OldDog/NewTricks
Well-known member
Begin forwarded message:
From: "Reynnells, Richard" <[email protected]>
Date: June 10, 2011 7:42:32 AM PDT
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: FW: <Animal Stewardship-L> FW: To Congress - Do Not effect horse welfare or horse people without reading GAO Report
fyi
-----Original Message-----
From:
Sent: Friday, June 10, 2011 10:15 AM
To: Reynnells, Richard
Subject:
without reading GAO Report
...
Subject: To Congress - Do Not effect horse welfare or horse people without reading GAO Report
To the Honorable Members of the U. S. Senate and the House of
Representatives:
Please DO NOT SUPPORT any effort that will impact the welfare of horses or
the horse industry without first studying a soon to be released GAO Report!
The GAO Study on the Horse Industry was requested by the Senate Ag Appropriations
Committee more than a year and a half ago. GAO has thoroughly studied the
effect of the horse processing plants closing in 2007. This study looked at the
effect of the plants closing on the welfare of horses themselves, as well as the
effect on farm economy.
We respectfully ask that all members of Congress wait for its release before
sponsoring, co-sponsoring, or voting on any measure dealing with horses so that your
decisions can be made on solid verifiable information.
It is our understanding that the draft report was due to be delivered with
the USDA response back to GAO on June 8th. This is the final step in the GAO process
and should be delivered to Congress and the public very soon.
Voting on any measure dealing with horses without reviewing the entire
report is voting with blinders on.
You and your colleagues need to have all the available information to make
any sort of informed decision.
The devastated horse industry continues to be attacked by corporate
fundraising animal rights groups led by the Humane Society of the United States and
their many minions. They claim to care about horses...but truth be told, they care more
about raising money. Selling misinformation, peddling outright lies, and jerking
the emotional chains of good-hearted caring Americans is their lucrative stock in trade.
When these so-called nonprofits spend less than ½ of 1% of their millions on
helping a single dog or cat, let alone a horse, the motivation is pretty clear.
They offer no solution to the soaring increase in starving, abandoned, and neglected
horses whose owners can't keep them, can't sell them, and can't give them away,
nor do they spend any of their dollars to ease the suffering of unwanted horses.
Congressional members who support these destructive bans and prohibitions on
the horse industry are stripping a cog in the agricultural wheel in favor of an
animal rights industry that does not generate any revenue or jobs. That approach
supports only non-contributory, emotionally-charged groups and eliminates a
multi-billion dollar, tax-paying and jobs-generating industry. The inevitable end result
will be a nation where only the very wealthy and elite few can afford to have a
horse in their lives, and the sad demise of our beloved horseback culture.
Because we are the horse industry which has been directly affected by the
loss of market for unwanted, unusable, and excess horses, we know that the entire
equine industry is liquidating and downsizing. Fewer horses means fewer jobs,
fewer horse shows, fewer rodeos, fewer new trucks and horse trailers, fewer training
dollars, fewer veterinary services, fewer saddles, bridles, less need for feed - all
adding up to a devastating economic contraction.
Efforts like the recent Rep. Moran amendment to the House Ag Appropriations
bill, or the apparently soon to be introduced Sen. Landrieu sponsored "American
Prevention of Horse Slaughter Act of 2011" serve only to increase the inevitable
suffering of the very animals they claim to protect by removing a moral and humane use
of unwanted, unusable, and excess horses. These measures are a direct assault
on the private property rights of individual horse owners, and interfere with
state's rights to encourage responsible and regulated businesses to enhance and improve
their agricultural economies.
Destroying the U.S. horse industry simply means any ability to provide
wholesome products welcomed by a robust worldwide market is denied to our own people,
and that any opportunity to profit is exported to other countries. With the
ability to ethically produce horse meat under regulated humane conditions in the
United States we would create more than 1,000 good paying direct jobs practically
overnight, minimize the suffering of horses, and go a long ways towards restoring a
devastated U.S. horse market. Without an economically viable secondary market the value
of all horses at every level has plummeted, and the entire diverse equine world
has been economically devastated. The GAO Report should tell us the true and
accurate extent of that damage.
We stand ready with a broad coalition representing horse owners and the
horse industry, state and local governments, tribes, animal agriculture, wildlife managers,
land and resource management experts, pet animal organizations and sporting dog
groups, animal welfare advocates, zoos, circuses, animal research, and literally
thousands of individual concerned citizens to offer information and testimony.
We respectfully ask for your support of families who hope to raise their
children and grandchildren in our beloved horseback culture. Do not be deceived by
the misguided agendas of those who practice "compassion gone wrong."
Respectfully,
Rep. Sue Wallis
United Organizations of the Horse
Wyoming State House of Representatives
Vice Chair - National Conference of State Legislatures Agriculture and
Energy Committee
From: "Reynnells, Richard" <[email protected]>
Date: June 10, 2011 7:42:32 AM PDT
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: FW: <Animal Stewardship-L> FW: To Congress - Do Not effect horse welfare or horse people without reading GAO Report
fyi
-----Original Message-----
From:
Sent: Friday, June 10, 2011 10:15 AM
To: Reynnells, Richard
Subject:
without reading GAO Report
...
Subject: To Congress - Do Not effect horse welfare or horse people without reading GAO Report
To the Honorable Members of the U. S. Senate and the House of
Representatives:
Please DO NOT SUPPORT any effort that will impact the welfare of horses or
the horse industry without first studying a soon to be released GAO Report!
The GAO Study on the Horse Industry was requested by the Senate Ag Appropriations
Committee more than a year and a half ago. GAO has thoroughly studied the
effect of the horse processing plants closing in 2007. This study looked at the
effect of the plants closing on the welfare of horses themselves, as well as the
effect on farm economy.
We respectfully ask that all members of Congress wait for its release before
sponsoring, co-sponsoring, or voting on any measure dealing with horses so that your
decisions can be made on solid verifiable information.
It is our understanding that the draft report was due to be delivered with
the USDA response back to GAO on June 8th. This is the final step in the GAO process
and should be delivered to Congress and the public very soon.
Voting on any measure dealing with horses without reviewing the entire
report is voting with blinders on.
You and your colleagues need to have all the available information to make
any sort of informed decision.
The devastated horse industry continues to be attacked by corporate
fundraising animal rights groups led by the Humane Society of the United States and
their many minions. They claim to care about horses...but truth be told, they care more
about raising money. Selling misinformation, peddling outright lies, and jerking
the emotional chains of good-hearted caring Americans is their lucrative stock in trade.
When these so-called nonprofits spend less than ½ of 1% of their millions on
helping a single dog or cat, let alone a horse, the motivation is pretty clear.
They offer no solution to the soaring increase in starving, abandoned, and neglected
horses whose owners can't keep them, can't sell them, and can't give them away,
nor do they spend any of their dollars to ease the suffering of unwanted horses.
Congressional members who support these destructive bans and prohibitions on
the horse industry are stripping a cog in the agricultural wheel in favor of an
animal rights industry that does not generate any revenue or jobs. That approach
supports only non-contributory, emotionally-charged groups and eliminates a
multi-billion dollar, tax-paying and jobs-generating industry. The inevitable end result
will be a nation where only the very wealthy and elite few can afford to have a
horse in their lives, and the sad demise of our beloved horseback culture.
Because we are the horse industry which has been directly affected by the
loss of market for unwanted, unusable, and excess horses, we know that the entire
equine industry is liquidating and downsizing. Fewer horses means fewer jobs,
fewer horse shows, fewer rodeos, fewer new trucks and horse trailers, fewer training
dollars, fewer veterinary services, fewer saddles, bridles, less need for feed - all
adding up to a devastating economic contraction.
Efforts like the recent Rep. Moran amendment to the House Ag Appropriations
bill, or the apparently soon to be introduced Sen. Landrieu sponsored "American
Prevention of Horse Slaughter Act of 2011" serve only to increase the inevitable
suffering of the very animals they claim to protect by removing a moral and humane use
of unwanted, unusable, and excess horses. These measures are a direct assault
on the private property rights of individual horse owners, and interfere with
state's rights to encourage responsible and regulated businesses to enhance and improve
their agricultural economies.
Destroying the U.S. horse industry simply means any ability to provide
wholesome products welcomed by a robust worldwide market is denied to our own people,
and that any opportunity to profit is exported to other countries. With the
ability to ethically produce horse meat under regulated humane conditions in the
United States we would create more than 1,000 good paying direct jobs practically
overnight, minimize the suffering of horses, and go a long ways towards restoring a
devastated U.S. horse market. Without an economically viable secondary market the value
of all horses at every level has plummeted, and the entire diverse equine world
has been economically devastated. The GAO Report should tell us the true and
accurate extent of that damage.
We stand ready with a broad coalition representing horse owners and the
horse industry, state and local governments, tribes, animal agriculture, wildlife managers,
land and resource management experts, pet animal organizations and sporting dog
groups, animal welfare advocates, zoos, circuses, animal research, and literally
thousands of individual concerned citizens to offer information and testimony.
We respectfully ask for your support of families who hope to raise their
children and grandchildren in our beloved horseback culture. Do not be deceived by
the misguided agendas of those who practice "compassion gone wrong."
Respectfully,
Rep. Sue Wallis
United Organizations of the Horse
Wyoming State House of Representatives
Vice Chair - National Conference of State Legislatures Agriculture and
Energy Committee
