Thank you for your email message, and thank you for taking time on Friday to visit with me over the telephone.

Responding to your email message,
 

1)  I understand that “horses” are listed as “livestock”  in the DPS records, and that this makes it difficult to treat horses individually.  I encountered this same problem when dealing with the Kaufman County Sheriff’s Dept., but, thanks to the diligence of Lieutenant Ernie Zepeda, we were able to pull 11 separate stolen horse reports for the past two years.  These reports were pulled by Kaufman County Sheriff’s Dept clerks in less than a week.  I paid $5.00 for each report.

2)  You said that the number of horses reported stolen to TSCRA is not a figure you can get your hands on easily.  I know a way you can get your hands on that number easily.

According to your website, if a “horse is reported as stolen, this information will be faxed to TSCRA market inspectors who are stationed at the two horse slaughter plants in Texas .  The information will also be listed in the TSCRA Theft Bulletin, posted on the TSCRA stolen horse website, sent to other horse slaughter facilities in the U.S. and Canada , and made available to TSCRA’s inspector force and other law enforcement agencies.”

All you need to do is gather the information that you “faxed to TSCRA market inspectors who are stationed at the two horse slaughter plants in Texas .”  That will tell us how many horses were reported as stolen to the Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. 

You wrote that the number “could be discovered but only by man hours reading summary reports submitted by each one of our 31 officers.”  I don’t think you need to do all that.  Just send me copies of the documents you “faxed to TSCRA market inspectors who are stationed at the two horse slaughter plants in Texas .”

3)  You wrote, “Since we started inspecting horses at the two plants we have recovered 837 [horses].  However, we can’t pull up how many of those were apprehended at the plants.  Again, that would take man hours to discover.  It is simply not a number that is totaled.” 

I know a way for you to determine how many stolen horses were “apprehended at the plants.”

·        Dial 817-624-1136 for Beltex and ask for Mark Roberts, brand inspector.  He can  tell you exactly how many stolen horses have been recovered at Beltex, and he can tell you exactly how many stolen horses he has recovered as a result of having been furnished a “list of stolen horses from Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association.”  The two numbers will probably not be the same.

·        Dial 1-972-932-3436 for Dallas Crown and ask for Jack Peavy, brand inspector.  He can tell you exactly how many stolen horses have been recovered at Dallas Crown, and he can tell you exactly how many stolen horses he has recovered as a result of having been furnished a “list of stolen horses from Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association.”  The two numbers will probably not be the same.

On Friday, April 11, I spoke with Dallas Crown employee Rosa Foster who confirmed that 3 stolen horses were recovered at Dallas Crown about 9 months ago when a man from Dallas came to Dallas Crown looking for his stolen horses and found them in a holding pen.  Local law enforcement officers were contacted, and when the alleged thieves arrived to pick up their proceeds for the horses, officers were waiting to arrest them.   Rosa said that was the only incident, to her knowledge, where stolen horses had been recovered at Dallas Crown, and the brand inspector was not involved in the recovery. 

4)  I care about the fate of BLM wild donkeys, but that is not a subject I have been asked to research.

5)  You wrote, “the total number of horses slaughtered in recent years at the two plants is:  2000  35,630;  2001  38,750;  2002  40,336.”  Could you please break out how many horses were slaughtered at Beltex in each of those years and how many horses were slaughtered at Dallas Crown in each of those years?  I feel certain you have those numbers.

***************

Here are my questions for you and Mr. Larry Gray.

1.      How are the two brand inspectors at Dallas Crown and Beltex paid? 
Are they paid by TSCRA?  Are they paid by the hour, or are they paid by the number of horses they inspect?  If they are paid by TSCRA, what is the revenue source that funds their salaries?  Is money collected from the plants for each horse, and is that money turned over to TSCRA?  How much money is collected for each horse?  How does TSCRA determine what salary level is appropriate for the two brand inspectors?

2.      What is the policy guideline for determining which stolen horses will be listed in the documents you “fax[ed] to TSCRA market inspectors who are stationed at the two horse slaughter plants in Texas .”  I understand from a friend who worked as a brand inspector in the past that he received an updated list each week from TSCRA showing the stolen horses he was to look for.  Is the list cumulative from the beginning of when you began collecting stolen horse data?  Or do horses “fall off” the list after a certain period of time.  What is that period of time?

3.      For each horse that has been recovered by brand inspectors at Dallas Crown and Beltex, as a result of being identified from the stolen horse list furnished by TSCRA, I would like documentation showing  (a) Date of recovery (b) Description of horse, and (c) Owner’s name and address.

4.      § 148.003 of the Texas Agriculture Code, “Slaughter of Unbranded or Unmarked Livestock; Slaughter Without Bill of Sale” reads, “(a) A slaughterer may not purchase or slaughter for market livestock that is unmarked or unbranded.” 

What happens to the horses at Beltex and Dallas Crown that are received with no branding or marking? How many horses have been received with no branding or marking?  Where is the documentation showing where these horses go after they leave Beltex and Dallas Crown? Who takes responsibility for making sure Ag Code § 148.003 is enforced and followed?  Is this part of the charge of the TSCRA and the two brand inspectors?

Below is a chart to help you provide some of the information I need.

 

Dates	Number of Horses	Number of Stolen		Number of Stolen
	Reported Stolen to	Horses Recovered		Horses Recovered
	Brand Inspectors			by the TSCRA Program
	by TSCRA
		Beltex	Crown	Beltex	Crown
9/1/97-12/31/97
1/1/98-12/31/98
1/1/99-12/31/99
1/1/00-12/31/00
1/1/01-12/31/01
1/1/02-12/31/02
1/1/03-4/13/03
Total to Date

My State Representative, Betty Brown, author of the Live Horse Slaughter Bill – HB 1324, wrote a letter to the editor which appeared in the April 3, 2003 Kaufman Herald. 

She wrote, “….brands are inspected by the Texas Cattle Raisers Association….  There would be no hope of identifying stolen horses by inspecting brands if they were sent to Mexico where brands are not registered and where no organization is given the responsibility of looking for stolen horses.”

Because Ms. Brown is pointing to the Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association as preventing stolen horses from being slaughtered, I think it is important that we all be furnished accurate statistics describing the success rate of the TSCRA brand inspection program at Dallas Crown and Beltex.

I look forward to hearing from you soon. 

Regards,

Mary S. Nash

104 S. Houston St .

Kaufman , Tx 75142

972-962-7706

NashHulme@msn.com