report concludes, finding lapses with a federal program that’s supposed to find the animals safe homes.

The Colorado rancher and livestock hauler admitted to investigators with the Interior Department Inspector General’s office that “probably close to all” of the horses were resold for slaughter and that he assumed they would be killed.

There was “only one place to go … to the kill plant,” Tom Davis of La Jara, Colo., told investigators, whose findings confirmed longstanding fears of humane groups, wild-horse activists and officials with the Bureau of Land Management’s Wild Horse and Burro Program, which manages thousands of horses that roam wild in the West.

“Managers … failed to enforce (Bureau of Land Management) policy of limiting the sales of horses and ensuring that the horses went to good homes,” the report released late last month found.


Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/federal-eye/wp/2015/11/02/nearly-2000-wild-horses-sent-to-slaughterhouse-instead-of-pasture-after-government-sale-probe-says/

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[center]

"Tom Davis at his corrals in La Jara, Colo. (Dave Philipps)" [/center]
All the Missing Horses: What Happened to the Wild Horses Tom Davis Bought From the Gov’t?


[font size=1]
A lone mustang who escaped the helicopters watches a Bureau of Land Management roundup in the Stone Cabin Valley in
Nevada during the winter of 2012. (Dave Philipps)
[/font]
. . .

The BLM has sold Davis at least 1,700 wild horses and burros since 2009, agency records show -- 70 percent of the animals purchased through its sale program.

Like all buyers, Davis signs contracts promising that animals bought from the program will not be slaughtered and insists he finds them good homes.

But Davis is a longtime advocate of horse slaughter. By his own account, he has ducked Colorado law to move animals across state lines and will not say where they end up. He continues to buy wild horses for slaughter from Indian reservations, which are not protected by the same laws. And since 2010, he has been seeking investors for a slaughterhouse of his own.

"Hell, some of the finest meat you will ever eat is a fat yearling colt," he said. "What is wrong with taking all those BLM horses they got all fat and shiny and setting up a kill plant?"

More:
http://www.propublica.org/article/missing-what-happened-to-wild-horses-tom-davis-bought-from-the-govt

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

1. Soooo are there any actual penalties involved for breaking the contracts he signed?

Aha, buried way down in the article is this -

Instead, since then, the BLM has been selling horses, but requiring buyers to sign contracts saying they will “not knowingly sell or transfer ownership of any listed wild horse and or burro to any person or organization with an intention to resell, trade, or give away the animal for processing into commercial products." Violating the agreement is a felony, but there are no compliance checks similar to those done when horses are adopted.

So charge the guy with 1700 felonies and put him away for life, and fine him until he's bankrupt.

[jtuck004]

2. So the BLM is staffed with cowards who can't tell a rancher to move a cow who are also incompetent

liars that can't safeguard the resources they are charged with protecting.

Obama may not be able to fix Citizens United, but he could sure make a damn impact with this in a hurry.

[Hoppy]

10. Obama will make an impact, just like he did with Cliven Bundy.

[DonCoquixote]

3. the mentality we face

""Hell, some of the finest meat you will ever eat is a fat yearling colt," he said. "What is wrong with taking all those BLM horses they got all fat and shiny and setting up a kill plant?"
and this sob knows that if the BLm tried to enforce stuff, along would come the Yahoos and the militia types to kill them. Sooner or later, these wild western types will need to learn the lessons their grandparents did in the Civil war.

and if it sounds like I am valuing the horses more than the people, I say this, Horses never broke contracts or carried stockpiles of ammo just so that they can pretend to be Alpha Males.

"Like all buyers, Davis signs contracts promising that animals bought from the program will not be slaughtered and insists he finds them good homes. "

[cstanleytech]

4. This is BS, Davis should be in jail and the prosecutor should be removed for not doing their job. nt

[Sunlei]

26. BLM will never bring any charges against contract breaker 'good old boys'. Have to say almost ner

Have to say almost never. About 15? years ago one of the Federal BLM contractors rounded up a bunch of wild horses, sent them to slaughter and I guess used government money to do it.

The Gov. brought charges against him and he ended up with one misdemeanor charge conviction. hand slap.

The man continued & continues as the major Federal Gov. roundup company and has made millions and millions in Federal contracts making our Wild Horses disappear forever into 'the void'.

To me this is about as corrupt & long term, decades of corruption as our Government can ever be.

[NCarolinawoman]

5. No words for this crap

Lock the guy up! Along with feckless BLM idiots.

Is no-nothing Salizar still around?!

[Sunlei]

19. no Salazar was 'retired' stepped down last year. He is associated with Davis, a neighbor an employer

President Obama was 'snookered' by Salazar and many of the other 'good old boys' in our Federal DOI.

I know Obama and VP Biden eventually listened to the thousands of emails and phone calls but it wasn't enough to save thousands of OUR wild horses. They are gone forever.

[Binkie The Clown]

6. 30 MILLION cattle sent to the slaughterhose this year. That's a disgrace too.

But nobody squawks a peep when it's cows instead of horses. What's the difference? They are both beautiful animals with big brown eyes and friendly personalities.

So don't you DARE say "Oh those poor horses" while you munch that Big Mac. Shame on you!

[restorefreedom]

7. no big macs for me

i agree that it is all horrible. at the same time, i have worked with many non veg/vegans on a variety of animal rights/rescue causes and i believe we have to take the outrage and help when we can get it. many people who want to help these horses will not be interested to stop cow slaughter, but it still saves horses

and not to be a gloomy gus, but the cow slaughter figure i believe is closer to 40+ million

[sahel]

11. it dovetails with racism quite easily though

Those horrible Mexicans eating horses, those terrible Koreans eating dogs, etc.

I think it is a good opportunity for pointing out the hypocrisy of the american public more than anything.

[restorefreedom]

12. every country is horrible to animals

i only mentioned it because the article said horses were sent there and they are known for having atrocious horse slaughtering facilities.

and don't forget the japanese whalers, which i do think is horrid and illegal

[Drahthaardogs]

15. Nope.

Lots of Europeans eat horses. My grandfather came here from Italy and was a butcher. One of our traditional sausages is made from horse meat. The french like horse meat. The swiss too.

My italian cousins find it kind of strange that we eat lots of pork and beef but no horse. It is also weird how many Americans consider lamb "exotic", but in Australia they eat it like crazy. The same with goats. The rest of the world eats the meat and drinks the milk. Here we keep them as pets. Hell, we even keep pigs as pets now.

There is nothing racist about eating horse.

[Duppers]

14. I hate killing any animal >.<

Especially the more intelligent. I make a distinction between fish, seafood, chicken and other red-meat animals. Pets have to eat.

I have a right to hate the lying asshole of a rancher.


And about distinctions, how about cannibalism?!

[Fast Walker 52]

16. true, true-- animal agriculture is horrendous

but still, wild horses being slaughtered for meat is pretty sad. But I suppose you could say at least they got to be free for a little while, unlike most animals we kill for meat.

[shrike]

23. If we don't eat cows, we'll have to stop breeding them

And cattle as a species will cease to exist, save for a few individuals people might want to keep as pets. (Why anyone would want a cow as a pet, I don't know. But not everyone's me.)

Cattle, and pigs, and domestic chickens, and domestic sheep, were developed by man for consumption. They have no place in nature. Setting them free would be cruel, and would put them at competition with native fauna, which is under enough stress.

If we all did become vegans, the most responsible thing to do would be to cease the breeding of these species.

[restorefreedom]

8. why the fuck are we selling

federally protected horses to private ranchers anyway?

i hate the corrupt and sniveling losers who do this corrupt shit

throw them all in lock up and fling the key in the damn ocean

btw, mexican slaughter facilities are horrid for the horses. this is a crime and a travesty, another sell out by our government and this cretin loser.

DAMMIT

[Sunlei]

17. It's a longtime known fraud. people pay $10 a horse that cost about 3k each to 'round-up' and many

get free transport paid by OUR federal funds. This man Davis is/was associated with Salazar and is probably part of the reason he 'retired'.

Another heinous person got their hands on hundreds of the almost free rounded up wild horses, Americans wild horses on Americans public lands. Our wild horses that are supposed to be protected by an act of congress.

Got them trucked free to his ranch in Nebraska and he didn't feed them, let many starve to death. Many humane groups had to band together and rescue over 200 horses. There was some small justice, he was convicted of over 145 Felonies.

Even a conviction never makes any people who helped rescue the survivors 'feel better' because so many beautiful animals died in horrific ways. And it is the Federal govs fault, our corrupt DOI/BLM.

[restorefreedom]

21. how awful. more evidence

of the greed based corruption and incompetence in our govt

can humane groups round them up and place them on native land i wonder? would they be safe there among the first people? why does no one in congress care about this??? who is putting $ in their pocket?

poor horses

[Sunlei]

24. A lot of humane groups do take some and buy from the meatman sales horse auctions.

The wild horses are on our public lands, our Federal BLM is tasked with management of our Public lands. There is also an act of Congress where our wild horses are to be protected and to remain on our public lands. Again supposed to be 'managed' by our Federal BLM.


The Government only contracts with round-up companies to helicopter stampede (the helis use the downdraft to blast round-up) wild horses some run for 10/20 miles into tall pipe-metal pens.

Then immediately the terrified wild animals are driven by the Federal contractors, right into horse trailers and moved to private areas where no one from the general public can observe.

Many times animals break their bones. are trampled thrashing about in metal corrals and riding in horse trailers an hour after they were running free wild animals. They are paid by the animal before the animal dies.

No one would run their thoroughbred racehorse or companion horse for even 10 miles on rocky ground or run their baby colts at all. Why? because their horses could be ruined or die.

However our Federal BLM round-ups do and they have been getting away with animal abuse and outright corruption of the policy for decades. I do not know what can be done to stop them.

[restorefreedom]

25. like with many things,

a complete govt overhaul, although chances of that are slim. the rampant corruption of our govt is on display every day, and yet people sticking their heads in the sand and keep watching the kardashians. i don't get it.

[PumpkinAle]

9. I am not against those who eat horse meat,

it is meat and no different to any other creature we humans eat. What I am opposed to is the lies, the deceit and callousness of people like Davis.

All animals, whether they end up on the table or not, deserve to be treated with respect, compassion and not cruelty or suffering.

The BLM must have known what Davis was doing, because to buy 1700 horses and claim he found homes for them would be nothing short of a miracle. Davis, and those who covered for him, deserve to have the book thrown at them - sadly it wouldn't amount to much.

[NotHardly]

13. I am not surprised, everyone lies, I no longer expect the Feds, states, or persons, to speak truth

If you are the DoD, other Fed agency, friends of the Feds, a Republican or other in-crowd, truth is no longer required or necessary. Money is important but for those mentioned, no accountability, just insistence or persistence.

I grow so weary of how the US is cheated out of money, hope, clean air, clean water, and other necessary resources because federal, state, county, city and other agencies formed to protect just seriously seem to not have the time, people, will, ability, or interest in doing their job well, or simply just doing their job.

Surely, surely, someone should be capable of at least being ashamed at what they and/or their agencies can not or refuse to do for those who are their countrymen (persons) ... What face does shame share with those who will not do their promise and duty?

[Nitram]

18. Considered as a land management issue, this is not an easy problem to fix.

There is a limit on how big the population can get before over-population starts degrading pasture. Over-population also results in epidemics such as the wasting disease that has struck deer populations in some states. Wild horses don't make good pets. Take a lot of land. It might be impossible to find safe homes for 2,000 wild horses. I'd suggest that people who are opposed to the solution described here get together to start a non-profit dedicated to locating homes for the cull and paying for the expenses involved in transportation, etc.

[Sunlei]

20. How come our lands were pristine only a short 200 years ago when millions of wildlife grazed?

I think it was the removal of those wildlife that stopped the natural renovation of those same lands that Today have turned into wildfire tinder and desert.

[Nitram]

28. There were tens of millions more acres of open land 200 years ago, but they were always very dry.

The range has actually been broken up into smaller pieces since then, some without adequate water. As for the sale of horses to a buyer who sells them to a slaughterhouse, the Bureau of Land Management is directed by the "Burns Amendment" to sell "without limitation" to any willing buyers animals that are either more than 10 years old or have been passed over for adoption at least three times.

[restorefreedom]

22. if we didn't have the usda in bed with the cow killing industry

many species of wildlife would much safer, horses, wolves, coyotes.

the fed govt is protecting the planet killing big ag all for some $ payoff.

this will come to an end though. meat based diets will not be a planetary option for much longer. maybe then the horses will be free

[hamsterjill]

27. So, it's all politics as usual at the expense of these magnificent animals.

Why am I not surprised that this happened, and why am I NOT surprised that Tom Davis will face no penalties for doing what he does? It's sickening.

But it's all politics, of course. The BLM can tell all of the good little citizens that they sold the horses to a nice rancher where they will go and live out their lives carefree and happy, and the good little citizens (at least the majority of them) will have heard exactly what they want to hear and will about their merry little lives.

Tom Davis will sell the horses to slaughter and make a buck or two, and take the rap for being the bad guy (which he is!) but confident in the fact that he won't face any real penalties because he is, after all, doing just what the BLM wants him to do.

And this will continue...just like it does in city pounds and elsewhere all over the country where animals have no voice. And all of the merry little citizens who want so badly to believe that things are different, will continue to believe what they hear. It all disgusts the hell out of me.