Agency says some wild horses slaughtered soon after adoptees take title

Friday, Nov. 5, 1999 | 11:11 a.m.

Since March 1998, 186 wild horses went to slaughterhouses within three months of their owners getting tiles from the federal government, the Bureau of Land Management announced last month.

The quick trip from title to slaughter was detailed in an internal BLM report saying 571 former wild horses have been slaughtered at four U.S. plants between March 1998 and Sept. 22. It was the first detailed accounting by the BLM of wild horses going to slaughter since The Associated Press exposed the practice in 1997.

The BLM in July 1998 began requiring all new owners to sign a statement saying they did not intend to sell their horse for slaughter, although some owners may have started signing those statements earlier

The internal BLM report fueled renewed criticism by wild horse advocates regarding the BLM program, which began under a 1971 law designed to spare wild horses from being rounded up and sent to slaughter.

Critics say the program has been plagued by lax enforcement of rules designed to protect horses and poor record-keeping. For example, the October report said five horses arrived at a Texas slaughterhouse the day their new owners got title. But the BLM now says that was a mistake.

Three of those horses were sent to slaughter three months after their owners got title, but the other two had been in private hands for five years or more, BLM spokeswoman Mary Knapp said Friday.

"We went back and took a harder look at the information. We were just as alarmed as anyone at five horses being slaughtered the day they were titled," Knapp said. "We learned that is not the case, which is good news."

But BLM critics were not relieved. "This is a program that historically has had a lot of accounting problems," said Howard Crystal, a lawyer for the Fund for Animals. "I'm surprised they haven't been able to sort it out by now. You'd think they would be keeping closer track than they are."

Knapp said the BLM revised its figures as part of an ongoing effort to determine how many wild horses have been slaughtered since the agency began requiring the affidavits in July 1998. She said BLM officials were not sure if there were any other errors in the other figures about slaughtered wild horses.

All of the five horses in question, Knapp said, arrived at the Beltex horse slaughterhouse in Fort Worth, Texas, on April 20. One was a 21-year-old mare titled in 1994 and another was a 5-year-old stallion titled in June 1998, she said.

Three mares had been adopted by a boys' ranch and titled Jan. 21, Knapp said. The ranch sold the horses at an auction because they were considered untrainable, and one mare had kicked a boy in the head, Knapp said. She refused to identify the ranch.

The BLM estimates there are about 40,000 wild horses on federal land in the West. The agency sent out 5,745 for adoption during the year that ended Sept. 30, Knapp said.

Under the program, the adopter pays a fee of as little as $125 and agrees to care for the horse for one year, after which the BLM can hand over title to the animal. It is illegal to slaughter a wild horse, though the BLM says once wild horse adopters take title, the animals are private property and not protected by the federal law.

The Fund for Animals and other groups sued the BLM in the wake of the 1997 AP reports. To settle that lawsuit, the BLM agreed to require adopters to sign affidavits saying they have no intent to sell the wild horse or burro for slaughter.

Horse advocates hoped those affidavits would stop wild horses from being sent to slaughterhouses, where the horses are processed into meat.

But critics question whether the BLM is committed to enforcing the requirement. The head of the wild horse program, Tom Pogacnik, told The Salt Lake Tribune that it was "not clear just how long that signed agreement is intended to last."

"A significant number of these animals are going to slaughter within 90 days of title. That isn't right," said the Humane Society's Allen Rutberg, a member of the BLM's Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board. "I can't believe that these people wouldn't have known they were going to be selling their horses."

BLM lawyers are looking into whether adopters can be prosecuted for making false statements, and agency investigators are looking into the slaughter cases, Knapp said.

"We will do everything in our power as the law allows to ensure that wild horses and burros are placed with adopters who intend to provide a long-term and quality home," Knapp said.