Whole Foods Beef Linked to Oregon Wild Horse Roundup Controversy

Whole Foods Beef Supplied by Ranchers Behind Massive Oregon Roundup

Natural food giant urged to stop selling meat from animals grazed in mustang habitat

STATEMENT:

November 10, 2015 – The American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Preservation) is calling upon Whole Foods Market to stop selling beef supplied by ranchers behind the massive roundup of 1,400 wild horsescurrently underwayin Oregon.

The roundup is being conducted to allow members of the Beatys Butte Grazing Association to run more cows on thepublic landsfrom which the wild horses are being removed. Several members of the Grazing Association supply beef toCountry Natural Beef, a Burns, Ore. supplier to Whole Foods. These ranches include Roaring Springs Ranch, the Fitzgerald Group, Fitzgerald Ranch, and Otley Brothers Ranch.

Stacy Davies, the head of the Beatys Butte Grazing Association, is also the marketing director for Country Natural Beef (CNB) and manager of Roaring Spring Ranch. Mr. Davies has been a vocal proponent for the mass removal ofmustangsfrom the Beatys Butte Herd Management Area, which is federally designated as wild horse habitat.

In addition to Beatys Butte, CNB suppliers also hold permits in other Oregon-based Herd Management Areas that saw horseroundupsthis year. In total, 2,000 wild horses – nearly half the state’s remaining wild horse population – will be removed frompublic landsin Oregon this year.

In a statement, AWHC said:“Whole Foods’ sale of beef from entities that graze cattle onpublic landsin designated mustang habitat fuels a system that brutalizes these iconic animals and denies them a federally declared right to be free on ourpublic lands. Clearly, this is not in line with Whole Foods’ customer values or its principles of Environmental Stewardship.”

Each year, pressure from ranchers who graze cattle and sheep in designated wild horse habitat results inroundupsthroughout the West. Many ranchers view iconicmustangsas competition for cheap, taxpayer-subsidized grazing land.

As a result, thousands of wild horses are chased down by helicopter, stressed, put at risk for injury and death, separated from their families (bands), and removed from their native land.

Only a handful of horses are adopted out to new homes, while more than 50,000 are living out their lives in taxpayer-funded holding facilities. In fact, there are now as many wild horses in holding facilities as remain free on the range.

AWHC noted that wild horses and burros inhabit less than 20 percent of public land available forlivestockgrazing, so conflicts betweenmustangsand ranchers should be resolvable.

AWHC has urged Whole Foods to adopt a mustang and burro safe policy that prohibits the sale of beef or lamb sourced from animals grazing onpublic landsin federally designated wild horse and burro habitat areas.

The organization added that:“Support and action from Whole Foods would create a force for change to protect these national icons and secure fairer and more humane treatment of them by our federal government.”

TheAmerican 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.

More Information

Eyewitness Report:

• Beatys Butte Roundup, November 4- November 14, 2015

News Releases:

• BLM Forced to Allow Public to See Massive Mustang Roundup, November 4, 2015
• Massive Roundup of 1,500 Wild Horses Begins in Oregon This Week, November 2, 2015
• Tens of Thousands of Citizens Oppose Massive Oregon Mustang Roundup, October 27, 2015

News Articles:

• Wild Horse Roundup Nets Hundreds in Southern Oregon, Public News Service, November 11, 2015
• Federal Government Begins Large Wild Horse Roundup, Associated Press, November 2, 2015
• Federal Wild Horse Roundup in Progress(Photos), CBS 13 – KVAL
• Wild Horse Advocates Challenge BLM Roundup Plan, Oregon Public Broadcasting, October 28, 2015