Investigation Confirms BLM Illegally Sold Federally Protected Wild Horses for Slaughter

BLM Employee Who Sold Horses Given “Monetary Awards”

Washington, DC (October 23, 2015)... The Interior Department Office of Inspector General (OIG) todayreleased a reportconfirming that between 2009-2012 the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) sold 1,794 federally-protected wild horses to a Colorado rancher and noted horse slaughter proponent, Tom Davis, who sold them to slaughter. The sale of the horses for slaughter violatedBLMpolicy and a Congressional ban.

The report reveals that the agency continued to sell horses to Davis even after receiving information that he was sending horses to slaughter. The employee who sold the horses to Davis received performance-based “monetary awards” based on the number of horses she sold or adopted out.

Despite these findings, the OIG does not hold anyBLMofficials accountable for wrongdoing.

Key Findings of the Report

• “BLM did not follow current law while managing WH&B. BLM also failed to follow its own policy of limiting horse sales and ensuring that the horses sold went to good homes and were not slaughtered.”
• Davis said that “in selling him so many loads of horses, BLM had to know that the horses would end up at a slaughterhouse.”
• Taxpayers paid $140,000 to deliver truckloads of horses to Davis. Davis paid $10 a piece for the horses, or less than $18,000 total, and made as much as $154,000 by selling them for slaughter.
• BLM employees never attempted to verify the information that Davis provided regarding his intentions for the horses, despite the unusually large number of horses being sold to him, and never stopped selling horses to Davis despite receiving information that Davis was sending horses to slaughter.
• The “marketing specialist” who sold the horses to Davis received monetary awards and superior performance appraisals based in part on the number of horses she sold during the period she was selling horses to Davis.
• This marketing specialist “said she never had any reason to doubt the information on Davis’ applications, even after he refused to tell her who he sold the horses to...”
• The OIG declined to investigate alleged ties between Davis and former Secretary of Agriculture and fellow Coloradan, Ken Salazar.

"The solution to wild horse management is not selling horses and burros for slaughter," Roy concluded. "It's time forBLMto stop rounding up wild horses and burros, stop stockpiling them in holding facilities and start managing them humanely on-the-range using the safe and effective PZP fertility control vaccine, as recommended by the National Academy of Sciences."

According to AWHC, the vast majority of Americansoppose horse slaughterandsupport protecting wild horses and burros on public landsin the West.

TheBLM's sale of wild horses to Davis wasfirst exposed by ProPublicaon September 28, 2014.

The American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Preservation) is dedicated to defending America’s wild horses and burros to protect their freedom, preserve their habitat, and promote humane standards of treatment. AWHC’s mission to preserve and protect wild horses and burros in viable free-roaming herds onpublic landsfor generations to come is endorsed by a coalition of more than 60 horse advocacy, public interest, and conservation organizations.

Media Coverage

• DESPITE SLAUGHTER OF WILD HORSES, NO PROSECUTION OF BLM OR RANCHER INVOLVED
• NEARLY 2,000 WILD HORSES SENT TO SLAUGHTERHOUSE INSTEAD OF PASTURE, PROBE SAYS
• 1,800 PROTECTED WILD HORSES SENT TO THEIR DEATHS IN MEXICAN SLAUGHTERHOUSES
• NO CHARGES FILED AFTER GOV WATCHDOG FINDS BLM ILLEGALLY SOLD WILD HORSES TO SLAUGHTER
• WILD HORSES SOLD FOR SLAUGHTER: BLM SOLD THOUSANDS OF MUSTANGS TO 'KNOWN KILL BUYER'
• WATCHDOG: FEDS LOOKED THE OTHER WAY AS HORSES WERE SLAUGHTERED
• THIS NEEDS TO STOP: 1,794 WILD HORSES SENT TO SLAUGHTER AFTER GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT
• REPORT: BLM WILD HORSES SOLD FOR SLAUGHTER
• WATCHDOG: FEDS SOLD HORSES FOR SLAUGHTER TO RANCHER WITH REPORTED POLITICAL TIES
• MORE THAN 1700 WILD HORSES SENT TO SLAUGHTER INQUIRY CONCLUDES
• COLORADO WILD HORSE BUYER SOLD MUSTANGS FOR SLAUGHTER
• WILD HORSES SLAUGHTERED IN MEXICO
• BLM ILLEGALLY SOLD THOUSANDS OF WILD HORSES FOR SLAUGHTER, Washington Times, October 24, 2015
• WILD HORSES SOLD BY BLM MAY HAVE GONE TO NM 'KILL BUYER', Santa Fe New Mexican, November 7, 2015