(Albuquerque, NM) – Candidate for Governor Gary King today called on Governor Martinez to take immediate steps to block the proposed horse slaughterhouse in Roswell by directing her Secretary of the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) to take into serious consideration the opinion of the state environmental hearing officer who yesterday recommended that the operational permits to the Valley Meat company be denied.
“By waiting to block the permits, Governor Martinez has not only endangered these majestic horses, she is wasting thousands of taxpayer dollars. She could end this highly controversial project now by instructing her cabinet Secretary in charge of granting or denying a permit to the Valley Meat company to consider the strong evidence against this project,” said King.
“Horse slaughter is wrong. Human consumption of horse meat that may contain drugs could be dangerous. Discharging thousands of gallons of waste every day from an industrial horse slaughter operation would harm the environment,” said King. “Governor Martinez could have taken action long ago to address this controversy. This isn’t about politics – it’s about the humane treatment of horses and good stewardship. The only question is whether she will finally make the right decision. ”
“I am grateful to the many thousands of people from within New Mexico and around the country who have signed my petition, asking Gov. Martinez to stop the horse slaughterhouse. While the state court will hopefully make the right decision, this has gone on too long,” King added.
As seen on Australia’s Yahoo News and ABC (Australian Broadcast Company)
Opponents of a cull of thousands of wild horses in Western Australia say they have evidence the animals are not being killed humanely.
CAITLYN GRIBBIN –
Aerial slaughter kills thousands of Brumbies (wild horses) in Australia. Copyrighted photo.
Over the past week, more than 7,000 brumbies have been shot dead in the remote East Kimberley, using rifles fired from mustering helicopters.
Traditional owners, the RSPCA, and local graziers admit brumby numbers are out of control and have endorsed the cull because the horses are destroying native habitat near the WA/Northern Territory.
The Aboriginal Lands Trust undertook the cull on two stations with Aboriginal pastoral leases.
It is being overseen by veterinarian Jordan Hampton.
“You have two people in a small mustering helicopter and the shooter has a high-calibre semi-automatic weapon,” he said.
“They’re called SLRs, they’re similar to military rifles that were used in the Vietnam war.”
Dr Hampton is monitoring animal welfare during the operation.
“The helicopter pilot gets the shooter side on as close as he can to the animal, and then there’s our policy of repeat shooting,” he said.
“It’s known as mandatory overkill; each animal is shot more than once to ensure that it is indeed dead.”
RSPCA supports cull as little food or water for horses
The RSPCA is supporting the cull, saying it is inhumane to let the horses live because there is not enough food and water.
It says it demanded the brumbies be killed instantly through an accurately-fired shot, through the head or thorax.
But Libby Lovegrove, from activist group Wild Horses Kimberley, says she has evidence that has not happened.
“The photos, there’s one there of a horse that’s been shot in the shoulder and he’s been left to die, you can see the blood running down his leg,” she said.
Ms Lovegrove says the photos were taken by one of the stations’ employees on the October 30.
Shot but left to bleed to death like many brumbies from the aerial massacre. Copyright protected.
In one photo, a brumby is standing in a paddock and Ms Lovegrove says the horse is bleeding from a bullet wound on its left fore quarter.
“That bullet would’ve gone into its shoulder,” she said.
“Eventually it probably would either bleed to death slowly in the 40 degree heat or it would just carry that wound around with it, and it would be in tremendous pain.
“The other photographs are of a mare and a young colt, they all looked to be in terrific condition but they’ve both been shot, one of them in the wrong place.
“My major concern is when they shoot the mares, the foals that are left there have no way of surviving, they die slowly, it’s pretty terrible.”
Vet admits some horses still alive after being shot
In a statement, the Aboriginal Lands Trust and the Department of Aboriginal Affairs say they are confident the operation was conducted as professionally and humanely as possible.
Dr Hampton, who examined 452 of the 7,000 dead horses, admitted some were still alive after being shot.
“That’s part of the assessment and also the potential for the animal to show signs of having had a protracted death,” he said.
“We found animals alive associated with approximately one per cent of all the animals that were targeted.”
Wild Horses Kimberley says the brumbies should not be shot, but instead mustered and gelded.
But Dr Chris Pollitt, a veterinarian and feral horse researcher, says that is not viable and brumbies wreck the environment.
“Like looking at the surface of Mars, there was absolutely no natural pasture and it really did look red and barren,” he said.
And, he rejected the prospect of gelding.
“When you have extensive populations, difficult terrains, it’s not just as simple as you think,” he said.
RSPCA says it is pushing for a long-term strategy to control horse numbers and has requested that the photos in question be sent to them.
Ms Lovegrove wants the killing of the horses to get international attention.
“I’m in touch with the Mustang people in America because in the States now they’re passing laws to save their Mustangs,” she said.
“The whole world is watching and outraged,” states Anne Novak, Executive Director of Protect Mustangs based in California. “Killing Australia’s heritage wild horses is shameful and needs to stop now!”
Special thanks to Libby Lovegrove and Lynette Sutton with boots on the ground across Australia working hard to save the brumbies.
“The global public is outraged that Australia would condone mass killings of wild horses. Are they killing off thousands of horses so they can frack the land for oil and natural gas? We ask that the heinous killings cease immediately.” ~Anne Novak, Executive Director of Protect Mustangs.
An aerial cull of wild horses is taking place in the Kimberley
The Aboriginal Lands Trust has begun an aerial cull of thousands of feral horses in the Kimberley.
A survey of Lake Gregory and the Billiluna Pastoral Station two months ago found about 6,000 feral horses.
The Trust says the animals are a risk to the environment and public health, and to comply with the law they have to go.
The Trust says an aerial cull is the most humane way to do that and has employed shooters in helicopters.
A plan to cull feral horses in the same area in 2010 was abandoned after a backlash from animal welfare advocates.
The state Opposition’s Lisa Baker has called for the cull to stop immediately.
“There’s babies, there’s foals whose mothers are shot who starved to death,” she said.
“This is not a civilised way of managing a population of horses.”
Ms Baker says traditional owners want to manage feral horse populations in other ways.
“They’re really cognisant of the fact that some of them will need to be euthanised, put down, whatever, but there is many opportunities for tourism, for breaking the horses in, and for using them more productively,” she said.
The Aboriginal Lands Trust says traditional owners have been consulted.
The area’s former Indigenous Protected Area co-ordinator, Wade Freeman, says other options were considered and ruled out.
“Too costly and not humane at all,” he said.
“We even tried the option of darting and putting horses to sleep but when you’re looking at numbers of up to 10,000 it’s just not viable.”
What will happen when the money runs out to feed and care for America’s wild horses that BLM rounded up for the extractive industry? Clearing them off their legally designated land wipes away a layer of environmental delays so they can go ahead with FRACKING and use tons of water for mining in alleged drought zones, etc.
WRITE your Congressional Rep a hand written letter in your own words and request they intervene to:
1.) Cease using PESTICIDES (“birth control”) on America’s wild horses pushed by lobbyists with conflict of interest!!!
2.) Reverse EPA’s PEST designation when they recently approved a version of PZP to be used as a Restricted-Use PESTICIDE for RETURNED-NATIVE wild horses & burros NOT found safe for domestic horses!!!
3.) The National Academy of Sciences established this summer there is NO EVIDENCE of overpopulation and stated the BLM Roundups increased the birthrate. Fear of EXTINCTION innately makes wild horses reproduce at a faster rate.
4.) Enact an immediate MORATORIUM on all Roundups & Removals for population studies!!! SCIENCE must come first.
5.) Bad BLM policy has put the lives of 50,000 American wild horses AT-RISK of being KILLED or being SOLD to SLAUGHTER as permitted by the 2004 Burns Amendment.
7.) Return all 50,000 wild horses and burros to the Herd Management Areas legally given to them for their primary use in 1971. Native wild horses heal the land and create biodiversity.
When our Congressional Reps come back to work for their constituents your hand-written letter will be waiting for them. One kitchen table letter represents 1,000 opinions. Then if you are able, call and make an appointment to meet with your Representative to request their intervention again in person. Small steps make change! YOU can really help the wild horses & burros!!!
ELKO — Reports that wild horses were without water prompted local Bureau of Land Management to investigate this week.
Contracted water hauler Jackie Wiscombe told the county commission Wednesday that the federal government shutdown had prohibited her from watering wild horses in Ruby Valley and Deer Springs, an area about 15 miles north of Currie.
She said she was concerned the animals were dying of thirst. The road to Deer Springs had been washed out, Wiscombe added, and she was unable to drive to the guzzlers.
Alerted by the news, BLM Elko District Director Jill Silvey said an employee was sent to Deer Springs to check on water and horse conditions.
The BLM employee was able to get to Deer Springs on a road that had some washout but was passable, Silvey said. The employee also reported that the horse guzzler still had water.
The employee didn’t see any horses, but because water was available, she said, the BLM believes the horses to be in good shape.
Silvey was unsure where the communication broke down, but said hauling water to the horses is an essential service and the BLM didn’t intend for Wiscombe to stop watering the two areas.
Wiscombe said she was contacted Thursday night and told that she should have received an email and voice message when the shutdown began, telling her to continue hauling water.
Wiscombe is also unsure how the miscommunication occurred, but couldn’t recall getting an email.
In any event, Wiscombe said she’s glad to be working with the agency again.
“I like working with this BLM office,” she said, “and they really do care about these wild horses.”
Mostly, she’s happy to be watering horses again.
On Friday she hauled water to Ruby Valley where the tubs were “bone dry.”
Wiscombe said she didn’t see any horses but did find fresh horse tracks near the guzzlers.
“I filled them up,” she said. “And I’ll go fill them back up in a few days.”
Commissioner Demar Dahl said Wednesday he could help fix a road if it was impassable.
Wiscombe said she would keep in contact with the commission if the road needed repair.
The Elko District BLM office is closed. Almost all of its employees have been on furlough since Oct. 1, when the federal government shut down.
