america's wild mustangs exported to be eaten by Japan & europe

[donsu]

they think horses and burros taste good.

blame Repug Sen Conrad Burns and smirk

http://banderabulletin.com/articles/2006/06/27/news/lifestyles/life70.txt


The wild mustang - free no more


-snip-

....Congress recently passed a bill that allows for the slaughter of the American wild mustang reportedly effective Wednesday, Jan. 5.

Republican Senator Conrad Burns of Montana introduced the one-page Rider #142 into the 3,000-page Federal Appropriations Bill HR 4848.

The rider changes the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971, splitting the once federally protected wild horses and burros into two categories, those over 10 years old and those that have been to a minimum of three unsuccessful adoptions. In accordance with the rider's language, the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is authorized to sell these animals to the highest bidder without regard for the buyer's intentions.

The rider was reportedly passed without opportunity for public hearing or debate. President George W. Bush signed it Dec. 8.

-snip-

According to Ray Field, director of the Wild Horse Foundation of Texas, the BLM has already approved a lump sale of over 8,300 wild horses and burros to a single buyer. Field said that the best price given at a sale barn or slaughter sale would be 10-12 cents per pound, which averages less than $100 per horse. The sold horses could then be transported to one of three U.S. slaughterhouses, two of which are in Texas, for processing and shipment to countries in Europe and Japan, where horsemeat is considered a delicacy.
-snip-
--------------------------------

disgusting

america is dead

[Skidmore]

1. Wouldn't you know that Texas would be in there somewhere.

[Ioo]

2. Again, they have no natural Enemy, they are starving to death..

I would rather them be killed and eaten than left to starve to death... There is no native wild mustangs in the US. These poor things are so over populated that they are starving to death, a death far more painful than ANY killing we do to them...

Sorry to sound so crass, but I would rather thin them that watch them die...

http://www.bbhc.org/unbrokenSpirit/menu4_02.cfm

When the second voyage of Columbus arrived at Hispaniola on November 22, 1493, both the Old and New Worlds would be forever altered. On 17 ships were 1,200 immigrants and numerous domesticated animals such as cows, pigs, sheep and horses - all brought along to establish ranch colonies in Santo Domingo and the other islands of the West Indies.

Hernán Cortés was the first person to land horses on the North American continent. As part of an effort by the Spanish to establish a colony on the mainland of New Spain (Mexico), Cortés landed at Tabasco on March 13, 1519. Arriving with him on their 11 ships were 508 soldiers and, most importantly, 16 horses. Due in part to his ability to build alliances with Native people, the military advantage of the horse, and the fact that Montezuma thought him the incarnate of the Aztec god, Quetzalcoatl, Cortés and his soldiers managed to overthrow the powerful Aztec empire.

Many other Spanish expeditions ventured into the inland territory of New Spain. In 1521, Juan Ponce de León (on his second trip) sailed for Florida with two ships, 200 men and fifty horses landing near Charlotte Harbor. De Soto's explorers had 237 horses on their 1539 trek from Florida to Missouri. In 1540, Francisco Vázquez de Coronado's explorers conduct extensive inland reconnaissance from what is now Mexico and Arizona to Kansas in search of the Seven Golden Cities of Cíbola. They travelled with 248 stallions, the preference of the Spanish military, and two mares.

Although the basis of legends, escaped horses from the early Spanish expeditions were not the seed stock of the wild horse herds of the American West. Only after the mission system in New Spain was established did horses begin to populate North America. Native groups, like the Apache, did raid the missions for horses, and undoubtedly a few horses would have escaped. However, only after the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 could large numbers of wild horses be seen roaming the grasslands of the Plains.

[peacebaby3]

5. Please read up about this. The HSUS says that is inaccurate info.

Q: Are wild horses really suffering from drought and starvation?

A: No. The majority of wild horses are in good to very good condition. Instances where wild horses' health and well-being are in jeopardy within Herd Management Areas (HMAs) often reflect the animals' inability to ingress and egress due to locked gates and barrier fences. In some areas water sources are shut off to the animals by permittees.


<http://www.hsus.org/pets/issues_affecting_our_pets/equine_protection/qa__wild_horse_protection_in_congress.html>

[Ioo]

6. So some are starving... This Answer is very narrow...

I am sure that MANY are in great shape but this A is very missleading. This ONLY speaks to horses "within Herd Management Areas (HMAs)", and the horses are having issues moving from place to place... Just like your post says. So while I did not say ALL are starving to death, some are, and this only speaks to those in HMA's

In short, I have 5 animals, 3 cats, 2 dogs, ALL RESCUED from the pounds where I live. I love animals, but I also know that we have to thing the heard at times as well. Do I want them all killed, NO, some, sure...

[peacebaby3]

10. Please go and read more info on the site. I didn't want to post everything

from the site here so I put the simple question and answer. It is my understanding that the horses in question of being sold would come from the "Heard Management Areas" and they are not starving. SOme are having problems due to the restrictions we have put on their ability to roam freely.

There are actually far less wild burros and horses now than there were when the protection act was enacted because of dwindling populations.

I'm not questioning your love for animals, but I think there is some inaccurate info out there.

[MercutioATC]

3. Food is food.

There are plenty of vegans who are deeply offended by the rest of us eating chickens and pigs. That doesn't mean there's anything wrong with it.

[nolabels]

18. Burritos are good

My dogs like them too

[MercutioATC]

19. Burros of ALL ages are tasty...not just the little ones.

:)

[Debau2005]

4. Join the ASPCA and others to stop slaughter for

Human consumption of any horse.

https://secure2.convio.net/aspca/site/Advocacy?id=2017&autologin=true&JServSessionIdr004=49kpyhbln2.app26b

If the link does not open go to http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer scroll down to News and Alerts and read "End Horse Slaughter." Some of us have been fighting this for a long time now.

Not only are wild Mustangs and burros at risk, in the areas near the slaughter houses, theft of family owned horses is a huge issue.

And to the point of this meat going overseas...let them kill and eat their own if they want to.

[Cleita]

7. Here's a group that could help.

The "Animal Legal Defense Fund" or ALDF

http://www.aldf.org/default.asp?sect=home

Here's what they suggest on the specific issue of the Mustangs.

http://www.aldf.org/article.asp?cid=471

[donsu]

8. who gave Burns money ? who stuffed his pockets

or is he afraid of horses like smirk is?

[peacebaby3]

9. I think this is old news. I think this was done in 2004 and since then

there has been legislation passed to protect these animals.

Here is a snip form the HSUS site about getting the legislation passed.

"Late in 2004, Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT) attached a provision to an omnibus spending bill, which passed without any public review and reversed a longstanding federal policy of protecting wild horses from being sold at auctions and subsequently shipped to slaughter plants."

<http://www.hsus.org/pets/pets_related_news_and_events/house_approves_wild_horse.html>

[charlie]

11. 10+ year old wild horse meat is a delicacy?

It'd be pretty tough and rangy, wouldn't it? Seems some people will pay top dollar for anything "different."

[Alcibiades]

14. Yes

But the meat from the older horses isn't tough--to the contrary:

snip

Horse meat is special in another way.

"The older the horse, the more tender it is; it's the opposite of other meats," said Jean-Claude Terraillon, proprietor of J.Cl. Terraillon, a Geneva horse meat wholesaler and retailer.

snip

What gets me is that many of the people who feel so romantic about horses are not vegans, and have no problem with eating cow or pig. Yes, they are beloved pets to many, but these are not pets. These are wild animals, and non-native ones at that. There are sound ecological reasons for eating them to extinction.

[charlie]

15. Well, whaddya know

I'd never heard that about horse meat. That's remarkable, thanks.

[Alcibiades]

12. I'd eat horse meat in a minute

Meat is meat, as long as it's not human, and tasty, I've no problem with it. Wild horses are non-native fauna anyway. They should be eradicated and the natural ecosystem restored.

[donsu]

13. bite your tongue

you're a biologist?

[Alcibiades]

16. Nope

But I do eat meat. We all have some sort of cognitive dissonance about this, I suppose. I don't really think about the animals I eat, how they looked when they were alive, or too deeply about their biology. Like most folks, I just eat them.

The non-native animal argument is made often enough about "pest" species, other "introduced" species, but not horses. We have romantic notions about them. My Dad has a horse ranch, so I've spent plenty of time around them. They are big quadrupedal herbivores. I don't see the any ethical distinction between horses and cows. Both animals think, care for their young, feel pain, etc., it's just we have decided that one is yummy and the other is a pet.

I wouldn't eat monkey, ape, dog, cat, rat, mouse, nor would I scarf down little songbirds as the French do. Still, I wouldn't eat those animals for reasons of squeamishness, not ethics. If I were hungry enough, all bets would probably be off.

[lonestarnot]

17. Yuck horseeater! Disgusting as dogeater!

[Alcibiades]

22. I didn't say I actually had eaten horsemeat

Just that I would, the same way I ear cow, pig, boar, goat, fish, lobster, crawdad, shrimp, venison, bunny rabbit, squirrel, sheep, lamb, veal, crab, snail and plenty of other critters I'm sure I've forgotten. I suppose that there has always been something more appetizing on the menu every time I have had the chance.

I have no special love of dogs, I just suspect they taste nasty.

People in Texas and Oklahoma eat bull balls. I had a plate of them--I think they called them "calf fries," or some such euphemism--while visiting Weatherford once. Nasty, way too salty. I'm sure many of the same folks who eat those with relish would have a problem with a horse rumpsteak, but to each his own.

[Nicole]

44. Not just Texas & Oklahoma

Calf Fries are eaten in most of the midwest & western states.

I have never eaten them, I wouldn't want to eat horse meat either.

[Spider Jerusalem]

21. You don't need to be a biologist...

to be aware that there were no horses on the North American continent until the Spanish introduced them in the sixteenth century. Just someone who's got a more than cursory acquaintance with American history (of course, most people don't).

[Arugula Latte]

30. Well, just to be persnickety ...

Horses actually evolved in North America, spread to other parts of the world via the landbridge to Asia, and then, for some reason, went extinct in North America ... Then the Spanish brought their Moorish-ancestry horses here, as you say, in the 16th century.

[donsu]

47. I knew that - got bk of history of horse in america as gift one time

the poster seemed to think all things not originally american should be removed. plants and animal wise. apparently not applied to the human animal

[Spider Jerusalem]

20. Three cheers for cultural blinders!

Why don't you go to the province of Canton in China next and try to get them to stop eating dogs and cats and monkeys and anything else that walks, flies, or crawls? Just because Anglo-Saxon countries have a traditional cultural taboo against eating horsemeat doesn't mean it's intrinsically WRONG; imposing one's own cultural mores on those who don't share them is a bit arrogant. If a group of Hindus started campaigning to prevent Americans from eating beef, they'd be laughed at, and this deserves the same response.

[lonestarnot]

23. You are absolutely right! However, I can be disgusted if I want

to! I am not in favor of imposing restrictions on anyone who cares to eat the stuff, but I can also call a spade a spade and a horseeater a horseeater! Fair enough?

[Cleita]

24. Those mustangs don't belong to anyone but the people of the

United States, so why should we let meatpacking houses profit from what is our heritage? I really get fed up with our national assets like forests, water, ores, minerals and now the Mustangs being used for the profit of a few. Where is my share of the property being stolen from me?

[Spider Jerusalem]

25. Wild mustangs have nothing to do with MY heritage...

none of my ancestors ever ventured any further west than Paducah, Kentucky.

And thinning the herds is an ecologically sound practice; deer, moose and elk hunting are allowed for the same reasons. Not to mention that horses aren't a native species, as mentioned elsewhere on this thread; the equine species that WERE native to this continent died out at the end of the last great ice age, and so horses have no natural ecological niche in North America. In ecological terms, they're as out of place as kudzu.

[Odin2005]

26. Well, technically, humans drove the North American Horse to extinction.

So I consider the re-introduction of horses in North America a good thing

[Spider Jerusalem]

27. No, they didn't.

The general consensus is that either climate or some mass epidemic was responsible. Human population of the North American continent wasn't large enough at the end of the las ice age to cause species-wide extinction of equines.

[Cleita]

29. Well, they managed to do a good job on the mammoths. Why

not horses. There are mammoth bone sites that point to humans driving them off cliffs to their death.

[Spider Jerusalem]

33. Because there's no evidence that happened.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3264157.stm

http://www.livescience.com/animalworld/060510_overkill_doubts.html

[Cleita]

36. So? Scientists disagree all the time.

Now some say they didn't drive them to extinction and it was climate, but it seems to have happened after our species entered this hemisphere. I believe that the number of animals (mammoths) with broken bones led earlier scientist to believe they were run over cliffs, but quite honestly this is a silly argument. I have other things to do.

[Odin2005]

45. The climate hypothesis makes no sense, and is not the general consensus...

...as far a I know. Those creatures survied many other glacial-interglacial cycles just fine, the only major new addition to the ecosystem of the new world was modern humans. I think climate DID have an impact, it weakened thier population numbers, but we had to be there to deliver the coup de grace, otherwise megafauna numbers would of simply recovered. Some people don't like to admit the fact that hunter-gathers were not as nature-friendly as some romaticists like to believe.

[Cleita]

28. The horse genus actually evolved in the Western hemisphere

crossed over to Eurasia and became extinct in this hemisphere after the ice ages.

Mustang roundups used to be done in the past by the BLM and Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. The horses and burros were put up for adoption by western ranchers. So there has been a workable solution in the past. The federal and state funding for those programs have been cut with Republican budget cuts.

Now I wonder if that happened so the meat packers could come in and turn a profit? Hmmmm?

[Odin2005]

46. We also had our own species of lion, cheetah, and camel.

The American Cheetah is why Pronghorn Antelope are so fast.

[pitohui]

31. there are no native american wild horses, these are introduced animals

they are not a natural part of the environment and, from time to time, their over-population has to be controlled

if someone can use the meat, i got no problem w. it

[Cleita]

32. Wrong.

Horses evolved in the Americas and crossed into Asia during an ancient Ice Age. So actually, they aren't native there.

[Spider Jerusalem]

34. Whether they evolved here or not is IRRELEVANT...

which you don't quite seem to grasp; they have been extinct in most of North America for 40,000 years, and in Alaska for over 12,000 (thus it is in fact correct to say there are no native American wild horses, because there aren't; they died off millenia ago). The environment has changed drastically since equines formed part of North America's native megafauna; they lost their ecological niche due to climate change and post-glacial reforestation.

[Cleita]

37. Well, by your reasoning then we should take all the cattle and

pigs and chickens out of this hemisphere because they don't belong here.

[Spider Jerusalem]

39. There's a difference between agricultural animals...

and non-native species running wild over open terrain. Last time I checked, there wasn't any problem with massive herds of feral cattle.

[Cleita]

40. No there isn't. Also, aren't horses agricultural animals if you

want to make that distinction? Cattle and pigs have caused more environmental damage to the New World than any horses ever did and cattle and pigs were never native at any time in this hemisphere

[Spider Jerusalem]

41. Wild horses are hardly 'agricultural animals'.

And really it's humans who've caused the environmental damage. (But then food for a population of three hundred million has to come from SOMEWHERE).

And I don't really see what the ecological benefit is to an alien species competing with native ones for limited resources in those areas of unspoilt wilderness still left.

[Cleita]

42. Domestic animals that become wild are called feral.

Those horses are descendents of tame horses that the Europeans brought over with them. It doesn't make them any less domestic just because they have managed to survive without a human. Feral cats are descendents of tame tabbies. There is no wild there and it's wrong to designate them as such.

Since I have been researching the dairy industry practices in the Kern County area for my candidate, the dairy cows are actually polluting the air causing 30% of the children in the area to develop asthma. Yet, milk is gooood for you.

[pitohui]

48. cleita,i am sorry, but these are simple unalterable facts

these horses are not the native population of american horses, which are forever extinct and will be forever extinct

i am truly sorry

i do accept that many people are content w. the fakes, unfortunately, reality is what it is, and this population does not fit into the old niche perfectly and sometimes it grows too large and competes w. actual NATIVE wildlife

[Cleita]

50. As much as we would all like to be purists about native

species of anything, the fact is that we would all have to leave these two continents and take our cows, pigs and chickens with us if this was the way things are. I have "native" species in my garden that originated in Australia but naturalized so well here on the California coast that for the most part they are considered natives.

For instance, Llamas, Alpacas and natives of that cameloid branch of herbivores once roamed the western US. Predators chased them down to South America and up into the Andes where they existed until the last century and were brought again to our western ranches here in North America. Hikers have discovered that as pack animals they do less damage than horses and mules up here in our wilderness areas.

The fact is that once a species naturalizes and adapts to the landscape they become part of it and native to it. To sort out an individual species for extermination because they don't belong here, would make us have to examine exactly who and what does belong here? To do that, we would have to go back to the time the first men crossed over into this hemisphere and chase them back I believe.

The feral mustang and burro populations were managed before the meat packers came along. Changes in laws have caused this situation to come about. They are part of America and there is no denying it. Horse meat tastes like crap anyway. I don't know why anyone would eat it unless they were really hungry. Yes, I have eaten it before I knew what it was. (Traveling often brings you surprises on your dinner plate.)

Yes, there are invasive species that we try to keep in check but many "immigrants" have proved to be beneficial for the ecosystem.

[Cleita]

51. Here is the reason the cattle ranchers want to exterminate the

wild horses.

http://www.aldf.org/article.asp?cid=471

Legislation needed to save wild horses from slaughter

Published 1-27-04 (Washington, D.C.)

Last December, Montana Senator Conrad Burns slipped language into a spending motion that quietly stripped wild horses of their last remaining protections under the law. The new provision legalized the rounding-up and selling of wild horses and burros “without limitation.” In other words, Burns gave Western ranchers what they’ve been hoping to get for years: the go-ahead to destroy wild herds and grab publicly owned grazing land for their own cattle. In the meantime, more wild horses will be taken off the range and sent to slaughterhouses — and, from there, to the restaurants and butcher shops of Europe and Asia.

[LeftyMom]

35. Why do they keep fighting the will of the people on this one?

Surely the horse meatpacking plant lobby can't buy much influence? It's not precisely a huge industry.

Fuck. :argh:

[Cleita]

38. LOL! n/t

[pitohui]

49. because science trumps the "will of the people" aka "ignorance"

i am as sorry as you that most of our native american megafauna was wiped out tens of thousands of years ago but being sorry doesn't change what happened

these feral animals should not be allowed to interfere w. our remaining native wildlife because of sentiment and ignorance

the "will of the people" is that feral cats be allowed to roam free and kill off our remaining native songbirds, again, should this be allowed, or should the right of a native species to exist in what tiny bit of natural environment remains be considered even a little?

"the people" don't care abt wild animals, they hate and fear them and prefer to glamorize what they're familiar with, the cats, the horses, it is sad but opinions based on ignorance should not carry the weight of opinion based on science

[Runcible Spoon]

52. if you give such a shit about nonnative megafauna

"interfering with our remaining native wildlife" I suggest you do a bit of research into cattle ranching. This wild horse controversy is just meant to shield us away from the REAL horrors of what those herds to do the land all so we can have our disgusting fucking Big Macs.

[maxsolomon]

43. wild horses, buffalo out of yellowstone, mountain goat, feral pig

there is no NEED for slaughter. this is 19th century thinking.

personally, i'd be for introducing elephants to the south of america - east texas, arkansas, etc. because they're going to be wiped out in africa.

and because i don't live there.

and i'm :crazy: in a gnarls barkely way.

[MUSTANG_2004]

53. Small technical note - they're feral, not wild.

There are no wild horses in America. All the "wild" horses in America are really feral (feral means they are the descendants of domesticated animals):
http://www.zoobooks.com/newFrontPage/animals/animalFacts/wildhorses.html

For much more information on American mustangs, Wikipedia has a good entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustang_%28horse%29