Thursday, July 29, 2010

H.R. 305 Set for Mark Up


The bill, H.R. 305, which could end cruel horse transports, has, however, been in committee ever since. Until now. The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure is expected to mark up or consider the bill this week.
What You Can Do
Double decker trailerFind committee members here and fax or call members and urge them to vote YES on H.R. 305.
Find out if your U.S. Representative is on the committee, and, if so, be sure to tell him or her that you are a constitutent! Regardless, urge your representative to support H.R. 305, the Horse Transportation Safety Act, which bans use of double decked trailers to haul horses and promotes highway safety for everyone. 
You can reach committee members, your Representative and the House leadership through the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. Call the committee:(202) 225-4472 or (202) 225-9446. Fax the committee: (202) 226-1270

More about the proposed law
There is a USDA regulation banning the use of double decked trailers to transport horses to slaughter. 9 CFR 88.3  But the USDA has also said it does not have the resources to enforce the regulation, giving the industry a virtual green light to continue using double decked trailers to haul horses to slaughter.  Also, the law allows horses to be hauled in double decked trailers to destinations other than slaughter houses. So, horses are routinely hauled long distances in double decked trailers to some destination close to the slaughter house. Once there, they are then transferred to another vehicle which takes them to the slaughter house.
Double decked trailers can have ceiling heights as low as 5'7". (The industry standard for vehicles to transport horses is 7'-8').  According to the USDA, an equine can be 8 feet tall when standing on all four legs and close to 12 feet tall when rearing. 
The bottom deck of a double decked trailer has 3" I Beams every 12" on center to support the top deck.
Steep and narrow ramps with metal floors cause the horses to slip and fall, causing injuries. Horses are forced to jump down into a narrow opening leading to the bottom deck; they are often injured as a result.
Because of the low ceiling heights horses cannot raise and lower their heads and necks for balance. Horses routinely throw their heads and rear, unlike cattle, hogs, goats or sheep for which these double decked trailers are designed.  Horses suffer head and back injuries because of the low ceiling height, the 3" I beams, and overhead ramp storage.
They are held on these trailers in this way for more than 24 hours at a time without food or water. Many suffer serious injuries during these arduous journeys to slaughter and are trampled and even killed.
Sometimes the upper deck collapses. There have been a number of accidents involving over full double decked trailers, most recently a horrific one in Illinois. The double decked trailer crammed with frightened Belgian horses overturned, killing 17 horses and injuring many more.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Americans Against Horse Slaughter And WFLF/Humanion Films Call On All Americans To Step Up Efforts To End Horse Slaughter

Americans Against Horse Slaughter Philadelphia, PA
For Immediate Release
July 23, 2010
 

Powerful Policy Makers join Film as speakers and cast in Humanion Film’s “Saving
America’s Horses – A Nation Betrayed”
 

Congressmen Ed Whitfield of Kentucky, House Representative Dan Burton of Indiana
and Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana have all joined the film, Saving America’s
Horses.  Producers Katia Louise and Debra Lopez have recently interviewed these
powerful policy makers for the film about their thoughts and positions regarding pending
bills that would protect America’s equines from slaughter and protect our wild horses.

Check out WFLF Humanion Films’ new “Action to End Horse Slaughter” preview clip
which includes exclusive statements by these powerful policy makers. Special
appearances in this preview additionally include Tippi Hedren of the Roar Foundation
and Neda DeMayo of Return to Freedom. This special pre-release preview clears the air
on misinformation that has been circulated by pro slaughter proponents. Learn more
about what you can do to help end this barbaric practice without further delay.

How You Can Help
 

Please Contact The Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (Vermont) and all the
Senate Judiciary Committee Members (see list below) and ask them to move S727 out of
committee and on to the floor for a vote to pass The Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act.

Next, contact the House Judiciary Subcommittee Members and ask them to move HR503
out of committee and onto the floor for a vote. Members:http://judiciary.house.gov/about/subcrime.html

You can also contact your U.S. representative and your two U.S. Senators and urge him
or her to vote YES on the anti horse slaughter bill by calling the Captiol Switchboard at
202-224-3121

Step up your efforts!  Watch the all new exclusive “Action to End Horse Slaughter”
preview clip from “SAVING AMERICA’S HORSES – A NATION BETRAYED”
HERE!


Senate Judiciary Committee Members

1.  Patrick J. Leahy    Vermont                       #(202) 224-4242

2.  Herb Kohl   Wisconsin                     
          #(202) 224-5653
                                                                       Fax:(202) 224-9787

3.   Dianne Feinstein  California                    #(202) 224-3841
                                                                       Fax:(202) 228-3954

4.   Russ Feingold    Wisconsin                     #(202)-224-5323

5.   Arlen Specter   Pennsylvania                    #202-224-4254
                                                                       Fax:(202)-228-1229

6.  Chuck Schumer   New York                       #202-224-6542
                                                                      Fax:(202)-228-3027

7.  Dick Durbin   Illinois                                  #(202) 224-2152
                                                                      Fax:(202)-228-0400

8.  Benjamin L. Cardin   Maryland                  #202-224-4524
                                                                       Fax:(202)-224-1651

9.  Sheldon Whitehouse    Rhode Island        #202-224-2921
                                                                        Fax:(202)-228-6362

10.  Amy Klobuchar   Minnesota                        #202-224-3244
                                                                          Fax:(202)-228-2186

11.  Ted Kaufman   Delaware                            #(202) 224-5042
                                                                           Fax:(202) 228-3075

12.    Al Franken     Minnesota                      #(202) 224-5641

13.    Jeff Sessions  Alabama                             #(202) 224-4124

14.   Orrin G. Hatch     Utah                                 #(202) 224-5251
                                                                            Fax:(202) 224-6331

15.  Chuck Grassley         Iowa                           #(202) 224-3744
                                                                            Fax:(202) 224-6020

16.   Jon Kyl       Arizona                                       #(202) 224-4521
                                                                             Fax:(202) 224-2207

17.  Lindsey Graham    South Carolina             #(202) 224-5972

18.   John Cornyn     Texas                                  #(202)-224-2934
                                                                             Fax:(202)-228-2856

19.   Tom Coburn    Oklahoma                              #(202)-224-5754
                                                                               Fax:(202)-224-6008

Powerful Policy Makers join FILM as speakers and cast in Humanion Film’s “Saving America’s Horses – A Nation Betrayed”

WFLF Humanion Films
Los Angeles, CA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

July 23th, 2010

Powerful Policy Makers join FILM as speakers and cast in Humanion Film’s “Saving America’s Horses – A Nation Betrayed”


WFLF/Humanion Films and Americans Against Horse Slaughter Call on all Americans to Step Up Efforts to end horse slaughter.

Congressmen Ed Whitfield of Kentucky, House Representative Dan Burton of Indiana and Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana have all joined the film, Saving America’s Horses. Producers Katia Louise and Debra Lopez have recently interviewed these powerful policy makers for the film about their thoughts and positions regarding pending bills that would protect America’s equines from slaughter and protect our wild horses.

Check out WFLF Humanion Films’ new “Action to End Horse Slaughter” preview clip which includes exclusive statements by these powerful policy makers. Special appearances in this preview additionally include Tippi Hedren of the Roar Foundation and Neda DeMayo of Return to Freedom. This special pre-release preview clears the air on misinformation that has been circulated by pro slaughter proponents. Learn more about what you can do to help end this barbaric practice without further delay.

Take Action! Print and circulate the WFLF Prevention to Equine Cruelty Pamphlet. (caution graphic photos)

Contact your U.S. representative and urge him or her to vote YES on the anti horse slaughter bill: https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml

Contact the Judiciary Subcommittee Members: Phone: 202-225-3951
Website: http://judiciary.house.gov/about/subcrime.html

Call your Representative and the House leaders through the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121.

Step up your efforts! Watch the all new exclusive “Action to End Horse Slaughter” preview clip from “SAVING AMERICA’S HORSES – A NATION BETRAYED” HERE!

Contact:
Kate Dudley, Publicist
Email

Production
Email

PDF of this Release

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Friday, July 16, 2010

Judge Grants Media Access to Tuscarora Wild Horse Roundup

wild horseNevada U.S. District Judge Larry Hicks has lifted the injunction prohibiting BLM from proceeding with the Tuscarora roundup. The judge has also denied plaintiff Laura Leigh's motion to delay the roundup until August, after the foaling season.
But the judge then ruled, "As to Leigh's First Amendment challenge to the closure of public lands during the gather, the court shall grant Leigh's temporary restraining order. Leigh argues that a blanket closure of 27,000 acres of public land on which the Tuscarora Gather is going to take place is a prior restraint on her First Amendment rights because she will be unable to observe and report on the health of the horses and the BLM's management of the gather. The court agrees [and]... finds that the blanket closure ... is unconstitutional". The BLM can, however, draft a "more reasonable closure".
"The court's order in no way [a]ffects the BLM's closure of the airspace above the 27,000 acres of public land. The court finds the closure of airspace to be constitutional and necessary". (A copy of the Order is attached below for downloading.)
In deciding to allow the roundup to proceed now instead of later, Judge Hicks was persuaded by BLM's last minute "review" filed yesterday by a BLM team that claims the horses dying or suffering from dehydration or water intoxication were in that condition prior to the roundup. The "review" states that a BLM contractor found Tuscarora wild horses without water and said "the next 24-78 hours is critical". BLM recommended rounding up as many horses as possible and warned of a "potentially high mortality" rate.  Horses showing signs of dehydration on the range would be left to die.
Leigh pointed out, however, that there was no mention by BLM of a drought or dehydrated horses in the Tuscarora HMAs until after her lawsuit was filed. She disputed the "hastily assembled" "review" by BLM:
The Defendants' admit they do not grasp the issue causing the high mortality rate of the horses they run into catch pens. We discover they had not calculated a drought by mid-July or that horses would run out of available water by mid-July although they had studied the probable effects of their intended Gather the several months preceding the Gather, beginning in January 2010. No other BLM document discusses or addresses "drought" for range management in the year 2010 in the Owynee, Rock Creek or Little Humboldt areas. It was in fact, only after suit was filed did these emergency conditions become newly revealed.
Leigh offered to visit the herds and attempt to verify BLM's claim a roundup must proceed immediately because of drought.
At least Leigh and other members of the media and public will be allowed to monitor BLM's roundup.
For more on this case and the Tuscarora roundup, read Animal Law Coalition's report below.
Update July 15, 2010: Nevada federal District Court Judge Larry Hicks has issued an injunction prohibiting BLM from proceeding with the Tuscarora roundup. 
The BLM had temporarily suspended its Tuscarora roundup of wild horses initiated in the intense summer heat just days ago on July 10, 2010.
BLM halted the roundup after public outcry over the deaths of horses now said to number 12 including 3 foals.
Based on BLM's representation the roundup would not begin again until Sunday, July 19, 2010, the judge set a hearing on July 14 on a motion for restraining order filed by plaintiff Laura Leigh to delay the roundup until August and compel BLM to allow access to the roundup by the media and the public.
The judge explained that he was then informed despite BLM's representation to the court, BLM Director Bob Abbey had issued an order for an "emergency" roundup of the horses prior to the hearing.  
Judge Hicks ordered, "Based on this change in the BLM's position, the court finds it necessary to grant an immediate injunction preventing the Tuscarora gathering of wild horses until further order by the court."
Go here for more on the planned Tuscarora roundup of 1,438 wild horses in the 482,191 acres of the Owyhee, Rock Creek, Little Humboldt Herd Management Areas. In proceeding with the roundup on July 10, BLM basically ignored thousands of citizens who submitted letters and emails in protest during a period of public comment on the planned roundup.
An appeal of BLM's decision to round up wild horses in the Tuscarora HMAs has been filed with the Interior Board of Land Appeals by In Defense of Animals and Craig Downer, a wildlife ecologist. BLM, however, can resume the roundup while the appeal is pending.
The dehydration, the deaths, the cruelty (cont'd)

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Doubt Cast On Pilot Valley "Estray" Horses Rounded-Up By BLM

July 7, 2010

Doubt Cast On Pilot Valley "Estray" Horses Rounded-Up By BLM

CHICAGO, (EWA) - On June 23, 2010, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Elko District office buried on its website a notice that  approximately 175 "abandoned, domestic, estray" horses located within Pilot Valley, NV, were scheduled for impoundment beginning June 25. The round up was expected to take 3 - 4 days with corrals set up on nearby private land owned by Simplot Land and Livestock until the horses could be transported and placed under the jurisdiction of the State of Nevada.
 
According to Nevada laws, an estray is a horse that is found running loose on public lands but shows signs of domestication and the owner is unknown. A horse is considered "feral" under Nevada law if the animal was domesticated or is the offspring of domesticated horses and has become wild with no physical signs of domestication. The state of Nevada owns estray and feral horses. Wild horses and free-roaming Mustangs are protected by the BLM under the 1971 Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act.   
 
Nevada authorities plan to sell the horses rounded up by the BLM at auction on July 10. The horses will be available to all buyers and are therefore at risk of ending up at slaughterhouses in Mexico or Canada.
 
But serious questions are being raised as to whether these horses are, in fact, estray or feral. After investigating the history and location of the Pilot Valley area, wild horse advocates found Pilot Valley sits at the edge of a known wild horse territory called the Toano Wild Horse Herd Area. BLM wanted to make this area "horse free" in 1993, but according to BLM's Program statistics, approximately 168 wild horses were reported as still residing in the Toano range as of last year.
 
The proximity and near identical number of horses has lead mustang advocates to speculate that the horses the BLM rounded up as estray might actually be wild horses from the Toano range that are entitled to roam free under federal protection. How, they ask, does BLM know these horses are estray or feral and not wild horses?
 
Suspicions are further fueled by the unusual suddenness of the roundup, just 48 hours after notice of the removal was posted.  "These horses will go from free roaming to sold in fifteen days or less with tight security at the facilities where they are now being held," said Valerie James Patton, Vice President of Equine Welfare Alliance (EWA). 
 
"Even BLM's own news release stated those horses had been there a long time, long enough to grow in size", Patton added.  "So now the question becomes, how long is a long time?  Since 1993 when BLM filed papers to zero out the Toano Herd Area?"
 
"Given the long history of abuse and impropriety that has characterized the Wild Horse & Burro Program, I have to ask," said EWA's Vicki Tobin, "Did BLM openly remove federally protected wild horses from the range to sell them for slaughter because they have no fear of being held accountable? It would be illegal for BLM to round up wild horses declaring them estray and turn them over to the State. The BLM is prohibited from sending wild horses to slaughter, whether directly or indirectly."
 
While questions have begun surfacing as to the true status of the Pilot Valley horses, Laura Allen of Animal Law Coalition and EWA points out, " Before selling estray horses, the state is supposed to use reasonable diligence to try to find the owner including placing a notice about the estray with a full description in the local paper. BLM's news release states these are domestic estray horses abandoned by local residents. So why isn't an effort being made to find the local owners and hold them responsible to care for these horses instead of rushing these horses off for instant sale?"
 
"Another concern is, there are very specific definitions as to how to determine estray and feral livestock from federally protected wild horses and so far, the only thing we've seen is a take-our-word-for-it position from officials", she said.

"The Department of Interior has an almost unblemished reputation as a consistent source of scandal, mismanagement and corruption," explained EWA president John Holland, "starting with Teapot Dome in the Harding Administration through to the current disaster in the Gulf. So when things look this suspicious, questions are bound to arise."

In fairness to the BLM, EWA contacted them on July 1, to ask how they determined the horses were estray and is still awaiting a response.

EWA calls for a federal investigation to find out how BLM determined these horses are not the federally protected wild horses from the Toano range, which should include genetic testing and an accounting of the Toano wild horses.



Contacts:

Valerie James-Patton                         
Equine Welfare Alliance
530-474-1128

Laura Allen
Animal Law Coalition and Equine Welfare Alliance, general counsel
607.220.8938
 
The Equine Welfare Alliance is a dues free, umbrella organization with over 100 member organizations. The organization focuses its efforts on the welfare of all equines and the preservation of wild equids. www.equinewelfarealliance.org 

Animal Law Coalition is a coalition of pet owners and rescuers, advocates, attorneys, law students, veterinarians, shelter workers, decisionmakers, and other citizens, that advocates for the rights of animals to live and live free of cruelty and neglect. www.animallawcoalition.com

Monday, July 5, 2010

Amy and Raelyn Nelson have joined WFLF Humanion Films’ efforts as Special Guest Speakers and Cast for Saving America's Horses - A Nation Betrayed!

WFLF Humanion Films
Los Angeles, CA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

July 6th, 2010


Amy and Raelyn Nelson have joined WFLF Humanion Films’ efforts as Special Guest Speakers and Cast for Saving America's Horses - A Nation Betrayed!

WFLF Humanion Films is pleased to announce that Amy and Raelyn Nelson have joined WFLF Humanion Films’ efforts as Special Guest Speakers and Cast for Saving America's Horses - A Nation Betrayed! The Nelson family has been raising awareness to end horse slaughter for almost ten years. Willie Nelson’s daughter, and grand-daughter, Amy and Raelyn (Aunt and Niece), have been working locally in their state of TN and federally on behalf of the horses. They have lobbied in Washington D.C. on multiple occasions to gain support for the Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act (H.R 503/ SB. 727). The girls and Willie all speak at various venues in effort to teach others how to show support for the Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act and also the Restore Our American Mustangs Act (ROAM) to amend the 1971 Free Roaming Wild Horses and Burros Act.

Check out the Preview Trailer for SAVING AMERICA’S HORSES A NATION BETRAYED on the official film website and also on YouTube. The Preview Trailer presents the inspirational tone of the film while also serving to raise awareness for the CAUSE.

SAVING AMERICA’S HORSES A NATION BETRAYED depicts a country divided and inspires great hope for the protection of all horses and burros.

Supporters are requested to tell their friends and family about SAVING AMERICA'S HORSES A NATION BETRAYED. Donations are needed to bring this film to completion.

Please support this film and help us to save America's equines. “We are their voice and they need to be heard” – Katia Louise

More great ways to support this CAUSE:
Come Stand With Us!
Sign up for Action Alerts
Donations
Collaborate

Contact:
Kate Dudley, Publicist
Email

Production
Email

Saving America's Horses A Nation Betrayed 
Director, Producer ~ Katia Louise
Associate Producer ~ Debra Lopez
Associate Producer ~ Nancy Stanley

Executive Advisory Board 
Paula Bacon
Laura Allen
Dr Nena Winand
John Holland
Julie Caramante
Shelley Abrams

Advisory Board Members 
Dr. Nicholas H. Dodman
Dr. Lisa Jacobson
Craig C. Downer
Sinikka Crosland
Valerie James-Patton
Jo Anne Normile
Joy Aten
Debra Lopez
Sonja Meadows
Ellen-Cathryn Nash
Nancy Stanley
Vicki Tobin

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