- Congress has inserted a provision in this year's spending
bill that would allow the slaughter of thousands of wild horses rounded
up in Western states for sale in foreign meat markets.
-
- The proposed new government policy is wise wildlife management,
backers say. But the rule change has enraged activists dedicated to preserving
the estimated 37,000 wild horses and burros still roaming free in the West.
-
- "They are the animals that for centuries have fought
beside us in battle, farmed with us and carried us into the West,"
said Jerry Finch, director of Habitat for Horses in Hitchcock, Texas. "They
have been beside us since the beginning of America."
-
- The sale and slaughter of the horses " some descended
from those first brought here in the 16th century by Spanish conquistadors
" would primarily benefit Western ranchers whose cattle share the
water and pasture on public ranges with about 150 herds of horses and burros.
-
- "Wild mustangs are an American icon," Mr. Finch
said.
-
- "They've been around for hundreds of years and they're
being pushed off the land by the oil, gas and cattle industries."
-
- Sen. Conrad Burns, Montana Republican and one of the
authors of the proposed rules change, said the measure is "a step
in the right direction."
-
- "We've got to get the number of animals down to
appropriate management levels and keep them there, but do it in a way that
doesn't bankrupt us," he said. It will give the Bureau of Land Management
"another tool to help get this under control."
-
- Currently, wild horses penned in federal corrals can
be sold, but only to owners who agree to care for them for one year - a
stipulation that essentially eliminates slaughterhouses. The program costs
more than $10 million per year.
-
- "This program has had problems in the past, and
we need to work to find new approaches that may help solve some of these
problems," Mr. Burns said. "I will continue to work to find solutions
that will help this program function in the best way possible as we move
forward."
-
- Under the proposed new rules, penned horses may be sold
to anyone regardless of their intentions.
-
- The horse meat would go primarily to restaurants and
butchers in countries such as France, Belgium, Italy and Japan, where horse
meat is a prized delicacy.
-
- "My feeling is if you want to eat them, find your
own to slaughter," Mr. Finch said. "Don't slaughter ours."
-
- He said he expects the new language to easily pass as
part of the large spending bill that also resolves several other issues.
-
- But Mr. Finch said horse lovers will continue fighting
for the animals.
-
- "The same way we don't eat our dogs and cats, we
shouldn't eat our horses," he said.
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- http://washingtontimes.com/national/20041130-121431-2794r.htm
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- Irony Thick As The Blood Of Dying Horses
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- By Stephen Winslow vote4chg@yahoo.com Augusta Free Press.com
12-3-4
-
- For months now, I have been writing on the issue of horse
slaughter for human consumption, and House Resolution 857, which is a bill
in Congress that would end such practices.
-
- HR 857, and the fate of thousands of horses, hangs in
the balance because of a political game being played at the midnight hour
of negotiations over a $388 billion federal spending bill. How wording
allowing the slaughter of wild horses has any business being added to a
federal spending bill is a mystery cloaked in irony so thick it sickens
me.
-
- The short of it is the greed and the power of cattle
ranchers out West who have intimidated, pressured, cajoled, threatened
and outspent anyone that stood in their way. It seems as though their efforts
are beginning to pay off.
-
- The saddest realization left to reflect upon is how far
our government has digressed. It is a sad and pathetic reality to face
when one realizes that the common person is a complete nonfactor in decisions
being made by the federal government. If anyone is so naive as to think
that we live in a democracy, or that government is in anyway responsive
to the people, then they are living in a fantasy land only seen in movies
and read about in fictitious novels.
-
- Our government, as a whole, is corrupt. The saddest portion
of that statement is that many representatives don't even realize how easily
they allow themselves to be bought and paid for.
-
- Texas sets the stage
-
- Looking back at the slaughter issue, the one word that
comes to mind is irony. Let's see if I can recap certain recent events
that have lead to the irresponsible role of elected officials from Virginia
to Montana.
-
- Let's start in Texas, where the issue seems to have been
born. How ironic was it when horse racing's showcase event, the Breeders'
Cup, took place at Lone Star Park, which is just a short drive from two
of the three remaining slaughter plants located in the United States?
-
- Kevin Blackistone of The Dallas Morning News doesn't
feel that the outrage of this point should be lost. Blackistone wrote a
poignant article reminding people of the reality of the ironies that exist
in Texas. "They blast a four-inch bolt into their skulls to stun them,"
he wrote. "Lift their bodies with chains or a giant claw. Chop off
their heads. Hang the remains so that the still-beating heart pumps out
all the blood. Then strip the hide, quarter the carcass and package the
meat for fine dining overseas."
-
- "We support ... barring slaughterhouses," Breeders'
Cup spokesman Jim Gluckson declared.
-
- Such a statement seemed ironic to Blackistone, who said,
"That's why it seemed odd to me that the world's thoroughbred industry
would dare bring its showcase event, the Breeders' Cup, to Lone Star Park."
-
- Blackistone feels that this could make leaders of the
horse industry look hypocritical because "much of the industry's leadership,
the Breeders' Cup itself, major racetracks like Churchill Downs and Lone
Star, groups like the New York Racing Association and the country's oldest
horse auction house, Fasig-Tipton, are all on record in opposition to the
barbarism that is horse slaughter."
-
- For its part, Lone Star Park has publicly supported the
banning of horse slaughter. During events leading to the Cup race, Lone
Star Park allowed supporters of HR 857 to educate the thousands that entered
the race site.
-
- "It's the right platform for the right cause,"
said Lone Star spokesman Darren Rogers, "because it (horse slaughter)
is not right."
-
- There was not a better platform to bring attention to
this sadistic practice than to have the horse-racing industry address it
at the Breeders' Cup. Blackistone agrees writing that "even those
in the business who support horse butchery as some sort of humane measure,
or prefer to keep it as the sport's dirty little secret, will be forced
to confront the issue."
-
- Blackistone goes on to ask the perfect question. "Isn't
this the state that more than any other has duly recorded the horse's contribution
to history, immortalized it in folklore and celebrated it as an icon?"
-
- The irony is much deeper in Texas than questions about
celebrating the contributions of horses. Texans weighed in on this issue
some time ago. Butchering horses for human consumption was outlawed in
1949. Blackistone reports that "as time passed, enforcement lagged
and companies quietly set up shop here and found enough seedy horsemen
to make their repugnant business profitable."
-
- Now the issue rests in the Texas Supreme Court awaiting
a decision on whether to close the foreign-owned horse-concentration camps.
-
- The irony of political leaders
-
- On WLNI radio in Lynchburg, U.S. Sen. George Allen said
that Tom Daschle losing his Senate seat "was as good as Bush being
re-elected." Allen said that Daschle's obstructionist policy of holding
bills up and not allowing voting "was bad for the political system."
-
- Excuse me, Senator, but what is the difference between
the obstructionist policies of Sen. Daschle and the same actions of House
Republican Bob Goodlatte? It is Goodlatte who continues to manufacture
pathetic excuses to obstruct a vote on HR 857. Goodlatte refuses to even
schedule hearings for HR 857, which is well within his power as chairman
of the Agriculture Committee, where the bill lies in waiting.
-
- Could it be that the senator, who has a desire to seek
the '08 Republican presidential nomination, doesn't want to stand against
a fellow Republican? Is the senator, who has maintained an image of strength
and character, lacking the stomach to take a solid stand against a fellow
Republican?
-
- How ironic, or hypocritical, is it to hear a promising
senator slash the name of a longtime senator for improper practices, but
cower from the same stance against a fellow Virginia Republican in the
House of Representatives?
-
- Do we honor horses or not?
-
- Just answer the question, why don't ya? In a recent move
by the Senate, Senate Resolution 452 passed by unanimous vote. This resolution
designated the National Day of the Horse.
-
- Senate Resolution 452 reads: "A Resolution designating
Dec. 13, 2004, as The National Day of the Horse and encouraging the people
of the United States to be mindful of the contribution of horses to economy,
history and character of the United States."
-
- However, in a reversal of three decades of government
policy that protected all wild horses, a provision approved by Congress
would allow some of them to be sold to slaughter houses. The New York Times
reports that animal-protection groups, and the process of representative
government, received a dual blow under the cover of the $388 billion Federal
Appropriations Bill. A last-minute rider to the Horse Protection Act was
slipped into the bill in what is recognized as a desperate attempt to weaken
current law and the growing equine anti-slaughter movement.
-
- In 1971 Congress passed The Wild Free-Roaming Horse and
Burros Act (Wild Horses Act) specifically to recognize wild horses and
burros as an integral part of America's heritage, and to protect them from
exploitation. The Times reports that "the measure received more support,
and generated more letters from the public, than any non-war issue on record
at that time."
-
- On Nov. 20, without discussion or public awareness, our
members of Congress passed a rider to the federal spending bill that removes
federal protections against slaughter and takes away criminal provisions
for people who buy wild horses at auction for slaughter purposes. This
rider was a surprise to the hundreds of organizations working to end slaughter,
and support the animals of our nation.
-
- The Times stated that the change was drafted by Montana
Republican Sen. Conrad Burns and slid in to the massive Budget Appropriations
Bill at the final hour. Burns supports his rider by noting the number of
horses on the range needs to be brought down to manageable levels, something
animal-protection advocates, environmentalists and the Bureau of Land Management
have wrestled with for years.
-
- The rider allows the BLM to dispose of wild free-roaming
horses and burros at local livestock auctions, "without limitations,"
and without adoption programs or ownership titles, etc. It goes so far
as to mandate the Bureau of Land Management sell all older wild horses
at such auctions. As written, this rider provides a direct route to the
slaughter market for thousands of our nation's horses.
-
- The consequences of this measure is that a high number
of once federally protected wild horses, removed from their land due to
the pressure of powerful cattle interests that are allotting public lands
for private use, will end up cruelly slaughtered in three foreign-owned
horse slaughterhouses for human consumption in European and Asian countries
such as Belgium, France and Japan.
-
- The only way to prevent the slaughter of these horses
is by passing the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (HR 857 and S.
2352), bills that would ban the slaughter of horses as well as the transportation
of horses for slaughter across U.S. borders.
-
- "There are about 37,000 horses and burros running
free in 10 Western states, but most are in Nevada," said Maxine Shane,
a spokeswoman for the Reno office of the Bureau of Land Management.
-
- An additional 14,000 are in captivity in Oklahoma and
Kansas, with a few thousand more in regional facilities. Ms. Shane estimated
that at least 8,000 of the horses in captivity would be eligible for immediate
sale to the highest bidder.
-
- As shared by the Times, the fate of wild horses and burros
in the West has been an emotional flashpoint and source of litigation.
-
- "Horse lovers have fought to preserve and expand
the herds, whose bloodlines trace back, at least partly, to the animals
brought by the Conquistadors in the 16th century. Ranchers, whose cattle
compete with the horses for forage and water on public lands throughout
the arid West, want the 180 remaining herds thinned," the paper reported.
-
- Advocates for the horses were furious that the legislation
passed without a public hearing.
-
- "This went by so fast. It's almost like an autocratic
government," said Karen Sussman, president of the International Society
for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros. "What the government does,
what the BLM does, is try to do these massive gathers. They put 30,000
horses in holding areas and plead with Congress to pass sale authority
to execute them."
-
- In an attempt at classic political spin, Tina Kreisher,
a spokesman for the Interior Department, said on Wednesday, "We did
not ask for this language."
-
- They certainly didn,t run away from it either.
-
- It seems that rules of government have been abandoned.
Government and its representatives are out of control. They are writing
their own rules and have little concern that they will be held accountable
for anything they say or do. Don't sleep with anyone in the Oval Office,
don't lie on your taxes and don't sleep with anyone of the same sex, and
you can get away with anything you want in today's world of elected officials.
-
- You don't believe me? Do you think I've gone too far?
Then I challenge you to watch C-SPAN for a day or two. Watch the House
floor and the Senate floor and be the judge yourself. It is a pathetic
rendition of what the architects of our Constitution and government intended.
-
- Then again, today's elected official, Republican and
Democrat alike, doesn't seem to care about that, either.
-
- The way it could be - and should be
-
- Adam Richey remembered hearing that a horse he once raced
at Lone Star Park, before another owner claimed it, was severely injured
running elsewhere. Word got back to him that the new handlers were contemplating
selling the horse as meat.
-
- "I had my trainer call the other trainer and ask
how much he wanted," Richey said from his Dallas home. "He said
he wanted $600, slaughterhouse price. I gave him $1,000."
-
- He put the horse in his barn for 90 days to heal. Since
then, Yankee Castle has been frolicking on Richey's East Texas farm.
-
- That's the way it should done, and the wealthy who make
up the Sport of Kings can afford it.
-
- Still, there are unproductive or past-their-prime thoroughbreds
that wind up like 1986 Kentucky Derby winner Ferdinand. After not producing
much while standing stud, it was discovered he was slaughtered in Japan.
-
- The irony is so thick you can cut it with a butcher knife.
We complain about companies that violate environmental policy. We complain
about the imbalance of tariffs. We complain about foreign companies taking
advantage of American policies. Yet these three slaughter companies that
exist in the United States are French- and Belgian-owned.
-
- They pay no taxes in this country. They ignore our laws.
They ignore any semblance of governmental policy, including environmental
laws. They pay no tariffs and are charged nothing to export our dead horses
to plates of the French consumer, the Japanese steak house or the Belgian
market.
-
- The only true fans of these companies are the cattlemen,
the politician that stands to gain something, anything, the horse thief,
and an occasional soul that is unaware of what is taking place in these
houses of inhumanity.
-
- If the Japanese and Europeans want to eat horsemeat,
which they consider a delicacy, they should be left to butcher their own
equine.
-
- It has been said that the election of 2004 was decided
on the issue of values. How can we have the audacity to speak of values
while condoning such a hideous practice?
-
- How can one say that they believe in values that hold
humanity to a higher level, and then support the bloodthirsty practice
of throat cutting, live hangs, and ruthless murder of an animal that helped
build and defend this country? Our history is embedded in the lives of
horses, and the values we hold near and dear are threatened by our continued
ability to rationalize a great hypocrisy. Do not walk away from this issue.
-
- If you voted for a belief that humanity should be held
to a standard of values and moral practices, or if you believe that the
practice of betrayal against those that have been there in our history
is deplorable, then you have a responsibility to your conscience to be
heard on this issue.
-
- Let those that we entrusted with leadership in this nation
know that we simply want to put an end to an immoral, valueless, sadistic
practice that stinks of governmental corruption and hypocrisy. Ask your
elected official to demand the passing of HR 857.
-
- If we can entice them to respond, then perhaps we can
maintain some glimmer of hope that we the people still have some stake
in our democracy.
-
-
- Stephen Winslow is a regular contributor to The Augusta
Free Press.
-
- The views expressed by op-ed writers do not necessarily
reflect those of management of The Augusta Free Press.
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- http://www.augustafreepress.com/stories/storyReader$29256
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