6 wild horses legally rounded up, killed

Sad news in the Friday April 22 Chicago Tribune (Pg 18) headed "6 wild horses legally rounded up, killed" and in the Los Angeles Times (pg A20) headed "6 Wild Horses Sold by U.S. End Up at a Slaughterhouse."

The Associated Press story opens:
"Wild horses rounded up on federal land in the West and sold to a private owner have been slaughtered for the first time since a new law went into effect, a government official said Thursday."

Celia Boddington, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in Washington is quoted:
"This is something we regret and are very disappointed this has happened. We make every possible effort when the horses are sold to make sure the animals are placed in good homes for long-term care...In the bill of sale there is a statement that says the buyer will provide humane care for the animals. But once the animals are sold, they are private property."

We are reminded:
"In December, Congress repealed the 34-year-old ban on slaughtering wild horses that run free across the West....The new law, written by Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), was passed at the urging of ranchers concerned about overpopulation of the horses and their effect on the range."

About these particular horses we learn that "a man who identified himself as a minister in Oklahoma told the BLM he intended to use the horses in a program for troubled youth and bought them April 15."

You can read the whole article on line at: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-horses22apr22,1,2327410.story OR http://tinyurl.com/9fjvm

Distress at the slaughter of wild horses is likely to be shared by a large proportion of the American public. The story gives us an opportunity for letters to the editor dealing with related issues -- perhaps focusing on the power of the ranching lobby.

A superb resource is the companion website to the book "Welfare Ranching: The Subsidized Destruction of the American West." Check out:
http://www.publiclandsranching.org/book.htm

The Los Angeles Times takes letters at: letters [at] latimes.com
The Chicago Tribune takes letters at: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/letters/chi-lettertotheeditor.customform
OR http://tinyurl.com/4lsug

HSUS has information on the Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, and what you can to help, at:
https://community.hsus.org/campaign/FED_2005_horse_slaughter


(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. If you forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts, please do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this tag line.)