Wednesday, September 15, 2010

The Whole World is Watching


photo by Mark Terrell

Dear Readers,
This week I've had the opportunity to talk to world-renowned reporters from the biggest TV station in France. They came to Nevada to uncover the true story of our wild horses -- on the range, in BLM hands, in the care of adopters and more.
They discovered free-roaming horses aren't easy to find, despite BLM's press releases describing thousands of "excess" mustangs. The reporters saw plenty of cattle, though and did, eventually film some wild ones.
International coverage means THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING our treatment of living legends of the old West. And that should make you smile, at least for a minute!
We are not alone in this battle to save what's precious.
More later,
Terri

P.S. Neither of these Frenchmen have seen horse meat on menus of fine French restaurants. This stereotype is perpetuated, they say, by online fabrication and stories of the poor who are said to eat horse, just as poor people in the U.S. are rumored to eat cats and rats.
They insist horse meat is NOT fashionable anyplace they've eaten!

Labels: French media, horsemeat, wild horses

Permalink to this blog post

Posted by Terri Farley @ 3:40 PM

---

Comments: Hey, now I'm educated on how the whole world helps. Sorry, I should have recognized earlier, but all of your books are read around the world so of course everybody wants to help! BLM is just going to be over burdened with (literally) the weight of the world on their shoulders. They'll realize their ways eventually. Humane ways are all over the place, why kill them? Relocate, man-made canals and streams, teach rancher's to love the mustangs :). That last one might be hard though, ha ha. It's weird how I see the wild ones as America's symbol of freedom and would gladly let them graze alongside my cattle, while stubborn rancher's look at them as gardener's do to weeds. Pull them out before they soak up the sun!

It's not fair, It's not humane, It's not anything positive for that matter except for MONEY! Now I know why they make money green, green is not just the color for envy but for greed.

-Kayla
(-Young At Heart)
  Way to go Mrs. Farley!!! We're reaching em in France through people like you!! Its just goes to show you how far sterotypes go and rumors about other countries fashionable foods.

Liberté pour les chevaux!

Rach
  Nice post Terri. Love hearing that its just not true, regarding horse meat being common on the menu in France
  Hi Terri,

Sadly, the French habit of eating horsemeat is neither stereotype nor myth. I'm a horse advocate in Canada. Our Agriculture Canada website reports that of the 100,000
horses slaughtered here annually, France is the biggest importer of their meat. It is nice to hear that some French people are not in favour, but their viewpoint in no way reflects the brutal reality. We are working at passing Bill C-544, which would close Canada's horrific slaughter plants. As if our horse meat is insufficient, France also breeds draft horses strictly for meat. Maybe you could do your friends the favour of informing them that North American horse meat is loaded with lethal toxins. Horse here are pets, and we administer: vaccines, anti-inflammatories, steroids, hormones, wormers, etc. on a regular basis. They are eating toxins proven to cause cancer, birth defects, liver disease and a fatal form of anemia. Phenylbutazone, administered to EVERY race horse, is a prime offender. Horse kill buyers are lying about the cleanliness of meat. AgCanada has given them a loophole: the seller only has to state the meat is toxin-free, "to the best of my knowledge." This meas that if the kill buyer bought the horse at aucton a week ago, he has no knowledge what the horse was given the years prior.
  PS re: French horse meat consumption. To see the stats on Canadian export to France, Google "Agriculture Canada horse meat export." This is our gov't website confirming my assertion. Sorry, I wasn't able to paste in the URL.
  Alphamare,
Thanks so much for the information. Guessing these two run in different circles.
With work like yours those circles will be ever-widening.
Terri
  Thank YOU, Terri! I'd like to add that the EU banned US horse meat in 2007 due to these toxins. The US slaughter plants closed. Yet 50,000 US horses are pouring over the Canadian border annually for slaughter. The USDA does not screen for banned substances, so toxic meat is still shipped to the EU. Kill buyers are lying on the declaration forms. Again, "to the best of my knowledge," is the AgCanada loophole.

As we know from our connections to US kill pen rescuers, TBs and STBs are routinely shipped, fresh from their final races. As are Canadian race horses. Full of phenylbutazone, etc. WBKO TV (Kentucky) has been airing a series on this. Check out their Facebook page.

"Bute" has a lifetime ban in a horse's system, so Canada's 6 month feedlot quarantine does not apply to horses that have been juiced. Ventipulmin and nitrofurazone also have lifetime bans. Is this not practically every horse in North America? We think so.

More info: www.horseprotection.info, www.defendhorsescanada.org, www.equinewelfarealliance.org (US), Canadian Horse Defence Coalition Supporters, Equine Welfare Alliance (US info) & Horse Protection Canada on FACEBOOK. Please join us!

BEST BEST WISHES to little HoneyBandit, Palomino and her family!!! Thanks again, Terri.
  Post a Comment