Where are the wild horses?
Dave Philipps, writing for ProPublica.org, raises questions over the fate of seventy per cent of the wild horses sold through its sale computer program since 2009.
The Bureau of Land Management faced a crisis this spring.
The agency protects together with manages herds of wild horses that soundless roam the American West, rounding upwards thousands of them each twelvemonth to maintain populations stable.
But past times March, authorities pens together with pastures were nearly full. Efforts to detect novel storage infinite had fallen flat. So had most attempts to persuade members of the world to adopt horses. Without a way to preserve the pressure, the agency faced a gridlock that would invite lawsuits together with potentially drive long-term harm to the range.
So the BLM did something it has done increasingly over the final few years. It turned to a little-known Colorado livestock hauler named Tom Davis who was willing to purchase hundreds of horses at a time, sight unseen, for $10 a head.
The BLM has sold Davis at to the lowest degree 1,700 wild horses together with burros since 2009, agency records show — seventy per centum of the animals purchased through its sale program.
Like all buyers, Davis signs contracts promising that animals bought from the computer program volition non live slaughtered together with insists he finds them goodness homes.
But Davis is a longtime advocate of Equus caballus slaughter. By his ain account, he has ducked Colorado constabulary to movement animals across province lines together with volition non say where they halt up. He continues to purchase wild horses for slaughter from Indian reservations, which are non protected past times the same laws. And since 2010, he has been seeking investors for a abattoir of his own.
“Hell, some of the finest meat y'all volition e'er swallow is a fatty yearling colt,” he said. “What is incorrect alongside taking all those BLM horses they got all fatty together with shiny together with setting upwards a kill plant?”
Animal welfare advocates fearfulness that horses bought past times Davis are beingness sent to the killing floor.
“The BLM says it protects wild horses,” said Laura Leigh, founder of the Nevada-based advocacy grouping Wild Horse Education, “but when they are selling to a guy similar this y'all lead hold to wonder.”
BLM officials say they carefully concealment buyers together with are adamant that no wild horses e'er acquire out to slaughter.
“We don’t experience compelled to sell to anybody nosotros don’t experience goodness about,” agency spokesman Tom Gorey said. “We desire the horses to live protected.”
Sally Spencer, who runs the wild Equus caballus sales program, said the agency has had no indication of problems alongside Davis together with it would live unfair for the BLM to await to a greater extent than closely at him based on the mass of his purchases.
“It is no goodness to simply stir upwards rumors,” she said. “We lead hold never heard of him non beingness able to detect homes. So people are innocent until proven guilty inwards the United States.”
Some BLM employees say privately that wild Equus caballus computer program officials may non desire to await also closely at Davis. The agency has to a greater extent than wild horses than it knows what to do with, they say, together with Davis has acquire out a relief valve for a federal computer program plagued past times conflict together with cost over-runs.
“They are nether a lot of pressure level inwards Washington to construct numbers,” said a BLM corral manager who did non desire his cry used because he feared retribution from the agency’s national office. “Maybe that is what this is about. They likely don’t desire to await also careful at this guy.”
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Wild horses embody the mythic West: Painted Indian state of war ponies together with the cavalry mounts that chased them, pony limited runners together with the tough partners of cowboys.
At the plough of the 20th Century, they numbered inwards the millions, but most were rounded up, slaughtered, together with used for pet nutrient or fertilizer, until past times 1970, at that spot were only 17,000 left.
In 1971, Congress stepped inwards to preserve the remaining herds, passing a law that declared wild horses “living symbols of the historic together with pioneer spirit of the West” together with made it a offense for anyone to harass or kill wild horses on most federal land. The constabulary tasked the departments of Interior together with Agriculture alongside protecting the animals soundless roaming the range.
In a sense, the Bureau of Land Management — the constituent of the Interior Department assigned to oversee the wild Equus caballus computer program — succeeded inwards this a fleck also well. Protected horses naturally began to reproduce together with past times 1983 at that spot were an estimated 65,000 horses together with burros on the range, competing for resources alongside cattle together with native wildlife.
In the cry of maintaining a sustainable balance, the BLM began removing horses from the wild. It at nowadays rounds upwards nearly 9,400 horses a year, which has kept the wild population at around 35,000.
The captured horses are position upwards for adoption. Almost anyone tin terminate lead hold 1 for equally petty equally $125 equally long equally they sign a contract promising non to sell it to slaughter.
Adoptions kept footstep alongside circular ups until investigations inwards the belatedly 1980s together with 1990s showed that many adopters, including several BLM employees, had turned a quick turn a profit past times selling the horses to slaughterhouses. To discourage such re-sales, the BLM began belongings the championship of sale for a year. Today the agency says it visits almost every adopter for a “compliance check” inside 6 months to construct certain horses are good cared for.
The restrictions protected horses, but discouraged adoptions, a tendency compounded to a greater extent than latterly past times a bad economic scheme together with soaring hay prices.
Today, only 1 inwards 3 captured horses finds a home. The repose acquire out into a warren of taxation payer-funded corrals, feed lots together with pastures collectively known equally “the belongings system.” Since horses oftentimes live 20 years after beingness captured, the belongings population has grown steadily for decades from 1,600 inwards 1989 to to a greater extent than than 47,000. There are at nowadays to a greater extent than wild horses living inwards captivity than inwards the wild.
For decades, government auditors together with wild Equus caballus welfare advocates lead hold warned that the policy of capturing together with storing horses is unsustainable together with lead hold pushed for the BLM to role fertility controls, innovate predators or expand wild Equus caballus territories, but the agency has made petty progress toward these goals. In the outset one-half of this year, for example, it treated fewer than one-half equally many wild horses alongside a nascence command drug than was planned.
“I think they are caught inwards an old way of doing things,” said John Turner, an endocrinologist at University of Toledo who specializes inwards wild Equus caballus fertility control. “Once they circular upwards the horses, I don’t think they similar to care for together with release. They would rather withdraw them.”
Driven past times the cost of caring for unwanted wild horses, the annual cost tag of the computer program has ballooned from $16 1000000 inwards 1989 to $76 1000000 today.
Cost pressures prompted Congress to travel past times a last-minute passenger to a 2004 constabulary directing the BLM to sell thousands of old or unadoptable wild horses for $10 a caput without restrictions — fifty-fifty for slaughter — but the agency has non done so, fearing world outrage.
Instead, since then, the BLM has been selling horses, but requiring buyers to sign contracts proverb they will “not knowingly sell or transfer ownership of whatever listed wild Equus caballus together with or burro to whatever someone or scheme alongside an intention to resell, trade, or discover the creature for processing into commercial products.” Violating the understanding is a felony, but at that spot are no compliance checks similar to those done when horses are adopted.
Even when priced at less than a few bales of hay, these horses had petty appeal: Sales dropped from 1,468 inwards 2005 to 351 inwards 2008.
To explore other options for reducing the issue of horses inwards holding, top BLM officials gathered for weekly closed-door meetings from July to Oct 2008. According to coming together minutes obtained past times the Conquistador Equine Rescue & Advocacy Program, they considered selling thousands of animals for slaughter together with fifty-fifty large-scale euthanasia, but concluded such actions would enrage animal-welfare activists to the dot they mightiness “threaten the security of our facilities together with our employees.”
No clear innovation emerged.
As the wild Equus caballus program’s province of affairs grew increasingly dire, a novel pick came knocking: Tom Davis.
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Davis, 64, a plain-spoken homo alongside a sun-beaten brow, makes his living hauling livestock, but says reselling wild horses at nowadays accounts for a substantial constituent of his income.
By his ain account, he has worked around horses all his life — on racetracks, on ranches, together with fifty-fifty rounding upwards wild horses for slaughter earlier the 1971 constabulary position a halt to the practice.
For most of that time, he has lived inwards the tiny town of La Jara, inwards Colorado’s mountain-ringed San Luis Valley, simply downward the route from Ken Salazar, the onetime U.S. Senator who at nowadays heads the Department of the Interior.
“When my dad was live nosotros farmed their land,” Davis said of the Salazar family. “I similar them. I do line of piece of employment organization alongside them. I do quite a fleck of trucking for Ken.”
(Salazar did non respond to repeated interview requests for this story.)
On a warm morn inwards May, Davis gave a rambling two-hour interview on the 13-acre spread of corrals together with truck lots where he lives.
Leaning against the ground of a muddied corral where a one-half dozen horses nibbled hay, wearing dusty overalls, Davis gave a uncomplicated ground for becoming the BLM’s primary buyer.
“I dear wild horses to death,” he said. “It’s similar an addiction. For some it’s drugs, for me it’s horses.”
According to BLM records, Davis outset contacted the computer program inwards Jan 2008. Documents obtained from the agency demo he filled out the application to acquire out a buyer over the phone, aided past times Spencer, the BLM’s sales director, who wrote inwards his answers to questions on the form. (A BLM spokesman said inwards an e-mail that agency employees oftentimes did this inwards the program’s early on days, but no longer do.)
Under a enquiry concerning Davis’ intended role of the animals, Spencer wrote “use for movies.” He after told other BLM employees he sold the horses to Mexican motion painting companies to role on celluloid shoots.
Under a enquiry nearly what type of horses Davis preferred, the application noted he would lead hold males or females, thus long equally they were big.
At the bottom of the application, Spencer wrote that she together with Davis had “Discussed goal of providing a goodness dwelling together with making certain none of the horses halt upwards at slaughter plants.” H5N1 few weeks later, the BLM sent Davis 36 wild horses from its Cañon City, Colo., belongings corral.
That was the only charge the BLM sent Davis inwards 2008, records show. But inwards 2009 — a few months after the meetings nearly the belongings crisis together with ii weeks after Salazar became caput of the Interior Department — the agency started sending him truckload after truckload, from all over the West. Soon he was past times far their biggest customer.
Davis bought 560 horses inwards 2009, some other 332 animals inwards 2010, 599 to a greater extent than inwards 2011, together with 239 inwards the outset 4 months of 2012, agency records show. While most BLM buyers purchase 1 or ii horses at a time, Davis averages 35 per purchase together with has bought upwards to 240 at a time.
The animals came from the mountains of California together with Wyoming, the mesas of Colorado together with Utah, together with the deserts of Nevada together with Oregon. Many had lived for decades inwards the wild: Mature band stallions together with resilient mares of every color descended from the outset American horses.
Davis has paid the BLM a sum of $17,630 for the animals, far less than BLM has expended to render them – the agency estimates it costs $1,000 to roundup a wild Equus caballus together with records demo it has paid equally much equally $5,000 per truckload to ship them to Davis. Similar horses that are non acquired from the BLM together with tin terminate legally live sold for slaughter fetch $300,000 to $600,000 on the opened upwards market, according to sales prices from regional livestock auctions.
Some BLM corral managers said inwards interviews they felt uneasy transportation thus many horses to a unmarried buyer, together with 1 they knew thus petty about, but said such decisions weren’t upwards to them.
“That all happens inwards Washington,” 1 said, echoing the comments of many. “We are simply peons. We do what nosotros are told.”
Davis said BLM employees occasionally asked where his horses ended up, but said he tells them it’s “none of your damn business.”
“They never enquiry me also hard. It makes ’em await goodness if they’re movin’ these horses, see?” he said. “Every Equus caballus I lead hold from them saves them a lot of money. I’m doing them a favor. I’m doing the American people a favor.”
******
So what happened to the wild horses Davis purchased from the BLM?
The agency can’t say for sure. It does non handle onto the titles of wild horses acquired through its sale computer program equally it does alongside horses that are adopted. Officials also lead hold no procedure for next upwards to construct certain buyers role animals equally they claim they volition inwards applications.
In the interview at the ranch, Davis said he had institute most of the mustangs “good homes” on properties mostly inwards the southeastern states. Asked if he would render records of these sales, he responded, “Ain’t no way inwards hell.”
Other people who detect homes for rescue horses inwards the percentage say they rely heavily on advertising together with spider web sites to connect alongside buyers. Davis does non appear to do so.
“I’ve never heard of him,” said David Hesse, who runs Mustang together with Wild Horse Rescue of Georgia. “If he said he is finding homes for that many old, untamed mustangs, I’m skeptical. The marketplace position is deader than dead. I lead hold problem finding homes for fifty-fifty the ones that are saddle-broken. Wild ones? No way.”
On some sales applications, Davis has said he sells horses to graze on Blue Planet used for petroleum together with gas drilling inwards Texas, but petroleum manufacture experts contacted for this story said they had never heard of such a practice.
According to brand inspection documents required past times Colorado when livestock is sold or shipped to a greater extent than than 75 miles, Davis together with his married adult woman say they lead hold sent 765 animals alongside BLM wild Equus caballus brands to a sparsely populated stretch of arid brush Blue Planet along the United Mexican States edge inwards Kinney County, Texas. (The records do non give specific addresses where animals were sent, but position minor towns, such equally Spofford, equally their destination.)
It’s impossible to confirm that the horses really arrived at that spot or to know where they mightiness lead hold gone next, however, because Texas is 1 of the few Western states that do non require construct inspections when horses are moved or sold.
Just due south of Kinney County is Eagle Pass, a edge town that isthe only crossing for horses going to slaughter inwards United Mexican States for hundreds of miles.
There lead hold been no Equus caballus slaughterhouses inwards the U.S. since 2007, when Congress barred funding for U.S. Department of Agriculture Equus caballus meat inspectors. Since together with then Equus caballus slaughter has been outsourced. H5N1 2011 written report past times the General Accountability Office institute the export of horses for slaughter to United Mexican States shot upwards 660 per centum after the ban.
In Eagle Pass, equally at other crossings, slaughter horses are checked past times USDA veterinarians. A USDA spokeswoman refused to construct veterinarians available for interviews, but confirmed that vets sometimes catch wild horses bearing the BLM construct inwards slaughter export pens.
Brand documents leave of absence almost 1,000 of Davis’s wild horses unaccounted for. That agency they should soundless live inside 75 miles of his residence — if he has complied alongside province law.
Asked if this was the case, Davis outset said the horses were soundless on 160 acres of Blue Planet he leases from the province of Colorado. Then he said some had been shipped out of province without construct inspections, a misdemeanor punishable past times upwards to xviii months inwards jail together with a $1,000 fine.
“Since when is anything inwards this Blue Planet done legal?” Davis said inwards a telephone interview.
******
Had BLM officials inquired farther nearly Davis, they mightiness lead hold institute ground to enquiry his plans for wild horses.
Davis is a song proponent of slaughtering wild horses inwards the belongings system, which he considers a waste materials of resources. During the interview at his home, he said he would purchase far to a greater extent than horses if the BLM allowed him to resell them to so-called “kill buyers.”
“They are selling me mere hundreds now,” he said. “If they sold me 50,000, I guarantee I could do something alongside them. I would acquire out to Canada. I would acquire out to Mexico.”
Davis has unopen friends who export horses for slaughter, including Dennis Chavez, whose household unit of measurement runs 1 of largest export businesses inwards the southwest. In 1984, when Davis authored “Be Tough or live Gone,” a self-published mass nearly a horseback ride he took from United Mexican States to Alaska, he dedicated it to Chavez’s father, Sonny Chavez.
Also, despite the obstacles that impede U.S. Equus caballus slaughterhouses, Davis said he has been trying to drum upwards investors to opened upwards a slaughter flora inwards Colorado.
He said he had approached pet nutrient companies to purchase the meat together with asked Ken Salazar’s brother, John Salazar, who is the caput of the Colorado Department of Agriculture, to assist him acquire a grant to finance the business. John Salazar declined to assist Davis, together with thus far the abattoir venture has non gone forward.
“How tin terminate the BLM say alongside a similar a shot human face upwards they are protecting wild horses when they bargain alongside this guy?” said Leigh, of Wild Horse Education.
Animal welfare advocates lead hold raised concerns nearly Davis’ purchases, but they say federal officials paid petty attention.
In belatedly 2010, the BLM rounded upwards 255 horses inwards the Adobe Town wild Equus caballus area inwards Wyoming. H5N1 local loose knit grouping of advocates had been photographing the herd for years. After the round-up, grouping members called BLM officials, looking to adopt a few of the animals, especially an old stallion they had named Grey Beard.
They were told that the horses had been claimed past times an anonymous buyer who planned to resell them to large landowners looking for agricultural taxation exemptions. The advocates tried to larn to a greater extent than nearly the buyer, but Spencer refused to give his name, citing privacy policies.
According to interviews together with agency emails, grouping members told Spencer that anyone buying that many horses at in 1 trial had to live a kill buyer.
Sandra Longley, 1 of the advocates, said inwards an e-mail to some other advocate that Spencer had assured her that the buyer inwards enquiry had a long human relationship alongside the BLM together with was “above reproach.”
A BLM spokesman said Spencer did non recollect the conversation.
According to BLM records, most of the horses were sold to Davis.
Warnings from advocates nearly Davis do non appear to lead hold prompted the BLM to reconsider selling to him.In fact, internal agency e-mail shows that officials actively turned to Davis to absorb freshly rounded-up horses thus they wouldn’t halt upwards inwards the overloaded belongings system.
In January, the manager of the agency’s corral inwards Burns, Ore., emailed superiors inwards Washington, D.C., to enquire what to do alongside 29 mares, almost all of which were pregnant. Spencer replied that Davis would lead hold them.
In March, a corral manager emailed Spencer to say he had 92 “nice horses” simply rounded upwards inwards High Rock, Calif., together with to enquire if Davis could lead hold some of the geldings.
A twenty-four hr menses after Spencer replied, “Davis told me that if the geldings are inwards goodness shape he volition live able to position them into goodness homes.”
“How many would Mr. Davis desire to buy?” the corral manager asked Spencer. “And are at that spot whatever specifics that he is looking for?”
“He said he’d live interested inwards all of them, no specifics,” Spencer replied.
Spencer said inwards an interview she is nether no pressure level to approve buyers alongside questionable backgrounds together with feels confident that “we do non sell to people nosotros experience are going to do bad things to the horses.”
When asked nearly Davis, she said he had been thoroughly checked out together with she had confidence inwards him. More generally, she said that if at that spot were problems alongside a buyer, she would know.
“People scout where our horses acquire out together with the brands are really distinctive,” she said. “If things were going on, nosotros would acquire a call.”
Davis’ most recent purchase was inwards April, when he bought 106 animals. Since then, the agency may lead hold opened an enquiry into what he has done alongside horses bought from the BLM. In June, an agency investigator contacted this reporter seeking information nearly him. This month, however, the BLM assistant special investigator inwards Santa iron (the contact supplied past times the agency on this matter) said he was “unable to confirm or deny” that the BLM is investigating Davis.
Animal welfare advocates say the agency’s reliance on Davis is simply some other indication of how the wild Equus caballus computer program together with its overburdened belongings scheme lead hold been mismanaged.
“He is simply a symptom of the develop wreck that is the Wild Horse together with Burro program,” said Ginger Kathrens, managing director of the Equus caballus advocacy grouping The Cloud Foundation, based inwards Colorado Springs. “They simply warehouse to a greater extent than together with to a greater extent than horses together with create their ain crisis. Then, after they run the computer program into the ground, they lead hold to detect ways out of it. It is a whole unnatural ridiculous scheme run amok. And who pays the ultimate price? Wild horses.”
To contact Dave Philipps nearly this story, e-mail him at horse@propublica.org.
About the author
ProPublica is an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism inwards the world interest. Its travel focuses alone on really of import stories, stories alongside “moral force.” It does this past times producing journalism that shines a calorie-free on exploitation of the weak past times the strong together with on the failures of those alongside powerfulness to vindicate the trust placed inwards them. Its website is at http://www.propublica.org
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