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Wild Horse Sales Resume
Washington, D.C.
Wild horse advocates have been informed that the sale to private parties of "excess" older wild horses has been resumed by the BLM.
Sale Authority had been temporarily halted after 41 formerly federally protected horses were slaughtered at the Cavel International Slaughterhouse in DeKalb, IL. These horses had been purchased by two separate buyers. An additional 52 wild horses discovered at the slaughterhouse were "rescued" by the Ford Motor Corporation as a charitable gesture. In response, Congressmen Nick Rahall and Ed Whitfield presented an amendment to the Interior Appropriations Bill that would prohibit the expenditure of Federal funds for the sale and slaughter of wild horses in fiscal year 2006. On the morning that the amendment was to be heard, BLM Director Kathleen Clarke announced that Sale Authority would resume with new, more restrictive rules in place. At the same time Congressman Richard Pombo (R-CA) was making the rounds with a letter to his congressional colleagues proclaiming that the Rahall / Whitfield amendment was therefore moot. View Pombo letters. Director Clarke's move had originally left wild horse advocates scratching their heads. Why would the Director issue rules that for six months the agency had insisted were unenforceable? As soon as the virtually simultaneous distribution of Congressman Pombo's letters was discovered, many advocates made a connection. The majority of the House was unimpressed by the maneuver and the Rahall / Whitfield amendment passed by 90 votes. However Sale Authority did resume and will continue to sell horses to private parties until the Rahall / Whitfield amendment passes the Senate and is signed into law. On May 13, 2005, the National Wild Horse Planning Group was briefed on the status of Sale Authority. They were advised that Sale Authority had resumed and that two shipments of horses had been delivered. Amazingly, and in spite of new regulations and BLM's renewed pledge that buyers would be carefully scrutinized, a load was delivered to a buyer in Texas who currently was under a sanction letter from the US Attorney's office in Waco that prohibited him from any involvement with BLM's adoption program.
When the question was posed to BLM as to how horses could be sold to a party who was banned from participating in BLM's adoption program, we were told, "The previous violations were under the WH&B adoption program prohibited acts. The Sale Authority amendment does not have prohibited acts except for now you have to agree with the statement on the receipt not to sell them to the killer." It was further explained that should this buyer of concern "mess up" on this load of Sale Authority animals, the agency would likely stop him from buying more. Unfortunately there legally isn't any way to "mess up" under the Sale Authority law since Director Clarke has no legal authority to impose any such rules. (An independent legal analysis of the enforceability of Clarke's new "restrictions" can be viewed here.) Under BLM's traditional adoption program, horses placed with adopters still fall under the authority of BLM until adopters have demonstrated good care of the animals for at least one year and apply for title. Under Sale Authority the animals immediately become the private property of the buyer and BLM has no legal authority over what happens to them. Wild horse groups are having difficulty reconciling BLM's expressed commitment to scrutinizing potential buyers when someone who is banned from adopting horses is given free reign to purchase them. Coincidentally, Congressman Jim Gibbons (R-NV), one of the more outspoken critics of the Rahall / Whitfield amendment, posted the following statement on his web site.
"Everyone’s goal has always been to protect the wild horses of the West. Like many Nevadans, Gibbons was greatly concerned after Sale Authority was re-instituted late last year by Senator Burns (R-Mont.) and 41 horses ended up recently sold by a deceitful buyer to a slaughterhouse. "Sale Authority can provide a means to place thousands of horses in good, caring homes. Yet, additional protections needed to be enacted to prevent these animals from being slaughtered. On Thursday, Director Kathleen Clarke and the BLM took the necessary steps to provide those protections… saving our wild horses from slaughter while allowing for the effective management of our ranges and herds." Apparently some politicians who claim to know all about Sale Authority have little understanding as to how the program really works and, as has been so clearly evidenced, virtually anyone can purchase Sale Authority animals and do just about anything that he/she wants to with them. Or perhaps these politicians actually do understand the nuances regarding Sale Authority and simply choose to mislead their constituents.
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