Sent: Tuesday, January 20, 2004 5:27 PM
Subject: [againstslaughter] BLM horses
I talked to Ken Greenberger of the Bureau of Land Management
today about Horse Council of Illinois' statement about the BLM having thousands
and thousands of horses imprisoned in crowded corrals, as I thought this was
incorrect. The horses are put in pens on a short-term basis where they are vet-checked,
wormed and have wounds tended to. After this they go to adoption centers where
there is a minimum fee of $125 for horses and they do use an auctioneer if more
than one person wants a particular horse. Some of them that are Spanish
mustang-type will a lot of the time bring up into the thousands of dollars. The
ones that do not get adopted out, mostly older horses that would be to hard to
train, are sent to BLM retirement sanctuaries in OK and KS to live out their
lives. This is what Ken told me. They are also working on birth control to try
to control herd size. All I have to go on is his word but I believe it much more
than the HCI. If you think about it, it would be far too costly to keep them in
crowded corrals in terms of feeding, hoof care, and disease control, etc. If
anyone has any questions, Ken will gladly answer them. His number is
202-452-5066.
Your friends,
Tom and Julia Durfee
The Laughing Horse Sanctuary
8317 Grassland Drive
Sandy Level, VA 24161
FAX / Phone 434-927-5298
Phone 434-927-5297