Sheldon Awhpc Letter to Jewell Final

7/30/2019 Sheldon Awhpc Letter to Jewell Final

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AmericanWildHorsePreservationCampaign,POBox1048,Hillsborough,NC27278

September4,2013

InteriorSecretarySallyJewell

ViaFacsimile:202-208-6956

FishandWildlifeServiceDirectorDanielAsheViaFacsimile:202-208-6817

DearSecretaryJewellandDirectorAshe:

TheAmericanWildHorsePreservationCampaignisanationalcoalitionofmorethan50

horseadvocacy,conservationandhistoricpreservationorganizations.Wewritetodayto

urgeyourimmediateinterventiontopreventtheFishandWildlifeService(FWS)from

roundingupahistoricpopulationofwildhorsesfromtheSheldonNationalWildlifeRefuge

andsendingmanyofthemonabackdoorroutetoslaughter.

ThehelicopterroundupisscheduledtobeginontheSheldonRefuge,locatedontheNevada/Oregonborder,onSeptember9,2013,justweeksaftertheForestService

withdrewfromasimilarplantorounduphorsesfrompublicandtriballandstotheeastofSheldonandshipthemtoalivestockauction.AswiththeForestService,theFWSislooking

theotherwayashundredsofwildhorsesareremovedfromfederallandsandplacedin

jeopardyofbeingsoldforslaughter.TheseactionsbyfederalagenciesdirectlycontradicttheObamaAdministrationsstatedpositionagainstthecruelpracticeofhorseslaughter.

TheSheldonmustangsareAmericasWarHorses;theirancestorsfoughtourbattlesin

WorldWarIandotheroverseasconflicts.TheSheldonRefugesplantoeradicatethe

uniqueandlivinghistoryembodiedbythesehorsesisbeingundertakenwithanegregious

lackofpublictransparencyandgrossirresponsibility,asevidencedbythedecisiontoturn

scoresofcapturedhorsesovertoacontractorwhohaspreviouslybeenathirdpartyroute

totheslaughterauctionformanySheldonhorses.

WeurgeyourimmediateinterventiontohalttheroundupatSheldonuntiltheissuesbelow

areadequatelyaddressed.

I.America's War Horses: History of the Sheldon Mustangs

The wild horses on the Sheldon Refuge are descendants of cavalry stock and breeds that helpeddevelop the area in the 1800s prior to the land being sold to the federal government. At the turnof the century, the Boer War in South Africa and later the Spanish-American War created a largedemand for military mounts. Many wild horses from the area that is now the Sheldon Refuge


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were rounded up and shipped overseas as cavalry remounts. During World War I, a ranchernamed Harry Wilson went into business with the federal government. The horses Miller provided

for the Army ran from High Rock Canyon north to the Oregon border, across all of what is nowthe Sheldon Refuge.

The presence of wild horses and burros on the land pre-dates the 1931 creation of the SheldonRefuge by over a half century. The Sheldon horses are part of a lager wild horse population inthe tri-state area (California-Oregon-Nevada), which is known as mustang country. The areaincludes the Bureau of Land Managements Calico and High Rock Complexes.

The wild horses and burros of the Sheldon Refuge were present at the time the Wild FreeRoaming Horses and Burros Act was passed in 1971. But the Act applies only to wild horses andburros living on Bureau of Land Management and US Forest Service lands. As a result, the wildhorses and burros of the Sheldon Refuge have been denied federal protection, despite theirhistoric significance to the American West.

The FWS could seek special legislation to protect the wild horses and burros on the SheldonRefuge in recognition of their historic and cultural significance to the area. Instead of doing so,however, the FWS has chosen to destroy this living historic legacy and to sentence these nobledescendants of Americas equine war veterans to a life of captivity or worse, slaughter.

Its important to note that the wild horses and burros of the Sheldon Refuge are supported andenjoyed by the public, and considered an important and integral part of this national wildlife

refuge. This support is evidenced by the thousands of public comments received by the FWS insupport of maintaining these historic herds on refuge lands. (Please see below.)

II. Sheldon Fast-Tracks Plan to Eradicate Historic Mustangs from Refuge

Last year, the FWS issued a Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP) calling for theelimination of wild horses and burros from the Sheldon Refuge in five years. The FWS rejected amore humane alternative to phase out wild horses and burros over 15 years utilizing fertilitycontrol, an option that would allow the older, unadoptable animals to remain wild and live outtheir lives on the lands of their birth. (The CCP can be found at this link:

http://www.fws.gov/pacific/planning/main/docs/NV/docssheldon.htm)

Worse, the refuge now plans to roundup all of the wild horses and burros in just two years,instead of the five-year option designated in the CCP. As a result, Sheldon will dump 400 horsesand an undetermined number of burros into an already saturated adoption market. While goingthrough the motions of locating contractors to 'adopt out" the captured horses, refuge officialsknow full well that the slaughter auction awaits many of these historic horses in the likely eventthat adoptive homes are not found:


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Unless the Service and contract agents can find more people willing to provide long-termhomes for more than 900 horses and burros from Sheldon Refuge within the next two

years, the only practical option will be sale at auction. To ensure successfulimplementation of the Services decision to remove all feral horses and burros, the option

to auction animals must be available. (August 2013 Questions and Answers:http://www.fws.gov/sheldonhartmtn/Sheldon/pdf/Sheldon Horse and Burro Q&A_Ver3_082713.pdf).

In fact, Sheldon is knowingly using a contractor who has been documented to be a third-partyroute to the slaughter auction for dozens of wild horses captured from Sheldon over the lastseveral years. This is confirmed by the FWS August 2013 announcement of its intent toroundup 400 of Sheldons estimated 830 wild horses via helicopter roundup beginning onSeptember 9, 2013. (Sheldons announcement of the roundup can be found at this link:

http://www.fws.gov/sheldonhartmtn/sheldon/pdf/2013 Sheldon Refuge Feral Horse GatherPublic Announcement_ver2.pdf)

III. Sheldon Ignores Violations of Adoption Contractor J&S Associates

A minimum of 90 of the Sheldon horses captured in the 2013 roundup will be delivered to J&SAssociates, operated by Stan Palmer. Palmer will be paid more than $1,000 per horse to adoptout these horses, despite the fact that he cannot account for the whereabouts of as many as 202of the 262 horses received under a previous contract with Sheldon between 2010 and 2012. Allhorses are microchipped by Sheldon before transport to adoption contractors to facilitate

accountability, registration and tracking of horses. After a complaint, the FWS investigated J&SAssociates and was able to verify legitimate adoptions for a maximum of 29 of the 262 horsessent to this contractor. In addition, the FWS found that Palmer:

Gave 82 horses to an Alabama man who no longer had the horses and admitted toselling a bunch at a livestock auction.

Could not produce adoption information for 65 horses. (Palmer said that 30 of thesehorses were sent to unspecified adopters in two trailer loads with only the driversname for adoption information; 15 additional horses were supposedly held byRodney but no name or location ever provided.)

Gave 25 horses to Sunshine Rodeo, which no longer has a working telephonenumber. Sheldon officials drove by pastures of Sunshine Farm and saw horses, buthave no idea whether the 25 Sheldon horses given to this farm were present in thepastures at the time of the drive by.

Gave 30 horses to a man who claimed that he still had the horses in pastures northand south of Vicksburg. The man drove FWS officials by three pastures with horsesin them, but FWS had no way to verify whether these were Sheldon horses (the mandid not have microchip information for them), how many of the horses in the pastureswere Sheldon horses, or even how many horses were in the pastures they drove by.


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The FWS investigation also raised questions about the adequacy of care provided by J & S,particularly with regard to foals: At least 10 foals deteriorated in condition from September to

November 2012. The failure of these foals to gain weight was likely the result of J&S not takingthe time and steps to provide individual care following weaning.

The Performance Work Statement for Sheldon adoption contractors prohibits the contractor fromsend(ing) any animals to auction or slaughter. It also requires contractors to provide safe and

humane care to horses prior to adoption, "to secure safe, humane good adoptive placements,"

and to annually supply the FWS with a list of all adopters. The FWS own investigation confirmsthat Palmer/J&S have violated multiple provisions of the adoption contract. Yet despite this,Sheldon officials intend to again contract with J&S for the placement of at least 90 wild horses tobe captured during the 2013 roundup.

IV. Lack of Transparency

As in previous years, the 2013 Sheldon Refuge wild horse and burro roundups are beingconducted out of the public eye and with an egregious lack of transparency.

The terms of public observation of the wild horse roundup scheduled to begin September9 are unclear at this time. According to the Q &A qualified media representatives andreporters may be allowed to observe and document gather operations, as staffingallows. As in previous years, a restriction on public observation of a federal governmentoperation violates the First Amendment. AWHPC Communications Director DenizBolbol was informed yesterday through her attorney that Sheldon would provide publicobservation of the roundup, however the terms of the observation remain unclear at thispoint. The BLM routinely allows public observation of wild horse roundups conductedby Cattoor Livestock Roundup, Inc., the same helicopter wranglers that will Sheldon willcontract with to conduct the September 9 roundup.

Sheldon secretly removed 50 burros from the refuge this summer without any publicobservation or notification. This was confirmed to AWHPC by Megan Nagel, FWSPublic Relations officer.

Sheldon refuses to disclose the number of public comments it received on theComprehensive Conservation Plan and how many members of the public wrote to therefuge in support of maintaining the historic herds of wild horses and burros on thesefederal lands, or in the alternative, phasing out the population out over 15 years.


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V. Sheldon History of Wild Horses and Slaughter

The Sheldon Refuge has a long and sordid history of using questionable adoption agents thathave wittingly or unwittingly sent Sheldon horses to slaughter. At least 40 horses adopted outby a Sheldon contractor were rescued in 2005 from the kill pens at a Texas slaughter house.Another Sheldon adoption contractor had the same physical address as a stockyard in NewMexico that was in the business of delivering horses to Texas slaughterhouses that operated atthe time.

In addition, the FWS has a terrible record of inhumane treatment of horses during roundups.Please see eyewitness report from 2006 wild horse roundup at Sheldon at this link:http://wildhorsepreservation.org/eyewitness-report-2006-sheldon-roundup . Please also seememorandum from Marla Bennett, FWS biologist to Paul Steblein, former manager of the HartMountain-Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge Complex at this link:http://wildhorsepreservation.org/bennett-memo

VI. Conclusion

AWHPC and our coalition partners are extremely disappointed that the federal government haschosen to eradicate the historic populations of wild horses and burros from the Sheldon Refuge.We are further troubled by the FWS decision to eliminate the horses and burros in just twoyears, instead of the more humane option of phasing them out over time. Equally as troubling isthe FWSs willingness to look the other way as captured wild horses are placed in jeopardy of

being sold for slaughter through a contractor who cannot account for the vast majority ofSheldon horses previously sent to him over the past three years. Finally, the total lack oftransparency with which this operation is being undertaken from ignoring of thousands ofpublic comments, to the secret removal of burros, to the lack of clear protocols for publicobservation of the upcoming helicopter roundup is simply unacceptable.

As a result, we urge your immediate intervention to halt the pending roundup while issues

of transparency, humane treatment and adoption security are addressed. Under nocircumstances should the FWS contract with Stan Palmer of J&S Associates for adoption ofSheldon horses. These historic and publicly cherished animals must be protected from the cruel

fate of slaughter. It is simply unacceptable for these magnificent animals to be wrenched fromtheir home on the range, laundered through a third party and sold for slaughter, after which theywill be crammed onto trailers, sent on a grueling journey to slaughterhouses outside our borders,where they will be brutally killed and turned into meat for foreign consumption. America is not ahorse-eating nation; the descendants of our equine veterans of war deserve better than thishorrific end.


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In addition, there is tremendous public support for maintaining these historic wild horses andburros on the refuge. If the FWS continues to ignore the public will -- as evidenced by thousands

of public comments -- and intends to eradicate these herds, then the only responsible and humanecourse is to phase them out over time through fertility control and/or permanent sterilization,allowing these animals to live out their lives and die on the range.

Sincerely,

SuzanneRoy,Director

[email protected]

919-697-9389

Sheldon Awhpc Letter to Jewell Final

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