Kill Buyers, Faux Rescues, And Cockfighters, Oh My!

Written by:  Heather Clemenceau

“If truth, honor, and a big heart count for anything in this country anymore, then a huge dose of long overdue appreciation is due to every one of the few remaining stalwart, heroic, saviors of doomed and suffering horses…the horse buyers.

God bless them.”

~ Sue Wallis ~

“Sneek threw?” Seriously? Why would someone (Sabrina) who presents themselves to be on the side of horses, alert a kill buyer or horse trader (Don Nowlin) to a website where they might want to leave negative commentary on an anti-slaughter Bill, and encourage others to be wary of it as well?

Such prophetic words from Slaughterhouse Sue Wallis,  who never met a kill buyer she didn’t like.

I haven’t typically commented much on the issue of brokered horse sales, since it’s one of the most hopelessly partisan topics for horse advocates. I think that all horse advocates would agree that all horses deserve to be rescued despite the fact that, due to a completely random circumstance, they ended up on a feedlot or in the hands of a kill buyer, and that advocates’ networking and/or purchase of a brokered horse is an inevitable response to reality. I could not agree more.

People may ask, “what’s the problem if horse rescuers want to pay more than a horse is worth, and substantially more than what the kill buyer paid?” Over time, purchasing from brokered sales has become the de-facto method for rescuing horses, which means that private owners selling comparatively priced horses are completely excluded from consideration because there is no sense of urgency. I found this out myself when I was trying to place two mares that needed a new home this fall – the offer – that these two healthy, free mares came with 20 free round bales, was not sufficiently compelling because the owner was not going to slaughter them (they both eventually found a good home with a rescue, but not without a helluva lot of networking).  And this is why we should support legitimate rescues who often put training and vetting on the horses for a comparable price.

I see the issue of brokered horse sales as being comparable to that of puppymills – all these animals are deserving of rescue and a forever home,  but dog lovers are urged to avoid pet store dogs (since the majority are sourced from cruel puppymills). Pet shops capitalize on the natural appeal of puppies, kittens, and other animals to sell these animals at an inflated price—often several hundred dollars or more for “purebred” animals. Common problems in the pet-shop industry include selling sick and injured animals, failing to provide proper veterinary care, keeping animals in unsanitary conditions, and using inhumane methods to dispose of sick or unwanted animals. Sound familiar?  It’s a simple formula: where there is demand for a “product” like puppies (or horses), suppliers will fill that demand.  Kill buyers are analogous to puppymillers of the horse world.

The demise of faux horse rescue AC4H heralds trouble for other horse “rescuers” and brokered horse programs who are in the lucrative business of offering horses with great fundraising appeal (gaunt horses, mares in foal, ponies, minis, etc) who are never intended to go to slaughter. Some faux rescues may also be selling horses that have already been bailed by donations, thereby “double dipping.” In addition to paying far more than a horse is worth, the purchaser often incurs huge fees for quarantine and transport. After all that, in many cases the horses have lost substantial weight or are visibly sick by the time they arrive at the purchaser’s or,  in a worst-case scenario,  may be euthanized.

Deep down I feel that most horse advocates know or suspect that the people representing the brokered horses they buy may not adhere to general ethical standards such as full disclosure, honesty, or conformity to applicable laws. But we should all collectively denounce improper business practices or mistreatment of animals.

This “advocate” went out of her way to post a link on a KB/horse trader’s page to give him a heads-up that legislation was coming

As you can see, this post is from December 11th. These horses are “overdue?” For what, a trim? No, they’re overdue for slaughter. The posts for these horses on this “advocate’s” page continue even today, so they’ve been “overdue” for a while now. Why haven’t they been shipped for almost a month,  despite heavy lobbying? Because you haven’t paid their ransom yet, thus supplementing a whole supply chain down the line that relies on the ransom as their income in whole or in part. They may even have been purchased specifically for the secondary market,  possibly by outbidding legitimate homes.

down the pipe that might just put a big crimp in his lifestyle. I’d call that “casual sabotage.” The plan is to introduce the WASHINGTON DEFENSE OF HORSES ACT of 2016 this month. It will be introduced into the Washington State legislature and then used as a precedent in other key states.

KEY PROVISIONS:

1. This law includes not only horses but all members of the equine family; ponies, donkeys, mules, asses, and burros.
2. Equines will be defined under law as recreational/sports/service animals and provided all legal protection as other human companion animals.
3. It will be illegal to slaughter a horse if it is known or should be known that any of the meat from the slaughtered animal will be used for human consumption.
4. It will be illegal to possess, purchase, barter or sell privately; possess, purchase, barter or sell at retail; exhibit for barter or sale, or possess with intent to sell or barter horses and other equines or their meat if it is known or should be known that the horse or its meat will be used for human consumption.
5. It will be illegal to transport a horse or the meat of a horse if it is known or should be known that it is intended for human consumption.
6. Due to the severe threat to public safety posed by human consumption of horse meat, any and all violations of this law will be a Class C Felony, punishable by imprisonment of up to 10 years and/or a fine of up to $10,000 for each and every horse involved.

There is only one reason I can think of to rally kill buyers or pro-slaughters against the WHDC’s anti-slaughter Bill, and that is because you don’t want the money pipeline to dry up. Don Nowlin, the kill buyer/horse trader in Washington that has been alerted to the website for the Bill, appears to be a member of several FB groups that promote cockfighting. They refer to themselves as “cockers,” which may have more than one meaning but is coloquially a term for a person who breeds or trains fighting cocks (but they hope nobody notices this). They hold fundraising activities for people in the community and have birthday parties for their kids complete with water slides and cupcakes, while probably running a cockfighting superbowl in the backyard (cockfighting is illegal in most places in the US). Do thousands of people follow these guys on Facebook because they like to admire chickens? Some of these groups are located in Mexico and the pages are all in Spanish,  and their websites require you to set up an account before you can view the galleries.  So Don is just another regular working guy trying to make a living and enjoying a few hobbies in his downtime!

As if horse slaughter isn’t bad enough, any sport that involves animals killing each other for their owners’ entertainment as well as monetary gain – is reprehensible. And when an “advocate” alerts a kill buyer to looming anti-slaughter legislation, she’s saying that she’s basically OK with animal cruelty in general, as long as it’s a passive, easy-to-ignore kind of cruelty.  That old saying has never been more true – “he that lieth with dogs shall rise up with fleas.”  Or to rephrase it – people will always sink to the lowest common denominator of the set or group to which they belong.

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(If these graphics in the slideshow are too small,  use CTRL + Mouse scroll to zoom in)

I hope my fellow advocates will take the time to report the Facebook group that I have screen-shot for animal cruelty, even moreso because it features a picture of a dog that has apparently been dragged behind a car, perhaps to demonstrate the curative powers of this black salve treatment they are shilling for roosters that have survived cockfights. It’s enlarged here, if you must look (but I suggest you stick to the smaller image in the slideshow above). Clearly the dog isn’t being treated by a veterinarian in this sequence of pics,  unless veterinarians typically treat dogs while they are lying on a BBQ…None of this is OK.

Meantime, Allen Warren of the WHDC has responded to the issue of kill pen scammers here:

“I know everyone is upset by the KBs and kill pen scammers attacking HR 2327, but we knew this would happen. Here are a few more TALKING POINTS for those of you who would like to take them on. We will ignore them ourselves because to respond to their lies would be to acknowledge them, and we don’t acknowledge bottom feeders at WHDC. You can use these facts, although I promise you won’t confuse them with the truth, no matter how many ways or times you say it:

1. In the three states where there are current horse slaughter bans, California in 1998, Illinois in 2007 and New Jersey in 2012, there have been no increase in cases of equine neglect, but a dramatic drop in cases of horse theft. Oh, another sideline business for KBs, that’s right. Meat buyers are not looking for old skinny horses. Makes sense, right?
2. Over 90 per cent of horses going to slaughter in figures kept by USDA are between the ages of 2 and 9, full bodied and sound. Right, the slaughterhouses want meat animals. So the KBs want us to believe they are buying any other kind?
3. Once they have their greedy hands on them every horse headed for slaughter is considered the walking dead and horribly treated, both in kill pens and while being transported. They really care about horses….NOT.”
4. And finally, Donnie Boy Nowlin never answered the first question I asked him. How can you sleep at night knowing these animals are poisoning the people of other countries? These scum are not members of the legitimate agriculture community, they’re greedy predatory scavengers and anyone who can’t see that has their head exactly where the guy in this photo does, or in the lowest orifice of their body. Go get em, Warriors!”

 

Updated – Canadian Horse Slaughter Influences & Enablers 2014

Written by:  Heather Clemenceau

This infographic (downloadable here),  updated over my original 2012 version, exposes the hand-shaking and back-patting relationships, endorsements, and interconnectivity between the US and Canada. 

We can clearly see the tentacles of the Bill DesBarres’ Horse “Welfare” Association of Canada extending themselves into the breed associations,  farming groups,  Big Pharma, veterinary colleges and associations, and Equine Canada.  By way of the lobbyists in the IEBA,  we are influenced by Big Ag,  Dow and Monsanto,  Humanewatch and other organizations that not only advocate for horse slaughter,  but advocate for GMOs and against the EPA and indeed consumers in general. The Co-Chair position previously held by Sue Wallis is of course vacant, and it’s unknown whether the IEBA itself is actually a going concern., like so many of Wallis’ transitory slaughter groups. We’re unsure whether anyone has or will step into the position, as Sue Wallis was the driving force behind this group. Nevertheless, Bill DesBarres’ connections via the IEBA will no doubt continue to be exploited by HWAC and the horse slaughter industry.

While some of the associations that have been mapped out in the following Canadian infographic do not directly enable horse slaughter,  they are complicit in that they are silent against the practice.  At the very least they seem intent on preserving the status quo and ignoring the very real threats created not only by horse slaughter,  but by the power of Big-Ag lobbyists and governments who are willing to be influenced by them and their client base.

People are waking up to what is being done to horses.  Very few people condone what is being done, but the industry does everything it can to cover it up because they know it is not humane,  no matter what terminology they use.  DesBarres himself likes to refer to slaughter as “humane euthanasia,” and a “wonderful option.”    Please continue to contact the Agriculture critics, in particular – Malcolm Allen, who has endorsed Bill C-322 in the past and now rejects Bill C-571.

Please write to Equine Canada and insist that they take a more global position to promote equestrianism in Canada. Remind them that the GAO report they tout as the rationale for horse slaughter has been debunked.

Contact your breed associations. Many supporters have been lobbying the breed associations and discovering that some appear to be unaware that their names have been added to HWAC’s list of partner organizations. Let them know what they are endorsing when they associate themselves with the Horse “Welfare” Association of Canada and Bill DesBarres. Please ask them to insist that HWAC remove their names and ask them to reject any references to slaughter as “euthanasia.”

 

Click to Embiggen. Click here for downloadable PDF (large file)

Summary of Changes:

1)      Removed references to IEBA Co-Chair Sue Wallis

2)      Updated Agriculture Critics

3)      Updated flowchart to include KML Meats – new slaughterhouse in Westwold, British Columbia

4)      Updated Chief Food Safety Officer and Chief Veterinary Officer for Canada

5)      Removed Kill Buyer JP Soucy – left the business

6)      Added new Kill Buyers Jonathan Lalonde, Mike Swain, Mark Sneider, Richard Patenaude, and Jeff Grof

Here is the current list of provincial associations from the HWAC website. Note that the Ontario Equestrian Federation, which used to be on the list, has been removed.

Provincial Organizations

British Columbia Horse Council	Orville Smith President Lisa Laycock Executive Director	27336 Fraser Highway Aldergrove, BC V4W 3N5	Phone: 604-856-4304 Toll Free: 1-800-345-8055 Email
Alberta Equestrian Federation	Tara Gamble President Sonia Dantu Executive Director	100, 251 Midpark Blvd S.E. Calgary, AB T2X 1S3	Phone: 403-253-4411 Toll Free: 1-877-463-6233 Email
Saskatchewan Horse Federation	Shirley Brodsky President Executive Director	2205 Victoria Avenue Regina, SK S4P 0S4	Phone: 306-780-9244 Email
Quebec Fédération équestre du Québec	Rosaire Houde President Richard Mongeau Executive Director	4545 Ave Pierre de Coubertic CP 1000 Succursale M Montreal, PQ H1V 3R2	Phone: 514-252-3053 Email
New Brunswick Equestrian Association	Deanna Phalen President	Suite 13, 900 Hanwell Rd Fredericton, NB E3B 6A2	Phone: 506-454-2353 Email
Nova Scotia Equestrian Federation	Barbie Lewis President Heather Myrer Executive Director	5516 Spring Garden Rd 4th Floor Halifax, NS B3J 1G6	Phone: 902-425-5450Ext 333 Email
PEI Horse Council	Wendell Grasse President Joy MacDonald EC Representative	POB 1887 Charlottetown, PE C1A 7N5	Phone: 902-964-2379 Email
Newfoundland Equestrian Federation	Kathie Lane President Chris Gallant  Past President	17 Seal Cove Road CBS, NF A1X 6S5	Phone: 709-489-6166 Email
Yukon Territory	Vibeke Coates President	P.O. Box 20165 Whitehorse, Yukon Y1A 7A2	Phone: 867-633-3012 Email

 

Additional HWAC “Alliance” Partners

• Alberta Farm Animal Care (AFAC)
• Appaloosa Horse Club of Canada
• BC Farm Animal Care Council (BCFACC)
• Canadian Quarter Horse Association
• Farm and Food Care Ontario
• Farm Animal Council of Saskatchewan (FACS)
• Intercity Insurance Services Inc. / Capri Insurance
• Island Horse Council Board

 

 

 

Meet Troy Mader – The New “Slaughterhouse Sue”

From the Knight Muzzleloading Rifle Facebook album

Written By:  Heather Clemenceau

To say that Wyoming is a conservative state probably doesn’t even begin to capture it. Republicans hold nearly every elected office, and gun ownership and hunting are as much a part of a their cherished way of life as are ranching and rodeo. Just like Sue Wallis, who was often touted as a horse industry expert despite not owning any horses, her replacement for House District 52 in Wyoming seems to have an embellished C.V. as well. Troy Mader is occasionally put forth as a “scientist” who is an expert on wolves and other species of animals, not to mention AIDS, while he appears to have completed only 1 1/2 years of university in an unknown field of study.

In her support for same-sex civil unions,  medical marijuana,  and abortion,  some of Wallis’ measures seemed at home in liberal California or even Canada,  but when it came to horse slaughter she was every bit the radical zealot. While Wallis also focused on rather obscure and sometimes irrational food laws, Mader epitomizes extremist and intolerant rhetoric – he runs a gun empire and chooses to spend his time targeting the EPA whilst promoting a “biblical” and very anthropocentric stance towards animals.  And he’s on record for being anti-choice and a supporter for horse slaughter too. “I stood with her wholeheartedly on that,” Mader said.

So Wyoming has basically substituted a cowboy poetess who wanted to enrich her pocketbook with horse slaughter, with a bible-thumping opportunist who has preached some dangerous rhetoric, coupled with a history of lobbying to prevent laws that might curtail the profits for his gun company. Seems like Wyoming politics have their own brand of influence peddling.

Although Mader’s Linkedin profile is here,  and somewhat at odds with his Zoominfo profile.  He went to college for a year and a half at Grand Canyon University, then went on to found the Common Man Institute in Gillette Wyoming.  The Common Man is touted as a private research group that apparently publishes no research,  yet they are a right-wing group of outfitters, timber companies, livestock producers and off-road-vehicle owners who have more than a passing resemblance to a Rick Berman enterprise.   Two issues do appear to have been generated out of this nebulous group – The theme that wolves are demonic and have no place in the United States, and that AIDS is a disease imposed on those who have “filthy sex.”  They don’t appear to have published anything after this crackpot rhetoric from the 80s either.

In fact, Mader appears to be the author of numerous out-of-print books(lets) that reflect his anti-science view towards wolves, as well as a very homophobic collection of quotes from various other individuals on AIDS. The journalist site WyPols have dredged up a dog-eared copy of his mess of a book The Death Sentence of AIDS.”and are publishing chapters of his book to let their readers make up their own minds as to how homophobic this untethered bulldog really is. The site plans to post chapters of Mader’s book over the next few days and weeks,  so if you have a morbid curiosity,  please check it out on their site.  In case you’re wondering what his qualifications are in order that he write on the subject of AIDS, well, it appears that he has none other than a rabid dislike of gay men.

“Gays get AIDS because they are profoundly promiscuous, highly mobile, and practice filthy sex.”

Wholly deserving of a book-burning party.  Out-of-Print. Permanently

I find it difficult to imagine why anyone in Wyoming would be opposed to anti-discrimination laws in a state that, at least to gay rights activists, will long be remembered as the place where Matthew Shepard, a gay college student, was killed in a 1998 attack that was motivated in part by his sexual orientation. If only to somewhat make up for the torture that was inflicted upon Matt Shepard there should be not a politician in Wyoming opposed to equal rights for all its citizens.

After his erstwhile stint as a book author, Mader went on to become a former precinct committeeman in the local Republican party. He is also a rancher, former sheriff’s deputy, musician,  and trapper (IMO the most cruel way possible to kill an animal). At some point during this era he went on to become director of deceptively named Abundant Wildlife Society and founder of the Knight Muzzleloading Rifle Company.  Check out the Facebook page for Knight Rifles, if you’re keen on seeing a bunch of 7 year-olds with rifles displaying the small, defenceless animals they have shot.

The Abundant Wildlife Society is an organization that has “greenwashed” itself to appear to be a conservation group, and like the Canadian Wildlife Federation, it doesn’t actually care about wildlife except to preserve them for hunting activities.  It’s a special interest group that doesn’t benefit anyone except hunters.  At its core it is a property-rights group that has established a web presence to oppose animal welfare groups, scientific organizations, and oppose the Endangered Species Act of 1973, which Mader claims has become a classic example of the law of unintended consequences.  Sue Wallis liked to preach about the “unintended consequences” of the cessation of horse slaughter in the US too.  As director, Mader methodically faulted wolf reintroduction at every opportunity. He claimed that wolf restoration efforts were motivated mainly by romantics who dreamt of hearing wolves howl in the night.

His words appealed to hobby ranchers who saw wolves as more predators for their livestock. During a visit to Oklahoma City for a Safari Club function, he made it plain that anyone who hunts should share his concern. He wants to hunt in Yellowstone, where hunting is not permitted.  Pity the poor animals who don’t know they’ve left the boundaries of Yellowstone, where it’s open season on them in the surrounding national forests of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho.

“…..the Endangered Species Act has become a most effective tool in the hands of the preservationist and those intent on destroying the livelihoods of millions of Americans.”

“The benefit of multiple wound channels….” Benefit for whom?  Surely not the animal on the receiving end of this onslaught.

While many farmers and ranchers justifiably fear them, wolves are actually the engines of evolution, helping trim the gene pool in prey species, including deer and elk, which sport hunting does not do.

The now defunct National Center for Public Policy Research claims that Troy Mader is an “scientist and  expert” in conservation and endangered species, the Endangered Species Act, wolf recovery, and the “philosophical aspects of conservation versus environmentalism,”  which again seems odd to me since there is no substantiated evidence of him having any sort of qualifications that would preclude such a title.

Don’t bother emailing them, their email is as non-existent as Mader’s scientific credentials.

“Where you have a healthy wolf population you have no room for hunting.”

Mader also appears in the documentary film “Crying Wolf,” in which we see the Christian concept of taking dominion over animals (Genesis 1:28) using the earth and its resources for the needs of man and to the glory of God.  Anthropocentrism such as hunters and some others espouse, has been posited by many environmentalists as the underlying reason why humanity dominates and sees the need to “develop” most of the Earth.  Anthropocentrism is a root cause of the ecological crisis, human overpopulation, and the extinctions of many non-human species.

“If you study one thing in the bible, man has dominion……”

Clearly, his motivation in all these schemes is to lobby to protect hunting, while disavowing equality for other groups. Mader does not care about animals, only that any restrictions on hunting will hurt his company’s profits. So Wyoming now finds itself with another politician who appears to have no problem advancing laws that would line their own pocket – this time at the expense of a different species of animal.  He probably cares little about women’s reproductive rights either, which is why he proudly asserts that this is another topic on which he disagrees with his predecessor.

Slaughterhouse Sue Asks Supporters to Slaughter Horses for IEBA War Chest

Written by:  Heather Clemenceau

Slaughterhouse Sue Wallis is busier than a one-armed paper hanger these days – asking for “donations” to be made to her for-profit company so that the hauling of horses can continue.  Our favourite slaughterphile hopes to build her “war chest” by attempting to “crowdsource” funding from some of the cheapest people on the planet – people who would sell their horse to a slaughterhouse rather than providing humane euthanasia.  Sue really throws her hyperbole engine into high gear when she says that “We take “bare bones” to a high art form.”

In a Constant Contact massmail designed to spam everyone with her tales of woe, Sue writes:

“As we edge towards a return of humane and regulated horse processing here in the United States, the hysterics and abusive bullying tactics–not to mention outright domestic terrorism in the destruction of property and threats to families–of the radical animal rights groups funded and driven by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) gets worse and worse.

Now much of the struggle has been hauled into the courts, litigation being a favored and especially lucrative activity of HSUS wherein they are able to fund their nefarious activities with deceptively raised dollars and way too much taxpayer money.

The cost of intervening in these lawsuits on behalf of the horse industry is shooting up astronomically!

Thank goodness, we are working with teams of dedicated attorneys who are providing more free and reduced services than most would ever expect. They have my undying respect and gratitude, and I’ll bet yours, too.

Nonetheless, we must fill up our war chest to have any hope of success. To do this the IEBA Board of Directors and I have developed a multi-pronged fundraising campaign that starts TODAY with your help.”

If you read the rest of this communication, you’ll see a lot of words and phrases not normally associated with Sue Wallis.  Terms such as:

Innovative

Cutting Edge

Potential to add value

Convenience

Humane

Scientifically Sound

Rigorously Enforced

Highest Quality

Verified Safe

Pure Products

Wallis’ latest pitch is that she wants slaughterphiles to tick off some box at the sale barn, which will designate the proceeds of the sale of a horse to the International Equine Business Association (IEBA).  So, true to form, she’s asking for blood money to seed a for-profit business to commercialize and exploit horses.   We know she has at least $183 in the war chest pot, donated by a supporter who sent a perfectly healthy but arthritic horse to slaughter. So she plans to go up against HSUS with donations accumulated from the suffering of horses sent to slaughter.  By soliciting gifts,  Wallis’ is essentially panhandling,  something she claims horse rescues do,  except she is doing it without the actual rescue aspect.  So many United Horsemen’s members are critical of any and all rescues simply because they ask for donations – how is this different?

I think Wallis recognizes that she’s not going to get the big donations via this stream,  so she’s come up with some combo golf/clay pigeon shooting event she has named the “Rope, Stroke, and Poke.”  I think there’s a “choke” option in there too, which makes me think that Sue missed her calling – instead of writing poetry she should be writing ad copy for the Shady Lady Ranch in Nevada.  I’ve read her poetry,  and I can honestly say she’s about as good at poetry as I am at pole-vaulting.

Unlike some of the other dubious, multiple versions of her grassroots horse slaughter enterprise, this one is a business, so whatever is donated must be declared as income, and sadly, no income tax receipts will be provided for any horses slaughtered for the IEBA.  Indeed, the IRS would qualify the contributions of money gleaned from slaughtered horses as gifts rather than donations.

Following is the IRS publication 526 that discusses Charitable Contributions:

• There is certainly no law against a for-profit business owner asking anybody to provide a gift or grant to the business without the expectation of returning the item. A person can ask a relative to “donate” money to keep a business afloat, or attempt to raise supporting gifts of materials or cash in a variety of ways. Also, some private and public entities provide for-profits with taxable business grants that are, technically, donations.
• However, the word “donation” does have a common usage as a specialized term. Nonprofits ask for donations to support a cause and have special status with the IRS that makes those donations tax-deductible. A for-profit business that accepts a donation would not be able to provide the same tax-deductible benefit.
• While it is the case that a for-profit business can accept donations, it has to be careful not to run afoul of a state’s laws against soliciting the public for donations without registering with the state attorney general. If a for-profit business is asking for “donations,” it has to at least make it clear that the business is not a nonprofit.

As a for-profit business, the IEBA claims that it offers various services, including such services as legal resources for those “persecuted” by anti-slaughter advocates, otherwise known as “terrorists” in Wallis parlance.  Along with the other “services” the IEBA will provide to members is “crisis mitigation and reputation management.”   I might suggest to Sue Wallis that perhaps she should join people like Mel Gibson and Lindsay Lohan, and employ the services of a good reputation management firm, because she needs some real “black hat” techniques to clean herself up online – the Sue Wallis brand is a lightening rod for bad publicity….

When this organization flops, there’ll be another new organization all loaded with the requisite donate buttons.  The deception here happens when you have all these different groups,  such as United Horsemen,  United Horsemen’s Front,  Unified Equine,  United Organizations of the Horse,  and now the IEBA all producing the same drivel that is “substantiated” by each.  It gives a false impression of credibility that does not exist except when you have multiple entities all supporting each other all over the interwebs.

Wallis has in fact made has made the commercial exploitation and slaughter of horses one of her number one goals in all she publishes, says and does.  Horse slaughter is all she ever writes about, with the only exception being the selling of shares of cows for the purchase of unpasteurized milk.  How is it that a politician, who seems to spend every waking moment lobbying to change laws that will benefit her financially, doesn’t incur and ethics investigation.  Isn’t using one’s privileged position as an elected official for their own benefit, an ethical violation?  Or does no one really care about ethics in Wyoming?

Wallis has always claimed that United Horsemen had no money.  Apparently no one in the horse business or ranching business has any money.  The official story about their infamous truck raffle was that it didn’t make any money either.

Wallis claimed that only 302 tickets had been sold. Then,  about a year after the original tickets had been sold, a truck had yet to be awarded and an announcement from Sue Wallis stated that (still) only 302 tickets had been sold, that the drawing would be in January (2011) and that tickets were still available. The description of the truck, however, was given as a plain vehicle having a retail price of $11,000 less than the original ticket purchasers had been told would be awarded. According to the prosecutor, Campbell County Attorney Jeani Stone, money from the raffle was turned over to “organizers,” that Wallis did not personally benefit, and that the truck was given away. But Wallis was the primary organizer, and she was the Vice President of United Horsemen, the organization holding the raffle. Is Stone suggesting that Wallis did receive the money from the raffle? Stone also announced there were 147 raffle tickets sold. But Wallis said 302 were sold. What happened to the other 155 tickets? That is at least $15,500 unaccounted for.  Anyway, it seems that the fiasco that ensued from the truck raffle was totally swept under the carpet.

I’ve seen agricultural sites asking their readers to send Wallis cheques, and she has reportedly received donations from Big Ag as well as cattlemen’s organizations.  But you have to wonder how many large donations she would have received from these groups, since she doesn’t have any investors or a business plan.  But all of this is artfully dodged whenever she describes the achievements of any of her organizations.  We read online as she described renovations being done on the Rockville Missouri meat plant to convert it to a horse slaughter facility.  This was a plant that she didn’t even have title to and could not even purchase if she had the money, as ownership was tied up in litigation.

Obviously, the Wyoming State Rep is spending too much time downwind of cattle farts….

It’s highly doubtful that Chevideco is interested in investing in her business schemes, since they’ve always said they wanted a turnkey operation, and they made this evident at Mountain Grove Missouri, which they toured with Wallis.  Beyond the ethical question, the townspeople definitely didn’t like the idea of a foreign company coming into their town to kill 400 horses a day and send butt roasts and briskets back to Europe or wherever.

Dave Duquette’s proposed $3 million “restoration” facility,  that would apparently employ 30-40 college students and an indoor,  equine-assisted therapy centre for handicapped individuals is suspect as well.  If it actually happened,  they’d basically be doing what rescues accomplish, which in theory is great,  but the idea of a rehab and slaughter facility on the same site?  “Sorry dear,  you won’t be able to ride Sassy anymore.  We processed him into burgers yesterday.”  Very therapeutic.

Wallis and Dave Duquette’s “restoration” program for horses entering the slaughterhouse stream is,  IMO, more likely to be a way for them to claim that horses that are already slaughtered are alive on their tax returns and itemized as expenses. Think about it – who is going to be auditing them at any time to determine that all these horses that they are supposedly rehabbing are actually alive?  It’s rather like claiming an income tax deduction or exemption for dependents that you don’t actually possess!

And according to the company’s own literature, the plant would not be for old or sick horses. “Abused, abandoned, neglected and starving horses will be made healthy prior to processing,”  So that phrase puts the lie to the claim that slaughter is needed for old and sick horses.  It’s been a while since we’ve heard about the “Do Not Slaughter” registry.  But Wallis has said herself that If your horse did turn up at one of their proposed plants (and they can find the entry in their Excel spreadsheet) you have two or three days to pick the horse up,  AND pay their costs.  Nowhere have I ever heard of someone having to pay to retrieve stolen property.

Ever wonder why you can’t find Wallis’ charities on Guidestar?  I’ve looked for them.  As a non-profit, they must provide full public disclosure…… And since a 503(c) is not allowed to conduct political

Sue Wallis and Dave Duquette used this pic of a dead Spanish horse in their printed propaganda claiming it was a horse that American Advocates had starved?

lobbying, perhaps a review with the IRS should be undertaken.  Having said all that, you must have the same impression that I do –  that even Wallis’ non-profits are intended to be a profit centre for her.

Horse meat is the only meat product (and I use that term loosely) that is being produced by non-farmers collecting salvage animals from questionable/undocumented environments with untraceable histories.  Nevertheless, it seems that Sue Wallis conducted a marketing survey and found a whole 350 people in the entire United States who were interested in eating horsemeat from undocumented animals:

“Awhile back we did a marketing survey and about 350 of you from all walks of life and all across the country responded to say that you were interested in purchasing cheval (horse meat)”  She found a whole 350 people upon whom to base her entire business model.  Oh and If you would be willing to sign an affidavit that says you would like to buy and use “cheval,” please email her so that she can send you the paperwork to include your name on a joint statement.

Sue gets a geography lesson here from a Facebook follower.

Really odd approach.  Sounds like something you would be doing in order to qualify to become a medical marijuana recipient.  She needn’t bother – finding only 350 people who might eat your product is hardly worth the effort.  That’s not even a niche market,  Sue.

In fact, instead of panhandling online, I think Wallis should “crowdsource” a little business acumen and perhaps turn her eyes to becoming a medical marijuana farm rather than spamming everyone with her tales of woe, and trying to sell shares of horses and cows.  I’m sure medical marijuana would grow quite well in Wyoming.  People will actually want to give you money for that, Sue.

John Holland, of the Equine Welfare Alliance wrote that “One survival strategy of prey animals is to synchronize their birthing so as to overwhelm their predators. Sue has adopted this strategy with her spontaneously created facts. She spews so many at one time that at least a few have a good chance to get past us unchallenged.”

And shame on anyone who sends a horse to slaughter and donates the money to this unscrupulous organization. If you can afford to donate a few hundred bucks to Sue Wallis,  you can afford humane euthanasia for your horse.  That’s all.

 

United Horsemen’s Members Skewered By News Satire!

Written by :  Heather Clemenceau

I think most of us are familiar with the Onion – a fabulously satirical online news agency – it preceded such great shows as the Colbert Report and the Daily Show.  They’re famous for various spoof polls that people often take seriously, because the people at the Onion are very astute at simulating journalistic style.  On occasion, entire countries have been spoofed by the Onion, including Russia,  Iran, France,  China, and Singapore,  who have often quoted them entirely and published their articles as real news.

Well, closer to the horse slaughter issue, a few of our gullible pro-slaughters have been taken in by a similar report, and it’s hilarious.  It’s a whole other level of entertainment when your adversaries believe implausible stuff!  It really makes you realize why many of them cannot grasp complex issues involving horse slaughter – like the testing of meat for example.  Remember the claim that bute is out of the horse’s system in 21 days? It’s almost pointless explaining why you can’t take a litmus test strip and swab any part of a horse to come up with a positive or negative drug test.   They just seem to lack the critical reasoning skills or a basic scientific education necessary to distinguish fact from fiction or pseudoscience.  Alternatively,  you can also choose to believe that they knew it was fake,  but some of them are just disingenuous pieces of shit who are happy to pretend that actual satire is true just to manipulate their audience.  Which is worse?  Could they be that gullible though?  Oh yes, dear reader, they could be, and they are………Dave Duquette better put on his fire-retardant suit,  because he’s about to get flamed!  I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to exercise my schadenfreude muscle,  and this is the perfect moment!

A few days ago I saw an article pop up in my Google Alerts about horsemeat.  It was published on the UK site “The Daily Squib,” which appears to be an Onion-style parody.  Within seconds of reading it most people will rapidly conclude that it’s a spoof, and a very funny one at that.  However, our friends at United Horsemen have embraced this story,  despite all objective reasoning to the contrary,  as fact.  You can read the article here,  but I’ve included a graphic of the story that has so convinced the UH group that they can still find a market for horsemeat in the US and that Wayne Pacelle of the HSUS has just got his comeuppance………

The most unintentionally hilarious comment accompanying this article!  Yes,  you CAN make this stuff up!  But, 29 People forwarded this? Did they realize it’s satire or is everyone taking it seriously?

Even Dave Duquette has been forwarding this spoof tabloid article around as well, and by reading the comments, you know he really believes it too!  The informationally challenged pro-slaughters are so eager to see horsemeat in the marketplace that their susceptibility to the thought now knows no ideological boundaries.

I mean,  this article is so obviously a parody on the horsemeat adulteration scandal in the UK,  one wonders whether Duquette and some of the others would be as quick to believe that Sarah Palin had joined Al Jazeera, or the White House was installing a retractable dome.  Judging by the number of people forwarding this herp and commenting on it, there’s a good number of UH members afflicted with brain cells as crispy and burnt as a McDonald’s fry left under a heat lamp.  Here’s one such comment:

“So, it this thing was allegedly “grown”, then how did a horse burger just show up all of a sudden? I mean, wasn’t someone checking it each day to see how much bigger it was? Weren’t tests run on it as it grew? Did someone just plop a small chunk of horse meat down one day and then came in early each morning to add to it to make it look as if it were growing?”

There’s a sucker born every minute, and apparently many of them wind up at United Horsemen’s group.  I bet that Duquette et al believes in everything that suits them about horses because they have lied to themselves so much.  Not only that,  but they are so used to publishing untruths that scrutinizing the source never even occurred to them.

Chevideco’s Diabolical Plan to Slaughter 100,000 Belgian Horses

Written by:  Heather Clemenceau

Thousands of horses are slaughtered in Belgium each year.  Not all these horses were raised in that country either – many were transported across the borders from the Netherlands and France for slaughter.  While horsemeat is readily available in Belgium, this  doesn’t necessarily translate into across-the-board social acceptance of eating horses, nor does it mean that the entire population of Belgium enthusiastically engages in the practice.  The results of an Ipsos survey in Belgium revealed that while 67% of respondents had eaten horsemeat at some point in their lives,  a mere 4% actually claimed to eat it frequently.

Belgium slaughters a relatively small number of horses (relative to North America, that is). The last available stats courtesy of HSI (Humane Society International) explains why Belgium also imports large amounts of horsemeat from other countries.

Horses Slaughtered Within Belgium

2007 –      10,149

 2010 –        8,926

  2011 –        9,613 

Source: An investigation into the availability of horsemeat in Belgium, France, and the Netherlands – http://www.hsi.org/assets/pdfs/horses_EU_horsemeat_retail_investigation_Oct2012.pdf

Chevideco and all horse slaughterhouses treat horses as an agricultural product – a mere commodity. Olivier Kemseke, the General Manager, also slaughters local horses too, in a slaughterhouse located in a run-down neighbourhood (would you expect any other kind?) in central Brussels.  Kemseke sometimes personally inspects the horses at the abattoirs while wearing a butcher’s robe.

Chevideco General Manager – Olivier Kemseke

As most followers of the horse slaughter issues know, Chevideco was forced to close a profitable slaughterhouse in Texas.  That company owned the former Dallas Crown slaughterhouse that former Mayor Paula Bacon and others so carefully documented and chronicled.  From a US perspective, one of the best “go-to” persons is obviously Paula Bacon, who has always been more than willing to provide documentation from the Public Works Director, former Kaufman City Manager, Presbyterian Hospital, the daycare center, and the Police Chief, to support her claims about Dallas Crown,  which had a very long history of violations to their waste permit.   The city was even fined by the TCEQ for the plant’s failure to comply with backflow regulations that meant horse blood and waste backed up into sinks, toilets and tubs. When the plant finally closed, the city was left with nearly $100,000 in unpaid fines.

Dallas Crown consistently denied the City access to their property for wastewater testing despite requirement by city ordinance, city permit agreement, and court order. City staff reported that a $6 million upgrade to the wastewater treatment plant would be required even though the plant was planned and financed to last through 2015. There were numerous examples of offal and hides being transported through main thoroughfares in containers without covers, as well as problems with bones and other body parts in neighbouring yards, resulting in the attraction of “dogs and other animals.”

In response to 29 citations for wastewater violations, each accompanied by a potential fine of $2,000, Dallas Crown requested 29 separate jury trials, potentially causing yet another economic strain to the City’s budget. The cost to litigate against Dallas Crown consisted of the entire legal budget for the fiscal year. During this period, Dallas Crown paid property taxes that were less than half of what the City spent on legal fees directly related to Dallas Crown violations.  Dallas Crown was completely adversarial in Kaufman Texas.  Only the 1949 Texas law banning horse slaughter for human consumption finally got rid of them after a protracted battle in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

So, Dallas Crown and therefore its parent company, Chevideco, were hardly the most upstanding corporate citizens.  Not atypically though, horse slaughter interests are arrogant and not accustomed to being challenged.  Dallas Crown and the rest of the foreign-owned US slaughterhouses seemed to think that laws and communities can be ignored with impunity.

Despite the fact that Belgium is importing large amounts of horsemeat from other countries, Kemseke has set his gaze on slaughtering the large percentage of horses that are not incorporated into the Belgian passporting system.  He basically wants to slaughter as if there is no passporting system of horses at all.  This continues Chevideco’s conscious policy and practice of taking selfish advantage of circumstances with little regard for principles or for the consequences of these horses and the people that own them.  He views this as a monumental cash grab (he estimates these horses are worth 60 million €) and couches the whole sordid, self-interested mess as one driven by his humanity for horses.  That’s right – slaughter them for food – BEFORE they can be abused and neglected.

Please read through this and tell me you don’t see right through it just as if you were looking through a fishtank (original here):

There’s much in his proposal that deserves commenting.  First of all, note the high percentage of noncompliant horses and owners – Kemseke tells us it’s 41%.  To me this is evidence that the Belgians probably aren’t much different from North Americans in that they don’t want the tracking system either.

Secondly, note that Kemseke’s work document tells us that it is really out of concern for FUTURE neglect that he bases this entire premise (the slaughter of 100,000 undocumented horses) on.  How did 100,000 un-passported horses suddenly become a “welfare timebomb?”

Of course, the “humane” aspect in this document seems like an afterthought, because Kemseke immediately announces at the start of his work document  that the opportunity for capturing this market is potentially 60 million €.  What indications does he have that unregistered horses are or will be neglected?  Aren’t they currently owned by someone?  How will the current owners be forced to enroll in the passport system if they haven’t already?  Interesting that Kemseke seems to want the Belgian/EU authorities to enforce passporting or accept his work-around so that it can ultimately enrich his pocketbook.

He goes on to list the industries that will benefit by slaughtering these horses,  suggesting that these industries can only exist by the grace and favour of the horse slaughter industry.  One of these is apparently the leather industry.  Please someone,  for God’s sake,  think of the cordovan leather industry!

Kemseke includes Pharma as one of the beneficiaries of horse slaughter.  Apparently he has found other means by which to capitalize on some of the inedible byproducts of horse slaughter – the lower legs of horses which yield tendons that Chevideco has multi-purposed off to the medical products industry.  The horse tendons are being reclaimed to be used in a product called Tachocomb®, used to stop bleeding during surgery.  It’s basically a biological sponge that absorbs blood during surgery, and like Premarin® and Prempro®, there are probably non-biologic alternatives to using it too.

He goes on to state that it is morally wrong to disregard a good source of protein with people in the world starving. But that statement begs the question – what is Kemseke’s plan for feeding the poor?  What is he currently doing to feed the poor with the horses he does slaughter?  Another Trojan Horse.  And he presents us with the false dilemma of finding more horses to eat rather than resorting to eating bugs as protein!

He also complains that the feeding and basic maintenance of these horses costs 145 million €.  This is a recurring annual cost, additional costs of veterinary and farrier attention has not been considered.  Well, who gives a shit?  Are these costs coming out of his own pocket?  Horses are not on welfare – their owners are paying for this, and it’s driving the economy.  If these 100,000 horses were all suddenly slaughtered, regardless of whether they are wanted or not, none of the aforementioned people or businesses are going to get any money!

Most worrisome of all is that this work document is intended to set a precedent for other EU countries and probably Canada and the US, where Sue Wallis and Bill DesBarres must be salivating out of every orifice at the thought. However, even if enforcement did happen, that’s no guarantee that he’d get 60 million € from that as he anticipates.  It’s likely that those 100,000 horses are all privately owned and nobody is giving them up anytime soon.  How many of them would declare that their horses had had drugs?  That leaves an even smaller number out of the 100,000 that he would also have to share amongst the other Belgian slaughter organizations such as Velda N.V. and Multimeat N.V.

The lesson learned here is that even with a passporting or traceability system, sleazy operators will always try to find a work-around to line their pockets.  Will it eventually come down to someone in authority agreeing that,  despite every procedural mechanism being undertaken to prevent it,  even horses with documented bute treatment will eventually all be deemed “slaughter-able”  after the passage of six months?  Inintended consequences indeed.   “Follow the money trail” sounds like such an old Hollywood cliché but it really is true when speaking of corporate corruption.

New Here?

Oh hey there…..  Thanks for stopping by!  I’ve now been writing this blog for exactly 364 days!   While I’m not a professional journalist,  I hope I do a decent job of it,  at least better than these guys.

I started this blog not only as a creative outlet for myself, but because I was so inspired by the bloggers that I follow – a few philosophers,  as well as people opposed to horse slaughter and animal abuse.  I also wanted an outlet to document the protests we made against Toronto restaurants serving horsemeat,  and show that they were entirely peaceful.  My first blog post, on April 16, 2012, was the start of many posts about restaurants,  foodism,  eating animals,  pets,  and of course horses.  I post about 4-7 times a month,  and lately I’ve invited a few other bloggers and other people who write well and have a great message,  to guest post.  So I’m happy if I can publicize a great message or article, even though I didn’t write it myself.  These guest writers often end up having some of the most popular blog posts too!  I’m also a 3-D artist and like to use my own art and photography in the blog whenever possible.

I try to stay away from blogging equine-related news only,  because there are so many other horse-related blogs that do a great job at that and have it totally covered.  I also want to write about local animal issues such as Toronto restaurants and livestock markets,  putting my own personal (and usually sarcastic) spin on it.  Hence the tagline “When Reason Goes Out The Window,  Ridicule Pulls Up A Chair.”  God only knows that in the world of horse slaughter,  there’s more than enough subject matter to tackle,  ranging from the inane to the irretrievably stupid.  That is not to say however, that I wouldn’t apply the appropriate gravitas or high seriousness to the subject matter that demands it.  I also write an annual summary of what happened in the world of horse welfare each year-end on Storify.  Please check out the summary for 2012 – Horse Welfare 2012 – The Year in Review

Roundups:

In these “round-ups,”  which bear no resemblance to  BLM roundups,  I highlight my own favourite posts as well as the most popular blog posts of the past year.  Check out  the top 20 countries that are responsible for the majority of traffic to this blog.  It’s like getting a quick’n’dirty view of the entire blog on fast-forward.

My Own Favourite Posts:

The Last, Best Days of Sugar the Mattawan Junkyard Horse

The Disquieting Truth About Drug Exposures in Horsemeat

Start The Car! The IKEA Monkey Chronicle Gets Ugly

Horse Sense vs. Non-Sense – 10 More Enduring Myths From The Pro-Slaughter Posse

Get Your Freak On – Horsemeat Restaurants (And the Companies That Should Sponsor Them)

Putting Horsemeat on the Table – Canadian Influences and Enablers – Infographic

Heads, I Win: Tails You Lose – Myths and Fallacies of the Pro-Slaughter Mindset

Most Popular Posts  by Unique Hits (in descending order)

1.  Canada’s Live Export of Horses For Slaughter – Do Canadians Care?

2.  50 Shades of Black and Blue

3.  Small Town Stouffville’s Dirty Little Secret

4.  Have the Tentacles of Horse Slaughter Touched the Set of Heartland?

5.  Heads, I Win: Tails You Lose – Myths and Fallacies of the Pro-Slaughter Mindset

6.  Where Will All The Horses Go?

7.  A Tale of Two Polls…..

8.  Canada’s Horse “Welfare” Group in Dubious Company (Or Reason #189,743 Why We Cannot Trust Unified Equine or the IEBA)

9.  Hunting for Fallacies – Why Hunting is Bad for the Environment

10.  Slaughterhouse Sue – “We’re Losing Horses in Our Lives,” So Let’s Slaughter More of Them!

Top 20 Views By Country:

United States

Canada

United Kingdom

Germany

Australia

Netherlands

Mexico

France

Italy

India

Sweden

Belgium

Austria

Spain

Switzerland

Finland

Russian Federation

Brazil

Poland

Ireland

Colophon:

Of course this blog uses the WordPress platform.  I want to give full credit to the great international community that WordPress has brought together.

The theme is “Matala” by Matt Mullenweg.

I’m using the Tag Cloud,  Twitter,  Links,  Milestone, and RSS Links Widgets, and I use Poll Daddy to collect and publish survey info.  I also use Sitemeter,  which is great when it works,  which isn’t that often!

Lastly,  please consider subscribing to this blog. You can also follow me on Twitter – @hclemenceau.  Please check out the other great blogs and resources on the right in the Blogroll.

Redneck Tales from Wyoming

Written by:  Pageant Queen Honey Candy Mae (Government name:  Heather Clemenceau)

I have to admit that on rare occasions I do indulge in the occasional reality show, if only to remind myself that I am poorer, and more refined  than anyone currently seen on reality TV. But what’s with the preponderance of “southern reality” shows on TV?  The earliest incarnation, I think, would be the regular feature on The Carol Burnett Show with Mama’s loveable but dumb southern family.  We’re just getting rid of Jersey Shore, which of course isn’t southern, but it’s being replaced by Buckwild, which seems to build off of the popularity of Duck Dynasty, Toddlers and Tiaras,  Swamp People,  and Hillbilly Handfishin’.  (I almost typed “handfisting” which is probably a more accurate title because it’s what they actually do on this show).  Anyway, It really looks like redneck TV rules the airwaves.

As far as I can determine, the origins of the term redneck actually go back to the 1930’s in a number of disputes in West Virginia. A large group of unionized miners marched south to Logan County, to pressure the mine owners there to allow their miners to become unionized. To identify themselves, the miners all wore red bandannas around their necks. The publicity associated with the battles and the subsequent court cases created the term red-necks, and at that time they were viewed as the good guys in the conflict. Originally, the term came from the later 1800’s in southern Georgia and Alabama to refer to sharecroppers who worked in the fields thus getting a sunburned neck. They were called ‘rednecks’ as a term meant for hard working people.

If you’re a horse person you may have experienced the feeling that we’ve also been watching  another Wyoming-based reality show that nobody can turn off despite shitty ratings.   Wyoming Rep “Slaughterhouse” Sue Wallis’ IS a redneckian soap opera, which sometimes bears more than a passing resemblance to southern reality TV.  Recall Sue Wallis’ radio interview on the Sasha Show, the one where she hung up after 10 minutes.  Who watched this same behaviour from Honey Boo Boo Chile on Dr. Drew?  When he started asking her questions that she didn’t like, Honey Boo Boo did what everybody should do when Dr. Drew starts asking you questions: pretend to be asleep!  But eventually, Honey Boo Boo woke up and said that she hates being on TV and hates it when fans come up to her. Sue pulled a very similar tactic on the Sasha Show when she bailed after being asked stuff she didn’t want to answer, and without so much as a goo’bye  to her United Horsemen fangirls and boys.

I  actually have a strong aversion to discrimination and racism, so nowhere am I going to mock racial issues.  While I am mocking perceived cultural differences, I do not, implicitly or explicitly advocate that “rednecks” are inferior to anyone else.  But prominent rural people like Sue Wallis and many of her supporters do act like ignorant rednecks and add fuel to the stereotype.  So nobody write to me that I’m a racist – but I am going to have some fun at the expense of horse eaters using the Redneck Dialectizer, which hilariously converts everyday English to Redneck,  Swedish Chef,  and Elmer Fudd dialects,  and the Honey Boo Boo Name Generator.  I’ve translated specific message points and soundbites made by Sue Wallis,  Dave Duquette,  and our favourite Canadian slaughterphile Bill DesBarres into “Rednedian” speak,  and they make no more sense than they did in their original English.  Unfortunately,  there is no application that can translate “Dumbass” to “Common Sense.”  So grab yerself a glass o’ moonshine and half a laugh at their expense.

Who remembers this one?

“If yo’ had lived in mah shoes on over these last few years yo”d knows thet it don’t matter whut ah say o’ doesn’t say “they” will make sumpin up.It is all a Saul Alinsky style campaign t’make it a varmintal attack on a sin’le indivijool instead of a broader problem effeckin’ ev’ry houn’dog ownin’ fambly an’ business in th’ U.S. ah igno’e it. It is irrelevant. Once yo’ unnerstan’ thet simple corncepp, it is purdy easy t’figger out whut is gwine on, as enny fool kin plainly see.”

“We wanted a state thet was suppo’tive of our effo’ts, an’ th’ folks in Missouri is 100 percent on board wif whut we is tryin’ t’do an’ how we is tryin’ t’do it.”

Train-wreckiness at its finest – a ridiculous comment coming out of Missouri,  being made more ridiculous courtesy of the Dialectizer….

“We haf not spoken t’him direckly, but it is mah unnerstan’in’ thet th’ YMCA direcko’ received death threats t’his fambly, an’ to sponso’s of his o’ganizashun, We haf heard direckly fum other community members thet they have received thrett upin’ letters jest fo’ publicly expressin’ their suppo’t fo’ th’ projeck.”

So many eloquent quotes guaranteed to live on in infamy…..

“Th’ Mo’an amendment does NOT deal wif th’ real issues of starvin’ houn’dogs, o’ th’ demise of th’ houn’dog as a valued domestic animal as indicated by th’ mo’e than 70% drop in numbers of houn’dogs available fo’ pleasure, spo’t, an’ wawk, no’ does it deal wif all of th’ problems thet haf happened t’th’ houn’dog wo’ld as a direck result of HSUS ackshun on account o’ 2007.”

“Ah jest came acrost this hyar on a diffrunt group. Seein’ th’ graph is purdy startlin’. Really makes it hit home how seriously close we is to completely losin’ houn’dogs in our lives.”

Who can forget the Jascha Lottin incident and Wallis’ appeal to her followers to support this horse killer?

“Varmints hoominely kill an old houn’dog, butcher it t’use th’ fine meat, an’ decide t’have some fun wif it, an’ take pitchers.” “Hey yo’ Oregonians…howsabout retchin’ out t’these folks? No doubt they is bein’ hammered by idiots. Let’s give them some suppo’t.”

“Friends, between drought, wildfires, no opshuns, an’ an animal rights driven obstruckive federal ajuncy, we face a mighty grim winter…”

Shooting fish in a barrel…..

“All drugs haf wifdrawal periods, an’ thar is scientifically established time periods which enny meat animals muss be held af’er medicashuns befo’e they kin be processed.  Shet mah mouth! In terms of bute, specifically, ev’ry race houn’dog in th’ country has t’have their blood tested fo’ prohibited drugs. Common smarts on th’ track is thet bute will clear th’ system in two o’ three days an’ thet yo’ kin be purdy much guareenteed thet thar will be absolutely no vestige of th’ drug in seven days.”

Sugar Britches Wonderful (Government Name:  Sue Wallis)

“In 2011, th’ Houn’dog We’fare Alliance of Kinada (HWAC) intrydooced th’ fust indestry audit fo’ houn’dog processin’ plants. Th’ meat indestry is subjeck t’audits by th’ govment fo’ grub safety, hoomine transpo’t an’ han’lin’, an’ audits by buyers t’assure produck quality fo’ their cestomers. We wawk closely wif th’ Kinadian Grub Inspeckshun Ajuncy (CFIA) an’ corntinuously lobby fo’ adharnce t’regulashuns. We provide outretch via th’ web site, articles an’ media releases an’ participate in houn’dog indestry cornferences an’ events t’promote houn’dog we’fare prackices at all levels of houn’dog produckshun.”

Yep – “Slaughter is a wonderful option…….”

“In reality, houn’dog slaughter is an opshun thet c’d potentially put an ind t’much abuse an’ negleck of houn’dogs, an’ solve th’ problem of whut t’do wif th’ unwanted houn’dog.”

Boo Bear Daring (Government Name:  Bill DesBarres)

“No rodeo event in Oregon corndones, o’ cornducks, houn’dog trippin’. Oregon has comprehensive laws in place t’proteck animals. This hyar bill was mighty unnecessary. It was nothin’ mo’e than a fust step by HSUS t’ban all ropin’ of all animals in our state.Houn’dogs is livestock, an’ eff’n this hyar bill had become law, it’d haf set th’ precedent fo’ makin’ it illegal t’rope a cow. Af’er all, they’re both livestock — whut’s th’ difference between houn’dogs’ legs an’ cows’ legs?”

Darlin’  Doodle (Government Name:  Dave Duquette)

It all starts to look and sound the same doesn’t it?    And “Darlin’ Doodle?” That’s gonna stick.  You can count on it.

Mount Up Everyone – IEBA and Sue Wallis Form Yet Another Dark-Sided Alliance

Written by Heather Clemenceau

Despite experiencing a profound personal loss late last year,  “Slaughterhouse Sue” Wallis tells us on her Facebook page that she’s now caught up on all her paperwork and laundry,  and it also seems that she’s gotten back up on that proverbial horse, to build new alliances in her never-ending quest to market horseflesh.  Apparently,  one of the first orders of business was to introduce  an Ag-Gag bill in her home state of Wyoming.  The bills are an attempt to stem the flow of undercover videos and photos by animal activists and they represent a wholesale assault on many fundamental values. Not only would these bills perpetuate animal abuse on industrial farms, they would also threaten workers’ rights, consumer health and safety, law enforcement investigations and the freedom of journalists, employees and the public at large to share information about something as fundamental as our food supply.  Exposés of illegal or inhumane treatment of animals at factory farms have led to the closure of farming facilities, nationwide recalls and, in some cases, criminal convictions.

You have to wonder whether Wallis believes there should be any food restrictions to protect the safety of consumers.  She believes that

A shining example of beauty in motion and all things pastoral, and on the right is Sue Wallis

consumers have the right to eat whatever they want, whether that be any food produced by a cottage industry or roadside stand, without licensing or inspection.  Yet conversely,  she doesn’t appear to support the public’s right to know how that food from a factory farm is produced.  Hillandale Farms isn’t inviting folks into their poultry sheds. Smithfield does not welcome people into their sow barns.  And Cal-Maine Foods. isn’t holding daily tours of their egg-laying farms. And neither did Slaughterhouse Sue invite the unwashed public into her sooper-seekrit industry meeting in December 2012,   a meeting that would be more difficult to gain admittance to than your local prison.

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So if you think that beef burger you bought from Tesco tastes a bit strange, just shut up and eat it like a champion. If you’re a Muslim and have just recently found out you’re eating pork in your burgers,  so what?  It’s all about keeping the consumer uninformed about what is in the foodstuffs they purchase, or how the animals are treated.  One constant with Wallis is that you can always count on her rabidly trying to find a way around food safety laws – chemical contamination of domestic horsemeat is no big deal.

In attendance at that meeting was Kay Johnson Smith, (apparently known in social circles as A-Kay-47) President of the Animal Agriculture Alliance,  another of Wallis’ connections to slaughterhouse managers,  policymakers,  veterinarians,  and restaurant owners,  who all hope to glimpse how Big Agribusiness hopes to take on its biggest fear – animal activists.  As a propagandist for Big Ag, it is Smith’s responsibility to present your average CAFO to the consumer as a bucolic, small pastured family farm,  all while the reality is that less than 1% of animals raised for food come from family farms.  At the December IEBA meeting, Smith was presenting a plan that would allow farms to thoroughly screen job applicants and implement a security plan. The plan includes stepping up security at factory farms and slaughterhouses so activists have more difficulty with undercover investigations — clearly, it’s easier to get away with cruelty when the public doesn’t know about it.  As President of the AAA,  Johnson Smith’s involvement with Wallis and horse slaughter is an indication that Smith’s services will be utilized in normalizing and marketing “cheval” in the US and beyond.  And Johnson Smith is more than ready to do that,  describing the lack of slaughter in the US as an  “Undeniable National Horror,”  Aside from the overblown rhetoric,  I wonder if she knows the difference between vegetarians and vegans?  I’m reasonably sure most horse people are neither.

”It is time for the federal government to intervene and stop these
animals, considered by many to be American icons, from being used by
vegan groups as political pawns in their quest to impose their vegetarian
agenda on our nation,” added Johnson-Smith. ”Additionally, it is time
for all governments-federal, state and local-to recognize these groups
for what they are, extremists attempting to use animal welfare as a tool
to advance their radical vegan agenda.”

The Animal Agriculture Alliance “Axis of Evil,” with HSUS right dead centre

The stated mission of the AAA is to keep animal agriculture in the US and defend farming practices against animal welfare groups.  The AAA attacks groups whose sole mandate is advocating for and rescue of farm animals.  They send letters of congratulation to companies who refuse to implement humane solutions for farm animals.  They also support the Fur Commission.  Thanks to groups like the Animal Agriculture Alliance and factory farming’s massive economies of scale, a lot of food today is disgusting or cruel or disgusting and cruel.

Since reasonably well informed individuals know that CAFO farms are miserable for animals, the environment,

From stable to table….

farmers, public health, biodiversity, rural communities, and  global poverty,  Johnson Smith has probably indulged in propaganda that would make Leni Reifenstahl blush. The AAA hopes to create a climate whereby donating to the HSUS (or other animal welfare groups) will be nothing short of the kiss of death for businesses who rely on public support. They do this by taking issue with organizations who give donations to the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) – Casella Wines (makers of Yellow Tail) and the Bank of America are two predominant examples.  After asking their members and others in agriculture to harass both organizations via social media, phone calls, and mail, they managed to  brow-beat Yellow Tail to get them to withdraw future support, and Johnson Smith was happy to let them off the hook with a warning, “we are happy to put this unfortunate incident behind us.”  Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan however, stood up to Johnson Smith by telling her that the HSUS does not get preferential treatment and providing the card was simply responding to consumer demand. Despite a great rending of garments and gnashing of teeth, the AAA had to admit defeat and officially mourn the end of their relationship with BOA, if indeed they actually had one.

The Animal Agricultural Alliance is so easily offended.  Aside from indulging a pathological fear of vegetarians and vegans, Meatless Mondays, an initiative of the nonprofit, Monday Campaign, Inc., and the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, was perceived by the AAA and other groups as an extremist animal rights campaign to end meat consumption. Absolutely NOTHING in that newsletter article about Meatless Mondays was false information. In fact, I’d wager to guess that article is the most truth the USDA has let out in a long time. Unfortunately, the USDA capitulated very quickly when confronted by meat industry lobbyists.  In future,  the agency should look towards substantiated science as well as health benefits rather than giving in to public opinion and industry greed.

“The Alliance is a radical, pro factory-farming organization that is either completely out-of-step with Americans’ values on how animals ought to be treated, or perhaps simply chooses to ignore those values at the request of its corporate funders.” HSUS Food Policy Director Matt Prescott

If you look at the infographic AAA has created (above), you can see that although they’ve missed groups such as Animals’ Angels, they’ve targeted Jonathan Safran Foer,  who isn’t even a strict vegetarian (and not a domestic terrorist either).  The AAA claims that claim his book contains some of the most negative stereotypes of modern agriculture. Like ever. So to that end they offer an anti-terrorism course so there will be a way to combat laws against horse slaughter and people like the Jonathan Safran Foer’s of the world.   The power brokers know that their business model depends on consumers not being able to see (or hear about) horses or other animals.   Additionally,  the AAA has engaged the Lead attorney for Ringling/Feld Entertainment,  who provides seminars for them on how to defeat animal welfare cases.  Ringling in bed with Big Ag, what a shock.

According to HSUS Food Policy Director Matt Prescott, the American Agricultural Alliance has never had a grip on reality. “The Alliance is a radical, pro factory-farming organization that is either completely out-of-step with Americans’ values on how animals ought to be treated, or perhaps simply chooses to ignore those values at the request of its corporate funders,” Prescott said in an email. The fact is simple: without organizations like HSUS, the meat industry and factory farming in general would continue to strive to maximize output at animals’ expense.

Draft Horses Being Sent to Japan for slaughter – unable to fully raise their heads in their confined crates.

The days of “it’s none of your business” farming are long gone.  Bills similar to Wallis’ Ag-Gag have been proposed and many defeated – in other states between 2011 and 2012. Ag-Gag bills to penalize those who secretly record video of livestock are a sobering setback for the animals, of course, as well as for food safety. Remember the salmonella outbreak two years ago—the one in which half a billion Iowa eggs were recalled?  Mercy for Animals conducted an undercover video investigation of the farm in 2009, and forwarded its findings to Maine animal welfare officials.  In Wallis’ own state of Wyoming,  the HSUS videoed astonishing abuse of pigs at Wyoming Premium Meats.  Under an Ag-Gag bill, these undercover endeavours would be illegal, and in some cases a felony.  It’s a shame that people feel their livelihoods are at stake, or feel threatened by the growing awareness of the horrors of the industry.  Neither Wallis nor Johnson Smith care about the welfare of horses or any other animal – it’s in their best interest for people to continue to dump unwanted horses in the middle of empty fields, at rescues, or have them seized Dorothy Robertson-style, because those horses are how they are going to make their money selling horsemeat to Japan, Belgium, and France.

Please read HSUS response to Wallis’ Ag-Gag bill.

Horse Welfare 2012 – The Year in Review….

© Heather Clemenceau

Written by:  Heather Clemenceau

Horse advocates have had a busy year working to prohibit the importation or exportation of horses for slaughter for human consumption. Horse protection groups released many damning reports of abuse and drug contamination,  and took aggressive legal action to discourage slaughter.

Undercover footage helped support our position,  and numerous investigations were publicized.  Citizen advocates monitored illegal trucking activities and for the first time,  retrieved horses directly from slaughterhouses. Pro-slaughters proved,  via their own (in)actions,  that slaughter does not prevent starvation.

We were also aided by the improved sensitivity of testing protocols in the EU,  which continued to reveal drug contamination of horsemeat,  a finding which is continually met with silence by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency,  although the subject of drug contamination is making its way into the food webs.  We’ve told restaurants in both Canada and the US that we don’t want horses on the menu.

Horse killers,  kill buyers and their enablers did not have a good year – several were charged with felonies.  Slaughterhouse Sue and Dave Duquette were unable to open any of their proposed slaughterhouses, despite performing an endless kabuki dance around the true status of the plants.  Duquette also forgot to send a cheque to renew his own domain name on the web and subsequently lost www.daveduquette.com to a pro-horse HSUS site.

We’ve grown more media  savvy too,  with PSAs and billboards getting the message out.  We are mobilizing via different social media platforms to petition lawmakers. Numerous examples of “horse hoarding” received publicity as well,  with advocates rallying to promote horse adoptions through the increased use of Facebook groups.  We’ve also demanded that horse killers and those who fail to protect horses and humans be justly punished.  However,  despite our best efforts to keep Senate bill 1176 and House resolution 2966 active,  they both died without ever being brought to a vote.

The challenges in 2013 will be even greater,  as the EU moves to ban importation of North American horsemeat and the full force and effect of the ending of the slots program in Ontario are felt.  HWAC,  Equine Canada and the FEI are also launching “prototype” chipping programs,  ostensibly to ensure compliance with 2013 EU regulations.  As we fine-tune all our programs and advocacy efforts,  we look forward to a most challenging year,  but no doubt one filled with hope that we might be seeing the final death throes of the horse slaughter industry.  Happy Holidays indeed!

Read the entire chronological recap on Storify: