MUSTANGS’ LAST STAND

BLM and Slaughter In the 1960's American Mustangs were considered pests, massacred, many shot and left to die where they dropped. Commercially slaughtered in great numbers, so many were shoved into trains and trailers at once that they couldn’t move, forcing them to trample to death those that fell (this continues still). One woman saw the trail of blood spilling from those trailers, and decided to do something about it. Thanks to the continued efforts of that one woman, Velma B. Johnston, the Bureau of Land Management was eventually established to manage the wild herds as well as millions of acres of public land in the west.

Despite our considerable tax dollars, despite the BLM’s “protection”, these horses have been continuously mistreated. Their slaughter never stopped. The difference was that many were subjected to a year of abuse and neglect before sale for slaughter. One person would acquire many simply by putting the horses in others’ names. Mustang numbers dropped from close to 2 million to between 20,000 and 30,000 since 1971. Where they once lived across the entire western US, they have been chased mainly into parts of Nevada where they were not expected to survive. The BLM is now saying there is a crisis, that there are too many.

The BLM conducts a yearly “headcount”. Herds are forced to run, terrified, from helicopters, four wheelers, etc. They are driven relentlessly mile after mile, and then trapped in holding pens; it is normal for some to drop from exhaustion, others are trampled to death, some fall, broken, and die slowly. Others are injured in the pens themselves, with multiple herds packed together all frantic to break free - from the pens, from each other. Of those that survive the ordeal, lesser injuries leave them susceptible to infection that can later claim their lives.

The roundup I have described is normal; what people don’t hear is that the headcount is conveniently conducted in spring. Foals are often too young, too small, to keep up with their herd, and are left behind to fend for themselves. While some mares reunite with their foals, many do not. The BLM is allowed to drive Mustangs no more than five miles, but no one is there to enforce this.

In mid 2005 the BLM claimed 32,000 horses and burros still lived free. Consequently, their five-year plan is to remove 45,000 equines from the wild. Normally, 10,000 are rounded up each year, though only 6,000 to 7,000 are adopted. In 2005, 14,000 lingered in long-term holding pens. The BLM’s largest facility holds 2,000 animals on only 148.51 acres. The considerable trauma of roundup, trailering, rough handling, separation from their herds, and confinement in overcrowded small pens has a lasting, sometimes permanent effect.

Before 2004, a family could adopt up to four horses per year for $125 each, with the BLM retaining title of ownership for one year. BLM policy was to conduct surprise inspections during that year, though countless abuse/neglect/fatality cases prove otherwise. In December 2004, Montana’s Senator Conrad Burns slipped 36 lines into a 3,000 - plus page spending bill, which was passed by Bush before Christmas break. The lines of this rider repealed the third section of the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act passed in 1971. “Protection” of these animals, such as it was, changed drastically.

The year-long adoption policy is history. Mustangs are now sold to the highest bidder through the internet and poorly advertised auctions. Any horse 10 years young or older can immediately, legally, be sold without limitation, as well as any horse failing three adoption attempts. (This erases the reason the 1971 act was passed to begin with!) This means a slaughter buyer can legally acquire hundreds of wild horses for one dollar each. More common, to avoid poor publicity for the BLM, intermediate buyers profit by reselling to slaughterhouses in bulk.

Transport in itself is a shameful cruelty. Double - decker trailers designed for cattle and pigs are still legal for horses in some states. They’re crammed in, in many cases forced so close that they must stand on the weakest or those that die along the way. These animals are trucked regardless of extreme heat or cold, frequently for days at a time, never leaving the trailer. The top floor is too low for them to hold their heads in a comfortable position, and from it, urine and manure spill onto those below. Until unloading at the slaughterhouse, they have no choice but to try to scramble for purchase in this sloppy mess. To fall is usually to die painfully and slowly. These horses and burros are rarely fed or watered during shipment; no one is there to enforce slaughter transport regulations.

Three major equine slaughter plants, two in Texas and one in Illinois, process horsemeat for export, mainly to restaurants in France, Japan, and Mexico. All three are Belgian - owned; Americans are not profiting from our horses’ pain. (Some horses continue their miserable journey to slaughter facilities out of the country; another Belgian - owned slaughterhouse resides just over the border in Mexico.) Valuable horsemeat is not dog food or glue; it is a delicacy sold for $15 to $20 per plate. It is also fed to zoo animals overseas.

Nor do Americans profit from the cattle industry taking over Mustang lands, but for a select few. Those wealthy enough to own herd after herd of cattle lease grazing rights - on public land - from our government for a minimal fee ( $1.35 per animal in 1994). These animals are turned loose to grow fat, until they are rounded up, butchered, and their meat exported - only 3% of the beef raised from public land west of the Mississippi feeds US citizens. In the mid 1990's, 4.3 million cattle roamed those ranges; that was over 12,000 cattle for each Mustang or burro. Study after study proves that cattle herds are not environmentally friendly; they eat the land bare, causing erosion. Yet Mustangs travel up to 30 miles per day, do not overgraze, and re - seed with their fertilizer. Wild horses only consume about 4% of the forage on these lands; they are about 1/50 of the 2 million or so large free - roaming animals that graze public lands. Yet the BLM and wealthy cattle ranchers insist the Mustang is eating and drinking itself out of resources.

Following the accumulative strain of roundup to their first trailering, adoptions (auctions) are a new terror. On an outdoor lot or in an arena, horses are crowded into small pens and surrounded by groups of loud people. Vehicles, shouting, loudspeakers and so on add to the animals’ distress. Various methods scare the horses into scrambling around their cramped cage so people can “see how they move”. They have already been trapped in stocks and manhandled for inoculations and freeze branding. Now it is to halter them before they are driven into a new trailer and hauled away. Total mistrust of man is a learned behavior.

USDA and Slaughter

At the slaughterhouse, Mustangs join horses of all ages and breeds; foals, pregnant mares, racers, show horses, backyard ponies included. They are unloaded into packed corrals where they may or may not be fed or watered. The severely injured lay in their own and others’ filth. Sickness and wounds are ignored- no vet care is given. They can smell blood and death and hear the pain and fright of those being butchered before them.

Animals processed for human consumption, by law, must be alive when their throats are slit, to allow blood flow from the jugular. Guns are no longer used - bullets are expensive. The US Department of Agriculture has now approved the use of the captive bolt, which fires and retracts; in professional, trained hands it will stun an animal instantly. This requires “proper restraint” so that the head cannot move, and precise firing into the brain; the animal drops, unconscious. However, any miscalculation in any direction results in a frantic horse now bleeding from a hole in its skull. (Have you ever tried to hold a panicking horse perfectly still?) Human error and misfire require repeated blows. Some appear to be stunned only to regain their senses as they continue through slaughter. They are then strung up from their hind leg or legs; their lungs function poorly in this position, and their own weight can break their bones. Those still aware thrash and scream, injuring themselves further. After slitting the throat and bleeding out, butchering proceeds by gutting and skinning.

In 2004 over 58,000 equines were processed at the three major horse slaughter facilities in the US (Texas has Beltex in Fort Worth and Dallas Crown in Kaufman. Cavel International is in Dekalb, Illinois). Over 17,000 horses were shipped to Canada for processing and export, and over 10,000 were trucked to Mexico. Support of a horse slaughter ban in America is growing; those demanding results were promised just that with an amendment to the 2006 agricultural appropriations bill. This amendment goes into effect from March 2006 to September 30, 2006. According to Bonnie Buntain of the USDA: “...meat for interstate and international use must have USDA inspection, including meeting all requirements of the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act and its regulations covering livestock (horses are included in this).” The Horse magazine asked her if the lack of USDA inspection would close equine slaughter plants. Her response: “An establishment may not produce meat or poultry products for interstate or international use without USDA inspection of EVERY carcass. If USDA is not present, the product is not eligible for the USDA seal and therefore not eligible for export out of the state.”

In other words, this amendment, by eliminating federal funding for the inspection of horsemeat, would “effectively end” US horse slaughter for human consumption. Strangely, Congress failed to mention that this does not prevent shipment of equines to slaughter facilities in Canada or Mexico. They were also quiet about the fact that processing horses as feed for “animals housed in zoos or privately” is still legal.

Last minute changes, however, allow something our government and the USDA vehemently, repeatedly, denied before this bill was signed into law. They lied. Congressman Henry Bonilla of Texas, among others, are responsible for rewording that allows slaughter facilities to hire their own personnel (approved by the European Union) to inspect horsemeat, and therefore continue operations uninterrupted. Our government is about to save a great deal of money; USDA personnel are normally paid (expenses included) to inspect slaughter plants, horsemeat, slaughter bound horses and those exported for meat. And the end of these horses’ lives just went from terrible to worse; their treatment could easily deteriorate further with no one the wiser.

Congress and Slaughter

Congressman Henry Bonilla (also chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on agriculture) claims the changes he made were necessary for farmers and ranchers in Texas. Others have commented on lost jobs. Congress has done nothing about Ford terminating up to 50,000 positions, GM cutting 30,000, or the countless jobs lost due to outsourcing - yet they express concern for the 40 or so workers each at three foreign - owned slaughterhouses?

Many claim captive bolt and a slit throat is a humane form of euthanasia and that neglect will increase if slaughter is not an option. Studies prove otherwise. In the last two decades there have been immense fluctuations per year in the number of equines butchered; “surplus” horses were absorbed into the market without complication. Figures released by the Illinois Department of Agriculture show that abuse actually dropped after the only slaughterhouse in the state (Belgian - owned, remember) temporarily shut down due to fire in 2002. Equine slaughter has been illegal since 1998 in California. Not only has there been no rise in abuse/neglect cases, but theft of horses has dropped 34%.

Another hidden truth regarding horsemeat involves hundreds, if not thousands, of medications toxic to humans that are likely present in dead animals. The Food and Drug Administration admits that the widespread use of phenylbutazone ( “bute”) in horses and cows “presents a risk to the public health”; bute is a carcinogen. It is commonly given to horses before the sale ring, and is therefore present in many slaughter bound animals. Poisoned meat results from any number of routine drugs and dewormers, Lasix and Ivermectin among them, which come with a warning: ‘Not for use in animals intended for human consumption.’ Oddly, neither the FDA nor USDA has guidelines for measuring toxin levels in horsemeat.

New York Representative John Sweeney has introduced the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, HR503, with 131 co - sponsors and counting. This is a clear cut permanent ban on equine slaughter in the US, and their exportation for slaughter. Senator John Ensign of Nevada has a companion bill, S 1915, in the Senate.

A short time after Bush and Senator Conrad Burns terminated over 30 years of protective national policy, reports of the slaughter of over 40 Mustangs circulated. Burns’ ridiculous justification for his actions was “the problem of overcrowding on our public ranges.”

The Humane Society of the United States, with 63 organizations, is among many now calling on Congress to rescind the Burns rider. Nancy Perry, Vice President of Government Affairs for the HSUS, stated: “There are many ways to deal with the horse population rather than sending them to slaughter. Immunocontraception programs, private sanctuaries, and incentives with the cattle industry to share the public range with horses are viable options.”

Burns’ response was to call wild horse contraception “both ineffective and expensive”; from a narrow - minded point of view, this may be true. He goes on to say that making all wild horses eligible for slaughter will benefit the BLM “adoption” program, due to funds generated from sale of “excess animals”. He claims suspending the adoption period will “encourage dealers and trainers” to buy them. He calls it “wise management of resources, both for the range and for the animals.”

West Virginia Representative Nick Rahall told Congress that “To suggest that an acceptable solution to a federal agency’s (BLM) management shortcomings is commercial slaughter is an irresponsible approach to our public lands and the wildlife that roam them.”

The BLM claims to be “working to persuade all three” slaughterhouses to refuse freeze branded horses - though the alternative is perfectly legal - to “limit the possibility” of more wild horse and burro slaughter.

So first, Mustang herds were reduced drastically. They were then driven into the harshest parts of Nevada to make way for humans and cattle on the better land. Now ranchers want that last bit of land also, so we’re told these horses are overpopulating the area. Ranchers make a large profit by feeding huge numbers of cattle for next to nothing on public land. We are supposed to believe that 30,000 horses and burros will eat themselves into starvation and drink themselves into dehydration on 261 million public acres. The BLM would have us believe they are trying to rescue these horses - by holding them in overcrowded paddocks, then selling them for meat. You see, they/we spend over $20 million per year just in holding costs, supposedly to save them from sure death in the wild. And due to lack of funding to care for these horses, the new law allowing sale of so - called less desirable Mustangs was supposedly necessary. In February 2005 there were already 8,400 horses in long - term holding facilities age 10 or older. They went up for immediate sale to the highest bidder, whatever their intentions may have been.

I fail to see the common sense in any of this. If I do not have land for a cow, then I do not have the cow. Do we sell our dogs or cats for human consumption when we are done with them? When a horse is no longer of use to us do we butcher it ourselves and eat it? If I were to capture a wild Mustang or burro, I would be breaking the law, though they belong to American citizens and live on our land. If I were to treat a captive Mustang as does our government or as is common practice at slaughterhouses - with the blessing of the USDA - I would be charged with animal cruelty, fined, and threatened with imprisonment. If 5,000 equines per year are not adopted, return them to the wild, or do not round them up in the first place. A Mustang is what it is because of its history of freedom - that cannot be reproduced by human intervention. And to own a horse, or any animal, is to accept responsibility for its care in every respect, physical and psychological. If euthanasia is necessary, it is our charge to provide it without suffering. If we no longer want an animal, it is our duty to find someone who does.

A journalist in Greenwood Lake, NY assured me that Mustangs are untrainable. As silly and uninformed as that statement is, it is a common thought. While they excel in endurance, dressage, jumping, eventing, and so on, recognition is reserved for other breeds. Nature designed the Mustang as an athlete; their intelligence, stamina, speed, hardiness, and strength are necessary for continued existence. They endure extremes in weather and poor nutrition. It is man that has decimated their herds enough to threaten survival. Man’s interaction, from roundup to adoption or slaughter, instills distrust in the Mustang that is well deserved. It is no wonder that they fear us. If training takes longer than with a domesticated horse, it should be met with understanding and patience.

These horses are our heritage. They carried settlers across this land when it was wilderness. They died for us in countless battles. We worked our farms with them. They transported us and our goods for centuries. They deserve our respect and certainly the right to live.

Written by: Herman Spencer III, Theresa Fassett and Keresan, the Wild Mustang, now traveling across the US.

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