Letter to the Editor: Who benefits
BY Jeff Johnson, Tulsa
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
2/20/13 at 8:12 AM
The public needs to be aware that if Rep. Skye McNeil's House Bill 1999 passes, the majority of the horses led to their deaths in these slaughterhouses would be Oklahoma's quota of thousands of American mustangs. Those horses have been sadly and tragically rounded up from their home ranges across the Western United States and deposited in holding stables across the country, waiting to be sold and/or slaughtered.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management asserts that the removal has been necessary because of overgrazing by these beautiful animals on public lands - lands that have sustained generations of wild horses. The effort has not been to save the resource but to repurpose it by allowing the politically powerful Cattleman's Association members, with deep pockets, to run their cattle herds on the same public lands at very cheap lease rates.
Wouldn't you guess high-level political figures in those Western states are being paid handsomely by the Cattleman's lobby? The federal government spends almost a half billion dollars a year to round up and relocate these horses.
Why do I bring all this up? The speed at which HB 1999 is moving forward through the House and Senate raises a red flag. Certainly McNeil's family stock sale barn business would stand to profit from this bill's passing but I would guess that her political cronies in our state government somehow stand to benefit financially as well.
For more information about the American mustang visit tulsaworld.com/mustangs
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