State Selling Big Bend Ranch Horses to Slaughter
Story and Photo by Steven Long August 14, 2012
HOUSTON, (Horseback) – Texas Parks and Wildlife joins the Texas Department of Corrections in a state agency disposal method for eliminating surplus horses that many Texans are certain to find offensive.
Eleven horses from the stables of Big Bend Ranch State Park, Texas’ largest recreation area, are being sold to a well known Presidio businessman known for deporting animals to the kill box of a slaughterhouse in nearby Ojinaga, Mexico just across the Rio Grande.
Big Bend Ranch is the setting of my new novel, Ruby’s Passing. It is available in both print and in the Kindle format at www.amazon.com.
The horses are being sold for the princly sum of .25 cents a pound as meat on the hoof for canner prices. The transaction was discovered in open records requests obtained by Texas animal welfare investigator, Julie Caramante.
To: Deirdre Hisler Cc: Barrett Durst; Rod Trevizo; David Riskind
Subject: Horse Sale
In an email correspondence obtained by Horseback TPWD officials discussed pricing of the “excess” horses.
From: Dan Sholly
I don’t recall receiving an answer (could be lost in my e-mails) to my question about sell pricing. Are we willing to take canner prices for our horses? Is that all they are worth? No blood lines? No high potential for more than dog food?
I am supportive of reducing the ramuda.
Earlier this year Texas Department of Criminal Justice sold 80 prison horses, animals that are coveted by the public in TDCJ’s rare auctions. The horses went to slaughter in Ojinaga.
Sauceda is the headquarters compound of Big Bend Ranch State Park.
Horseback Online learned of the sale when a memorandum from a TPWD official was provided to the magazine by Caramante.
i hate having to hear about more abuse coming from more humans,adults,kids and animals are forever going thru these trials,when does compassion come into this picture,are they hurting anyone???is there not enough land that they can be away from humans???/does it always have to be just kill them?? i am so glad this is not one of my sins i have to pay for,everything of life is a gift from God,look at how it is treated,may God have mercy on us all!!!!!!!
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