Wild Horses Reportedly Sold to Kill Buyer
In Southern Utah, the debate over wild horse population management continues as a recent report reveals shocking allegations of illegal sales for slaughter.
A recent news report published by ProPublica and information provided by several Bureau of Land Management whistleblowers revealed that wild horses being captured and held in holding pens by the Interior Department were allegedly being illegally sold for slaughter.
According to the report, more than 1,700 captured wild horses were sold to a known kill buyer with long-time ties to Secretary Ken Salazar, who was appointed by President Obama. The American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Preservation), a national organization, has called for an immediate halt to all sales and removal of wild horses from the range.
The report stated that the 1,700 wild horses were sold to livestock hauler, Tom Davis of La Jara Colo. Davis, a known kill buyer, reportedly bought the horses for as little as $10 each under the guise that the horses would be sold in Mexico for use in movies.
The article stated that Davis didn’t care if the horses were “male or female, as long as they were fat.” Slaughter plants pay by the pound for the horses. The Bureau of Land Management began shipping “truckloads and truckloads,” of horses to Davis.
Salazar became Interior Secretary in 2009. Davis and Salazar are reportedly business partners and are fifth generation ranchers with ranches in the same area.
Beaver County Commissioner Mark S. Whitney said, “This is the kind of corruption we see in these government agencies. County commissioners in the area are taking pressure on the overpopulation of horses. The overpopulation of wild horses affects sportsmen, cattlemen and ranchers in the area.”
The Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 requires the BLM to conduct a yearly population inventory to estimate the number of wild horses and wild burros on BLM-managed lands in the west. The animals share the land and feed with countless other animals, including cattle, elk and deer. The BLM determines the Appropriate Management Level, which is the number of wild horses and burros that can exist in balance with other public land resources and uses.
The Appropriate Management Level, as defined by the act, is 26,715 head of horses and burros. As of March 1, 2015, that number is 58,150, an 18 percent increase over the 2014 number of 49,209. These animals roam freely on BLM land.
In accordance with the 1971 law, as amended, 31,435 animals are to be removed from the range. The question remains whether or not these animals will be held in holding pens, adopted out, or sold. The population of animals being held in holding pens by the BLM, which includes those animals not adopted out, or unsold wild horses and burros, is more than 47,000 as of November 2015.
“Commissioners are requesting that the management of the wild horse population be transferred from the federal government to the individual states,” Whitney said.
“The BLM turned a blind eye to the intentions of a known kill buyer in selling thousands of federally-protected wild horses for slaughter in Mexico,” said Suzanne Roy, director of AWHC, whose coalition includes more than 50 horse advocacy, conservation, public interest and historic preservation organizations. In the report, Roy also stated, “This unconscionable and illegal treatment of these American icons deserves immediate investigation and action.”
The debate continues on how to control the wild horse herds and the wild burro population in Utah and neighboring states and the balance between those animals, cattle and others competing for food on the same range.
Originally Posted By Iron County Today