*yawns*

[sitaangel]

Please read the important article from The Horse magazine which follows
below my message and signature.........

The slaugher traders strike again! Are we going to continue to allow these
auction killers and livestock dealers to expose our healthy horse populace to
EIA and goodness knows what other diseases? I say NO! Please contact your
local department of agriculture and demand that the laws allowing horses at
auction with NO coggins and NO health certificates be changed immediately. Also,
please contact Dr. Tim Cordes at the United States Department of Agriculture
(301) 734-3279 and demand that the USDA immediately cease and desist allowing
horses to be transported without coggins and health certificates to auctions
and to slaughter!!

Please note that in this article below PA state veterinarian Bruce
Schumucker is quoted as saying "that while having a National Animal Identification
System in place might not have prevented this situation from occurring, it
could have made it simpler to control by giving officials the ability to more
easily track potentially exposed equines".

This is a ridiculous statement and an obvious plug for the NAIS, which will
have NO effect on preventing this type of thing from happening! We already
have laws that govern the intrastate and interstate transportation of horses
which are designed to protect the healthy horse populace (which by the way,
every non-livestock dealer and non-killer buyer has to abide by), the trouble is
that the auction and killer scumbags are astoundingly EXPEMPT from these
laws!!

These livestock dealers and killers are putting our healthy horses at
tremendous risk on an everyday basis! This has got to stop! Please make these calls
today and print this article and send it to your local Agriculture
department and also to the USDA! Do this today! Do it for the health and welfare of
your own horse or horses!

PLEASE CROSSPOST THIS MESSAGE TO ALL HORSE OWNERS!!!!

Thank you,

Gail Vacca
Illinois Coordinator
National Horse Protection Coalition
DeKalb, Illinois
Tel: 815-761-4937
Fax: 815-787-4957
_www.horse-protection.org_ (http://www.horse-protection.org/)

_http://www.thehorse.com/viewarticle.aspx?ID=5914_
(http://www.thehorse.com/viewarticle.aspx?ID=5914)

EIA-Positive Horse in Pennsylvania by: Marcella M. Reca, Staff
Writer July 2005 Article # 5914

Article Tools
(http://www.thehorse.com/printarticle.aspx?ID=5914)
(http://www.thehorse.com/sendarticle.aspx?ID=5914)


Equine infectious anemia (EIA) was confirmed July 13 in a Pennsylvania
horse, said Bruce Schmucker, VMD, of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.
The horse is not showing any clinical signs of the disease and passed through
Meadville Livestock Auction in Meadville, Penn., on June 29.
The infected horse was first tested at the Sugarcreek Horse and Tack Auction
in Sugarcreek, Ohio, on June 24. "The blood sample (for an EIA test) was
drawn at Sugarcreek and sent to our laboratory," said David Glauer, DVM,
veterinarian for the Ohio Department of Agriculture.
"Ohio allows equine to come to a licensed livestock market where there is a
veterinarian to draw that (EIA) sample," said Glauer. "Our administrative
code says that the new owner of that animal must maintain that animal on their
property until they receive results. In the interim, the horse moved from Ohio
to the Meadville auction."
Schmucker said Ohio officials alerted him that the horse's test from the
Sugarcreek Auction came back positive and that contrary to instructions by Ohio
officials, the new owner had taken the horse to the Meadville Auction for
sale. Schmucker said the horse has been located, quarantined, and tested
positive again for EIA. The horse is now considered a threat to the equine
population.
"We have identified the other horses that were at the Pennsylvania auction
through examining auction records and have notified the horses' new owners of
the situation and recommended specific biosecurity measures and post-exposure
testing," said Schmucker.
The positive horse is the only horse on the premises where he was taken
after the auction. "Whether or not the property is satisfactory for lifetime
quarantine, we still need to investigate that," Schmucker said. "The standard is
that it needs to be at least 200 yards from other horses, and we've met that
standard. We are in discussions with the owner now regarding continuing the
quarantine under very specific protocols or the humane destruction of the
horse."
Schmucker conveyed that this situation is very dangerous to the equine
population. "We have the potential that the horse could have developed viremia
that could be taken to other horses primarily through biting insects," he
warned.
Schmucker also noted that while having a National Animal Identification
System in place might not have prevented this situation from occurring, it could
have made it simpler to control by giving officials the ability to more
easily track potentially exposed equines.
"Owners can greatly reduce the risk of exposure to EIA by having their
horses EIA tested and only allowing them to be in the presence of other
test-negative horses," Schmucker added.

----

Groups appeal Green Mountain grazing plan

By BRODIE FARQUHAR
Star-Tribune correspondent

LANDER n- Four conservation groups have banded together to appeal a grazing plan developed by the Bureau of Land Management for the Green Mountain Common Allotment (GMCA), the largest unfenced BLM allotment in the country.

The conservation groups n- National Wildlife Federation, Western Watersheds Project, Wyoming Wildlife Federation and Wyoming Outdoor Council -n charge that the BLM has not enforced the terms of the 1999 grazing plan, allowing rancher permittees to overgraze and damage riparian areas in the 525,000 acre commons between the Sweetwater River, the Red Desert, Jeffrey City and Baroil. The groups are asking an administrative judge to allow them wide access to BLM records to pursue their appeal.

"The fundamental problem," said Thomas Lustig, staff attorney for National Wildlife Federation, "is that the BLM has failed to adequately implement its 1999 decision that was supposed to move the allotment towards meeting standards for healthy rangelands."

Lustig said the appeal isn't asking to halt grazing or kick permittees off the allotment, but is asking for more detailed information from the BLM.

Meanwhile, some members of the Fremont County ranching community feel that this BLM plan was deliberately designed to fail, because it wasn't flexible enough to accommodate a severe drought, control overgrazing by wild horses, or allow limited fencing. Conservation groups have adamantly opposed fencing since it could interrupt vital wildlife migration routes.

"I warned back in 1999 that this was a plan for failure," said Doug Thompson, a Fremont County Commissioner and neighbor to the GMCA.

About a decade ago, the GMCA Working Group was founded by the BLM, and asked to develop solutions to overgrazing on the 20-mile by 60-mile tract of rolling sagebrush hills and plains. The Working Group, composed of permittees, conservationists, state and federal agencies, put a strong emphasis on active herding to lessen grazing impact on riparian areas and pastures alike.

Meredith Taylor, a staff member of Wyoming Outdoor Council, has been a member of the Working Group from the beginning. She said permittees have not lived up to their obligations under the 1999 plan. Goals to meet specific stubble height of grazed forage have consistently failed, she said. Some riparian areas have been fenced off to protect them from overgrazing, she said, but immediately up or downstream, cows stand in the water. Subleasing has been allowed on the GMCA, said Taylor, and those cattle tend to wind up anywhere.

"They scatter like quail," said Taylor, with no regard to rotating grazing schedules or staying away from riparian areas.

In the formal appeal filed June 27, Lustig wrote that although the 2005 Operating Plan "pays lip service" to the 1999 obligations, it "lacks a credible effective mechanism to ensure that they will be enforced."

Lustig noted that the 1999 environmental assessment and finding of no significant impacts if grazing was allowed on the GMCA, was predicated on minimum stubble heights in riparian areas being enforced n something that hasn't happened year after year.

"The BLM and the permittees brought this on themselves," said Jonathan Ratner, Wyoming director for the Western Watersheds Project. "With the lack of effective oversight, the BLM gave the permittees plenty of rope."

Ratner said the reason the conservation groups became interested in the Green Mountain area was its wide range of qualities such as its desert elk herds, historic trails and wide-open, fairly unfenced expanse.

"But what really pulled us in was the research of Ray Corning which found severely degraded riparian areas and reduced water storage capacity of the wetlands and riparian meadows," Ratner said. "This degradation has had serious consequences for late season flows and riparian habitat. Perennial streams have gone intermittent and intermittent streams are becoming ephemeral. To make matters worse, most of the willow communities, which are so important to birds and wildlife, have been lost."

Harold Schultz, a Riverton-based director for Wyoming Wildlife Federation, said sage grouse really need intact riparian areas for their chicks. In the past, permittees would simply turnout their cattle in a general area, and the cattle would head for the nearest riparian area where they'd hammer the vegetation.

The attitude of the ranchers, said Schultz, is don't ask them to do anything extra, even though their cattle are causing the problems.

"We don't want to kick anyone off the land," he said. "We just want them to do what's right."

Fremont County Commissioner Thompson said the problem was that the operating plan was too rigid and prescriptive and not an advisory plan that is flexible about unforeseen events like drought or overgrazing by wild horse herds.

"We've got photos of forage grazed down to the ground by horses, before the cattle ever get there," said Thompson.

He said his neighbors that graze on the GMCA have tried to use rotational grazing and herding, but that just doesn't work very well without fencing -n at least fencing around the riparian areas.

Permittees had offered to voluntarily fence off riparian areas at their own expense, said Thompson -n an offer which was ignored by the BLM.

"You can only do so much with herding," said Thompson, insisting that minimal fencing would help manage the movement of cattle better than range riders. He said fears of fencing blocking off wildlife migration routes was "a straw man" and that wildlife manage to move through and over wildlife-friendly fencing elsewhere in the state and the county.

WWF's Schultz said he had no problem with temporary, electric fences to manage herds. He objects to permanent wire fences. Any wire fence can be deadly to wildlife, and some designs are worse than others. Sheep fences especially are deathtraps to wildlife, he said.

Thompson said that with BLM Field Manager Jack Kelly frequently and publicly admitting that the GMCA is a failure, that admission "just opens the door to the extreme environmentalists."

Dick Loper, a member of the state grazing board and advisor to the permittees, said the Green Mountain permittees were meeting Wednesday night to figure out a response to this challenge from conservationists.

Rubel Vigil, the assistant field manager for resources in Lander, said an Interior Department attorney had recommended that the Lander office not comment on the matter.

----

July 20, 2005, 8:31PM

AROUND THE AREA

HITCHCOCK

Foundation honors area man

Jerry Finch of Hitchcock has received the 2005 Animal Kingdom Kindred Spirit Award from the Doris Day Animal Foundation for his work with Habitat for Horses.

Finch is the founder and director of Habitat for Horses, a nonprofit organization that houses or finds foster homes for horses rescued from abuse and neglect.

The Doris Day Animal Foundation was founded in 1998 by actress and singer Doris Day to integrate animal protection into programs, products and services to assist children, families and communities.

----

Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Norrthern Star



Your Voice
Cavel ignores American traditions



An article in your July 12 edition states "Cavel International Inc. in DeKalb would likely suffer if bill is ratified by Senate." This title infers that they will be a victim? Please!! The Belgian company is well aware that the American public does not eat horse meat, and all efforts so far to rid America of a company that ignores our American cultures and values have been successfully dodged.

Last year, with 228 co-sponsors in the U.S. House of Representatives, the bill to ban horse slaughter in America was held up in committee by Rep. Bob Goodlatte, who refused to allow the bill to go to the House floor, and denied Congress the chance to even vote on the bill.

In Texas, it has been illegal to slaughter horses since 1949. When the forgotten law was brought to attention, the two foreign-owned industries in Texas filed an injunction against the state of Texas. Pending a court decision, the companies have been operating illegally for two years now.

The horse-slaughter plants have often been cited for waste water violations, and residents who live near them don’t appreciate knowing that their drinking water has been contaminated with excess horse blood and body parts, nor do they appreciate having to smell the stench emitted from these plants. Also, all profit from this industry goes overseas, so why are the American people forced to suffer for their gain? A report released this month from the Veterinarian News Magazine states that the live horse industry adds $40 billion to our economy. Does it make sense to let the horse slaughter industry cut into that by slaughtering our horses?

Anyone who can stomach seeing how these plants slaughter our horses may view videos on the Internet. The horrific, cruel, and inhumane method will leave even the most hardened sick to their stomach. To slaughter an animal that we consume is understandable. But to slaughter an animal who has been a pet, an animal working alongside man, or a racehorse for our pleasure is beneath our dignity as Americans. We don’t raise horses for food, we don’t eat them. Why then should we be forced to allow foreigners into our country and slaughter our horses, when it is completely against our culture?

So, if Cavel International Inc. in DeKalb suffers, I wouldn’t expect Americans who are aware of the issue to feel any sympathy. Cavel, is not by any means, a victim due to unfair legislation. The American people have been a victim to an industry that we haven’t been able to rid ourselves of. It is like a plague to America, and like any other plague invading our American borders, if we can’t get rid of it, we need to send it back to where it came from.

The Belgian people eat horse meat. To them, Cavel is not a plague. So let the Belgian people welcome Cavel’s return home.

Comments

NoNAIS.org

[pubwvj.livejournal.com]

I have setup a site NoNAIS.org (http://NoNAIS.org/) to track NAIS and fight it. I'll be posting alerts, action items, news and articles there about NAIS as well as linking to additional resources, sites and blogs fighting NAIS. Please spread the word about NAIS so that people know just how bad it is and can fight it. NAIS may be good for the big producers as it will give them more export markets but it is horrible for small farmers, homesteaders and pet horse owners.