After a public outcry over some of his actions relative to wild horses, Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar says he will tighten regulations of the federal government's wild horse program, restricting the number of horses people can buy and making it easier for the government to prosecute buyers who sell mustangs to slaughter.
Mustangs in BLM holding pen
Ken Salazar says he will tighten regulations of the federal government's wild horse program, restricting the number of horses people can buy and making it easier to prosecute buyers who sell mustangs to slaughter.
© 2012 by Peter Schmalzer
Salazar laid out the plan in an interview with The Gazette in his Washington, D.C., office, saying the changes were in response to an investigative report published in September that questioned the fate of animals sold to Tom Davis, a San Luis Valley livestock hauler who has bought more than 1,700 horses through the program since 2009, 70 percent of those sold in that time.
Davis maintains he has found the animals "good homes." Wild horse advocates fear they ended up in Mexican slaughterhouses. Davis subsequently told Colorado officials that he shipped some horses out of state in violation of brand inspection laws. The Colorado Department of Agriculture has turned the case over to the district attorney in Alamosa for prosecution.
Back in November, Salazar reportedly threatened to "punch out" a reporter who questioned him about selling wild horses to a known supporter of horse slaugher. This caused an eleven year old girl to start a petition on Change.org.
As reported in a reader blog about wild horses by Lynda Polk and Kerry Kelly:
I saw the recent Hoofbeats coverage of Interior Secretary Salazar’s threat to “punch out” a reporter covering the government’s wild horse program. If you’re continuing to follow the story, I thought you might be interested in the 11-year-old who is leading a campaign on Change.org asking Sec. Salazar to answer for recent controversies around wild horses, including the sale of animals to Tom Davis, a prominent supporter of horse slaughter.
Robin Warren, a 6th grader from Las Vegas, started the petition on Change.org with her mom after reading the expose on the government selling horses to Tom Davis in bulk. The article had been written by Dave Philipps, the reporter who was threatened last week by Salazar when he confronted the Secretary about Davis.
11-year-old Robin responded to Sec. Salazar’s threat and subsequent apology:
“It took the Bureau of Land Management a long time before they said they could be wrong about Tom Davis, but Salazar said he was wrong about the reporter basically overnight. I think he’s only sorry because he got caught!”
Robin’s mom, Denise DeLucia, also raised concerns about Sec. Salazar’s reaction: “I was concerned by Salazar’s reaction to someone else raising awareness on the same issue my daughter cares so much about. What if it had been Robin and me there presenting signatures from her petition supporters?”
Robin and Denise added that Salazar should follow up his apology by taking the issues raised about the wild horse program seriously.