Secret Horse Slaughter Summit Exposed
A Meat and Dairy Industries Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM

Charlotte Roe, IDA In Defense of Animals
August 2017

Sign the petition: Wild Horse and Burro Extermination — No Way!

This secretive, yet publicly funded event shut out the public and anyone who cared about this threatened equine species. No scientists or range-land specialists with expertise in humane management plans were included.

Image by Teri Farley

A collection of mustang-hating lobbyists and politicians held a "Wild Horse Summit" at the down-town Marriott in Salt Lake City August 22 - 24. This secretive, yet publicly funded event shut out the public and anyone who cared about this threatened equine species. No scientists or range-land specialists with expertise in humane management plans were included. The organizers' primary goal, enshrined in the Trump Administration's 2018 budget request, was to promote "sales without limitation" of the estimated 46,000 wild horses and burros in captivity and the killing of "excess" free-roaming equines.

Scheduled speakers included Dean Bolstad, Director of the BLM's Wild Horse and Burro Pro-gram, and Aurelia Tipwith, Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Department of Interior's Fish & Wildlife Bureau.

Protest organizers confirmed a press briefing room for Wednesday, August 23 at the Marriott to present our side of the debate. Unexpectedly, the Marriott suddenly cancelled the meeting room, citing mysterious "vendor issues." As we gathered at the hotel, a phalanx of policemen guarding the entrance to the "Summit" eyed us nervously. Yet, being pushed outside helped the wild horse protection cause.

Media coverage focused largely on public criticism of the "Secret Slaughter Summit." High-spirited advocates from five Western states raised colorful banners — e.g. "Solutions not Slaughter," "Keep Wild Horses Safe and Free,""No to Mustang Murder." The Cloud Foundation Director Ginger Kathrens pointed out that the allegedly "overpopulating" and "starving" wild horses and burros are guilty of neither, but that for decades, the government has ignored com-mon sense solutions for sound management of the herds. "Helicopter company owners are made millionaires. And wild horses are warehoused now under threat of death."

The Senate Appropriations Committee takes up the Administration's sick slaughter plans when Congress reconvenes. Please tell your US representative and senators you don't want Ameri-ca's wild horses and burros killed, sterilized or sent to slaughter.

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