The True Economics of Horse Slaughter

by an economist, Ph.d.

The True Economics of Horse Slaughter
_http://www.horsebackmagazine.com/breakingnews htm_
(http://www.horsebackmagazine.com/breakingnews%20htm)

Letter to the Editor

Dear Horseback Readers,

I feel compelled to respond to the rash of state efforts (Montana, Illinois, and North Dakota to name just a few) to re-introduce the slaughter of horses in the United States of America. As a professional economist, I find the arguments spouted nationwide to re-invite foreign owned horse killing facilities onto American soil confusing and without merit.

To paraphrase a horse rescuer I know, why is it that upon the observation of an abandoned dog or cat, people jump up and down to preserve the life of that animal, while upon the observation of an abandoned horse, some politician jumps up and down and yells that we need to slit its throat and bleed it out on American soil so that a wealthy connoisseur in Europe or Asia can have a nice
horsemeat snack?

According to USDA data, approximately 20 percent more American horses are being exported to Canada and Mexico for slaughter now than were being slaughtered in the US prior to the closure of the foreign owned slaughterhouses in 2007.

It is clear that the option to slaughter is readily available: you simply drop off your horse at the nearest auction or make a quick call to the local killbuyerb and he will be dispatched through the pipeline to a foreign owned slaughter house in one of our NAFTA partners. Any abandoned horse, one would have to presume, is abandoned NOT because there are no slaughter plants in the US.

To add to my confusion, there is nothing but anecdotal evidence that horses are being abandoned at a higher rate now than before the closure of the US slaughter plants, and that is because no better data exists: there is no data collected at the state or national level on horse abandonment or neglect. Even if a single years observation were available, which it is not, it would not
constitute a sample that any statistician would take seriously. And the few independent scientific studies that have been conducted over the years all illustrate the very same result: rates of horse abandonment, neglect and abuse are completely uncorrelated with the availability of local slaughter facilities.

In some of the debate concerning the proposed bills, the idea is even being perpetrated that somehow inviting foreign horse killers back on US soil is part of the solution to the severe recession currently devastating the US economy; the invitation is touted as beconomic development in, for example, Montana` A sort of bizarre economic stimulus package, for states suffering job losses.

For those unaware, Americans dont eat horsemeat. The foreign owned slaughter houses formerly on US soil paid next to no taxes here. All profits were repatriated to the foreign owners in Europe. And agricultural output and employment in America represent 1.2 percent and 0.6 percent of GDP and employment respectively, tiny fractions of aggregate economic activity, as in any industrialized
nation; indeed, that is the hallmark of a mature, post-industrial, service based economy such as the United States. You arenbt going to resurrect the US or your own state economy by killing 100,000 horses, an American icon, to satisfy the palette of some French or Japanese gourmand.

The agricultural and breeding interests that finance these new state
political efforts want equine slaughter reintroduced on US soil because a) they fear that social and cultural rejection of equine slaughter might actually somehow induce American citizens to stop eating animals that ARE consumed as food here, b) they want to continue to breed for income and US slaughterhouses provide a
more convenient venue for routine culling of the scores of less than perfect and commercially non-viable equine products of that breeding, and c) they represent the interests of a small percentage of US citizens who believe they have the right to dispose of their own animal however they choose, even if that involves a socially and culturally unacceptable act which is abhorred by over 70
percent of the US population according to any survey I have ever read.

My understanding is that optimal policy design requires that incentives be altered, if you are going to shift the allocation of economic resources away from the privately profitable but socially undesirable, and towards the socially and culturally desirable. In my opinion the only way that you will halt irresponsible and excess breeding of equines, and irresponsible ownership, is to
completely eliminate the slaughter option. While the horse slaughter industry EXISTS because foreigners want to eat horsemeat, it provides an easy reward for those who want to breed as many horses as they choose and dispose of the excess in the manner that they want to, and for owners who will not take responsibility for their horsebs care. Take away that reward with a federal ban on slaughter and export for slaughter, and slap a good tax on the product of any equine
breeder, and the politicians currently yelling that we need to kill a bunch of horses may find it much harder to spot one that is abandoned.

We are currently being inundated with arguments that the reintroduction of equine slaughter on US soil is "necessary"` The only thing it is necessary for is to fill the pockets of the big breeders and their agricultural associates, and perhaps the pockets of a bought politician or two. Apparently the senators and representatives of Montana who just passed a bill to introduce a new
horse slaughter plant there care more about fulfilling those needs, than the fact that 85 percent of their own state citizens strongly object to the proposal.

Suppose the devastated US economy is making it tough for horse owners and breeders to maintain for their animals in some states? Why is the solution to re-introduce a culturally and socially unacceptable practice with a horrendous USDA record of humane transportation violations? Why, instead, arent these states
considering the establishment of temporary state funded horse rescues, with jobs in them that provide tax revenue, until the economy recovers and the horses can find homes? Why arent they providing additional funding and jobs for Humane Societies and Animal Control agencies to cope with whatever is being claimed that they are having to deal with? Why not do something that BENEFITS HORSES as well as creating some jobs? And why not impose a state tax on horse
breeders to help fund it all?

Caroline M. Betts, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Economics
University of Southern California

Of course, "Friends of Equines" has been saying this for years!
Tax the bastas!
http:/www.freewebs.com/friendsofequines
"Because We Care Enough to Protest & Demand!"



__._,_.___

Landrieu Introduces Anti-Horse Slaughter Bill in the Senate

Time to urge all of our Senators to sign onto S.727, the Senate version of H.R. 503 -The Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act. Excellent video with Senator Mary Landrieu.


Subject: Senate Bill

Video of Senator Landrieu on the senate floor introducing the bill

Click on title above to see video;
http://www.awionline.org/news/2009/senate_introduces_horse_slaughter_ban.htm

Who Gets the Money?

Non-Profits Who Have Recieved Grants from Thoroughbred Charities of America;
$15 Million to Date
by category

Equine Rescue, Retraining, Adoption and Retirement

AAEP Foundation-"Equine Disaster Relief Fund" (KY)
Alaska Equine Rescue (AK)
Amaryllis Farm Equine Rescue (NY)
Angel Acres Horse Haven Rescue(PA)
Angel Horse Rescue (OK)
Another Chance 4 Horse (PA)
Appalachian Horse Help & Rescue (PA)
Blue Horse Charities (KY)
Bran Manor Equine Rescue (PA)
Bright Futures Farm Rescue (PA)
CANTER (MI, Mid-Atl, New England, OH)
Carolina Equine Society, Inc (NC)
Castleton Ranch Horse Rescue (CA)
CERF (CA)
Chez Chevaux (WA)
Cobleskill Agricultural & Technical College Foundation (NY)
Days End Farm Horse Rescue, Lisbon (MD)
Diamonds in the Rough (FL)
Double D Equine Rescue & Sanctuary (PA)
Equine Advocates (NY)
Equine Encore Foundation (AZ)
Equine Rescue & Rehabilitation, Parkton (MD)
Equine Rescue (NY)
Equirest, Inc. (OH)
Equus (CA)
Exceller Fund (TX)
Finger Lakes Thoroughbred Adoption Program (NY)
Forever Free Horse Rescue (CA)
Fraternal Order of Firefighters Large Animal Rescue Sem.(KY)
Friends of Ferdinand Indiana, Inc. (IN)
Give Me A Chance Equine Rescue (AR)
GEVA (CA)
Greener Pastures Equine Rescue Foundation, Oklahoma (OK)
Heaven Can Wait (CA)
High Hope Steeplechase Association (KY)
Horse Rescue, Relief & Retirement Fund (GA)
High Hopes, Inc (PA)
Hooved Animal Humane Society (IL)
H.O.R.S.E. of CT (CT)
H.O.R.S.E. Rescue & Sanctuary (NY)
H.O.O.F. (Horse One To One Outreach Foundation) (CA)
Horse Feathers Equine Rescue (OK)
HorseNet, Inc. (MD)
Horses Haven (MI)
Horses in the Hood (CA)
Horses N Heroes of S. Florida (FL)
Horse Rescue, Relief and Retirement Fund (GA)
Humana Reserve/California Equine Council CA)
Jana Domino T'Bred Foundation (NY)
Jolene's Horse Rescue (CA)
Kentucky Equine Humane Center (KY)
Last Chance Corral (OH)
Lexington Humane Society (KY)
Life Horse (MD)
Lonestar Outreach to Place Ex-Racers (TX)
Lone State Equine (TX)
Lost Acres Horse Rescue (FL)
Lost and Found Rescue Foundation(PA)
Louisiana Vet Medical Assoc.-Equine Committee (LA)
Luv Shack Ranch (AZ)
Michigan State University Vet School (MI)
Mid-Atlantic Horse Rescue (MD)
Midway College (KY)
Minnesota Hooved Animal Rescue Foundation (MN)
Misfit Acres, Inc (MN)
Mitchel Farm Equine Retirement (CT)
Molasses Reef Farm (WI)
Mylestone Equine Rescue (NJ)
New York Horse Rescue (NY)
New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program (OH)
Ohio State Foundation (OH)
Oklahoma Thoroughbred Retirement Program (OK)
Old Friends (KY)
Orphan Acres (ID)
Our Mims Retirement Haven(KY)
Paws For Life/Mid-Atlantic Horse Rescue (MD)
Peaceful Pastures Horse Rescue (OH)
Pegasus (CA)
Performance Equine Rescue Network (CA)
Pets Alive (NY)
Pheasant Hill Equine Foundation (MD)
Pure Thoughts (FL)
Rainhill Equine Facility (KY)
ReRun (KY, MD, NY, NJ)
Roanoke Valley Horse Rescue (VA)
Ryerss Farm For Aged Equine (PA)
Safe Haven Farm (PA)
Second Chance Ranch (WA)
Second Stride (KY)
South Delaware Horse Retirement (DE)
South Florida SPCA (FL)
South Jersey Thoroughbred Rescue (NJ)
S.P.C.A.(MD)
Summerwinds Stable (DE)
Sussex County Animal Assoc (DE)
The Equine Sanctuary of Ojai (CA)
The Horse Rescue of North Scottsdale, Inc. (AZ)
The Horse Shelter (NM)
The Ranger Foundation (MD)
Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation (FL, IA, IN, MD, MO, NJ, NY,OK, KY, SC, VA)
Tranquility Farm (Harry Biszantz Memorial Center for TB Retirement) (CA)
Tri-State Equine Adoption (DE)
Turtle Rock Rescue (NH)
United Pegasus Foundation (CA)
United States Equestrian Federation-Emer. Rescue(KY)
United States Equine Rescue League (VA)
Voice For Horses Rescue Network (OH)
Walkin N Circles (NM)
Wind Ridge (PA)
Whidbey Island Equine Rescue (WA)
Whimsical Equine Rescue (DE)
Wild Horse Ranch (AZ)
Willow Pond Farm (CA)
Wind Ridge Farm Equine Sanctuary (PA)
Woodford Humane Society (KY)
Work To Ride (PA)


http://www.thoroughbredcharities.org/groups.html

AAEP Vets Help "Unwanted" Horses Get Vaccines

Donated vaccines for equine rescues

From old broodmares to pasture pets, to broken-down campaigners to horses who simply fell through the cracks, America's unwanted horse problem is escalating. Overburdened are under funded, equine rescues need help.

Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health has partnered with the American Association of Equine Practitioners to launch the Unwanted Horse Veterinary Relief Campaign (UHVRC). UHVRC is a nonprofit program that will provide core equine vaccines to qualified equine rescue and retirement facilities across the United States. Through the UHVRC, Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health will donate their most popular equine vaccines to qualifying facilities.

The goal is to help the rescues provide the necessary healthcare so they can rehabilitate, revitalize and, ultimately, re-home America's unwanted horses. To learn more--and see how your equine rescue can receive vaccines through the program--visit www.UHVRC.org.

Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal is for the horse, especially the unwanted ones.

Click on title above to go to The Unwanted Horse Veteniarian Relief Campain website and to make out an application.
NOTE: These free services are offered to duly registered non-profit orgs only
http://www.uhvrc.org/

Stallion to Gelding Support

Click on title above to learn more about a wonderful program to provide FREE gelding services to those who need it.

Montana Citizens Say NO to Horse Slaughter

But will probably be ignored. Click on title above to read article

Soring Abuse / Tennessee Walkers

Click on title above to see video;

Abuse of Tennessee Walking Horses



IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 23, 2009) — The Humane Society of the United States presented a new video exposing the cruel practice of soring at the second annual Sound Horse Conference in Gainesville, Fla. over the weekend, and hopes attendees will use the video to bring further awareness to soring as it's used in the Tennessee Walking Horse industry.


Soring is the intentional infliction of pain to a horse’s feet, using caustic chemicals and metal chains, which produce an exaggerated, high stepping gait. Tennessee Walking Horses and other related breeds, prized for their distinctive gait and willing natures, have long been victims of this cruel practice.

Soring is so cruel that in 1970, Congress passed the Horse Protection Act and gave the U.S. Department of Agriculture authority to inspect horses at horse shows, sales and exhibitions for signs of soring, and prosecute individuals found in violation of the law. However, enforcement of state and federal anti-soring laws has been thwarted by political pressure from industry insiders, allowing the practice to persist on a widespread basis.


“This deliberate infliction of pain upon these defenseless creatures is blatant animal cruelty. It is brutality in the name of entertainment—opposed by horse advocates and many responsible leaders in the industry—and it must be brought to an end,” said Keith Dane, The HSUS’ director of equine protection. “This new video will inform the public, the media and members of Congress of this inhumane practice and put violators on notice that their criminal abuse of horses will be exposed.”

Dane urged conference attendees to focus their efforts on raising awareness against soring. Without public sentiment against soring, it will always find a home in the dark corners of this industry, Dane told the group.

Co-sponsored by The HSUS and organized by Friends of Sound Horses, speakers at the Sound Horse Conference included veterinarians and other scientific experts who discussed ways to help end soring, including the use of modern detection technologies such as thermography, digital radiography and pain detection devices.
USDA representatives also presented at the conference, and shared the agency’s plans to step up their enforcement of the Horse Protection Act this year.


World-renowned natural horsemanship leaders Pat Parelli and Robert Miller, DVM, delivered the keynote presentation, “Humane Trends Impacting the Horse Industry” to the audience of more than 100 people.

About The HSUS' anti-soring efforts:
In 2008, The HSUS founded the Alliance to End Soring with other animal welfare organizations and horse industry groups, including The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Animal Welfare Institute, FOSH and the Horse Protection Commission. To date, the Alliance has grown to include 24 member groups from around the United States.


The Alliance works with the USDA, Congress and Tennessee Walking Horse industry stakeholders to advocate for strengthened enforcement of the Horse Protection Act and raise public awareness of the pervasive use of soring in the industry.


http://www.tennessean.com/article/D4/20090323/N

E. Idaho lawmaker wants US horse slaughterhouses

Associated Press • Published March 23, 2009

BOISE, Idaho – A southeastern Idaho lawmaker wants horse slaughterhouses operating again in the United States to deal with the glut of unwanted horses resulting from the faltering economy that has led to cases of neglect and abandonment.


Related Stories & Links
http://www.idahostatesman.com (weblink)
Rep. Thomas Loertscher, R-Iona, has drafted a nonbinding request to Congress backing a return of slaughterhouses so there is a market for horses people can no longer afford to feed.

"It's not a pleasant subject," he told the Idaho Statesman. "There are people that are really feeling the economic pinch right now. They're just having a hard time knowing what to do with these horses."

There is no federal law banning the slaughter of horses for food, but opposition to the killing of horses for that purpose shut down that industry in the U.S.

The last domestic slaughterhouse closed in 2007, and American horses are now being sent to slaughter in Canada and Mexico. But most people can't afford to ship their horses outside the U.S. due to low market values for horses and high transportation costs.

Still, the number of American horses being slaughtered across North America remains the same despite the closure of domestic plants, said officials with the Humane Society of the United States.

In 2006, about 104,000 horses were slaughtered in the U.S.

"The horse is an American icon, and it is a betrayal of our responsibility to these animals to treat them like cheap commodities and send them across our borders for slaughter," said Wayne Pacelle, the president and chief executive of the Humane Society of the United States, in a statement by Americans Against Horse Slaughter.

But Sen. Les Bock, D-Boise, said a better way to deal with unwanted horses needs to be found rather than abandoning them or letting them starve.

"While I don't know anybody who would feel really great about putting down horses or slaughtering horses, it is not humane to starve them," Bock said. "We need the ability to remove those excess horses from the horse population. It's a big mistake to shut down these horse slaughterhouse plants."

Bock said his family recently had to euthanize a horse, with the remains sent to a rendering plant.

"That was a real traumatic experience," he said.

More than 100,000 excess horses are produced nationwide each year, said Jeff Rosenthal, executive director of the Idaho Humane Society.

"Too many horses are being bred for which there is no use and no homes," Rosenthal said. "People breed horses without a thought, without thinking of the actual market. Only the very, very best have any market whatsoever. All the rest of them are the ones that end up without a place to live."


http://www.theolympian.com/northwest/story/796222.htm

USDA Coordinator Pledges Soring Law Enforcement

by: Pat Raia
March 23 2009, Article # 13827

Exhibitors at this year's Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration and other gaited horse shows can expect USDA inspectors to vigorously enforce Horse Protection Act rules against soring, according to USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Horse Protection Coordinator Rachel Cezar, DVM. Soring is the deliberate injury to horses' legs and feet to achieve an exaggerated gait.

"Our emphasis will be enforcing the HPA and its regulations as written," Cezar said.

Cezar issued the warning during the second annual Sound Horse Conference, held in Gainesville, Fla., last weekend. The event hosted by Friends of Sound Horses gathered gaited horse enthusiasts, veterinarians, equine welfare advocates, and breed association representatives to brainstorm ways to eradicate soring in Tennessee Walking Horses and other gaited breeds.

Inspectors will use thermographic examinations and foreign substance testing to ensure that horses are HPA compliant, Cezar said. They will also examine horses' tack for foreign objects and check horses' feet for evidence of illegal shoeing practices.

National Walking Horse Association founding member Rose Miller said ending soring is crucial to Walking Horse industry credibility.

"I hope it completely disappears in my lifetime," she said.

Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders and Exhibitors Association Executive Director Stan Butt is sending his members a similar message.

"I can't tell anyone what discipline to show their horses in, but I can tell them to show sound horses," he said.


http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=13827

Riding on Horseback from Russia to China

From Russia to China, on horseback

By He Na

At first glance, he looked like a movie extra who had wandered away from the set of a period production.

Sitting astride a horse with his hair worn long, clad in a dark green cloak and a mud-stained pair of riding boots, the weather-beaten man was so out of place in a Beijing street that people were doing a double take - and looking for the cameras.

He is, in fact, a lonely adventurer keen on horse travel: The 47-year-old Chinese-Russian has trudged nearly 9,000 km in a year and a half from Eurasia to Beijing.

Fatigue still writ large on his face, Li Jing recalled his extraordinary journey. The modern-day Don Quixote set off from Votkinsk, the hometown of famous Russian composer Tchaikovsky, in August 2007. After passing 10 Russia cities and what seemed like endless countryside in 12 months, he arrived at the Sino-Russian border last August.

Entering the country at Manzhouli in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, he traversed through Daqing, Harbin, Changchun, Shenyang, Qinhuangdao, Tangshan, and finally reached Beijing on March 8.

"I've been in love with horses and nature from the time I was small; and always dreamed of riding horses and traveling long distances," said Li, who graduated in library science from Wuhan University, and later worked at Shenzhen University's library.

His hometown, Wuhan, was the country's horse racing center in the early 1900s; and racing made a limited comeback earlier this year for the first time in 60 years.

At his university job, Li voraciously read travel journals and the idea for his odyssey started to take seed.

His life totally changed after he met a Russian scholar - also a keen horse rider. Li was so inspired by him he moved to Russia in 1990, where he has since worked as a part-time interpreter and Chinese language tutor. He married a Russian nurse and the couple, who now live in Moscow, have a 9-year-old son.

His latest journey has its roots in an aborted attempt three years after he went to Russia. He and a Russian friend planned a global expedition but the latter did not turn up on the day they were to set out - and Li reluctantly had to give up his plan.

Life was not easy in Russia, but his dream never faded.

Despite his family's objections, he took out all his savings of about 40,000 yuan (S$8,900) and borrowed another 60,000 yuan (S$13,400) from friends to embark on his journey with two horses in the summer of 2007.

"I planned to arrive in Beijing in time for the Olympic Games last August but I was delayed by the vagaries of travel," Li said.

In December, he reached Siberia, where the lowest temperature was -40 C, and "I had to stay in a small village for three months".

During his trip, he changed nine horses, each of whose names he can clearly remember. The equine that carried him to Beijing is appropriately called "Traveling Companion".

On the way, horse lovers gave him four, and he bought the rest for about 5,000 yuan each.

He often stuck to country roads for it was easier to feed the horse, and slept in a tent for more than five months along the way.

"Not all places are suitable for camping, so I was sometimes riding in the wild after midnight. It was so quiet I could hear my own heart beating. During those times, I would sing songs loudly to drive away fear.

"But in good weather, it was really enjoyable to sleep outside. I thought the whole world belonged to me.

"Breathing the fresh air, looking at the stars and listening to the sound of the horse chewing grass, it was the most wonderful experience."

However, Li's journey was not all about good memories.

"When I was in Ufa, capital of Bashkortostan in Russia. I was interrogated by police six times because they thought I was a criminal on the run.

"And even in China, my homeland, things were not much better initially.

"Many people did not comprehend what I was doing; and some even called me a mad man.

"In almost every place I arrived, police were among the first batch of 'guests' to visit me."

Many people took him to be a beggar and shied away when approached for directions. Some shop owners refused to sell goods.

"I felt very lonely at that time ... But every time I wanted to give up, I found solace from fellow horse lovers."

Things began to look better when local media started writing about him, and the reports came to the attention of the China Equestrian Association, which has members and branches in many places.

"They took care of me and my horse during my stay, and we shared our stories. I spent my happiest days on my journey with them," Li said. A member of a Beijing horse club volunteered to host Li when he arrived in the capital.

"I admire Li Jing so much; in my opinion, only a man with great courage and determination could have made the trip," said Xie Peiliang, manager of the club.

Zhang Yongqiang, a horse lover from Shijiazhuang, Hebei province, came to the club to see Li when he heard that Beijing was his last stop.

"I plan to buy a horse in Inner Mongolia and do a similar trip to the western parts of China. I came to ask for some advice from Li," Zhang said.

And just as Li was about to head to Hubei province to visit his mother before returning to Russia, he received news that could see him saddle up again for an even longer trip.

"The China Equestrian Association told me that an elderly lady from England is planning to ride by horse from Beijing to London, the host city of the next Olympics.

"I will meet her next month and see whether it is possible for us to do it together."

-China Daily/Asia News Network






http://travel.asiaone.com/Travel/Globe+Trekkers/Wanderlust/Story/A1Story20090320-129927.html

Prices Soaring for "Unwanted" Horses

The stark reality of the slaughter trade: a horse injured in transit awaits slaughter

------------------------------

Prices soaring for unwanted horses

March 21, 2009

by John Holland

.

The auctions call them "loose" horses because they are run through the auction ring without riders and are sold mostly to "killer buyers".
Slaughter advocates including the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) call them "unwanted" horses because they clog up the market for new foals and new registration fees. But whatever you call them, they are suddenly in increasingly short supply.

The last three horse slaughter plants in the United States were closed in 2007, but the industry quickly shifted to exporting the horses for slaughter in Canada and Mexico. By the middle of 2008, there were more horse slaughter houses killing American horses than at any time in the past decade. Yet the closings galvanized the meat packing industry which saw them as a dangerous victory for "animal rights advocates" and their perceived "vegan agenda".

Within weeks of the first closings, countless anecdotal stories began appearing about how America is awash in unwanted horses. Lawmakers in almost a dozen agricultural states have put forward initiatives aimed at bringing slaughter back to the US, based largely on these accounts. But the actual sales statistics from the horse auctions tell a very different story.

For example the New Holland auction in Pennsylvania is one of the largest slaughter auctions in the country. In October of 2008, they sold a total of 815 slaughter grade horses at an average price of $US323, but despite rapidly worsening economic conditions, by February that number had dropped by 28% to 582 horses and the average price had risen by 31.6% to $US425. It is largely the same story at auctions across the country.

Leroy Baker, owner of the Sugar Creek Auction in Ohio, has been heard publicly assigning the shortage of sellers to bad publicity, including an HBO documentary about race horses going to slaughter through his auction.

Moreover, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently fined Baker an unprecedented $US162,800 for numerous violations of the Commercial Transport of Equines to Slaughter Act (CTESA). The act prohibits the transport to slaughter of late term pregnant mares, foals, blind horses and horses that cannot support their weight on all four legs; prohibits the use of double deck trailers; and specifies minimal rest and feeding intervals.

And Baker has not been the only source of bad publicity for the horse slaughter industry. In response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the USDA recently disclosed 900 pages of photos documenting some of the grisliest violations imaginable that occurred at the Texas slaughter plants prior to their being ordered closed in 2007.

The photos, which were taken in an attempt to enforce compliance with the CTESA, show horses with horrific injuries ranging from severed legs to crushed skulls. Still other photos show blind horses, newborn foals and even a mare standing on the unloading docks with her placenta still draping to the manure-covered floor.


A young foal awaits his fate.
Picture by the US Department of Agriculture, from www.kaufmanzoning.net

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
USDA photos show horses with horrific injuries ranging from severed legs to crushed skulls. Other photos show blind horses, newborn foals and even a mare standing on the unloading docks with her placenta still draping to the manure-covered floor.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


The exposure of these photos was a double embarrassment to the American Veterinary Medicine Association (AVMA). The evidence surfaced just as the AVMA was getting traction on a well financed PR campaign to convince lawmakers that the US plants should be reopened because they had been more humane.

Every indication is that the supply of unwanted horses will only get worse because production has been destroyed. The reason for this lies in the nature of the source of slaughter horses.

Contrary to popular perception, most horses sent to slaughter are not old, but young and healthy. They are largely the "culls" from an industry that over breeds in a quest for perfection. When times are good, the profits are made on the best foals and the culls (be they slow race horses or simply horses of the wrong colour) are dumped to slaughter.

But the market for top grade riding and performance horses has tanked, once again proving the old adage, "The best way to make a small fortune in horses is to start with a large one". So breeders have cut back. With less breeding there are fewer culls.

Some breeders liquidated in response to the low horse prices and high feed prices, while still others were forced out of the business when their properties were lost to foreclosure.

A Kentucky breeder, for example, gave away his entire prized Arab bloodline to keep the horses from going to slaughter.

And the "kill auctions" are losing yet another source of horses. Slammed by bad publicity, an increasing number of horse tracks have put in place "zero tolerance" programmes that ban owners and trainers caught selling their horses to slaughter.

In October, the Magna Entertainment Corporation announced that all nine of their tracks would have a zero tolerance policy and they were quickly joined by at least three other tracks.

Kill buyers have adapted to the shortage in a number of ways, including placing ads on sites such as Craig's List. In one memorable case, a kill buyer and his wife showed up at the seller's house saying they thought the horse would be a perfect starter horse for their young daughter. The horse was a thoroughbred (racing) stallion.

But there remains one possible reservoir of unwanted horses. Since the first plants were closed in Texas, there have been countless unsubstantiated stories about horses being abandoned. Some slaughter advocates have estimated that as many as 170,000 such horses were abandoned just last year. This valuable pool of unwanted horses could serve as a kind of "petroleum reserve" for the horse slaughter industry if only they could be found. And for that matter, there are always the unicorns.


»
John Holland is a freelance writer and the author of three books. He frequently writes on the subject of horse slaughter from his small farm in the mountains of Virginia, where he lives with his wife, Sheilah, and their 12 equines. Holland is a charter member of the Equine Welfare Alliance and serves as senior analyst for Americans Against Horse Slaughter, an organization composed entirely of volunteers.



http://www.horsetalk.co.nz/news/2009/03/118.shtml

Blackmarket Thriving in Horsemeat Business, FLa

Begin forwarded message:

From Race Horse To Main Course Horses are being poached and
slaughtered for their meat on the black market

By JEFF BURNSIDE and TODD WRIGHT

Updated 9:11 PM EDT, Tue, Mar 17, 2009

The story sounds like the summary of bad horror flick.

Dozens of horses disappearing in the dead of night only to be found
stripped of skin and meat on a roadside. Other horses are discovered
butchered in their stables by mortified owners.

But the culprit isn't some half-wolf, half-man abomination that preys on
thoroughbreds during the full moon.

They are poachers from Miami's black market who sell the horses' meat,
which is a popular delicacy among new arrivals from other countries to
the area. The horse meat can go for as much as $20 per pound and based
on the number of bloody horse remains and meat-stripped carcasses found
on the side of dirt roads and in stables across Miami-Dade, harvesting
horses for meat is a lucrative business.

The sale of horse meat for human consumption is illegal in the U.S., but
that hasn't stopped the meat from being in high demand by natives of the
Caribbean, Cuba and other European countries who crave horse cuisine.

Some U.S. cattle ranchers have worked around the law by exporting horses
to Mexico or Canada, where killing horses for dinner is legal.

Fostering some of the boom in slaughterhouses has been the horse-racing
industry and some owners of race horses. Some discard a horse after it's
out-lived its racing life or is injured. They are usually sold to the
first person who offers a few bucks for the animal, as was the case for
Freedom's Flight, a horse rescued during a raid at a Miami area
slaughterhouse.

"Freedom's Flight would have definitely ended up on someone's plate.
Absolutely. And we've seen it too many times," said Richard Cuoto, who
volunteers for the South Florida Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
to Animals.

Freedom's Flight's blood line includes Secretariat and Seattle Slew, two
of the greatest thoroughbreds of all-time. But his wealthy owner, Herman
Heinlein, gave the horse to a handler after it broke a leg in a race at
Gulfstream Park. The handler, Marian Brill, sold Freedom's Flight for
$500, but refuses to say to whom. Police believe Freedom's Flight
eventually ended up at a pony ride show before he wound up at the
slaughterhouse.

"I've already told you, I can't and I won't," she said in an interview
with NBC6.

Freedom's Flight's saga and salvation is the exception to the rule,
animal rights advocates said. Other race horses have had a less than
ceremonial retirement.

The real horror may be that no arrests have been made in the deaths.
Authorities claim it would be hard to charge someone with a crime
because it's difficult to tell if a horse found butchered on the side of
the road was killed by a poacher or an owner.

Click on title above to see full article;
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/weird/From-Race-Horse-To-Main-Course.html?corder=&pg=1#comments

More On Angels Investigation of Texas Feedlot

By BETSY BLANEY Associated Press Writer
Animal health advocates want improvements made at a West Texas horse feedlot where they say live horses are feeding in pens as carcasses decompose in the open and that some horses eat hay from atop compost piles.

State environmental investigators have not been able to verify the allegations in four trips to the Frontier Meat Co. just outside Morton in the past year. All of the trips have been without warnings or notification, said Terry Clawson, a spokesman for the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality.

The operation, which feeds horses and buffalo, is owned by Fort Worth-based Beltex Corp. The company has been cited for failure to have permit to operate and failure to have solid waste storage permit, which pertains to the carcasses not being composted correctly, documents show.

Calls seeking comment from Beltex and Frontier Meat were not immediately returned Monday.

Commission documents show that the feedlot manager told investigators last fall that about two horses a day die.

Feedlot employees should be "doing whatever they can to keep these animals alive," said Julie Caramante, an animal cruelty investigator who volunteers with Animals' Angels, a Maryland-based nonprofit group. "What is happening to those animals out at the lot is not right on many levels."

It was not clear Monday why the animals are dying.

The most recent complaint was filed Wednesday.

The repeated allegations and photos included in some of the complaints at the Morton location are enough to prompt follow-up investigations, said Keith Dane, director of equine protection at the Humane Society of the United States.

"We find all of those certainly despicable and most likely in violation of at least one state law," he said. "We urge the authorities to investigate and take appropriate action."

He did not cite a specific law.

According to commission documents, the first complaint, filed in April, alleged feedlot operators were "burying large numbers of animals in open burial pits for several years."

At that time there were about 900 horses and 900 buffalo begin fattened at the feedlot, commission documents show. The feedlot sends the horses to slaughterhouses outside the U.S.

Investigators issued a violation notice because the feedlot didn't have a permit to operate but said the complaint's concerns about the burial of animals "could not be verified."

A second complaint was filed in July and again could not be confirmed. Investigators learned from the feedlot manager that "carcasses are collected and composted each morning," commission documents show. The manager described the process as "a layer of manure, the carcasses and then additional layers of manure in series."

Investigators said in their report that the composting procedures "appear to be in compliance" with state law governing composting.

In an investigation following a complaint by Animals' Angels in August, a "visual observation" of the composting area "did not meet the definition" of composting but was rather determined to be "industrial solid waste storage."

"This company does appear to have some sort of problems with disposal of carcasses," said Laura Allen, executive eirector of the Animal Law Coalition

The feedlot did not have a permit to store solid waste and was issued its second notice of violation in less than a year, documents showed.

In a September followup to the August complaint the feedlot was getting assistance to set up proper composting procedures, documents show.

Lubbock resident and horse lover Ramona Foxworth said the feedlot has been in Morton for years and that she and a rescue group she runs, Gypsyheart Horse Rescue, took 35 pregnant mares and some foals from the operation about two years ago.

Many of the horses were sick and some of the mares had rain rot, a fungus. "Horrible" is how she described conditions at the feedlot, saying the horses are "packed in like sardines" and they urinate and defecate all over one another.

"We've been trying to get something done for a long time," she said. "We've been trying to spread the story. Once you've seen (the feedlot) it will touch your heart in ways nothing else can."

In 2007, when state-imposed bans closed the last three U.S. horse slaughterhouses, a record 78,000 horses were exported to Canada and Mexico for slaughter, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics compiled by the Humane Society of the United States.

Morton is about 55 miles northwest of Lubbock.


http://license.icopyright.net/user/viewContent.act?clipid=230726276&mode=cnc&tag=3.5721%3Ficx_id%3D20090316-stolfiler-tx0625

Montana Legislature Debates Horse Slaughter

This is the recording of the Montana Senate Agriculture Committee as they debate HB 418, the bill that would allow a horse-slaughter plant in that state. It is so disgusting. The Rep. who introduced the bill thinks that some horse don't deserve the vet!!!!

Click on title above to hear radio-cast;Grab a chair as this is 2 hrs and 23 minutes long.
http://www.manesandtailsorganization.org/state-slaughter/montana-senate-3-12-09.mp3

Please cross post far and wide.

"Slaughterhouse Sue" Wallis is Surley Wacked.....

Here is a letter from Slaughterhouse Sue (Wallis) the National Conference of State Legislatures Ag & Enery Committtee-member whos idea it was to petition Congress NOT to interfere with their individual right to slaughter their horses. Read below some of the incredible things she is accusing the anti-slaughter camp of! She is a beef farmer who claims to speak on behalf of all horse owners when she says;

Representative Sue Wallis

PO Box 71, Recluse, Wyoming 82725




Letter to the United States Congress, and to the State Legislatures



I am writing to ask you to avoid legislation that would further impact the private property rights of livestock owners, including horses, to market their animals, or to transport them for any purpose, including for their processing to be used for food. I am also asking you to work proactively on behalf of the equine industry to not only oppose these efforts, but to encourage positive industry efforts within the United States. This is a touchy and emotional problem for a lot of people, and passions ride very high. Below are my own words which I hope will help you understand our position, and in fact, the great majority of people who actually own and work with horses every day.


I suspect that you have, and will receive a wealth of information from animal rights organizations with varying agendas that will try and the prohibit the use of horses as food animals, and the transportation for the purpose of processing horses by inflaming passions, manipulating images, and fabricating atrocities in order to achieve their purposes. Some are well-meaning folks who love their horses, and consider them to be companion animals—others are radical vegans who are trying to eliminate all animal agriculture. What I hope to do is provide you with some common sense information based on facts that reflects the true nature of the problem, and especially how devastating economically, and socially, this has been to the admittedly small population of the country, like myself and my family and neighbors, who still make our living primarily from animal agriculture.


First, at the heart of it, horses are livestock—just like cattle, pigs, and chickens. (My note: This is a matter of opinion and the catagorization of any animal should be left up to the individual owners, not for the govt to decide) Since the dawn of time, horses have been an animal of many uses for humans, including food.(My note, a hard-ship food, do not forget) A few of us still make our living with them, use them to run our cattle operations, and have for generations. Ours is a small family ranch, we are a diversified operation, and our primary product is grassfat organically raised beef. My family has been in the livestock business for six generations, and currently my brother raises and trains registered Belgian and Haflinger horses. In the past we have run a stud bunch in our summer country with a registered Quarter Horse stallion and anywhere from 10 to 20 mares. By far the vast majority of those colts became useful, valuable saddle and performance horses, or breeding stock—a few of them did not—some were dangerous outlaws, some were born with defects, some were injured in ways that made them unsound for use. We never imagined that we would be denied the ability to market these animals for their salvage value. This is exactly like telling a dairy farmer that he can’t sell a cow for beef when she doesn’t breed, or is past the age of optimum production. (My note: One big major difference Sue forgets to mention, in the good ole USA, the horse is not a food animal. Even the USDA does not recognize equines as such...not yet anyways, and that is what we are fighting for, to keep equines off of the USDAs offical list of acceptable food chain animals.)


Like most people who live and work with horses every day, I am absolutely compassionate. (my note: obviously, not enough, for you care more about profitabilty than the suffering of animals) Those of us who have the ability to do so will generally allow those horses who have been with the family for a long time, to live out their old age in comfort, we call them “pensioners,” and then put them down as painlessly and stress free as possible when they begin to suffer. Many horse owners don’t have the luxury that we do. You can’t bury a 1200 lb horse in your back yard like you would a dog or a cat…and in many places, it is illegal to do so even if you do have the country and the equipment to bury them. (My note: So, lets work togther to fix that problem, there are workable solutions, you know!)


The loss of secondary markets with the closure of the last horse processing facilities in the US, which was brought about by extremely well financed animal rights campaigns in Texas and Illinois, has decimated our industry nation-wide. A horse that brought $5,000 a few years ago will not bring $2,000 today—(My note: and you are blaming the closing of the US plants on this? How absurd!) and that only if they are gentle, and trained. Those kind of horses generally go to people who have the resources to care for them, and to put them out of their misery when they are suffering. Unfortunately, there are many, many horses who will never be anybody’s pet. Most of the sale barns won’t even accept a horse these days unless they can sell them to somebody who will use them. If they are old, in poor condition, unrideable, or dangerous—and there are plenty of those, there are no alternatives. The auction barns are reporting that they can’t get any bids at all on brood mares, weanlings, and yearlings. Anyone with a horse trailer in the parking lot is likely to find strange horses tied to it and abandoned when they get ready to go home. The sale yards are having a serious problem with people just leaving horses in their pens.


We hear stories every day where horses are just dumped in somebody’s pasture—then it is your problem—you can’t take them to the sale, costs upwards of $300-$400 to put them down and dispose of them, the Humane Society of the United States won’t take them, the shelters are all full and out of money. Out here in the West, it is easy to just take them out to the desert and turn them loose, where people think that they will join the wild horses. In the first place, wild horses are vicious and brutal and have been known to seriously injure and kill strange horses. If they are lucky enough to be accepted by the wild bands, then we have even more of problem than we had before. Our brand inspectors report horses being taken out in the brush and shot, and having their brands skinned off of them so ownership can’t be traced. They found horses tied to a tree and left to starve. We recently received a report from the Wyoming Livestock Board that indicates that the number of abandoned horses that the State of Wyoming has had to deal with has doubled every year for the last two years, (My note: Can we see that report?) and where they used to be able to recoup their costs at the sale barn, now all the cost of feed and water while trying to determine ownership, and then euthanasia and disposal when they can’t, is just an extra burden on the taxpayer.


I know you may feel otherwise, and that is certainly your right, but I think it makes a lot of sense to use these excess horses for whatever good can be obtained (My note: You exploit them. Call it what it is Sue) The majority of cultures in the world eat horse meat, (My note: and that has what to do with US?) and appreciate it for its healthy nutritional quality, taste, and affordability. It was widely eaten here in the US during World War II. (My note: again, hardship) There was a lack of beef at that time…mostly because of misguided federal actions as a result of the Depression. One little known fact is that when the cattle markets failed in the 1930s, (My note: and who did you blame then for the colapse of your industry?) the government decided that it was because there were too many cattle—not because the economy was ruined and nobody had any money to buy food. So, they forced ranchers to sell their cattle to the government for $1 per head, and then they dug huge pits, drove the cattle in there, killed them and covered them with lye so nobody could use the meat. What a waste. One of the things that many wondered then, and those of us who know about it still wonder…is why they didn’t provide that meat to all of those people who were starving all over the country? Would have made a lot more sense. The end result was, when the War occurred, there wasn’t enough beef in the country to feed the troops.


My brother and his family lived in Sicily for two years, and horse meat was on most of the menus there. My son, a graduate student, just visited Finland this summer for a conference, and reported that the horse meat they served him there was much better than either the reindeer steak with lingon berries, or the plate full of little fish deep fried whole. (My note: So move to anyone of those countries if you must, to have your horsemeat, we would be GLAD to see you AND your brother go!) A recent news report from Iceland indicates that the frugal Icelanders, in the face of an economic downturn, are avoiding imported beers, and have doubled their purchases of horse meat, which is half of the price of beef. The fairly extensive Tongan population that lives in Salt Lake City prize horse meat, but finds it difficult to obtain. Tribes like the Apache seldom rode horses (My note: Excuse me?) and ate most that they caught (My note: hardship meat, again). The point is, attitudes about eating horse meat vary widely, and in my opinion, it is incredibly culturally arrogant of a small crowd (My note: Smal crowd? We are talking about the majorty of American people here, who are against horse slaughter!) of well-financed animal rights fanatics, with I suspect an ambition to make all of us vegans, to try and make everyone conform to their ideas. They are very good at sensationalism, the more drama they can create around exaggerated and manipulated stories, and outright fabrications, (My note: Who, what, where, when?) the more effective they are. What we are trying to do is combat that with old-fashioned common sense. I do hope we have a chance at fighting our way through the blizzard of half truths and outright incendiary rhetoric.


If you or any of your colleagues would like more information, please ask them to contact me, and I will be happy to supply them with accurate information including, among other things, a graduate student dissertation that examines the BLM horse problem in what I believe to be an objective and sensible light. Rather than keep more than 30,000 horses in corrals and feed them hay at taxpayer expense, wouldn’t it make more sense to have them processed and feed hungry people? (My note: The poor cant afford horsemeat. It is a LUXURY item.) Most of the horses running on public lands are not Spanish mustangs, they are remnants of farm and ranch horses turned out for good in the 1940s when they were no longer needed for haying teams. In the northeastern Nevada valley where my husband was raised, for instance, all the ranches are tucked up along the base of the mountains where the water is. When haying was over everybody turned their horses out on the flat, and they ran in the hills on the other side all winter, and watered at springs there. In the Spring, the whole valley would get together and gather the horses, they would brand the colts, geld the yearling stud colts, and start training the three-year old geldings by hooking them to a mowing machine with an old experienced horse. They would turn the mares and colts back out with the stud—which they changed every few years so that they didn’t have a sire breeding his daughters. Well, with the advent of tractors and modern machinery, they didn’t need those horses any more, and so nobody bothered to gather them. Now, here we are with way too many of what are really nothing more than inbred feral horses destroying the range on the public lands. (My note: and what about the privately owned cows gazing our public lands that outnumber the horses 200 to one? I wonder how many grazing permits ole' Slaughterhouse Sue holds for her grass-fed cows?)


Proponents of a ban on processing horses for food will claim that there is no market for horse meat in the United States, and that we should not be providing meat to foreign markets. A more accurate statement would be that most Americans do not eat horse meat. Since the vast majority of world cultures prize horse meat for its high nutritional quality and taste, and the United States is full of immigrants from those countries, there is, in fact a pretty good population who would purchase the meat if it was available. Since the closure of the last plant, we have, in fact, imported into the United States an increasing amount of horse meat from zero in 2003 and 2004, to over 500 metric tons in 2007. Most of that is going to zoo animals, because horse meat is the best commercially available meat for the diets of big cats. Some is going to ethnic markets. There is also a thriving global, export market for horse meat. This market will not disappear if US citizens are prohibited, it will merely shift to other sources, (My note: let it) and the end result being that the livestock owners of the United States are denied their right to a viable market. (My note: No un-necessary evils. The horse is not a food chain animal in the USA. Cant you leave it at that? Must we eat everything that moves? What will be next, our "unwanted" cats and dogs for sale to China, Japan, Korea and the like, where there is a BIG demand? Where do we draw the line?)


I sure don’t begrudge the people who are trying to raise money and rescue horses. Nor, do I object to those who are trying to work out alternatives, especially for horses that are people’s pets and who want to do the right thing by them. More power to them. But, it has become perfectly clear that there are far more horses than those outfits can possibly ever deal with, (My note: that is because the biggest breeders dont want to contribute one thin dime to help create alternatives to slaughter, nor do they want to get their breeding under control) and without a market, the problem will become much, much worse. The fact is that those people who do not want to sell their horses for slaughter, when faced with a dismal economy, and one in which they may be facing foreclosure on their home, because the recovery facilities are already full and overwhelmed, have very, very few alternatives.


It is interesting to note that in one sector of the equine industry, thoroughbred race horses, there is a very visible and public chasm between a few very wealthy, and very high profile owners on one side, and practically everyone who actually deals with the horses themselves—the breeders, trainers, and jockeys—who are universally in support of humane processing for unusable horses.


An organization calling themselves Animal’s Angels has been widely broadcasting video footage allegedly obtained from a covert operation at a horse processing plant in Mexico in 2006. Why is this footage just now being released? (My note: Because it took the USDA THREE YEARS to answer their FOIL request, duh. Do your homework Sue) And what, if any, extreme violations are being exposed? (My note: Jezis K Riste Sue, have even bothered to look at any of the 900 or so pics?) If you feel that the killing of animals for food is horrific, than of course, it is horrific—as someone who has butchered my own meat, I can tell you that the process is never pretty, and is always messy, (My note: forgot to mention, "NEVER Humane!") but can and should be done with care and respect for the animals. Again, horses have been and continue to be an excellent source of high quality food for the vast majority of humans on the globe. By legislating away any viable market for horses in the US, you are not going to prevent horses from being eaten, you are just going to create a horrendous continuing problem in the US, and destroy the livelihoods of horse people nationwide. (My note: If your livlihoods are destroyed, DO NOT blame the closing of the US slaughter plants. As you said yourself, American horses are being slaughtered in greater numbers than before, only by export to Canada & Mexico, so you still have your slaughter option. Get real. Educate yourself and you will see, your industry (beef & horses) is not the only industry failing in the US today. Open your eyes. Read the news. Watch some C-SPAN. Its happening to all industries and business. The bottom is falling out of our financial markets, so Blame the stinkin sinkin economy, not "Animal rights activists" for the state of the Nation today. .
Your anger is mis-directed. Get real. Get a life. Find a new line of business that works for you,...that is the beauty of us : American Resilancy! Perhaps there is a MickyD's or a Bugar-King hiring in your neighborhhod, hey, you would still be in your beloved meat business. You would make a good pattie-flipper, me thinks.

This same organization has acquired through a federal release of information effort a number of photographs, and have posted them along with a few reports of court actions concerning injuries and improperly transported horses at the Beltex plant. While they are trying to use the images of injured animals to claim that the processing itself is cruel and inhumane, as a person who has worked around large animals for my entire life, and after going through all of the documents which they have posted on websites, I have come to several conclusions: 1) the photographs have all been detached from the inspector’s reports which I presume is an effort to insinuate that injuries documented were the result of intentional abuse; 2) some of the horses were obviously injured in transit, this is regrettable, but the fact is that horses, just like humans and any other living animal can and do get injured—sometimes horrifically—anyone who has ever worked in an emergency room, or on a rescue to automobile accidents will testify that the long bones in legs are actually quite fragile. What little documentation was left with the photographs indicated that the inspectors were doing their job. They documented the incident and insured that the horse was put out of its misery as quickly as possible; 3) horses come with varying degrees of temperament, and varying degrees of human interaction, both positive and negative—I suspect that most of the injuries around horses heads were self inflicted by horses throwing a fit inside of a closed spaces like a horse trailer; 4) some of the horses had old injuries, which I presume meant that the owners were trying to salvage some bit of value out of the livestock—in cases where they were not able to put weight on all four feet, which is against the law, it was clear that the inspectors had not only documented the violation, but there was evidence that action had been taken against the shippers; 5) in a few cases, a shipment arrived at the plant with an animal down, and for no obvious reason—if it was still alive, the inspectors ordered them euthanized immediately…all in all, what I saw was evidence that the inspectors were doing their job.


Right now we can still ship horses to Canada and Mexico. If we lose these markets, too, then there is no hope. There have been horrific reports from Mexico, and some of that may be true, although many of us suspect that this, too, is being exaggerated and manipulated in order to forward an anti-slaughter agenda. So far as I know, there have been no complaints from Canada. I know people who were very, very distressed when the plant in Dekalb was shut down, because when they had a horse, or horses, that were going to be sold they preferred to haul them to Illinois in their own trailer and deliver them directly to the plant—that way they knew exactly how they were transported and handled—and they were very impressed by the facilities and the professionalism of the processors. Those of us in the livestock business have no illusions about the facts of life, or death, and we know the importance of ensuring that the slaughter process is as quick, painless, and stress free as possible. I personally would much prefer to ship horses to a processing plant here in the States where I know it is regulated and done right.


Were processing facilities to be opened in the United States, as I hope and pray that they do, I would hope that they would be built with the kind of facilities like those that have been developed with the assistance of Dr. Temple Grandin. Dr. Grandin is a designer of livestock handling facilities and a Professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University. Dr. Grandin’s designs have been widely incorporated into the beef and pork processing industries and have greatly improved the humane handling and welfare of livestock. There is no reason why the same principles could not be used for the processing of horses. (My note: Again I repeat, slaughter is NEVER humane and can NEVER BE made humane)


Ending the ability of horse owners to sell their unusable horses anywhere, or to transport them to places where they could be sold, is a huge and horrible mistake which in the end will only make a bad problem much, much worse. I do hope that I have caused you to consider the plight of so many of us who make our livings with horses from a different perspective, and I hope that you will contact me if you have any questions or concerns. This is of huge concern to rural America, to animal agriculture, to all facets of the equine industry, and to horse owners everywhere.


Most of all, we would greatly appreciate your restraint in promoting legislation that would further intensify the demise of the equine industry in the United States.


Sincerely,


Sue Wallis

Wyoming House of Representatives

Campbell County - District 52

Angels Investigate Texas Feedlot, Find More Horrors, Equine Abuses

The Morton Horse Slaughter Feedlot Composting Area


Click on title above to see vid;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBmhKvK4lR0

Animals' Angels investigators investigate the horse slaughter feedlot in Morton, Texas on March 1, 2009. The investigation revealed live horses housed in the same area of the property where the company is composting dead animals. Several dead horse carcasses could visually be seen, as well as live horses standing, eating and laying down in composting piles.

http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=mBmhKvK4lR0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBmhKvK4lR0

Equine Vet Speaks Out Against Horse Slaughter

By Lisa Carter, DVM

I am a horse person, a true horse person. I get up every morning at the
break of dawn, put on my coveralls, boots, hat, gloves, and winter parka
to trudge across the snowy yard to take care of my horses. I feed them,
water them, turn them out, clean their stalls, and give them the love
that they deserve.

Dr. Lisa Carter and her beloved companion, Black Diamond.True horse
people are responsible horse owners—but not all horse owners are
horse people. Some people treat their horses like a commodity. They ride
and feed their horses, pay for veterinary and farrier care, and brag
about them.

The big difference between true horse people and horse owners is the
long-term responsibility they take for their horses. True horse people
care about their horses, even when they no longer own them or they are
no longer "useful."

Taking Responsibility

I currently have a 27-year-old Arabian gelding that I showed
competitively on the Class A Arabian show circuit. We won many ribbons
and reserve championships. Over time, he became old and arthritic,
insulin intolerant, and I was no longer able to ride him.

The easiest manner of getting rid of this responsibility would be to
ship him off to an auction house where he would be sold for slaughter. I
would make about $200 off the deal and be rid of this high-maintenance
horse.

But I am a true horse person. I take the responsibility of horse
ownership seriously and know that it is a lifelong commitment. I know
that when my geriatric horse's quality of life is gone, I will humanely
euthanize him by chemical injection. It is the least that I can do for
this wonderful animal.

Easy Way Out

Some horse owners take the easy route to rid themselves of "useless"
horses. They send their horse to an auction. He or she is left in a pen
for 12-24 hours without food or water, packed up into another trailer
(sometimes a double-decker cattle trailer), and hauled hundreds of
miles—still without food or water—often incurring injuries
during the ride due to the overcrowding.

An American horse enters the kill box at a Mexican slaughter
plant.©The HSUSThese horses arrive at a slaughterhouse, which is
designed for cattle, in deplorable conditions and are forced into the
plant to endure a terrible and painful death.

If they are lucky, they will only be struck in the head once with a
captive bolt before their subsequent death. Most are not so lucky. Some
very unfortunate horses end up in Mexico, where they are stabbed
repeatedly in the neck in an effort to sever the spinal cord. These
horses are paralyzed while being butchered, but still fully conscious.

Options are Available

I realize that not everyone has the financial ability to keep a horse
that is no longer useful or is in poor health, but shipping a horse off
to a slaughterhouse for a quick buck is simply wrong.

There are many options for people that are financially unable to care
for their horses—they can relinquish their horse to a rescue
organization , sell their horse to a
carefully vetted private owner, donate their horse to a riding center,
or have a veterinarian humanely euthanize their horse.

What You Can Do

As well as being a true horse person, I am also an equine veterinarian.
I cancelled my membership to the American Association of Equine
Practitioners (AAEP) because I do not agree with their pro-slaughter
stance. Their position on slaughter mirrors that of big money making
organizations like the American Quarter Horse Association, whose members
often use slaughter as a quick and easy way of disposing of "useless"
horses while making a quick buck.

Currently there is a bill going through Congress, H.R. 503, known as the
Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act
new_bill.html> , which would make it illegal to slaughter American
horses for human consumption overseas, as well as ban the export of
horses for slaughter.

I beg all of you, especially true horse people, to contact your
Congressman
and
urge them to pass this bill. Horses deserve to be treated in a humane
manner—H.R. 503 will make this inhumane manner of horse disposal a
thing of the past.

Dr. Lisa Carter is a veterinarian and avid horse enthusiast and owner.

See: http://www.hsvma.org/advocacy/news/equine_vet_speaks_out.html

Idaho the 13th State to Join Horse-Slaughter Fray

Idaho has joined the list of states pondering legislation aimed at maintaining control of equine transport and re-establishing the horse processing industry in the United States.

Introduced into Idaho's House State Affairs Committee this week by State Rep. Thomas F. Loertscher, HJM 005 instructs Idaho's congressional delegation to vote against the Conyers-Burton Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act (HR 503). The federal measure would impose a nationwide ban on the transport of horses for slaughter.

Resolutions similar to Idaho's have passed in:

Kansas (HCR 5004)
South Dakota (SCR 2)
Utah (HJR 7)
Wyoming (HJR 8)
Similar resolutions are pending in:

Arizona (SCM 1001)
Minnesota (SF 133)
North Dakota (HB 1496)
Arkansas (HCR 1004)
Missouri (House, HCR 19; Senate, SCR 8)

Meanwhile, legislators in the following states are considering bills that would amend current state laws to promote the development of horse slaughter plants by private investors:

Illinois (HB 0583)
Montana (HB 418)
Tennessee (HB 1361)
Read more about these bills.

The bills are the first to establish horse processing facilities in the United States since 2007, when lawmakers in Texas and in Illinois shuttered slaughter plants in those states. Horses are currently shipped to facilities in Mexico and Canada for processing for markets in Europe and Asia.


Keep an eye on TheHorse.com for updates as this situation develops.



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Click here to contact your Senator. Click here to contact your Representative.


http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=13765

A Survey for All Horse Councils

A National Survey of Horse Councils & Other Equine Organizations





Keeping Our Eye on the Horse


Greetings Fellow Equine Lovers!

We are conducting a National Survey for use in helping us to determine the “National Conscience” of horsemen and woman in the United States in regards to the issue of horse-slaughter. As you may know, currently there are two (2) bills in Congress that would prohibit the slaughter of American Horses for human consumption abroad. The bills, HR 305 & 503, would also prohibit their exportation to other countries for slaughter and human consumption. These two bills are the subject of much debate, not only in Congress but in every state in the nation as well. We are hoping to put some clarity into the issue by helping to identify and define more clearly the “mind-set” of the two positions , both for and against. We are attempting to answer the questions, “Who is for” and “Who is against” and why. We are also seeking to determine, what, if any, alternatives to slaughter there may be. We are hoping that your organization will assist us in our efforts by completing this short and simple survey. Once completed, you can email it back to us by hitting the reply to this email, or email us at Qarr@nycap.rr.com

Thank you!


1. Name of Organization:________________________________________________

2. City / State: _________________________________________________________

3. Number of Members: ___________

4. Stated Purpose, Mission & Goals: _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. Your Organizations “Official” Position on Horse-Slaughter;

For ( ) Against ( )


Explain: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6. Was the official position as indicated above arrived at by a vote of all its members?

Yes ( ) No ( )

7. If not determined by vote of its members, how then was the determination arrived at?

Explain:_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

8. If your organization is FOR horse slaughter, would your organization reconsider its position if there were real alternatives and workable solutions to the “unwanted” horse problem, such as more rescue, rehab and retirement facilities? Yes ( ) No ( )

9. If alternatives to slaughter existed, such as listed above, would your organization be willing to contribute a small part of its annual proceeds to such alternative programs? YES ( ) NO ( )

10. Of all your organizations members, how many are:

Breeders:__________________ Casual owner / riders that dont breed_______________

Click on title above to see (and sign) petition;

American and State Horse Councils Pro-Slaughter;http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/state-horse-counsils-lobby-for-horse-slaughter

The New Indian Wars

We have sent a copy of this petition to all of the fax numbers listed in the Federal Directory of Native American Tribes below;

National Congress of American Indians PRAY to U.S. Congress for Horse-Slaughter Plants;
Click on title above to see (and sign) petition)http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/south-dakota-sioux-to-slaughter-horses

and we are NOT done yet;

Southwest Tribes


ARIZONA TRIBES
Bird Springs Reservation
Western Navajo Agency
AZ

Blue Gap Reservation
Chinle Agency
AZ

Broadway Reservation
Western Navajo Agency
AZ

Cameron Reservation
Western Navajo Agency
Cameron, AZ 86020

Camp Verde Reservation
Truxton Canon Agency
Theodore Smith Sr., President
P.O. Box 1188
Camp Verde, AZ 86322
Tel# (602) 567-3649, Fax# 567-3994

Chinle Reservation
Chinle Agency
AZ

Coalmine Reservation
Western Navajo Agency
AZ

Cocopah Reservation
Cocopah Tribal Council
Peter Soto, Chairperson
P.O. Bin G
Somerton, AZ 85350
Tel# (602) 627-2102, Fax# 627-3173

Colorado Indian Tribes Tribal Council
CRIT Tribal Council
Daniel Eddy Jr., Chairperson
Route 1, Box 23-B
Parker, AZ 85344
Tel# (602) 669-9211, Fax# 669-5675

Colorado River Reservation
Colorado River Agency
Daniel Eddy Jr., Chairperson
Route 1, Box 23-B
Parker, AZ 85344
Tel# (602) 669-9211, Fax# 669-5675

Copper Mine Reservation
Western Navajo Agency
AZ

Cornfields Reservation
Fort Defiance Agency
AZ

Coyote Canyon Reservation
Fort Defiance Agency
AZ

Dennehosto Reservation
Western Navajo Agency
Dennehosto, AZ 86535

Dilkon Community
Western Navajo Agency
Winslow, AZ 86047

Forest Lake Reservation
Chinle Agency
Heber, AZ 85928

Fort Apache Reservation
White Mountain Apache Tribal Council
Ronnie Lupe, Chairperson
P.O. Box 700
Whiteriver, AZ 85941
Tel# (602) 338-4346, Fax# 338-4778

Fort Mojave Reservation
Colorado River Agency
Fort Mojave, AZ 86427

Fort Yuma Reservation
Quechan Tribal Council
Fritz Brown, President
P.O. Box 11352
Yuma, AZ 85364
Tel# (619) 572-0213, Fax# 572-2102

Ganado Reservation
Fort Defiance Agency
P.O. Box 188
Ganado, AZ 86505

Gila Bend Reservation
Papago Agency
Gila Bend, AZ 85337

Gila River Reservation
Gila River Indian Community Council
Mary V. Thomas, Governor
P.O. Box 97
Sacaton, AZ 85247
Tel# (602) 562-3311, Fax# 562-3422

Greasewood Reservation
Fort Defiance Agency
Greasewood, AZ 86505

Havasupai Reservation
Truxton Canon Agency
Rex Tilousi, Chairperson
P.O. Box 10
Supai, AZ 86435
Tel# (602) 448-2961, Fax# 448-2551

Hopi Reservation
Hopi Tribal Council
Ferrell Secakuku, Chairperson
P.O. Box 123
Kykotsmovi, AZ 86039
Tel# (602) 734-2441, Fax# 734-6665

Houck Reservation
Fort Defiance Agency
Houck, AZ 86506

Hualapai Reservation
Truxton Canon Agency
Delbert Havatone, Chairperson
P.O. Box 179
Peach Springs, AZ 86434
Tel# (602) 769-2216, Fax# 769-2343

Inscription House Reservation
Western Navajo Agency
AZ

Jeddito Reservation
Fort Defiance Agency
AZ

Kaibab Reservation
Kaibab Paiute Tribal Council
Gloria Bulletts-Benson, Chairperson
HC65 Box 2
Fredonia, AZ 86022
Tel# (602) 643-7245, Fax# 643-7260

Kaibito Reservation
Western Navajo Agency
Kaibito, AZ 86053

Kayenta Reservation
Western Navajo Agency
Kayenta, AZ 86033

Kinlichee Reservation
Fort Defiance Agency
AZ

Klagetoh Reservation
Fort Defiance Agency
AZ

Lechee Reservation
Western Navajo Agency
AZ

Leupp Reservation
Western Navajo Agency
Leupp, AZ 86035

Low Mountain Reservation
Fort Defiance Agency
AZ

Lukachukai Reservation
Chinle Agency
Lukachukai, AZ 86507

Lupton Reservation
Fort Defiance Agency
Lupton, AZ 86508

Many Farms Reservation
Chinle Agency
Many Farms, AZ 86358

Maricopa Reservation
Ak Chin Indian Community Council
Martin Antone Sr., Chairperson
42507 N. Peters and Nall Road
Maricopa, AZ 85239
Tel# (602) 568-2227, Fax# 254-6133

Mexican Springs Reservation
Fort Defiance Agency
AZ

Naschitti Reservation
Fort Defiance Agency
AZ

Navajo Mountain Reservation
Western Navajo Agency
AZ

Navajo Nation
Navajo Area Office
Albert Hale, President
P.O. Box 9000
Window Rock, AZ 86515
Tel# (602) 871-6352, Fax# 871-4025

Nazlini Reservation
Chinle Agency
AZ

Oak Springs Reservation
Fort Defiance Agency
AZ

Pascua-Yaqui Indian Community
Pascua-Yaqui Tribal Council
Arcadio Gastelum, Chairperson
7474 S. Camino De Oeste
Tuscon, AZ 85746
Tel# (602) 883-2838, Fax# 883-5014

Pinon Reservation
Chinle Agency
Pinon, AZ 86510

Red Lake Reservation
Fort Defiance Agency
AZ

Red Lake Reservation
Western Navajo Agency
AZ

Rough Rock Reservation
Chinle Agency
AZ

Round Rock Reservation
Chinle Agency
AZ

Salt River Reservation
Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community Council
Ivan Makil, President
Route 1, Box 216
Scottsdale, AZ 85256
Tel# (602) 874-8000, Fax# 874-8014

San Carlos Apache Reservation
San Carlos Tribal Council
Harrison Talgo, Chairperson
P.O. Box 0
San Carlos, AZ 85550
Tel# (602) 475-2361, Fax# 475-2567

San Juan Southern Paiute Council
Southern Paiute Field Station
Evelyn James, President
P.O. Box 2663
Tuba City, AZ 86045
Tel# (602) 283-4583, Fax# 283-5761

San Xavier Reservation
Papago Agency
San Xavier, AZ 85640

Sawmill Reservation
Fort Defiance Agency
AZ

Sells Reservation
Tohono O'Odham Council
Sylvester Listo, Chairperson
P.O. Box 837
Sells, AZ 85634
Tel# (602) 383-2221, Fax# 383-3379

Shonto Reservation
Western Navajo Agency
Shonto, AZ 86054

St. Michaels Reservation
Fort Defiance Agency
AZ

Steamboat Reservation
Fort Defiance Agency
AZ

Teesto Reservation
Fort Defiance Agency
AZ

Tohatchi Reservation
Fort Defiance Agency
AZ

Tolani Lake Reservation
Western Navajo Agency
AZ

Tonto Apache Reservation
Tonto Apache Tribal Council
Jeri Johnson, Chairperson
#30 Tonto Reservation
Payson, AZ 85541
Tel# (602) 474-5000, Fax# 474-9125

Tselani Reservation
Chinle Agency
AZ

Tuba City Reservation
Western Navajo Agency
Tuba City, AZ 86045

Twin Lakes Reservation
Fort Defiance Agency
AZ

White Cone Reservation
Fort Defiance Agency
AZ

Wide Ruins Reservation
Fort Defiance Agency
Wide Ruins, AZ 86502

Yavapai-Prescott Reservation
Yavapai-Prescott Board of Directors
Stan Rice, President
530 E. Merritt St.
Prescott, AZ 86301
Tel# (602) 445-8790, Fax# 778-9445

Fort Yuma Reservation
Fort Yuma Agency
AZ

Beclabito Reservation
Shiprock Agency
AZ

Crystal Reservation
Fort Defiance Agency
AZ

Fort Defiance Reservation
Fort Defiance Agency
AZ

Red Rock Reservation
Shiprock Agency
AZ

Sanotsee Reservation
Shiprock Agency
AZ

Tsaile-Wheatfields Reservation
Chinle Agency
Tsaile, AZ

Mexican Waters Reservation
Shiprock Agency
AZ

Red Mesa Reservation
Shiprock Agency
AZ

Teecnospos Reservation
Shiprock Agency
AZ

Chilchinbeto Reservation
Western Navajo Agency
AZ

Oljatoh Reservation
Western Navajo Agency
AZ


California Tribes


COLORADO TRIBES
Southern Ute Tribe
Southern Ute Agency
Leonard C. Burch, Chairperson
P.O. Box 737
Ignacio, CO 81137
Tel# (303) 563-0100, Fax# 563-0396

Ute Mountain Reservation
Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Council
Judy Knight-Frank, Chairperson
P.O. Box 52
Towaoc, CO 81334
Tel# (303) 565-3751, Fax# 565-7412


NEVADA TRIBES
Battle Mountain Reservation
Battle Mountain Band Council
Paul Snooks, Chairperson
35 Mountain View Dr. #138-13
Battle Mountain, NV 89820
Tel# (702) 635-2004, Fax# 635-8016

Carson Indian Colony
Carson Colony Community Council
Sherri Johnson, Chairperson
P.O. Box 3269
Carson City, NV 89702
Tel# (702) 883-6431, Fax#

Dresslerville Indian Colony
Dresslerville Community Council
Romaine Smokey Jr.,, Chairperson
1585 Watasheamu Rd.
Gardnerville, NV 89410
Tel# (702) 265-5845, Fax#

Duck Valley Reservation
Duck Valley Shoshone Paiute Tribal Council
Lindsey Manning, Chairperson
P.O. Box 219
Owyhee, NV 89832
Tel# (702) 757-3161, Fax# 757-2219

Duck Valley Reservation
Duck Valley Shoshone Paiute Tribal Council
Lindsey Manning, Chairperson
P.O. Box 219
Owyhee, NV 89832
Tel# (702) 757-3161, Fax# 757-2219

Duckwater Reservation
Duckwater Shoshone Tribal Council
Boyd Graham, Chairperson
P.O. Box 140068
Duckwater, NV 89314
Tel# (702) 738-0569, Fax# 738-4710

Elko Indian Colony
Elko Band Council
David Gonzales, Chairperson
P.O. Box 748
Elko, NV 89801
Tel# (702) 738-8889, Fax# 753-5439

Ely Indian Colony
Ely Colony Council
Jerry Charles, Chairperson
16 Shoshone Circle
Ely, NV 89301
Tel# (702) 289-3013, Fax# 289-3156

Fallon Reservation and Colony
Fallon Business Council
Thomas C. Burton, Chairperson
8955 Mission Rd.
Fallon, NV 89406
Tel# (702) 423-6075, Fax# 423-5202

Fort McDermitt Reservation
Fort McDermitt Tribal Council
William Crutcher, Chairperson
P.O. Box 457
McDermitt, NV 89421
Tel# (702) 532-8259, Fax# 532-8913





The following is a list of American Indian Tribes recognized by the Federal Government. Scroll down to find the alphabetical listing.



NEVADA TRIBES cont.
Las Vegas Indian Colony
Las Vegas Colony Council
Kenny Anderson, Chairperson
One Paiute Dr.
Las Vegas, NV 89106
Tel# (702) 386-3926, Fax# 383-4019

Lovelock Indian Colony
Lovelock Tribal Council
Harry B. Summerfield Jr., Chairperson
P.O. Box 878
Lovelock, NV 89419
Tel# (702) 273-7861, Fax# 273-7861

Moapa River Indian Reservation
Moapa Business Council
Rosalyn Mike, Chairperson
P.O. Box 340
Las Vegas, NV 89025
Tel# (702) 865-2787, Fax# 865-2875

Pyramid Lake Reservation
Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council
Alvin R. James, Chairperson
P.O. Box 256
Nixon, NV 89424
Tel# (702) 574-1000, Fax# 574-1008

Reno-Sparks Indian Colony
Reno-Sparks Tribal Council
Arian Melendez, Chairperson
98 Colony Rd.
Reno, NV 89502
Tel# (702) 329-2936, Fax# 359-8710

Ruby Valley (Te-moak) Reservation
Tribal Council of the Te-moak Western Shoshone
Dale S. Malotte, Chairperson
525 Sunset St.
Elko, NV 89801
Tel# (702) 738-9251, Fax# 738-2345

South Fork Indian Colony
South Fork Band Council
Stillman Knight Jr., Chairperson
Box B-13
Lee, NV 89829
Tel# (702) 744-4273, Fax#

Stewart Indian Colony
Stewart Indian Community Council
Jaqueline Steele, Chairperson
5300 Snyder Ave.
Carson City, NV 89701
Tel# (702) 883-7767, Fax#

Summit Lake Reservation
Summit Lake Paiute Council
Robert Sam, Chairperson
665 Anderson St.
Winnemucca, NV 89445
Tel# (702) 623-5151, Fax# 623-0558

Walker River Reservation
Walker River Paiute Tribal Council
Irwin Miller, Chairperson
P.O. Box 220
Schurz, NV 89427
Tel# (702) 773-2306, Fax# 773-2585

Washoe Tribe of Nevada & California
Washoe Tribal Council
A. Brian Wallace, Chairperson
919 U.S. Hwy. 395 S.
Gardnerville, NV 89410
Tel# (702) 265-4191, Fax# 265-6240

Wells Indian Colony
Wells Indian Colony Band Council
Bruce Stevens, Chairperson
P.O. Box 809
Wells, NV 89835
Tel# (702) 752-3045, Fax# 752-2186

Winnemucca Indian Colony
Western Nevada Agency
Glenmn Wasson, Chairperson
P.O. Box 1075
Winnemucca, NV 89445
Tel# (702) 623-6918, Fax#

Yerrington Indian Colony
Yerrington Paiute Tribal Council
Stacy L. Stahl, Chairperson
171 Campbell Lane
Yerington, NV 89447
Tel# (702) 463-3301, Fax# 463-2416

Yomba Reservation
Yomba Tribal Council
James Birchum, Chairperson
HC61, Box 6275
Austin, NV 89310
Tel# (702) 964-2463, Fax# 964-2443


NEW MEXICO TRIBES
Acoma Pueblo
Acoma Pueblo Council
Reginald Pasqual, Governor
P.O. Box 309
Acomita, NM 87034
Tel# (505) 552-6604, Fax# 552-6600

Aneth Reservation
Shiprock Agency
NM

Baca Reservation
Eastern Navajo Agency
NM

Becenti Reservation
Eastern Navajo Agency
NM

Beclabito Reservation
Shiprock Agency
NM

Bread Springs Reservation
Eastern Navajo Agency
NM

Burnham Reservation
Shiprock Agency
NM
Canoncito Reservation
Eastern Navajo Agency
NM

Casamero Lake Reservation
Eastern Navajo Agency
NM

Cheechilgeetho Reservation
Eastern Navajo Agency
NM

Church Rock Reservation
Eastern Navajo Agency
NM

Cochiti Pueblo
Cochiti Pueblo Council
Andrew Quintana, Governor
P.O. Box 70
Cochiti, NM 87072
Tel# (505) 465-2244, Fax# 465-1135

Crownpoint Reservation
Eastern Navajo Agency
NM

Crystal River Reservation
NM

Dalton Pass Reservation
Eastern Navajo Agency
NM

Huerfano Reservation
Eastern Navajo Agency
NM

Isleta Pueblo
Isleta Pueblo Council
Alvino Lucero, Governor
P.O. Box 1270
Isleta, NM 87022
Tel# (505) 869-3111, Fax# 869-4236

Iyanbit Reservation
Eastern Navajo Agency
NM

Jemez Pueblo
Jemez Pueblo Council
Jose L. Pecos, Governor
P.O. Box 100
Jemez, NM 87024
Tel# (505) 834-7359, Fax# 834-7331

Jicarilla Apache Reservation
Jicarilla Apache Tribal Council
Leonard Atole, President
P.O. Box 507
Dulce, NM 87528
Tel# (505) 759-3242, Fax# 759-3005

Laguna Pueblo
Laguna Pueblo Council
Harry D. Early, Governor
P.O. Box 194
Laguna, NM 87026
Tel# (505) 552-6654, Fax# 552-6941

Lake Valley Reservation
Eastern Navajo Agency
NM

Little Water Reservation
Eastern Navajo Agency
NM
Manuelito Reservation
Eastern Navajo Agency
NM

Mariano Reservation
Eastern Navajo Agency
NM

Mescalero Apache Reservation
Mescalero Apache Tribal Council
Wendell Chino, President
P.O. Box 176
Mescalero, NM 88340
Tel# (505) 455-4494, Fax# 671-9191

Mexican Water Reservation
Shiprock Agency
NM

Nageezi Reservation
Eastern Navajo Agency
NM

Nambe Pueblo
Nambe Pueblo Council
Herbert Yates, Governor
Route 1, Box 117-BB
Santa Fe, NM 87501
Tel# (505) 455-2036, Fax# 455-2038

Nenahnezad Reservation
Shiprock Agency
NM

Ojo Encino Reservation
Eastern Navajo Agency
NM

Picuris Pueblo
Picuris Pueblo Council
Reyes Martinez, Governor
P.O. Box 127
Penasco, NM 87553
Tel# (505) 587-2519, Fax# 587-1071

Pinedale Reservation
Eastern Navajo Agency
NM

Pojoaque Pueblo
Pojoaque Pueblo Council
Jacob Viarral, Governor
Route 11, Box 71
Santa Fe, NM 87501
Tel# (505) 455-2278, Fax# 455-2950

Pueblo Plaintado
Eastern Navajo Agency
NM

Puertocito (Alamo) Reservation
Eastern Navajo Agency
NM

Ramah Navajo Reservation
Ramah Navajo Chapter Council
Curley Biggs, President
Route 2, Box 13
Ramah, NM 87321
Tel# (505) 775-3342, Fax# 775-3538

Red Lake Reservation
Western Navajo Agency
NM

Red Mesa Reservation
Shiprock Agency
NM

Red Rock Reservation
Shiprock Agency
NM

Rock Point Reservation
Shiprock Agency
NM

Rock Springs Reservation
Eastern Navajo Agency
NM

San Felipe Pueblo
San Felipe Pueblo Council
Joseph Sanchez, Governor
P.O. Box A
San Felipe, NM 87001
Tel# (505) 867-3381, Fax# 867-3383

San Ildefonso Pueblo
San Ildefonso Tribal Council
Elmer C. Torres, Governor
Route 5, Box 315-A
Santa Fe, NM 87501
Tel# (505) 455-2273, Fax# 455-7351

San Juan Pueblo
San Juan Pueblo Council
Simon Cata, Governor
P.O. Box 1099
San Juan Pueblo, NM 87566
Tel# (505) 852-4400, Fax# 852-4820

Sandia Pueblo
Sandia Tribal Council
Joe M. Lujan, Governor
P.O. Box 6008
Bernalillo, NM 87004
Tel# (505) 867-3317, Fax# 867-9235

Sanostee Reservation
Shiprock Agency
NM
Tel# , Fax#

Santa Ana Pueblo
Santa Ana Pueblo Council
Andrew Gallegos, Governor
2 Dove Road
Bernalillo, NM 87004
Tel# (505) 867-3301, Fax# 867-3395

Santa Clara Pueblo
Santa Clara Pueblo Council
Walter Dasheno, Governor
P.O. Box 580
Espanola, NM 87532
Tel# (505) 753-7330, Fax# 753-5375

Santo Domingo Pueblo
Santo Domingo Pueblo Council
Ernie Lovato, Governor
P.O. Box 99
Santo Domingo, NM 87052
Tel# (505) 465-2214, Fax# 465-2688

Sheep Springs Reservation
Shiprock Agency
NM

Shiprock Reservation
Shiprock Agency
NM

Smith Lake Reservation
Eastern Navajo Agency
NM

Standing Rock Reservation
Eastern Navajo Agency
NM

Sweetwater Reservation
Shiprock Agency
NM

Taos Pueblo
Taos Pueblo Council
Carl Concha, Governor
P.O. Box 1846
Taos, NM 87571
Tel# (505) 758-9593, Fax# 758-4604

Teecnospos Reservation
Shiprock Reservation
NM

Tesuque Pueblo
Tesuque Pueblo Council
Paul Swazo, Governor
Route 11, Box 1
Santa Fe, NM 87501
Tel# (505) 983-2667, Fax# 983-2331

Thoreau Reservation
Eastern Navajo Agency
NM

Torrean & Star Lake Reservation
Eastern Navajo Agency
NM

Tsaile-Wheatfields Reservation
NM

Tsayatoh Reservation
Eastern Navajo Agency
NM

Two Grey Hills Reservation
Shiprock Agency
NM

Upper Fruitland Reservation
Shiprock Agency
NM

White Rock Reservation
Eastern Navajo Agency
NM

Whitehorse Lake Reservation
Eastern Navajo Agency
NM

Zia Pueblo
Zia Pueblo Tribal Council
Harry Shije, Governor
135 Capitol Square Dr.
Zia Pueblo, NM 87053
Tel# (505) 867-3304, Fax# 867-3308

Zuni Reservation
Zuni Pueblo Tribal Council
Robert Lewis, Governor
P.O. Box 339
Zuni, NM 87327
Tel# (505) 782-4481, Fax# 782-2700

UTAH TRIBES
Goshute Reservation
Goshute Business Council
Harlen Pete, Chairperson
P.O. Box 6104
Ibapah, UT 84034
Tel# (801) 234-1136, Fax# 234-1162

Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah
Tribal Council of Paiute Tribe of Utah
Alex Shepard, Chairperson
600 N. 100 E. Paiute Dr.
Cedar City, UT 84720
Tel# (801) 586-1121, Fax# 586-7388

Skull Valley Indian Community
Skull Valley General Council
Lawrence Bear, Chairperson
P.O. Box 130
Fort Duchesne, UT 84026
Tel# (801) 722-2406, Fax# 722-2406

Uintah & Ouray Reservation
Uintah & Ouray Tribal Business Council
Stewart Pike, Chairperson
P.O. Box 190
Fort Duchesne, UT 84026
Tel# (801) 722-5141, Fax# 722-2374

Washakie Reservation
UT