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<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" media="screen" href="/~d/styles/rss2enclosuresfull.xsl"?><?xml-stylesheet type="text/css" media="screen" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~d/styles/itemcontent.css"?><rss xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd" version="2.0"><channel><title>Americans Against Horse Slaughter in Arizona</title><link>http://arizona1-aahsbloggingupdates.blogspot.com/</link><atom10:link xmlns:atom10="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/AmericansAgainstHorseSlaughterInArizona" /><description></description><language>en</language><managingEditor>noreply@blogger.com (Barb AZ)</managingEditor><lastBuildDate>Sat, 28 Jan 2012 20:53:21 PST</lastBuildDate><generator>Blogger http://www.blogger.com</generator><openSearch:totalResults xmlns:openSearch="http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearch/1.1/">2331</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex xmlns:openSearch="http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearch/1.1/">1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage xmlns:openSearch="http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearch/1.1/">25</openSearch:itemsPerPage><feedburner:info xmlns:feedburner="http://rssnamespace.org/feedburner/ext/1.0" uri="americansagainsthorseslaughterinarizona" /><atom10:link xmlns:atom10="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="hub" href="http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/" /><itunes:owner><itunes:email>noreply@blogger.com</itunes:email></itunes:owner><itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit><itunes:subtitle></itunes:subtitle><item><title>Legacy of a Champion: Five years after his death, Barbaro’s winning spirit endures - Cecil Whig: Local</title><link>http://arizona1-aahsbloggingupdates.blogspot.com/2012/01/legacy-of-champion-five-years-after-his.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Barb AZ)</author><pubDate>Sat, 28 Jan 2012 20:53:22 PST</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696642843638819377.post-7314411382391319119</guid><description>&lt;a href="http://www.cecildaily.com/features/local/article_0c023528-49e5-11e1-af23-001871e3ce6c.html#.TyTQpqbAt4x.blogger"&gt;Legacy of a Champion: Five years after his death, Barbaro’s winning spirit endures - Cecil Whig: Local&lt;/a&gt;: Sunday marks the fifth anniversary of Barbaro’s passing. I&lt;br /&gt;remember vividly what I was doing that fateful day when I received&lt;br /&gt;a phone call fro…&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/696642843638819377-7314411382391319119?l=arizona1-aahsbloggingupdates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><app:edited xmlns:app="http://www.w3.org/2007/app">2012-01-28T21:53:22.007-07:00</app:edited><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">0</thr:total></item><item><title>Video Update: Wild Horses in Court</title><link>http://arizona1-aahsbloggingupdates.blogspot.com/2012/01/video-update-wild-horses-in-court.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Barb AZ)</author><pubDate>Sat, 28 Jan 2012 18:58:19 PST</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696642843638819377.post-3188556592716363977</guid><description>&lt;a href="http://rtfitchauthor.com/2012/01/28/video-update-wild-horses-in-court/" target="_blank"&gt;Straight from the Horse's Heart&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h5 style="text-align: center;"&gt;Legal Update from the Field&lt;/h5&gt;&lt;h5 style="text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="233" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ngmboUSFvq0" width="400"&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt; &lt;/h5&gt;&lt;h6 class="zemanta-related-title" style="font-size: 1em;"&gt;Related articles&lt;/h6&gt;&lt;ul class="zemanta-article-ul"&gt;&lt;li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"&gt;&lt;a href="http://rtfitchauthor.com/2012/01/27/judge-gives-wild-horse-and-burro-advocates-bittersweet-ruling/"&gt;Judge Gives Wild Horse and Burro Advocates Bittersweet Ruling&lt;/a&gt; (rtfitchauthor.com)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"&gt;&lt;a href="http://rtfitch.wordpress.com/2011/11/15/breaking-news-wild-horse-freedom-federation-moving-forward-with-multi-state-campaign/"&gt;Breaking News: Wild Horse Freedom Federation Moving Forward with Multi-State Campaign&lt;/a&gt; (rtfitch.wordpress.com)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"&gt;&lt;a href="http://rtfitch.wordpress.com/2011/12/09/blm-responds-to-wild-horse-litigation/"&gt;BLM Responds to Wild Horse Litigation&lt;/a&gt; (rtfitch.wordpress.com)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;div id="yiv529071181"&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="http://rtfitchauthor.com/2012/01/26/wild-horses-and-burros-plaintiffs-for-the-day/"&gt;Wild Horses and Burros: Plaintiffs for the Day&lt;/a&gt; (rtfitchauthor.com)&lt;/li&gt;
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&lt;!-- AddThis Button END --&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/696642843638819377-3188556592716363977?l=arizona1-aahsbloggingupdates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><app:edited xmlns:app="http://www.w3.org/2007/app">2012-01-28T19:58:19.105-07:00</app:edited><media:thumbnail url="http://img.youtube.com/vi/ngmboUSFvq0/default.jpg" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">0</thr:total></item><item><title>Presidio Federal Vet Wants No More Calls Complaining About Horses</title><link>http://arizona1-aahsbloggingupdates.blogspot.com/2012/01/presidio-federal-vet-wants-no-more.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Barb AZ)</author><pubDate>Sat, 28 Jan 2012 12:42:04 PST</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696642843638819377.post-693007968777338728</guid><description>&lt;a href="http://horsebackmagazine.com/hb/archives/13826" target="_blank"&gt;Horseback Magazine&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div class="meta"&gt;     &lt;div class="date"&gt;January 28, 2012&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;By Steven Long&lt;br /&gt;
Photo Courtesy Ray Field&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href="http://horsebackmagazine.com/hb/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Presidio-Horses-Cibolo-Creek-3-72.jpg"&gt;&lt;img alt="" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-13827" height="300" src="http://horsebackmagazine.com/hb/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Presidio-Horses-Cibolo-Creek-3-72.jpg" title="Presidio Horses Cibolo Creek 3 72" width="225" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;HOUSTON,  (Horseback) – A federal veterinarian charged with overseeing the U.S.  Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service  animal inspections in Presidio, Texas told &lt;em&gt;Horseback Online&lt;/em&gt; Thursday he was tired of getting calls from citizens irate about the abuse of horses brought to the C-4 slaughter holding pens.&lt;br /&gt;
“I’ve had these middle aged women calling me and complaining about  what’s going on here and I’m tired of it,” he said. “I don’t have  anything to do with those horses.”&lt;br /&gt;
Dr. William Brown said that he has never held a Coggins certificate  from horses at the facility in his hands. Moreover, he says he was under  orders to ignore the place.&lt;br /&gt;
Late last year &lt;em&gt;Horseback&lt;/em&gt; learned from Texas Animal Health  Commission inspector Richard Wagner the same Coggins documents were  being used again and again for different horses going to slaughter and  held at the pens. The TAHC official said nothing at his level was being  done because his agency’s budget had been cut by the Texas Legislature  and simply didn’t have the manpower to take action.&lt;br /&gt;
However, TAHC routinely inspects stables around the state for strict inspections of Coggins documents.&lt;br /&gt;
The Coggins certificate is a federal document, and it is a federal  offense to falsify the form. Violations could result in a fine of  $10,000 and imprisonment of 5 years or both.&lt;br /&gt;
“My boss in Austin told me not to go anywhere near those horses,” a clearly irate Brown said.&lt;br /&gt;
The pens are a way station where horses are held awaiting transport across the border to a Mexican slaughter facility.&lt;br /&gt;
“They can call my boss in Austin if they want to complain,”&amp;nbsp; he said.&lt;br /&gt;
Asked by &lt;em&gt;Horseback&lt;/em&gt; who his boss is, Brown readily gave the name of Dr. Jim Amend of APHIS.&lt;br /&gt;
“They can just get him on the phone if they want to complain,” he said. Almost certainly, irate horse lovers will do just that.&lt;br /&gt;
But getting Amend on the phone is not so easy. &lt;em&gt;Horseback&lt;/em&gt; called not only Amend, but also his superior, Neither have returned our calls more than 24 hours after the initial contact.&lt;br /&gt;
Brown says he doesn’t do &amp;nbsp;inspections on the slaughter bound horses because&amp;nbsp; the feds aren’t funding him to do the inspections.&lt;br /&gt;
“They removed the funds to pay me,” he said. “They are paying a private veterinarian.”&lt;br /&gt;
Brown said the private vet provides him with a certificate that he  routinely signs, preferring to personally inspect incoming horses and  cattle from Mexico, rather than outgoing horses destined for slaughter  across the border. Late last year, more than 60 horses were seized from  the C-4 pens in various stages of starvation, dehydration, and illness.  Several died, and a dumping ground of horse carcasses was discovered in a  flash flood prone creek that runs behind the pens and empties into the  Rio Grande River.&lt;br /&gt;
Despite the risk of spreading infectious disease, the pen owner of  the C-4 pens was chided by the state agency and given a slap on the  wrist by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.&lt;br /&gt;
Horse owners are required to have Coggins certificates indicating the  animal has passed a test showing it is free of equine infectious  anemia, (EIA).&lt;br /&gt;
Brown told &lt;em&gt;Horseback&lt;/em&gt;, “I know of a guy who works for the  state who told me they were surprised when he actually wanted to go out  and look at those horses, they don’t want you to look at those horses,”  he said.&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;a href="http://www.jigzone.com/puzzles/16055D53D5F8"&gt;&lt;img alt="Click to Mix and Solve" src="http://www.jigzone.com/im/pCut/0.png" style="background: url(&amp;quot;http://www.jigzone.com/puz/zemThumb?p.jz.jzD.HorsesBW:jpg&amp;quot;) repeat scroll 0% 0% transparent; border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); height: 300px; margin: 4px; padding: 0pt; width: 400px;" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/696642843638819377-8448667087742335248?l=arizona1-aahsbloggingupdates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><app:edited xmlns:app="http://www.w3.org/2007/app">2012-01-27T16:05:47.060-07:00</app:edited><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">0</thr:total></item><item><title>Federal Judge Declines to Prevent Nevada BLM Mustang Gathers</title><link>http://arizona1-aahsbloggingupdates.blogspot.com/2012/01/federal-judge-declines-to-prevent.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Barb AZ)</author><pubDate>Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:49:34 PST</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696642843638819377.post-3955188812419991898</guid><description>&lt;a href="http://rtfitchauthor.com/2012/01/27/federal-judge-declines-to-prevent-nevada-blm-mustang-gathers/" target="_blank"&gt;Straight from the Horse's Heart&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Story by &lt;strong&gt; &lt;a href="http://www.thehorse.com/Bio.aspx?ID=415" id="ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_AuthorHL"&gt;Pat Raia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; of &lt;a href="http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=19512" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Horse Online&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h5 style="text-align: center;"&gt;But Door Left Open for Further Litigation&lt;/h5&gt;&lt;div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_13967" style="width: 310px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://rtfitch.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/photo-1.jpg"&gt;&lt;img alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-13967" height="224" src="http://rtfitch.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/photo-1.jpg?w=300&amp;amp;h=224" title="Hearing Team" width="300" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="wp-caption-text"&gt;Attorney Gordon Cowan, Plaintiff Laura Leigh, WHFF President R.T. Fitch&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;A &lt;a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_district_court" rel="wikipedia" title="United States district court"&gt;U.S. District Court&lt;/a&gt; Judge has denied wild &lt;a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse" rel="wikipedia" title="Horse"&gt;horse&lt;/a&gt; advocates’ request to halt &lt;a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.blm.gov/" rel="homepage" title="Bureau of Land Management"&gt;Bureau of Land Management&lt;/a&gt; (BLM) wild horse gathers in &lt;a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=39.0,-117.0&amp;amp;spn=3.0,3.0&amp;amp;q=39.0,-117.0%20%28Nevada%29&amp;amp;t=h" rel="geolocation" title="Nevada"&gt;Nevada&lt;/a&gt; on grounds that the court cannot rule on BLM round-up conduct that has yet taken place.&lt;br /&gt;
In August wild horse advocate &lt;a href="http://wildhorsefreedomfederation.wordpress.com/about-us/board-of-directors/laura-leigh-vice-president/" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Laura Leigh&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, vice president of the &lt;a href="http://wildhorsefreedomfederation.org/" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wild Horse Freedom Federation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, filed a complaint and a companion &lt;a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Injunction" rel="wikipedia" title="Injunction"&gt;Temporary Restraining Order&lt;/a&gt;  asking the U.S. District Court Nevada District to stop the gather of  mustangs from the Triple B and other Nevada herd areas on grounds that  animals are treated inhumanely during and immediately after round-ups.  U.S. District Court Judge Howard McKibben declined to prevent the BLM  from completing the gather, but issued a temporary restraining order  banning any mistreatment of mustangs during BLM gathers.&lt;br /&gt;
In September, Leigh filed an &lt;a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complaint" rel="wikipedia" title="Complaint"&gt;amended complaint&lt;/a&gt;  asking the court to order specific humane treatment of BLM mustangs  during and after gathers on grounds that BLM round-up conduct observed  at the Trible B gather was likely to occur during other round-ups.&lt;br /&gt;
Meanwhile, BLM Director Bob Abbey announced that a team composed of  agency personnel would review existing agency procedures used at the  Triple B gather. In December, the agency released the panel’s findings  along with 11 recommendations to improve BLM horse handling during  gathers.&lt;br /&gt;
During a Jan. 26, hearing McKibben said that the court did not have  the jurisdiction or supporting case law to be the “overseer” of the BLM  overall, and that the court would not “police all gathers in the U.S. or  even gathers in the district of northern Nevada.” However, McKibben  said that wild horse advocates could continue to pursue round-up conduct  cases on a gather-by-gather basis.&lt;br /&gt;
BLM Spokesman Tom Gorey declined detailed comment about McKibben’s decision.&lt;br /&gt;
“The decision speaks for itself,” Gorey said.&lt;br /&gt;
Leigh said she was encouraged that McKibben acknowledged wild horse  welfare issues represented in the case, and promised to pursue future  wild horse welfare cases when warranted.&lt;br /&gt;
“We’ll do it on a round-up-by-round-up basis until a written wild horse humane care protocol is in place,” Leigh said.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h6 class="zemanta-related-title" style="font-size: 1em;"&gt;Related articles&lt;/h6&gt;&lt;ul class="zemanta-article-ul"&gt;&lt;li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"&gt;&lt;a href="http://rtfitchauthor.com/2012/01/27/judge-gives-wild-horse-and-burro-advocates-bittersweet-ruling/"&gt;Judge Gives Wild Horse and Burro Advocates Bittersweet Ruling&lt;/a&gt; (rtfitchauthor.com)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"&gt;&lt;a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2017347234_apuswildhorseslawsuit.html?syndication=rss"&gt;US judge denies bid to block NV mustang roundups&lt;/a&gt; (seattletimes.nwsource.com)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"&gt;&lt;a href="http://rtfitch.wordpress.com/2011/10/13/blm-must-answer-inhumane-wild-horse-handling-allegations/"&gt;BLM MUST Answer Inhumane Wild Horse Handling Allegations&lt;/a&gt; (rtfitch.wordpress.com)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"&gt;&lt;a href="http://rtfitch.wordpress.com/2011/12/09/blm-responds-to-wild-horse-litigation/"&gt;BLM Responds to Wild Horse Litigation&lt;/a&gt; (rtfitch.wordpress.com)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"&gt;&lt;a href="http://rtfitch.wordpress.com/2011/10/25/warned-blm-helicopter-contractor-back-stampeding-publics-wild-horses/"&gt;Warned BLM Helicopter Contractor Back Stampeding Public’s Wild Horses&lt;/a&gt; (rtfitch.wordpress.com)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"&gt;&lt;a href="http://rtfitch.wordpress.com/2011/10/09/federal-judge-orders-blm-to-%e2%80%9canswer%e2%80%9d-wild-horse-inhumane-charges/"&gt;Federal Judge Orders BLM to “Answer” Wild Horse Inhumane Charges&lt;/a&gt; (rtfitch.wordpress.com)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"&gt;&lt;a href="http://rtfitch.wordpress.com/2011/12/12/wild-horse-advocates-recommend-blm-follow-own-findings/"&gt;Wild Horse Advocates Recommend BLM Follow Own Findings&lt;/a&gt; (rtfitch.wordpress.com)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"&gt;&lt;a href="http://rtfitch.wordpress.com/2011/09/28/blm-alleges-internal-investigation-on-inhumane-charges/"&gt;BLM Alleges Internal Investigation on “Inhumane” Charges&lt;/a&gt; (rtfitch.wordpress.com)&lt;/li&gt;
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&lt;!-- AddThis Button END --&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/696642843638819377-3955188812419991898?l=arizona1-aahsbloggingupdates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><app:edited xmlns:app="http://www.w3.org/2007/app">2012-01-27T15:49:34.449-07:00</app:edited><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">0</thr:total></item><item><title>Federal Vets Ignored Misuse of Coggins Certificates at Presidio Holding Pens</title><link>http://arizona1-aahsbloggingupdates.blogspot.com/2012/01/federal-vets-ignored-misuse-of-coggins.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Barb AZ)</author><pubDate>Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:45:21 PST</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696642843638819377.post-6440694239793114718</guid><description>&lt;a href="http://horsebackmagazine.com/hb/archives/13804" target="_blank"&gt;Horseback Magazine&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div class="meta"&gt;&lt;div class="date"&gt;January 27, 2012&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt; class="entry"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
By Steven Long,&lt;br /&gt;
Photo Courtesy Ray Field&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href="http://horsebackmagazine.com/hb/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Presidio-Horse-Injuries-11.jpg"&gt;&lt;img alt="" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-13807" height="216" src="http://horsebackmagazine.com/hb/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Presidio-Horse-Injuries-11.jpg" title="Presidio Horse Injuries 1" width="288" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;HOUSTON,  (Horseback) – The highest ranking federal veterinarian with  jurisdiction over the controversial C-4 holding pens at Presidio, Texas  told &lt;i&gt;Horseback Online&lt;/i&gt; Thursday that he has never held a Coggins  certificate from horses at the facility in his hands. Moreover, he says  he was under orders to ignore the place.&lt;br /&gt;
“My boss in Austin told me not to go anywhere near those horses,” said Dr. William Brown of the &lt;a href="http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/animal_dis_spec/horses/horse_transport.shtml"&gt;United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Inspection Service (APHIS).&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
The pens are a way station where horses are held awaiting transport across the border to a Mexican slaughter facility.&lt;br /&gt;
“They removed the funds to pay me,” he said. “They are paying a private veterinarian.”&lt;br /&gt;
Brown said the private vet provides him with a certificate that he  routinely signs, preferring to inspect incoming horses and cattle from  Mexico, rather than outgoing horses destined for slaughter across the  border. Late last year, more than 60 horses were seized from the pens in  various stages of starvation, dehydration, and illness. Several died,  and a dumping ground of horse carcasses was discovered in a flash flood  prone creek that runs behind the pens and empties into the Rio Grande  River.&lt;br /&gt;
Despite the risk of spreading infectious disease, the pen owner was  chided by the state agency and given a slap on the wrist by the Texas  Commission on Environmental Quality.&lt;br /&gt;
Horse owners are required to have Coggins certificates indicating the  animal has passed a test showing it is free of equine infectious  anemia, (EIA).&lt;br /&gt;
Late last year &lt;i&gt;Horseback&lt;/i&gt; learned from Texas Animal Health  Commission inspector Richard Wagner the same Coggins documents were  being used again and again for different horses going to slaughter and  held at the pens. The state official said nothing at his level was being  done because his agency’s budget had been cut by the Texas Legislature  and simply didn’t have the manpower to take action.&lt;br /&gt;
The Coggins certificate is a federal document, and it is a federal  offense to falsify the form. Violations could result in a fine of  $10,000 and imprisonment of 5 years or both.&lt;br /&gt;
Brown told Horseback, “I know of a guy who works for the state who  told me they were surprised when he actually wanted to go out and look  at those horses, they don’t want you to look at those horses,” he said.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;i&gt;Horseback&lt;/i&gt; attempted to contact Browns superior, Dr. Jim  Amend in Austin, as well as Amend’s boss, Dr. Kevin Varner of the USDA.  Neither returned our call.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;!-- AddThis Button END --&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/696642843638819377-6440694239793114718?l=arizona1-aahsbloggingupdates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><app:edited xmlns:app="http://www.w3.org/2007/app">2012-01-27T15:45:21.773-07:00</app:edited><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">0</thr:total></item><item><title>Urge BLM to Cancel All Plans to Remove Idaho Mustangs from the Range</title><link>http://arizona1-aahsbloggingupdates.blogspot.com/2012/01/urge-blm-to-cancel-all-plans-to-remove.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Barb AZ)</author><pubDate>Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:35:31 PST</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696642843638819377.post-2377721909708788934</guid><description>&lt;a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/6931/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=9276" target="_blank"&gt;American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: large;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style="color: #003366;"&gt;Agency Targeting Nearly 100 Wild Horses for Removal from Hardtrigger &amp;amp; Black Mountain Herd Management Areas&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial;"&gt;Click below to watch video of a few of the beautiful horses living in the Hardtrigger HMA.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;span style="font-family: Arial;"&gt;&lt;iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="233" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/_6E3BbzRSqc" width="400"&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style="color: maroon;"&gt;Comments are due by January 31, 2012.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;The  Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Boise, Idaho District Office is  targeting nearly 100 wild horses for permanent removal from their high  desert homes in  the Hardtrigger and Black Mountain Herd Management  Areas (HMAs). &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;span style="font-size: x-small;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;span style="font-size: x-small;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial;"&gt;&lt;img align="right" alt="" border="1" height="182" hspace="1" src="https://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/6931/images/wild-horse%20solo%20running.jpg" vspace="1" width="380" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;span style="font-family: Arial;"&gt;The &lt;a href="https://www.blm.gov/epl-front-office/projects/nepa/22203/30002/31202/2012_BDO_Wildhorse_CTR_scoping_letter2.pdf"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;span style="color: maroon;"&gt;BLM has opened a scoping period and is seeking public comments &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;for  the proposed roundup. The agency is portraying this action as a  Catch-Treat-And-Release (CTR) operation in which horses will be captured  and released after mares are treated with the PZP fertility control  vaccine. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;span style="font-family: Arial;"&gt;However, if, as the BLM expects,  the populations in the two HMAS are at or over  the "Allowable  Management Level" (AML) of 190 horses, the agency will remove  approximately 94  mustangs. This will leave behind just 30 wild horses  in Black Mountain and 66 horses in Hardtrigger. &lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;Meanwhile, the agency authorizes hundreds of private livestock to graze this public lands area.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial;"&gt;The  scoping period is the time during the planning process when the BLM  seeks suggestions from the public about what information and  alternatives to consider in the roundup plan and Environmental  Assessment. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;span style="font-size: x-small;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #ff6600;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Please  take a moment to submit your comments below and urge the BLM to forgo  the removal of any horses and to instead humanely manage the herds on  the range, leaving these unique mustang herds to live and die on the  lands where they were born. &lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: #ff6600;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: large;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/6931/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=9276" target="_blank"&gt;Click HERE to TAKE ACTION!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/696642843638819377-2377721909708788934?l=arizona1-aahsbloggingupdates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><app:edited xmlns:app="http://www.w3.org/2007/app">2012-01-25T18:35:31.734-07:00</app:edited><media:thumbnail url="http://img.youtube.com/vi/_6E3BbzRSqc/default.jpg" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">0</thr:total></item><item><title>Horses for Slaughter</title><link>http://arizona1-aahsbloggingupdates.blogspot.com/2012/01/horses-for-slaughter.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Barb AZ)</author><pubDate>Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:25:12 PST</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696642843638819377.post-36295903378380602</guid><description>&lt;a href="http://tucson12.nytimes-institute.com/14/horse-for-slaughter/" target="_blank"&gt;New York Times Student Journalism Institute Tucson 2012&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div class="entry-shortmeta"&gt;&lt;span class="entry-byline"&gt;By: &lt;a class="url fn n" href="http://tucson12.nytimes-institute.com/author/sesquivel/" title="View all posts by Samantha Elizabeth Esquivel"&gt;Samantha Elizabeth Esquivel&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;                 &lt;span class="entry-date"&gt;                &lt;abbr class="published" title="2012-01-14T17:32:01-0700"&gt;January 14, 2012 – 5:32 pm&lt;/abbr&gt;         &lt;/span&gt;             &lt;/div&gt;Many horses bought in Arizona are sent to meat  processing plants in Mexico despite the recent lifting of a ban on horse  slaughtering in the United States. The ban was lifted to stop horses  from being killed after grueling journeys across the border.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="233" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/fbyIRN49g5A" width="400"&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/696642843638819377-36295903378380602?l=arizona1-aahsbloggingupdates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><app:edited xmlns:app="http://www.w3.org/2007/app">2012-01-25T15:25:12.846-07:00</app:edited><media:thumbnail url="http://img.youtube.com/vi/fbyIRN49g5A/default.jpg" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">0</thr:total></item><item><title>Last Hope for Horses</title><link>http://arizona1-aahsbloggingupdates.blogspot.com/2012/01/last-hope-for-horses.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Barb AZ)</author><pubDate>Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:14:34 PST</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696642843638819377.post-2296309511787718194</guid><description>&lt;a href="https://secure.humanesociety.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&amp;amp;page=UserAction&amp;amp;id=5095&amp;amp;s_src=twtypage5095" target="_blank"&gt;Humane Society&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div align="left"&gt;The Agriculture Appropriations bill passed by Congress  and signed into law last month stripped the House-approved language  prohibiting the use of U.S. Department of Agriculture funds for horse  slaughter inspections, a defunding provision which had been in every  agriculture spending bill since 2005. It reverses six years of U.S.  policy against subsidizing foreign-owned horse slaughter plants, and it  could pave the way for the resumption of equine slaughter here on  American soil. &lt;/div&gt;Allowing federal funds to be used to inspect horse-slaughter plants  is a step backward for America's iconic horses and a waste of tax  dollars. Americans don't eat horses, and they don't want them inhumanely  killed for a high-priced appetizer in Europe or Asia.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;TAKE ACTION&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;It is vital that we renew our  push to pass the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (S. 1176/H.R.  2966) that will prohibit horse slaughter from returning to the U.S. and  end the export of American horses for slaughter.&lt;/strong&gt; Please make a  brief, polite phone call to your two U.S. Senators and  U.S.  Representative, urging co-sponsorship of the American Horse Slaughter  Prevention Act. &lt;a href="https://secure.humanesociety.org/site/PageServer?pagename=electedOfficials_federal" target="_blank"&gt;Look up your legislators' phone numbers here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
Then, use the form below to send a follow-up note. We encourage you  to add your own thoughts or comments about horse slaughter in the  editable portion, so your federal legislators know how important this  issue is to you personally.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;nbsp;&lt;object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,47,0" height="210" id="flashObj" width="400"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&amp;amp;isUI=1" /&gt;&lt;param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /&gt;&lt;param name="flashVars" value="videoId=1147953642001&amp;amp;linkBaseURL=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo.humanesociety.org%2Fvideo%2F1147953642001&amp;amp;playerID=748919488001&amp;amp;playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAdgygKeE~,P7O17WVbJh23-DGR2U9527FAoatW8u7d&amp;amp;domain=embed&amp;amp;dynamicStreaming=true" /&gt;&lt;param name="base" value="http://admin.brightcove.com" /&gt;&lt;param name="seamlesstabbing" value="false" /&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /&gt;&lt;param name="swLiveConnect" value="true" /&gt;&lt;param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /&gt;&lt;embed src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&amp;amp;isUI=1" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="videoId=1147953642001&amp;amp;linkBaseURL=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo.humanesociety.org%2Fvideo%2F1147953642001&amp;amp;playerID=748919488001&amp;amp;playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAdgygKeE~,P7O17WVbJh23-DGR2U9527FAoatW8u7d&amp;amp;domain=embed&amp;amp;dynamicStreaming=true" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" name="flashObj" width="400" height="210" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" swLiveConnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href="https://secure.humanesociety.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&amp;amp;page=UserAction&amp;amp;id=5095&amp;amp;s_src=twtypage5095" target="_blank"&gt;Click HERE to TAKE ACTION! &lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/696642843638819377-2296309511787718194?l=arizona1-aahsbloggingupdates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><app:edited xmlns:app="http://www.w3.org/2007/app">2012-01-25T15:14:34.823-07:00</app:edited><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">0</thr:total><enclosure url="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&amp;amp;isUI=1" length="2537" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" /><media:content url="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&amp;amp;isUI=1" fileSize="2537" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" /><itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit><itunes:subtitle>Humane Society The Agriculture Appropriations bill passed by Congress and signed into law last month stripped the House-approved language prohibiting the use of U.S. Department of Agriculture funds for horse slaughter inspections, a defunding provision wh</itunes:subtitle><itunes:author>noreply@blogger.com (Barb AZ)</itunes:author><itunes:summary>Humane Society The Agriculture Appropriations bill passed by Congress and signed into law last month stripped the House-approved language prohibiting the use of U.S. Department of Agriculture funds for horse slaughter inspections, a defunding provision which had been in every agriculture spending bill since 2005. It reverses six years of U.S. policy against subsidizing foreign-owned horse slaughter plants, and it could pave the way for the resumption of equine slaughter here on American soil. Allowing federal funds to be used to inspect horse-slaughter plants is a step backward for America's iconic horses and a waste of tax dollars. Americans don't eat horses, and they don't want them inhumanely killed for a high-priced appetizer in Europe or Asia. TAKE ACTION It is vital that we renew our push to pass the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (S. 1176/H.R. 2966) that will prohibit horse slaughter from returning to the U.S. and end the export of American horses for slaughter. Please make a brief, polite phone call to your two U.S. Senators and U.S. Representative, urging co-sponsorship of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. Look up your legislators' phone numbers here. Then, use the form below to send a follow-up note. We encourage you to add your own thoughts or comments about horse slaughter in the editable portion, so your federal legislators know how important this issue is to you personally. &amp;nbsp; Click HERE to TAKE ACTION! </itunes:summary></item><item><title>War Horse Nominated for Oscars</title><link>http://arizona1-aahsbloggingupdates.blogspot.com/2012/01/war-horse-nominated-for-oscars.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Barb AZ)</author><pubDate>Tue, 24 Jan 2012 07:49:06 PST</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696642843638819377.post-4740982500649375758</guid><description>&lt;a href="http://canadianhorsedefencecoalition.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/war-horse-nominated-for-oscars/" target="_blank"&gt;Canadian Horse Defence&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div class="entry-meta"&gt;       &lt;span class="meta-prep meta-prep-author"&gt;Posted on&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a href="http://canadianhorsedefencecoalition.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/war-horse-nominated-for-oscars/" rel="bookmark" title="10:03"&gt;&lt;span class="entry-date"&gt;January 24, 2012&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;       &lt;span class="by-author"&gt;&lt;span class="sep"&gt;by&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span class="author vcard"&gt;&lt;a class="url fn n" href="http://canadianhorsedefencecoalition.wordpress.com/author/canadianhorsedefencecoalition/" rel="author" title="View all posts by canadianhorsedefencecoalition"&gt;canadianhorsedefencecoalition&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;     &lt;/div&gt;&lt;a href="http://canadianhorsedefencecoalition.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/war-horse.jpg"&gt;&lt;img alt="" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-2546" height="300" src="http://canadianhorsedefencecoalition.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/war-horse.jpg?w=202&amp;amp;h=300" title="war horse" width="202" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;War Horse has been nominated for six Oscars.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Listed below, they are:&lt;br /&gt;
Best Motion Picture&lt;br /&gt;
Best Achievement in Cinematography&lt;br /&gt;
Best Achievement in Art Direction&lt;br /&gt;
Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score&lt;br /&gt;
Best Achievement in Sound Mixing&lt;br /&gt;
Best Achievement in Sound Editing&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/696642843638819377-4740982500649375758?l=arizona1-aahsbloggingupdates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><app:edited xmlns:app="http://www.w3.org/2007/app">2012-01-24T08:49:06.984-07:00</app:edited><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">0</thr:total></item><item><title>AWI Press Release: The Face of American Horse Slaughter: Shady Dealer Shifts Species but Modus Operandi Remains Unchanged</title><link>http://arizona1-aahsbloggingupdates.blogspot.com/2012/01/awi-press-release-face-of-american.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Barb AZ)</author><pubDate>Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:25:52 PST</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696642843638819377.post-1641878833871297148</guid><description>&lt;a href="http://animalwelfareinstitute.blogspot.com/2012/01/awi-press-release-face-of-horse.html" target="_blank"&gt;Animal Welfare Institute&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div class="yiv1823894714MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;serif&amp;quot;;"&gt;Washington, DC (January 23, 2012) – &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;serif&amp;quot;; font-size: small;"&gt;Some  politicians in Washington feel that restarting a horse slaughter  industry on American soil is a good idea. We’d like to offer a small  window into how the horse slaughter industry currently operates, as  shady players make deals amongst themselves while duping innocent people  into giving up their horses to be butchered.&amp;nbsp; Read on…&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="yiv1823894714MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;serif&amp;quot;; font-size: small;"&gt; &amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="yiv1823894714MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;serif&amp;quot;; font-size: small;"&gt;A  story recently surfaced about a 24-year-old Pennsylvania woman, Kelsey  Lefever, who faces felony charges after allegedly collecting over 120  retired racehorses from well-meaning owners, promising them she would  find good homes for the horses.&amp;nbsp; Her intention all along, however, was  to sell them to killer buyers. Their “good homes” turned out to be a  slaughterhouse in Canada, where they met with a gruesome death in order  to become a “delicacy” at restaurants abroad. In the police report, a  witness indicates that Lefever told her, "I killed every one of those  (expletive) horses—over 120 of them. If they only knew, every one of  them is dead."&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="yiv1823894714MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;serif&amp;quot;; font-size: small;"&gt; &amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="yiv1823894714MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;serif&amp;quot;; font-size: small;"&gt;Her  middleman is alleged to be one Bruce Rotz, Jr., who operates his killer  buyer business from barns in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania.&amp;nbsp; He is under  contract to buy horses for the Canadian meat company Viande Richelieu.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="yiv1823894714MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;serif&amp;quot;; font-size: small;"&gt; &amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="yiv1823894714MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;serif&amp;quot;; font-size: small;"&gt;Long  before Rotz was a killer buyer, however, the Rotz family gained  notoriety via another avenue of animal abuse: as Class B dealers. Rotz  worked for his father, Bruce Rotz, Sr., who acquired dogs via an illicit  supply chain and made tens of thousands of dollars a year selling the  poor victims—many of whom were likely former companion animals—to  research facilities for experimentation. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="yiv1823894714MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;serif&amp;quot;; font-size: small;"&gt; &amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="yiv1823894714MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;serif&amp;quot;; font-size: small;"&gt;As  dog dealers, the Rotzes had numerous run-ins with the law.&amp;nbsp; The elder  Rotz was fined $1,240 in 2005 for failing to meet minimum requirements  under the Animal Welfare Act. &amp;nbsp;The Rotzes acquired many of the dogs they  sold from a family of notorious dealers in Missouri whose license was  eventually revoked and a fine imposed for violations of the federal law,  including failing to keep accurate records on hundreds of the dogs they  sold.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="yiv1823894714MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="yiv1823894714MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;serif&amp;quot;; font-size: small;"&gt;In  2006, Bruce Rotz Sr. let his license to operate as a random source dog  dealer expire, and he sold his business. Although Bruce Rotz, Jr.  continued to work for the new owner for a while, he was already moving  on to horses by then. Though he’s shifted species from dogs to horses,  Rotz’s methods appear to be the same.&amp;nbsp; He is part of a dirty business  where animals come to him from questionable sources, and he sells them  for profit.&amp;nbsp; He frequents the nearby New Holland horse auction to  acquire horses, including former racehorses, for the trade in their  meat.&amp;nbsp; Recently, according to the criminal investigation, Rotz bought  horses from Ms. Lefever. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="yiv1823894714MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;serif&amp;quot;; font-size: small;"&gt; &amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="yiv1823894714MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;serif&amp;quot;; font-size: small;"&gt;Rotz  doesn’t appear to be any more concerned with where the horses come from  than he was with the dogs—and because he is once removed from the known  illegal activity, he appears to be successfully ducking prosecution.&amp;nbsp;  While Lefever faces prosecution for her fraudulent acquisition of the  horses, Rotz remains free—a fine example of the sort of individual  poised to take a lead role in a revised American horse slaughter  industry. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="yiv1823894714MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;serif&amp;quot;; font-size: small;"&gt; &amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="yiv1823894714MsoNormal" id="yui_3_2_0_1_13273317160051392"&gt;&lt;span id="yui_3_2_0_1_13273317160051389" style="font-family: &amp;quot;serif&amp;quot;; font-size: small;"&gt;“This  makes you wonder why some Members of Congress are fighting so hard to  restore an industry filled with crooked individuals like Rotz and  Lefever, while thumbing their noses at those responsible owners who lost  their horses into slaughter against their will,” said Chris Heyde,  deputy director of government and legal affairs for AWI.&amp;nbsp; “Thankfully,  the majority of legislators are supporting passage of the American Horse  Slaughter Prevention Act which would protect horses from corrupt  profiteers.”&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="yiv1823894714MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;serif&amp;quot;; font-size: small;"&gt; &amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center" class="yiv1823894714MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;serif&amp;quot;;"&gt;##30##&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="yiv1823894714MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;serif&amp;quot;; font-size: small;"&gt; &amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="yiv1823894714MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;serif&amp;quot;;"&gt;For more information:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;serif&amp;quot;; font-size: small;"&gt;Chris Heyde, &lt;a href="mailto:chris@awionline.org" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"&gt;chris@awionline.org&lt;/a&gt;, (202) 446-2142&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;serif&amp;quot;; font-size: 14pt;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/696642843638819377-1641878833871297148?l=arizona1-aahsbloggingupdates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><app:edited xmlns:app="http://www.w3.org/2007/app">2012-01-23T14:25:52.065-07:00</app:edited><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">0</thr:total></item><item><title>THE REQUIREMENTS OF JUSTICE</title><link>http://arizona1-aahsbloggingupdates.blogspot.com/2012/01/requirements-of-justice.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Barb AZ)</author><pubDate>Sun, 22 Jan 2012 16:55:29 PST</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696642843638819377.post-5836556184174468768</guid><description>&lt;a href="http://habitatforhorses.wordpress.com/2012/01/22/the-requirements-of-justice/" target="_blank"&gt;Habitat for Horses&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h1 class="post-title"&gt;THE REQUIREMENTS OF&amp;nbsp;JUSTICE&lt;/h1&gt;&lt;div class="date"&gt;        &lt;div class="bg"&gt;         &lt;span class="day"&gt;22&lt;/span&gt;         &lt;span&gt;Jan&lt;/span&gt;        &lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="wp-caption alignleft" id="attachment_459" style="width: 160px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://habitatforhorses.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/unknown1.jpeg"&gt;&lt;img alt="" class="size-thumbnail wp-image-459" height="112" src="http://habitatforhorses.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/unknown1.jpeg?w=150&amp;amp;h=112" title="Unknown" width="150" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="wp-caption-text"&gt;The $2,000 Award&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;em&gt;RT Fitch and I each placed $1,000 on the table as an award to  anyone who can prove that equine slaughter has a basis in need other  that sticking money in the pockets of the pro-slaughter crowd. Without  fail, the customary propaganda spewed forth like sewage from an  overflowing cesspool. Not a single statement held any factual backing.  Several tried to turn the tables, challenging us to provide the answer  to, “Why not?” Nor was a word uttered on this blog by the high and  mighty “authorities,” although some person named “Wallis,” who thinks  she is a leader of some sort, did post on several other blogs that I was  an idiot and should be “investigated.”&amp;nbsp;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;em&gt;Meanwhile, I was proud to have a large number of comments posted  against horse slaughter by this who see through the fallacies, lies and  misdirections. One person, Faith Bjalobok, PhD, asked if I would like to  post one of her articles that fit perfectly and answers the question  about the proven “Facts” on horse slaughter. I am honored to present it  to you:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
—————————————&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;There is much debate about the best way to deal with horses  whose owners no longer seem to have any desire to care for them.&amp;nbsp; In  terms of the solutions proposed by horse owners there are those who  support slaughter and those who oppose it. Group A who view horses are  mere property much in the same way one views a farm tractor tend to be  pro-slaughter. Group B who view their horses as a part of their extended  family believe they have a moral obligation to care for them in their  old age and tend to oppose slaughter.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;Currently there are no operating horse slaughter facilities  in the United States. American horses destined to be slaughter are  shipped to Canada or Mexico. It is estimated that about 95,000 horses  annually are shipped to slaughter (Animal Law Coalition).&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;The proponents of opening U.S. horse slaughter facilities  employ numerous informal fallacies as the cornerstone of their position.  In relying on the fallacy of hasty generalization, they label all  anti-slaughter people as animal rights extremists. In employing the  slippery slope fallacy, they would have you believe that banning horse  slaughter will inevitable lead to the end of all agriculture in the  United States. Pro-slaughter arguments also tend to rely heavily on the  naturalistic fallacy (it is the case therefore it ought to be the  case).&amp;nbsp; Although polls indicate that nearly 70% of Americans polled are  against horse slaughter, Congresswoman Sue Wallis and her supporters  claim they are taking the moral high ground in their fight to bring  horse slaughter back to the U.S.&amp;nbsp; The Animal Welfare Institute lists  organizations and individuals opposed to horse slaughter. Included on  the list of those opposed are such equine industry giants as the  American Thoroughbred Association, Blue Horse Charities and the New York  Racing Association.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;Currently, two states California and Florida have adopted  laws that make the sale or transport of horse for slaughter a crime.&amp;nbsp; HR  503 (Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act) awaiting a vote would place a  federal ban on the purchase or transportation of horses for slaughter.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;There is a much larger issue at stake in the horses slaughter  debate that says a great deal about who we are as Americans. Ronald  Dworkin (1986) argues that while justice and fairness are distinct from  the law integrity in the law requires that the law reflect justice and  fairness. He also argued that integrity in the law requires citizens who  are committed to justice (Dowrkin, 1986 ).&amp;nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;Justice is not something that occurs in a state of nature but  rather it is a human construct that exists only in human society. While  some societies actually place great value on justice others value  justice only when its implementation is cost effective. The question  then becomes why is it the case that some societies have a greater  propensity to value justice than others. This discussion is not new and  can first be found in Plato’s &lt;em&gt;Republic.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;In terms of the 18&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt; century thinkers upon which  our political system is built, the writings of Immanuel Kant hold a  place of distinction.&amp;nbsp; Kant addressed that very question concerning  justice in his &lt;em&gt;Lectures on Ethics &lt;/em&gt;and in the&lt;em&gt; Metaphysics of Morals. &lt;/em&gt;Kant  did not believe that we have direct duties to animals because they are  not, according to his definition of person as a rational being, part of  the moral community. However, he believed that we have indirect duties  to animals because Kant like Hogarth and many other thinkers believed  that cruelty to animals undermines our own humanity and leads to cruelty  to humans.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;Kant argued:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;If he is not to stifle his human feelings, he must practice  kindness towards animals, for he who is cruel to animals becomes hard in  his dealings with men’&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals (p. 240).&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;Again in the &lt;em&gt;Metaphysics of Morals&lt;/em&gt; Kant argues:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;With regard to the animate but nonrational part of creation,  violent and cruel treatment of animals is far more intimately opposed to  a human being’s duty to himself, and he has a duty to refrain from  this, for it dulls his shared feelings of their suffering and so weakens  and gradually uproots a natural predisposition that is very serviceable  to morality in one’s relations with other men (pp. 192-193).&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;It appears that Kant is arguing that a compassionate  predisposition towards animals aids in the development of a  compassionate disposition towards other human beings which is a  necessary prerequisite of a just individual.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;Of course empirical evidence of the link between animal  cruelty and human cruelty is well established as is the link in  increased violence in areas that open slaughter houses. Kant is the  philosopher who initiated the idea of the intrinsic value of all  humanity and argued for the necessity of human freedom but he also  realized that none of this is possible without justice and to be  committed to justice requires a certain predisposition whose development  is hindered by engaging in cruelty to animals.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;The final question that remains is horse slaughter cruel???&amp;nbsp;  By their own admission proponents of horse slaughter admit it is in fact  cruel because they keep telling us they are working to develop a humane  method of horse slaughter. Animals Angels have documented the inherent  cruelty in horse slaughter. The video has raised much concern among the  nations of European Union so much so that they intend to investigate the  Canadian and Mexican horse slaughter facilities.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;Of course the inherent cruelty of the stun bolt created by a  horse’s anatomy does not address the inherent cruelty of the fear and  betrayal horses experience in the process of getting them to the  slaughter house. Horses are prey animals and when they learn to trust us  they go against their natural instinct and place their safety in human  hands.&amp;nbsp; This trust is betrayed when we load them onto death trailers.  Many observers have noted the fear in horses’ eyes as they await their  death in holding lots looking for a human to protect them.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; Based on Kant’s writings, the way we treat our  horses is a reflection of our own humanity.&amp;nbsp; The humane treatment of  America’s horses is a requirement of justice. If one holds a unity  thesis in relation to the law that the law should reflect justice and  agree with Dworkin and Kant that just people are a prerequisite of a  just society, then we must urge the passage of HR 503.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;Of course some individuals will argue that slaughter is the  only feasible solution for horses no one wants, but that position is  premised on a false dichotomy. In other words, it is not the case that  either we slaughter horses or the country will be overrun with unwanted  stray horses. Killing is never a just solution.&amp;nbsp; A just society must  reject the slaughtering of&amp;nbsp; our horses.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;References&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;Dworkin, R. in &lt;em&gt;Philosophy of Law, &lt;/em&gt;Feinberg &amp;amp; Coleman, ed. 2008, Wadsworth.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;Kant, I. &lt;em&gt;Metaphysics of Morals, &lt;/em&gt;1996, Cambridge.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;br /&gt;
By &lt;strong&gt;Amy Worden&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;a href="http://articles.philly.com/2012-01-20/news/30647599_1_horse-slaughter-slaughter-plants-thoroughbred-owners" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Inquirer&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; Staff Writer&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h5 style="text-align: center;"&gt;Predatory Business Breeds Corruption and Crime&lt;/h5&gt;Charges filed against a Chester County woman for posing as a rescuer  of horses while sending them to slaughter have prompted a new round of  calls in Congress to end the killing of horses for meat in the United  States.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href="http://rtfitch.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/patrick-meehan1.jpg"&gt;&lt;img alt="" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-13894" height="300" src="http://rtfitch.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/patrick-meehan1.jpg?w=233&amp;amp;h=300" title="Patrick Meehan" width="233" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;U.S. Rep. Patrick &lt;a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Meehan" rel="wikipedia" title="Pat Meehan"&gt;Meehan&lt;/a&gt; (R., Pa.) on Thursday urged his colleagues in the House and Senate to pass legislation to halt &lt;a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_slaughter" rel="wikipedia" title="Horse slaughter"&gt;horse slaughter&lt;/a&gt;  after reading a report in The Inquirer that Kelsey Lefever of  Honeybrook was allegedly selling animals for slaughter in Canada under  false pretenses.&lt;br /&gt;
“This is a tragic example of why we need federal law to prohibit the  transportation and sale of horses for slaughter in the first place,”  said Meehan, one of 150 cosponsors of anti-slaughter legislation in the  House. “Horses are not raised for human consumption, and their slaughter  for sale overseas is a cruel and inhumane practice that is not  consistent with our values here in &lt;a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=41.0,-77.5&amp;amp;spn=3.0,3.0&amp;amp;q=41.0,-77.5%20%28Pennsylvania%29&amp;amp;t=h" rel="geolocation" title="Pennsylvania"&gt;Pennsylvania&lt;/a&gt;.”&lt;br /&gt;
In November, state police charged Lefever, a 24-year-old horse  trainer, with multiple counts of fraud connected to an alleged scheme  involving ex-race horses.&lt;br /&gt;
Lefever duped thoroughbred owners at a central Pennsylvania racetrack  into believing she would find homes for their retired racehorses and  instead sold them to kill-buyers at a Lancaster auction, according to  charging documents.&lt;br /&gt;
Horse slaughter effectively ended in the United States in 2008, when  the last plant closed after federal funding for U.S. Department of  Agriculture inspectors was withdrawn. Since then, an estimated 140,000  U.S. horses have been transported to abattoirs in Canada and Mexico.&lt;br /&gt;
With funding for USDA inspectors restored in a budget bill President  Obama signed late last year, slaughter plants could again legally  operate in the United States.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h6 class="zemanta-related-title" style="font-size: 1em;"&gt;Related articles&lt;/h6&gt;&lt;ul class="zemanta-article-ul"&gt;&lt;li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"&gt;&lt;a href="http://rtfitchauthor.com/2012/01/20/horse-trainer-sold-over-100-horses-to-canadian-slaughter-house/"&gt;Horse Trainer Sold Over 100 Horses To Canadian Slaughter House&lt;/a&gt; (rtfitchauthor.com)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"&gt;&lt;a href="http://rtfitchauthor.com/2012/01/11/texas-mayor-paula-bacon-kicks-some-horse-slaughter-tail/"&gt;Texas Mayor Paula Bacon Kicks Some Horse Slaughter Tail&lt;/a&gt; (rtfitchauthor.com)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"&gt;&lt;a href="http://rtfitchauthor.com/2012/01/16/the-2000-00-horse-slaughter-challenge/"&gt;The $2,000.00 Horse Slaughter Challenge&lt;/a&gt; (rtfitchauthor.com)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"&gt;&lt;a href="http://rtfitchauthor.com/2012/01/07/americas-youth-appeal-to-obama-to-end-horse-slaughter/"&gt;America’s Youth Appeal to Obama to End Horse Slaughter&lt;/a&gt; (rtfitchauthor.com)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"&gt;&lt;a href="http://rtfitchauthor.com/2012/01/02/treachery-of-congressional-horse-slaughter-cabal-exposed-in-ad-campaign/"&gt;Treachery of Congressional Horse Slaughter Cabal Exposed in Ad Campaign&lt;/a&gt; (rtfitchauthor.com)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"&gt;&lt;a href="http://rtfitchauthor.com/2012/01/08/from-the-mouths-of-babes-the-horses-are-saved/"&gt;From the Mouths of Babes the Horses are Saved&lt;/a&gt; (rtfitchauthor.com)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2011/dec/28/jupiter-billboard-urges-motorists-oppose-slaughter/?partner=RSS"&gt;Jupiter billboard urges motorists to oppose slaughtering horses&lt;/a&gt; (tcpalm.com)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"&gt;&lt;a href="http://rtfitch.wordpress.com/2011/12/14/obama-administration-issues-impotent-horse-slaughter-commentary/"&gt;Obama Administration Issues Impotent Horse Slaughter Commentary&lt;/a&gt; (rtfitch.wordpress.com)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"&gt;&lt;a href="http://rtfitchauthor.com/2012/01/16/childrens-horse-saving-writing-campaign-building-groundswell-of-support/"&gt;Children’s Horse Saving Writing Campaign Building Groundswell of Support&lt;/a&gt; (rtfitchauthor.com)&lt;/li&gt;
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&lt;!-- AddThis Button END --&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/696642843638819377-1868435338147192003?l=arizona1-aahsbloggingupdates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><app:edited xmlns:app="http://www.w3.org/2007/app">2012-01-21T09:47:30.226-07:00</app:edited><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">0</thr:total></item><item><title>Horse truck driver alleges abuse</title><link>http://arizona1-aahsbloggingupdates.blogspot.com/2012/01/horse-truck-driver-alleges-abuse.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Barb AZ)</author><pubDate>Sat, 21 Jan 2012 08:25:36 PST</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696642843638819377.post-4936806666303453564</guid><description>&lt;a href="http://www.wsmv.com/story/16568210/horse-truck-driver-owner-abused-horses" target="_blank"&gt;Ch 4 WSMV Nashville&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
A trucker who says he unknowingly drove horses to their deaths at a border slaughterhouse is telling his story to Channel 4.&lt;br /&gt;
He doesn't want his name used because he now works for another company, so we agreed to call him "Bob." &lt;br /&gt;
Bob made a run for Three Angels Farms in  Lebanon in 2010. He says the owner, Dorian Ayache, lied to him and told  him he would be hauling a load of cattle to Texas. Bob says when he  arrived to pick up the cattle, he was told the plan had changed and that  he would be delivering horses to Texas. &lt;br /&gt;
They loaded about 70 horses on two livestock  trailers; the driver says he immediately felt uncomfortable when Ayache  began striking the horses with a fiberglass rod when they were reluctant  to board the trailer.&lt;a href="http://www.wsmv.com/story/16568210/horse-truck-driver-owner-abused-horses" target="_blank"&gt; Read MORE...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;!-- AddThis Button END --&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/696642843638819377-4936806666303453564?l=arizona1-aahsbloggingupdates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><app:edited xmlns:app="http://www.w3.org/2007/app">2012-01-21T09:25:36.299-07:00</app:edited><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">0</thr:total></item><item><title>Breaking News: OIG Investigation of BLM Roundup Contractor Requested</title><link>http://arizona1-aahsbloggingupdates.blogspot.com/2012/01/breaking-news-oig-investigation-of-blm.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Barb AZ)</author><pubDate>Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:30:22 PST</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696642843638819377.post-6934584187378475510</guid><description>&lt;a href="http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/news-events-a-media/press-releases/722-pr-sunj-oig-request" target="_blank"&gt;The Cloud Foundation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/images/stories/cloud_email_logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" src="http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/images/stories/cloud_email_logo.png" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
20 January 2012&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
cloud_email_logoInvestigation of BLM Roundup Contractor Requested&lt;br /&gt;
Allegations filed with Interior Office of the Inspector General&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
WASHINGTON (Jan. 20, 2012) – The Cloud Foundation (TCF) of Colorado Springs, CO has requested an investigation into the contracting process which led to Sun J Livestock of Vernal, Utah, receiving millions of dollars in Bureau of Land Management (BLM) contracts to round up wild horses and burros in the West since the Fall of 2010. The request for an investigation was filed yesterday with the Interior Office of the Inspector General.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
“Specifically, did Sun J have the requisite experience to obtain these BLM contracts?” asks Ginger Kathrens, Volunteer Executive Director of Colorado-based TCF. “Did the Sun J helicopter pilot, Josh Hellyer, have 1,500 hours of comparable experience conducting the humane round up of wild horses and burros? And was BLM aware of any experience short-comings prior to the issuance of contracts to Sun J?“&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
When Kathrens questioned BLM about the experience of the Sun J crew, she was told that they had worked with Cook Livestock, also of Vernal Utah. Kathrens contacted the owner of Cook Livestock and former BLM roundup contractor, asking about Sun J’s work experience with her company.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
“Josh Hellyer was never on our payroll,” Kathrens was told. “And it’s seriously questionable whether the Sun J ground crew had the hours of prior experience required.”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Cook filed a protest with the U.S. Department of Interior in 2010 regarding the awarding of the contract to Sun J. The mandatory qualifications include “1,500 hours of flying experience… in similar projects” as well as 3,000 hours of “humanely capturing wild horses and or burros… while utilizing helicopter drive trapping.”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Maureen VanDerStad, president of Grassroots Horse, filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in June of 2011, requesting the Sun J bid proposal, which would have included documentation regarding their experience including the experience of their pilot, Josh Hellyer. “I was told I would receive the requested information in 10 days,” states VanDerStad. “After numerous delays with assurances the information requested would be sent, I received a denial letter on August 30,” stated VanDerStad. She filed a FOIA appeal which was also denied.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
On August 25, 2011 Debbie Coffey, an investigative journalist, also filed a FOIA requesting the Sun J bid proposal after reading the credentials of Josh Hellyer, an employee of Sky Aviation, Worland, WY. “I wondered what hauling equipment or aerial crop spraying had to do with rounding up wild horses?,” stated Coffey. She has yet to receive a response from the Department of the Interior.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
“We believe that Sun J’s lack of experience has led to the inhumane treatment of wild horses and burros,” states Kathrens. “There have been a string of abuse claims from observers who have seen this crew in action.”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Allegations of inept and rough handling of wild horses arose at Sun J’s first roundup on the Western Slope of Colorado. In October of 2010, Sun J rounded up 73 wild horses in the Piceance/East Douglas Herd Management Area. As a result of the roundup over 10% of the wild horses died, including a foal that was killed as it was pushed into the trap and a mare who was kicked by a wrangler, roped and dragged into a trailer and subsequently died.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
One month later, Laura Leigh, illustrator, journalist, and wild horses advocate, attended an Oregon roundup of wild horses in an area called Warm Springs.&amp;nbsp; “I questioned BLM regarding the clearly inexperienced performance of the helicopter pilot, Josh Hellyer,” states Leigh. “BLM told me he was ‘just learning.’” Nine horses died during and after capture by Sun J.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Allegations of abuse at the Antelope roundup in northeastern Nevada were brought to the attention of the District Attorney of White Pine County, in January of 2011 but the DA failed to act. “I filmed the helicopter pilot, Josh Hellyer, run an old mare until she collapsed in a snow bank.” Kathrens says. “As she struggled to get up and escape, the pilot flew within feet of her head before breaking off the chase.”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
In February, a four person in-house BLM review team including Gus Warr, BLM-Utah Wild Horse and Burro Program Specialist and Lili Thomas, Wild Horse and Burro National Program Office, concluded that no existing BLM policy or procedures were violated in the Antelope roundup.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Laura Leigh, illustrator, journalist and wild horse advocate, filed charges of inhumane treatment in the Triple B roundup in Nevada in July of 2011 in which it appears that the Sun J pilot hit a horse with the strut of the helicopter. On August 31, 2011, the Honorable U.S. District Judge Howard McKibben found that the BLM's pilot was "in violation of" the Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act, 16 U.S.C. Section 1331 et seq.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
BLM again did an internal review and found no inhumane treatment of the animals but did say that there were cases of “inappropriate, aggressive” practices.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Most recently, in December of 2011 Kathrens, who is an Emmy Award-winning documentarian, filmed the Sun J ground crew repeatedly hot-shotting 10 burros at the most recent Calico roundup in northwestern Nevada while BLM personnel and a government vet stood watching, but did not intercede.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Since the Fall of 2010 Sun J Livestock has received over $5 million in BLM contracts to round up wild horses and burro. Previous to this, they reported an annual income of $40,000.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
# # #&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Media Contact:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Lauryn Wachs&lt;br /&gt;
Lauryn@TheCloudFoundation.org&lt;br /&gt;
617-894-6939&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Links of Interest:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Wild burros hotshotted at Calico roundup (TCF video): http://youtu.be/_io4dsSILF4&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Old mare run to exhaustion at Antelope roundup (TCF video): http://youtu.be/IUoTc9mUpME&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Horse hit with skid of Sun J helicopter (Laura Leigh video): http://bit.ly/yS2W28&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Horses chased relentlessly at Triple B roundup (Grassroots Horse photos): http://blog.grassrootshorse.com&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Horse strangled by negligently loose rope at Triple B roundup (Laura Leigh video): http://bit.ly/yYaoXG&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
DOI denial of VanDerStad FOIA request: http://bit.ly/y0Gb7H&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/696642843638819377-6934584187378475510?l=arizona1-aahsbloggingupdates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><app:edited xmlns:app="http://www.w3.org/2007/app">2012-01-20T16:30:22.139-07:00</app:edited><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">0</thr:total></item><item><title>The Wild Horse Conspiracy, a book by Craig Downer, out now</title><link>http://arizona1-aahsbloggingupdates.blogspot.com/2012/01/wild-horse-conspiracy-book-by-craig.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Barb AZ)</author><pubDate>Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:53:41 PST</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696642843638819377.post-8852272274891277916</guid><description>&lt;a href="http://tuesdayshorse.wordpress.com/2012/01/19/the-wild-horse-conspiracy-a-book-by-craig-downer-out-now/" target="_blank"&gt;Tuesday's Horse&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
THE WILD HORSE CONSPIRACY&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Proudly announcing the publication of a pivotal book for America’s wild horses and burros that has been over 4 years in preparation&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
by Craig C. Downer, Wildlife Ecologist and Author (Date of Publication: 1/18/2012)&lt;br /&gt;
Craig Downer (by Laura Leigh)&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Craig Downer (Laura Leigh)&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
This stirring and amply illustrated, 300-page book fully justifies America’s magnificent wild horses and burros while countering the biased machinations against them. Written by an ecologist who grew up observing these animals in the West, it presents new evidence concerning their history and evolution in North America then describes their many positive contributions to soils, plants, animals and people. Though true restorers of this continent’s ecosystem, they have been unfairly targeted for elimination.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Over the centuries, they have borne our burdens and helped us along life’s way—which makes it doubly unfair that they should be blamed for what we humans have done. As always, they stand ready to help us do the hard work now so desperately needed to restore our shared home. Many of the author’s personal experiences with these animals, their diverse herd areas, and the multicolored people involved with them are herein vividly shared.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Urgently required now at the 40th anniversary of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act is a strategy to reverse the negative schemes that are causing their demise the wild. As described, Reserve Design provides a way for establishing self-stabilizing populations through intelligent and caring programs executed with enthusiasm.&lt;br /&gt;
Wild Horses (by Craig Downer)&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Wild Horses (by Craig Downer)&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Their lesson for humanity concerns how to share freedom and the land with such paragons of nature. Soaring beyond mundane pettiness and with an inspired vision for the future of all life, the elevated perspective and compassionate spirit of this book will prove key to accomplishing its critical goal. In the wild the vigor of any kind is preserved. And the entire horse family—as the Earth itself—needs America’s wild horses and burros to continue at vital levels into the future here in their evolutionary cradle and worldwide.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The author has defended wild horses/burros against attacks for over 40 years and observed many of the West’s colorful herds. He has also studied the endangered mountain tapir and is president of the Andean Tapir Fund, also dedicated to saving wild horses/burros (www.andeantapirfund.com).&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
A member of the IUCN Species Survival Commission and board member of The Cloud Foundation, he has written popular and scientific articles and books, including action plans for endangered species, enjoys nature photography and musical composition, lives in Nevada, and is proud companion of mustangs Lightning, a palomino stallion, and Princess Diane, his curly mare, both of whom he knew in the wilds of NW Nevada before they were captured by BLM in 2010.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
To order Craig’s groundbreaking book, make out and send $25 (which includes taxes, shipping &amp;amp; handling) either to Andean Tapir Fund (as a tax-deductible contribution to this 501 c 3 organization) or to Craig C. Downer, both at P.O. Box 456, Minden, NV 89423-0456 USA.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Alternatively, you may use PayPal to purchase the book by calling up www.andeantapirfund.com and clicking on PayPal. To order more than one book, please pay $20 per book for up to 5 books, $15 for over 10 books (which includes taxes, shipping &amp;amp; handling).&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
For any questions or to arrange for a speaking, picture showing and book signing event, write the author at the above address, or call (775) 267-3484 or (775) 901-2094 or email ccdowner@aol.com. &lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;!-- AddThis Button END --&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/696642843638819377-8852272274891277916?l=arizona1-aahsbloggingupdates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><app:edited xmlns:app="http://www.w3.org/2007/app">2012-01-19T18:53:41.112-07:00</app:edited><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">0</thr:total></item><item><title>Gov Rick Perry’s Office Says “NO” to Petitions to Stop Shooting Wild Burros</title><link>http://arizona1-aahsbloggingupdates.blogspot.com/2012/01/gov-rick-perrys-office-says-no-to.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Barb AZ)</author><pubDate>Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:41:28 PST</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696642843638819377.post-4071823937719355954</guid><description>&lt;a href="http://rtfitchauthor.com/2012/01/19/gov-rick-perrys-office-says-no-to-petitions-to-stop-shooting-wild-burros/#wildburro" target="_blank"&gt;Straight from the Horse's Heart&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
story By &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.statesman.com/news/texas-politics/protesters-clomp-to-capitol-to-oppose-states-feral-2109992.html?service=popup&amp;amp;authorContact=2109992&amp;amp;authorContactField=0" target="_blank"&gt;Patrick Beach&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; of the the &lt;a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=30.25,-97.75&amp;amp;spn=0.1,0.1&amp;amp;q=30.25,-97.75%20%28Austin%2C%20Texas%29&amp;amp;t=h" rel="geolocation" title="Austin, Texas"&gt;Austin&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;a href="http://www.statesman.com/news/texas-politics/protesters-clomp-to-capitol-to-oppose-states-feral-2109992.html" target="_blank"&gt;Statesman.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h5 style="text-align: center;"&gt;Over 100,000 Petitions Delivered to Lt. Governor after Perry Slap-Down&lt;/h5&gt;&lt;div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_13872" style="width: 310px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://rtfitch.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/101411_3846-wdsm.jpg"&gt;&lt;img alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-13872" height="200" src="http://rtfitch.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/101411_3846-wdsm.jpg?w=300&amp;amp;h=200" title="Marjorie Farabee and Abby" width="300" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="wp-caption-text"&gt;Marjorie Farabee and Abby ~ photo by Terry Fitch&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;At a Statehouse dominated by elephants, the donkey got some love in a short parade in &lt;a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downtown_Austin" rel="wikipedia" title="Downtown Austin"&gt;downtown Austin&lt;/a&gt; on Wednesday.&lt;br /&gt;
The occasion was a protest of the &lt;a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Parks_and_Wildlife_Department" rel="wikipedia" title="Texas Parks and Wildlife Department"&gt;Texas Parks &amp;amp; Wildlife Department&lt;/a&gt;‘s shoot-to-kill policy concerning feral burros in &lt;a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=29.5305555556,-104.154444444&amp;amp;spn=0.01,0.01&amp;amp;q=29.5305555556,-104.154444444%20%28Big%20Bend%20Ranch%20State%20Park%20%28Texas%29%29&amp;amp;t=h" rel="geolocation" title="Big Bend Ranch State Park (Texas)"&gt;Big Bend Ranch State Park&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;a href="http://wildhorsefreedomfederation.org/?page_id=197" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Marjorie Farabee&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; , founder of the &lt;a href="http://on.fb.me/zwRGrT." target="_blank"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wild Burro Protection League&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; and director at the &lt;a href="http://wildhorsefreedomfederation.org/" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wild Horse Freedom Federation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, had a helper drop some 103,000 petitions against shooting the burros at Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst’s office.&lt;br /&gt;
“Because Gov. Perry’s office refused authorization of delivery,” Farabee said. “Be sure you write that.”&lt;br /&gt;
Farabee and about 15 of her fellow protesters rode or led six &lt;a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donkey" rel="wikipedia" title="Donkey"&gt;donkeys&lt;/a&gt;  — the recalcitrant Nancy refused to budge from the parking lot where  the group’s parade started — for a few blocks from a nearby staging area  to the Capitol. The group takes issue with the state’s position that  the burros are non-native and that most of the animals were abandoned  from ranches in nearby Mexico or are descendants of those animals.&lt;br /&gt;
The state further argues that the burros’ presence is a threat to  indigenous species in a fragile ecosystem, trampling food and fouling  scarce water resources. The state’s policy is to trap or kill the  animals. But because of their intelligence, burros are easier to drop  with a rifle than to catch.&lt;br /&gt;
Farabee’s side says the practice is all about making more room for  bighorn sheep — hunting permits for which go for the low six figures at  auction — and other prized game animals. Farabee says about 130 burros  have been killed at the park since the practice resumed in 2010. The  herd is estimated at 200 to 300 head.&lt;br /&gt;
With Department of Public Safety motorcycle officers as escorts, the  group headed down Lavaca Street at noon, cut over to Congress Avenue via  16th Street and halted at the north side of the Capitol.&lt;br /&gt;
“Hey, there’s jackasses in there already — let ‘em go,” said supporter Susan Nelson of Gainesville.&lt;br /&gt;
(Better that they didn’t try. With all that tack, it’d take forever  to get the donkeys through the metal detectors at the main south  entrance.)&lt;br /&gt;
“I can’t see how anybody could shoot these teddy bears,” said Nelson,  whose daughter, Waco veterinarian Jennifer Garretson, rode one of the  beasts. “If it wasn’t for the donkey, Texas wouldn’t be here.”&lt;br /&gt;
Garretson criticized state officials for failing to recruit properly  qualified people in past failed attempts at rounding the burros up.&lt;br /&gt;
“There are plenty of people willing and able to corral them,” Garretson said. “I’m not going to tolerate shooting donkeys.”&lt;br /&gt;
On their way to the statehouse, Farabee, driving a donkey named Miss  Abby and pulling a wagon that contained the box of petitions, turned to  one of her trooper escorts and asked, “Could you shoot one of these?”&lt;br /&gt;
The trooper shook his head and said no.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;On the Web&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Read a Texas Parks  &amp;amp; Wildlife Department’s statement on burros  at  Big Bend Ranch State Park at www.tpwd.state.tx.us/burros.&lt;br /&gt;
Read the Wild Burro  Protection League’s rebuttal on Facebook at http://on.fb.me/zwRGrT.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h6 class="zemanta-related-title" style="font-size: 1em;"&gt;Related articles&lt;/h6&gt;&lt;ul class="zemanta-article-ul"&gt;&lt;li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"&gt;&lt;a href="http://rtfitchauthor.com/2012/01/17/burros-to-deliver-petitions-to-governor-rick-perry/"&gt;Burros to Deliver Petitions to Governor Rick Perry&lt;/a&gt; (rtfitchauthor.com)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"&gt;&lt;a href="http://rtfitch.wordpress.com/2011/11/23/texas-wild-burros-getting-stubborn-allies/"&gt;Texas Wild Burros Getting Stubborn Allies&lt;/a&gt; (rtfitch.wordpress.com)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"&gt;&lt;a href="http://rtfitch.wordpress.com/2011/10/24/no-fences-on-perrys-texas-border-but-they-shoot-immigrant-burros/"&gt;No Fences on Perry’s Texas Border, but They Shoot Immigrant Burros&lt;/a&gt; (rtfitch.wordpress.com)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"&gt;&lt;a href="http://rtfitch.wordpress.com/2011/10/10/west-texas-wild-burro-controversy-flares-again-for-texas-parks/"&gt;West Texas Wild Burro Controversy Flares Again for Texas Parks&lt;/a&gt; (rtfitch.wordpress.com)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"&gt;&lt;a href="http://r.zemanta.com/?u=http%3A//abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/texas-shooting-donkeys-stirring-burro-backlash-14847932&amp;amp;a=60500566&amp;amp;rid=0000007c-4139-000F-0000-00000000362f&amp;amp;e=f9cad48644aaf26e07a28f31d641409a"&gt;Texas Is Shooting Donkeys, Stirring Burro Backlash&lt;/a&gt; (abcnews.go.com)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/696642843638819377-4071823937719355954?l=arizona1-aahsbloggingupdates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><app:edited xmlns:app="http://www.w3.org/2007/app">2012-01-19T15:41:28.132-07:00</app:edited><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">0</thr:total></item><item><title>Driver in horse trailer wreck cited - WSMV Channel 4</title><link>http://arizona1-aahsbloggingupdates.blogspot.com/2012/01/driver-in-horse-trailer-wreck-cited.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Barb AZ)</author><pubDate>Wed, 18 Jan 2012 18:45:38 PST</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696642843638819377.post-1710838813353223621</guid><description>&lt;a href="http://www.wsmv.com/story/16550105/driver-in-horse-wreck-cited#.TxeCttUj1AA.blogger"&gt;Driver in horse trailer wreck cited - WSMV Channel 4&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The driver whose trailer rolled over on I-40 Monday with a load of horses on board has now been charged in that wreck.&lt;br /&gt;
The Tennessee Department of Safety says Mance  Frank Reed has been cited for unsafe operation of a vehicle and driving  fatigued. He is also charged with having problems with his brakes, his  frame, and the tires on his trailer.&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href="http://t.co/4QvokPx0" target="_blank"&gt;Read MORE...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/696642843638819377-1710838813353223621?l=arizona1-aahsbloggingupdates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><app:edited xmlns:app="http://www.w3.org/2007/app">2012-01-18T19:45:38.379-07:00</app:edited><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">0</thr:total></item><item><title>WILD HORSES IN TORTOLITA MOUNTAINS, TUCSON ARIZONA</title><link>http://arizona1-aahsbloggingupdates.blogspot.com/2012/01/wild-horses-in-tortolita-mountains.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Barb AZ)</author><pubDate>Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:41:38 PST</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696642843638819377.post-2040699392956325440</guid><description>&lt;a href="http://thepersianhorse.wordpress.com/2012/01/17/wild-horses-in-tortolita-mountains-tucson-arizona/" target="_blank"&gt;The Person Horse Blog&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;The Persian Horse Blog is Dedicated to the Horses and Burros&amp;nbsp;  who have Shed their Blood, Lost their Freedom, and Given their Lives  for BLM&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://thepersianhorse.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/horrsestortolita1.jpg"&gt;&lt;img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-2153" height="238" src="http://thepersianhorse.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/horrsestortolita1.jpg?w=500&amp;amp;h=238" title="horrsestortolita1" width="500" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So far, no pictures have been taken of the Wild Horses of Tortolita.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;BACKGROUND | &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://azstarnet.com/news/local/tortolitas-development-can-t-tame-wild-horses/article_1082a831-baaf-5f0a-91b0-096514f67157.html" target="_blank"&gt;ARIZONA DAILY STAR&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;Here’s something you might not expect to find on the edge of the sprawling Tucson metropolitan area: wild horses.&lt;br /&gt;
A small herd of perhaps 15 animals – technically known as feral  horses – roams the rugged ridges and canyons of the Tortolita Mountains  northwest of the city.&lt;br /&gt;
The herd has survived in the wild since at least the 1920s or 1930s, by some ranchers’ estimates.&lt;br /&gt;
What’s remarkable is that the horses still go about their  corral-and-saddle-free ways – even as the Tortolitas have seen a  development boom, including the Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain Resort, golf  courses, homes and a popular park in recent years.&lt;br /&gt;
“I have seen five of the horses in one group and a solo several times  – always moving away quickly,” said Mark Flint, a hiker and trail  designer who treks the range frequently on trail projects. “One hiker I  talked to said he saw a group of 13.”&lt;br /&gt;
Flint said he has been unable to get photos of the swiftly retreating  horses. Several Tucson-area hiking-club leaders said they know of no  photos of the herd.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;span id="more-2152"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
But now – thanks to a trail builder’s quick video skills – you can  get a distant look at the free-roaming equines on YouTube. You can view  it below.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="301" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/eqGka6l1GME" width="400"&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt; &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href="http://thepersianhorse.wordpress.com/2012/01/17/wild-horses-in-tortolita-mountains-tucson-arizona/" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: large;"&gt;Read MORE HERE.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/696642843638819377-2040699392956325440?l=arizona1-aahsbloggingupdates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><app:edited xmlns:app="http://www.w3.org/2007/app">2012-01-18T18:41:38.965-07:00</app:edited><media:thumbnail url="http://img.youtube.com/vi/eqGka6l1GME/default.jpg" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">0</thr:total></item><item><title>Slaughter Horses in Tennessee Wreck Expected Anytime in Presidio Holding Pens</title><link>http://arizona1-aahsbloggingupdates.blogspot.com/2012/01/slaughter-horses-in-tennessee-wreck.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Barb AZ)</author><pubDate>Tue, 17 Jan 2012 20:39:18 PST</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696642843638819377.post-4264821150908623449</guid><description>&lt;a href="http://horsebackmagazine.com/hb/archives/13668" target="_blank"&gt;Horseback Magazine&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
anuary 18, 2012                                   &lt;br /&gt;
By Steven Long&lt;br /&gt;
Photo by Julie Caramante&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href="http://horsebackmagazine.com/hb/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Cattle-Truck-Caramonte-photo.jpg"&gt;&lt;img alt="" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-13670" height="106" src="http://horsebackmagazine.com/hb/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Cattle-Truck-Caramonte-photo.jpg" title="Cattle Truck Caramonte photo" width="268" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;HOUSTON,  (Horseback) – More than 30 slaughter bound horses are likely to arrive  soon in the border town of Presidio, Texas after enduring a wreck that  landed their cattle trailer on its side along a busy interstate highway.  The city of 4,639 sits on the Rio Grande River border with Mexico. The  town is home to the C-4 feedlot, a holding facility for slaughter bound  horses south of the border, the animal’s possible destination, the kill  box in Ojinaga, Mexico.&lt;br /&gt;
The 35 horses were traveling through Tennessee on I-40 Monday when  the driver of the tractor trailer truck, Mance Reed, went to sleep at  the wheel resulting in 35 horses panic stricken and trapped in the  trailer laying on its side. Three horses were euthanized after the  wreck, but 32 continued on their journey to Texas.&lt;br /&gt;
The incident has again sparked anti-slaughter advocates to call for  passage of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, legislation that  is annually introduced in Congress but has never been enacted into law.  Many blame Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid (D) Nevada, a horse  slaughter proponent for blocking passage.&lt;br /&gt;
Yet Reid may well face negative public opinion in this election year  from a group that is much more powerful than timid senators and  congressmen who have annually given lip service to the bill but boast a  failure rate getting the popular legislation passed and signed by the  president of zero.&lt;br /&gt;
In survey after survey, more than 70 percent of all Americans have  said they oppose horse slaughter for human consumption. The United  Federation of Teachers Humane Education Committee has lent its  considerable clout to an effort by the Chicago based Equine Welfare  Alliance to inspire a children’s letter writing campaign to Washington  politicians supporting passage of the AHSPA.&lt;br /&gt;
Such a children’s campaign secured passage of the 1971 Free Roaming  Wild Horse and Burro Act under the leadership of Reno’s Velma Johnson,  affectionately known as “Wild Horse Annie.” The legislation set aside  sanctuaries in the western states for the North American Mustang and  wild donkeys. The campaign resulted in the only unanimous votes in both  houses of Congress in recent memory.&lt;br /&gt;
In a stealth midnight move three years ago Reid and former Sen.  Conrad Burns (R) Montana, removed protections for the wild horses, and  this year during a last minute budget vote a prohibition against funding  of federal meat inspectors in American slaughterhouses was removed. The  move has sparked a flurry of wishful thinking in the meat industry  lusting for new markets in Europe and Asia.&lt;br /&gt;
The Tennessee horses were in route from Three Angels Farm in Lebanon,  a facility holding hundreds of animals and believed to be a holding  station for slaughter bound horses. The owner of the farm confirmed to a  &lt;a href="http://www.wsmv.com/story/16540351/rescued-horses-headed-for-slaughter"&gt;Nashville television station&lt;/a&gt;  he was involved in incidents at the Presidio feed lot late last year  that sparked investigations by Presidio County Sheriff Danny Dominguez,  the Texas Animal Health Commission, and the Texas Commission on  Environmental Quality. The television station also reported the  Tennessee owner of the horses is under investigation for transporting  horses to Texas without proper documentation.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;em&gt;Horseback&lt;/em&gt; confirmed with Texas Animal Health Commission  investigator Richard Wagner late last year that the same Coggins  certificates were repeatedly used for horses coming into the C-4 lot.  The Tennessee Highway Patrol is still investigating whether the horses  involved in the I-40 wreck had proper paperwork. The firm transporting  the horses has had a spotty record of passing state safety inspections  including at least one incident of trucks being removed from the road  Nashville’s Channel 4 reported.&lt;br /&gt;
The C-4 lot was given a slap on the wrist by the Texas Commission on  Environmental Quality after dead and dying horses were found in a dry  creek bed leading to the Rio Grande. The flash flood prone stream had  nearly 100 carcasses in varying stages of decomposition during the  height of hurricane season when flooding can hit the state at any time.&lt;br /&gt;
The Equine Welfare Alliance has also charged that horses rejected as  too ill or thin for slaughter have been dumped by killer buyers in  Southwestern states.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/696642843638819377-4264821150908623449?l=arizona1-aahsbloggingupdates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><app:edited xmlns:app="http://www.w3.org/2007/app">2012-01-17T21:39:18.450-07:00</app:edited><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">0</thr:total></item><item><title>BURROS TO DELIVER 100,000 SIGNATURES TO GOVERNOR PERRY WEDNESDAY</title><link>http://arizona1-aahsbloggingupdates.blogspot.com/2012/01/burros-to-deliver-100000-signatures-to.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Barb AZ)</author><pubDate>Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:57:10 PST</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696642843638819377.post-6486961482721169219</guid><description>&lt;a href="http://www.wildhorsepreservation.org/news/2012/01/18/burros-to-deliver-100000-signatures-to-governor-perry-wednesday/" target="_blank"&gt;American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
***MEDIA  ADVISORY***&lt;strong id="internal-source-marker_0.8543803389184177"&gt; &lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href="http://www.wildhorsepreservation.org/news/wp-content/uploads/big-bend-burro-mom-and-baby.jpg"&gt;&lt;img alt="" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-7515" height="199" src="http://www.wildhorsepreservation.org/news/wp-content/uploads/big-bend-burro-mom-and-baby.jpg" title="big bend burro mom and baby" width="148" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;FOR  IMMEDIATE RELEASE&lt;br /&gt;
January  17, 2012&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Burros  led by local residents, the Wild Burro Protection  League and Red Horse Nation,  to ride to Capitol to deliver more than  100,000 signatures to Governor Perry on  Wednesday.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong id="internal-source-marker_0.8543803389184177"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong id="internal-source-marker_0.8543803389184177"&gt;AUSTIN,  TX –   A herd of burros, led by local residents, burro advocates and members  of Red  Horse Nation, will ride from the Rosewood Oaks Day Care Center  to the Capitol on  Wednesday, January 18 to hand-deliver more than &lt;a class="external" href="http://www.change.org/petitions/texas-stop-killing-wild-burros" target="_blank" title="blocked::http://www.change.org/petitions/texas-stop-killing-wild-burros"&gt;100,000  Change.org petition signatures&lt;/a&gt; demanding that the Perry Administration stop the wild burro slaughter in Big  Bend Ranch State Park.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong id="internal-source-marker_0.8543803389184177"&gt;What:  “Ride for Life” Burro Petition Delivery to Governor Perry and Lt. Governor  Dewhurst. The &lt;a class="external" href="http://www.change.org/petitions/texas-stop-killing-wild-burros" target="_blank" title="blocked::http://www.change.org/petitions/texas-stop-killing-wild-burros"&gt;petition  signatures&lt;/a&gt; will be delivered Wednesday in a small wagon pulled by a donkey named Miss  Abby.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong id="internal-source-marker_0.8543803389184177"&gt;Who:  Marjorie   Farabee of Wild Burro Protection League, Rod Rondeaux and 9-year-old  daughter  Cheyenne of Red Horse Nation, and local residents and   supporters.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong id="internal-source-marker_0.8543803389184177"&gt;Where:  Ride  starts at Rosewood Oaks Day Care Center (1507 Lavaca St, Austin TX);  Rally  and petition delivery will take place on south side steps of  Capitol building on  Congress Ave.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong id="internal-source-marker_0.8543803389184177"&gt;When:  12:00 p.m. Ride for Life Departs Rosewood Oaks Day Care Center&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong id="internal-source-marker_0.8543803389184177"&gt;12:40 p.m.  Remarks by Red  Horse Nation representatives and Alpine residents, the  Rondeaux family, and  Marjorie Farabee of Wild Burro Protection League&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong id="internal-source-marker_0.8543803389184177"&gt;1:00 p.m. Petition Delivery  to the Office of Governor Rick Perry and Lt. Governor David Dewhurst&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong id="internal-source-marker_0.8543803389184177"&gt;Background:&lt;a href="http://changeorg.pr-optout.com/Url.aspx?1091510x139293x107688" title="blocked::http://changeorg.pr-optout.com/Url.aspx?1091510x139293x107688"&gt; &lt;/a&gt;&lt;a class="external" href="http://www.change.org/petitions/texas-stop-killing-wild-burros" target="_blank" title="blocked::http://www.change.org/petitions/texas-stop-killing-wild-burros"&gt;More  than 100,000 people&lt;/a&gt; have joined a popular &lt;a class="external" href="http://www.change.org/petitions/texas-stop-killing-wild-burros" target="_blank" title="blocked::http://www.change.org/petitions/texas-stop-killing-wild-burros"&gt;campaign  on Change.org&lt;/a&gt; demanding that Texas wildlife officials stop slaughtering the wild burros of Big  Bend Ranch State Park.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong id="internal-source-marker_0.8543803389184177"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href="http://www.wildhorsepreservation.org/news/wp-content/uploads/BIG-BEND-BURRO-MARJORIE-FARABEE2-FOR-FEATURE1.jpg"&gt;&lt;img alt="" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-7518" height="250" src="http://www.wildhorsepreservation.org/news/wp-content/uploads/BIG-BEND-BURRO-MARJORIE-FARABEE2-FOR-FEATURE1-300x225.jpg" title="BIG BEND BURRO MARJORIE FARABEE2 FOR FEATURE" width="334" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong id="internal-source-marker_0.8543803389184177"&gt;The  &lt;a class="external" href="http://www.change.org/petitions/texas-stop-killing-wild-burros" target="_blank" title="blocked::http://www.change.org/petitions/texas-stop-killing-wild-burros"&gt;campaign  on Change.org&lt;/a&gt; was launched by Karen Van&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong id="internal-source-marker_0.8543803389184177"&gt;Atta  Luce, a volunteer with the Wild Burro Protection  League, after  learning that Texas officials were gunning down the small wild  donkeys  with the intent of eradicating them from the state park. Citing concerns   of animal cruelty and loss of an iconic heritage species, the Wild  Burro  Protection League, with the support of local residents and  business owners, is  asking Governor Perry to stop the shootings.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong id="internal-source-marker_0.8543803389184177"&gt;“We  need to  be more responsible land stewards; no one should have the right to wipe   out an entire species,” said Farabee of the Wild Burro Protection  League. “Nor  should they have the right to destroy an ecosystem. I  don’t care who they are,  they don’t have that right.”&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong id="internal-source-marker_0.8543803389184177"&gt;Live  signature totals from the Wild Burro Protection League’s campaign:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a class="external" href="http://www.change.org/petitions/texas-stop-killing-wild-burros" target="_blank" title="blocked::http://www.change.org/petitions/texas-stop-killing-wild-burros"&gt;http://www.change.org/petitions/texas-stop-killing-wild-burros&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong id="internal-source-marker_0.8543803389184177"&gt;Additional  coverage of the petition delivery at Horseback Magazine:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a class="external" href="http://horsebackmagazine.com/hb/archives/13604" target="_blank" title="blocked::http://horsebackmagazine.com/hb/archives/13604"&gt;http://horsebackmagazine.com/hb/archives/13604&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong id="internal-source-marker_0.8543803389184177"&gt;For  more information on the Wild Burro Protection League, please visit:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong id="internal-source-marker_0.8543803389184177"&gt;&lt;a class="external" href="https://www.facebook.com/Wild.Burro.Protection.League" target="_blank" title="blocked::https://www.facebook.com/Wild.Burro.Protection.League"&gt;https://www.facebook.com/Wild.Burro.Protection.League&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong id="internal-source-marker_0.8543803389184177"&gt;The  Wild  Burro Protection League is an informal consortium of local citizens,   organizations and scientists working together to end the senseless  killing of  wild burros on Texas state land. The group seeks to use  online campaigning to  pressure Texas Parks and Wildlife to change their  policy of slaughtering wild  burros under the vague definition of  “invasive species.”&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong id="internal-source-marker_0.8543803389184177"&gt;For  more information on Change.org, please visit:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a class="external" href="http://www.change.org/about" target="_blank" title="blocked::http://www.change.org/about"&gt;http://www.change.org/about&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong id="internal-source-marker_0.8543803389184177"&gt;Change.org&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong id="internal-source-marker_0.8543803389184177"&gt;  is the world’s fastest-growing platform for social change — growing by  more than  500,000 new members a month, and empowering millions of  people to start, join,  and win campaigns for socia&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong id="internal-source-marker_0.8543803389184177"&gt;l change in their community, city and  country.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong id="internal-source-marker_0.8543803389184177"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong id="internal-source-marker_0.8543803389184177"&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong id="internal-source-marker_0.8543803389184177"&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;strong id="internal-source-marker_0.8543803389184177"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;br /&gt;
WSMV Channel 4 News report- Driver Mance Reed fell asleep while hauling  slaughter horses. Three of the thirty-eight animals died in the  accident. Dorian Ayache  from Lebanon, TN is the owner of the horses and  is known person who sends horses to Mexico, via Presidio, Texas to  slaughter for human consumption.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
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