Thank You FORD!

[TerryW]

My first car was a 1968 Mustang. I now drive a 1990 Ford F-250, it has over 250,000 miles on it and knock on wood it still runs great. Ford made me proud today. "The Legend Lives" saves "America's Living Legends" -

It's not often these days that you hear of a major corporation doing something nice, but Ford just did something truly heroic - please read:


35 More Wild Horses Killed in the West

By JOHN HEILPRIN
.c The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - Thirty-five more wild horses rounded up in the West were slaughtered Monday, but the Interior Department acted quickly to save the lives of 52 other mustangs by enlisting last-minute financial help from Mustang sports car maker Ford Motor Co.

The horses killed came from a broker who obtained them from the Rosebud Sioux Tribe of South Dakota. The tribe traded 87 of the 105 aging horses it bought from the government for younger ones. Interior officials said they would review the arrangement to see if it violated a federal contract with the agency. Tribal officials were unavailable for comment.

``It's incredibly disappointing,'' Kathleen Clarke, director of Interior's Bureau of Land Management, told The Associated Press. ``It is not our intent to have these animals killed. That's why we acted very aggressively.''

The latest killings bring to 41 the number of wild horses slaughtered since Congress removed protections for mustangs in December. Just last week, six were slaughtered that had been sold to a private owner. Both incidents occurred at the Cavel International Inc. commercial packing plant in DeKalb, Ill.

BLM officials, tipped off by Agriculture Department inspectors, persuaded the plant managers to stop. That saved the lives of 16 mustangs about to be killed.

The plant agreed to give the horses food and water until BLM officials can pick them up. BLM officials also intervened to save 36 mustangs in Nebraska that were on their way to the Cavel plant. Those horses are to be picked up separately Tuesday and kept in the Midwest.

BLM, which captures the animals during government roundups aimed at reducing the wild population, has sold and delivered nearly 1,000 horses since the new law passed. BLM says 37,000 wild horses and burros forage its lands, 9,000 more than Western ranges can sustain.

Clarke said Monday she ordered an immediate halt to the delivery of some 950 more that have been sold. ``We will not be making any more deliveries until we can check on the situation,'' she said. ``We just want to reassess our program.''

Clarke said she'd already been talking with Ford about such a partnership even before she called the company for help Monday. ``We do not have any clear authority to buy private animals,'' Clarke said. So she got Ford to pledge $19,000 to ship and care for the mustangs.

The Sioux tribe had to sign an agreement with BLM that it would ``provide humane care'' to each of the animals, documents show. Clarke said Interior's top lawyer was investigating that arrangement and an earlier sale of six wild horses to an Oklahoma man.

__________________________________________________ _______

If anyone here would like to help American Mustang advocates, and now Ford Motor Co, save America's wild horses, please visit these websites:

www.wildhorsepreservation.com

www.aowha.org

www.savewildhorses.org


Thank You Ford!

[Unit 5302]

Soooo.... they did want that you feel so strongly about? The wild horses are apparently a menance to the environment, and are overpopulated because of few natural predators. BLM wants to profit from the sale of the horses as they've already sold 1,000 wild horses. 9,000 more to go.

[TerryW]

Nice post, geeze.......

Sorry I posted here. I thought Mustang car owners would give a damn and also be proud of Ford. Apparently I was wrong. You think nothing of the namesake of the cars you treasure. It's very disappointing to find this out.

There are less than 32,000 wild horses on our public lands, there are over 3 million cattle overpopulating our public lands, not counting domestic sheep - add at least another million. But wild horses are a menace?
You must be related to a public lands rancher. There are 98 million cows in this country, we don't need 3 million taxpayer subsidized cows (to the tune of over $500 Billion annually) overgrazing, polluting watersheds, and ruining our public lands - 150 cows to every 1 wild horse. You've heard the term "Wefare Ranching"? Most of those 3 million cows are owned by billionaire corporations that like the subsidies and write-offs. You can believe the truth, or you can believe rancher/BLM propaganda.


Terry

[TerryW]

I forgot to mention, the profits BLM realizes from the sale of these horses, which are not BLM's horses, they belong to the American people, are ranging from $1 a piece to $50 a piece. This is the result of the sales authority of the Burns rider. Normal base prices through regular BLM adoptions start at $125 a horse and go up according to bidding.
People that illegally lie to a federal agency and buy horses outright at $50 a piece and then sell directly to the slaughterhouse for $400 a piece are the ones profiting, not BLM and not the taxpayers.

[Capri306]

It's just my opinion, but shouldn't the slaughterhouse have some responsibility here, too? I mean, how can they not know they are part of something (assuming) illegal? Fill me in, please....and yes, I do give a darn about the horses.