The Hot News Page

WOLVES KILL MULE

Oregon wildlife officials say a mule found dead recently in northeast Oregon’s Wallowa County was probably killed by wolves.

The mule carcass was found on private rangeland east of Joseph, OR. Wolf tracks were found in the snow nearby. Officials also considered a history of recent livestock kills in the area.

Source: Capital Press (Jan 27, 2012)

How long will it be before a horse is taken by wolves?
 

ALERT

STOLEN PERUVIAN HORSE GEAR

Elijah Bristow
Horse Park, Oregon

The River Trail to Dexter is closed due to numerous downed trees and dangerous conditions. There are 11 downed trees from the turn off to Dexter to the east end of the Anglers Trail. The main loop through the park is free from downed trees. We will be getting to the trail as soon as we can, but some of the spots are really tricky.

Sean Stewart
Park Ranger 2
Elijah Bristow State Park
Office: 541-726-7997
Cell: 541-912-5827
Fax: 541-747-8452

 

Farmers shouldn't own animals, but Michael Vick can.

When the CEO of a Humane Society says convicted dog-fighting kingpin Michael Vick would do a good job as pet owner, it should raise more red flags than a Chinese parade. That’s just what happened two weeks ago as Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), endorsed Vick’s future as a dog owner.

If that seems out of the mainstream, or sounds like something your local humane society would never say, you’re on to something.

HSUS isn’t a pet shelter organization. It’s an animal rights group that has grand designs on reshaping Americans’ relationship with animals especially the animals we eat.

With the words Humane Society in its name, it’s easy to be confused about what HSUS does. A poll this year from Opinion Research Corporation (CNN’s political prognosticators) found that 71 percent of Americans think the organization is an umbrella group for pet shelters.

It isn’t. HSUS doesn’t run a single pet shelter, and it’s not affiliated with any.

The same poll found that 59 percent of Americans think HSUS gives most of its money to pet shelters. But real humane societies and other local hands-on pet shelters only share in about 1 percent of its $120 million budget at least if you believe HSUS’s own tax returns. (To learn more, visit www.HumaneWatch.org.)

It turns out that HSUS despite the puppies, kitties, and animal welfare messages in its fundraising materials is actually an animal rights group. That’s a horse of a very different color.

Think about the notorious wackos at PETA. HSUS is just PETA in a suit and tie. The two groups share the same goals, but HSUS goes about its work without naked interns or red-paint bombs.

Fundamental to animal rights activists is the idea that animals have a right not to be eaten (by people, at least). And forget zoos. Seeing eye dogs are slaves. Your home aquarium is a little fish prison. And cancer research can’t use mice unless they sign tiny consent forms.

Since 2004, when Wayne Pacelle became the first strict vegan to hold HSUS’s top job, he’s increased its number of lawyers ten-fold. He steered millions in public donations to his staff (and himself), diverting money from pets to pension plans and big-business-level salaries. Pacelle recruited top PETA staffers to run shareholder activism against food companies, and to produce the kind of anti-farmer schlock-u-mentary films that made their PETA mentors famous.

HSUS’s lawyers sue. Its PR flacks create media frenzies. And its propagandists publish guides to eating more humanely (i.e., dropping that cheeseburger).

The Humane Society of the United States is also tied into the fringe environmental movement. At this month’s Cancun climate change junket, HSUS’s international arm showed up to try and tie meat-eating to planetary destruction. There’s no truth to it, of course livestock agriculture in the U.S. accounts for less than 3 percent of our greenhouse gas emissions but why let facts get in the way?

No one should deny animal activists the right to argue for their preferred worldview. If Scientologists and Raelian cultists have free-speech rights, practitioners of the animal-worship religion should too. But when you’re a PETA knock-off with a bigger bank account, some transparency is in order. Especially when your staff includes a key decision-maker who has endorsed violence and arson.

HSUS tells the public that it simply wants more humane standards for raising animals. But the group’s leaders don’t believe there is such a thing as humane meat.

More humane is a loosey-goosey term in a clever semantic game, but this Humane Society thinks humane means meatless. That’s far outside what the Average Joe believes.

We all want cats and dogs to find homes, and to not be abused. About 99.99 percent of us, for instance (HSUS’s president notwithstanding), understand that giving Michael Vick a pet will always be a risky proposition.

But it turns out that America doesn’t actually have a real national humane society. There simply is no big umbrella group that raises money for the pet shelter in your community. If you want to support your local humane society, you’re going to have to do it yourself.

Don’t expect HSUS’s leaders to send your donation back into your community. They need that money to outlaw chicken nuggets.

(From the Daily Caller)

West Nile Cases Dwindle

Zero cases reported for Oregon and Washington. Seven cases for California. Looks like the vaccine has chased this one away. I wonder how many more years we will have to vaccinate our horses.
 

Potomac Fever in Ellijah Bristow Area

A horse that frequently rides in and is stabled next to Bristow Park has
a probable diagnosis of Potomac fever. Symptoms include: fever,
depression, diarrhea, sore feet or laminitis.

 REMEMBER THAT QUICK TREATMENT IS VERY IMPORTANT.
 

 Silverlite Trailers Closing

We regret to inform you that due to the economics of today’s world,
SilverLite Trailers will be closing down its factory and liquidating the
entire remaining inventory (about 50 trailers) effective immediately.
These are great deals so if you are looking for a trailer, now's the
time to buy.

If you have any questions, please contact:
Rick Harne
541-913-3708
rickh@towatoy. com

Humane Society of United States at it again

Remember this is not the humane society you think it is. This one is a left leaning progressive environmental group that seeks to control how we raise animals and grow food. It is NOT the ASPCA (American Society for the prevention of cruelty to animals)

A recent Capital Press article (2/5/2010), states that the Humane Society of United States wants to control chicken and hog farmers in Ohio by introducing legislation banning cages.

If passed, this legislation will probably put many farmers out of business as they will no longer be competitive.

Remember, they have already succeeded in California by introducing legislation (that passed) that banned cages for chickens.

Just how long will it be before they propose legislation that affects us horse owners?
It’s chickens and pigs now. Horses next? I am sure that their goal is to not allow our horses to be kept in stalls or paddocks. That would be another way to eliminate many horse owners and horse breeders.

Here’s an Ohio news article that goes into more depth:  MORE 
Here is another OHIO news link: MORE

Springfield horse trailer maker ceases operations

Activists fight horse exports to Mexico

As slaughter drops off in U.S., attention shifts to live exports

The irony is that more horses are now being shipped to Mexico as the result of horse slaughter bans in several U.S. states, said Tom Lenz, a veterinarian, past president of the American Association of Equine Practitioners and chair of the Unwanted Horse Coalition.

"What's going on today is exactly what we predicted," he said.

Horse slaughter isn't banned at the federal level, but bans in Illinois and Texas effectively shut down the last three remaining plants in the U.S. last year. Since then, exports of horses for slaughter have surged, Lenz said.

About 10,900 horses have been sent to Mexico for slaughter so far in 2008, up from about 4,900 at the time last year - more than a twofold increase, according to the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service.

"Nobody is raising horses in this country to be processed. ... These are just discarded horses," said Lenz. "If there were no longer horses being discarded, there would be no horse slaughter in this country."

from a recent article in the Capital Press, Oregon edition
 

Weed Free Rule

The U.S. Forest Service is gearing up to require riders to feed only weed-free hay to horses and mules used on national forests in Oregon and Washington.

The agency wants to put a stop to livestock consuming weed-infected hay at campsites and then spreading the seeds in their droppings to public lands and pristine wilderness areas.

The Forest Service regulation went into effect Jan 1 (2007) to require riders in the federal wilderness areas of Oregon and Washington to feed only weed-free hay and pellets to their animals.

But it won't be enforced until 2009, when it also will encompass the two states' 19 national forests, said Nancy Phelps, a Forest Service spoke-women in Portland.

Paraphrased from an article in the Capital Press Aug 3, 2007
 

DSLD News

This letter was written in 2002. Alamo Pintado has once again given permission to pass this letter on to the Peruvian horse world. They have treated hundreds of Peruvian horses since 2002 and still feel the same today as they did when they originally wrote and signed this letter.

Alamo Pintado Equine Medical Center, Inc.

To: Peruvian Paso horse owners

Re: Suspensory Ligament Desmitis

Alamo Pintado Equine Medical Center has been treating horses for over 30 years in Los Olivos, California. We see horses of all breeds and of all equine performance sports. We have always seen a large number of Peruvian Paso horses because of our locale to many top Peruvian breeders and trainers in the Santa Ynez Valley and California.

In the last six years we have diagnosed well over 1,000 suspensory ligament injuries in horses associated with racing, jumping, dressage, cutting and endurance events. We have diagnosed approximately 8 Peruvian Paso horses with suspensory ligament injuries during the same time period. Of these 8 injuries in the Peruvian Paso horses, six were determined to be typical overuse injuries and were treated as such at APEMC. Of the other two Peruvian Paso horses that did not fit the typical overuse injury, one was due to being extremely overweight and poorly taken care of and the other horse may have had what has been called degenerative suspensory ligament disease but it was not confirmed with any histologic evidence.

The veterinarians at APEMC have always found it to be curious that this condition of the Peruvian horse has not been described in any equine lameness or surgery text and has not surfaced as a cause of unsoundness in the Peruvian Paso horses that we have dealt with on a daily basis for the last 30 years. On the contrary, we have found suspensory desmitis to be very rare in the Peruvian Paso population that we treat compared to a relatively high incidence in the racehorse, jumper and dressage horses. We feel that these high rates are a factor of footing, training and shoeing problems. We do feel that some of these injuries are related to abnormal conformation in some horses and are not just occupational hazards. Some large breed broodmares that have had numerous foals will often develop a chronic progressive suspensory ligament degeneration and breakdown that is very difficult to treat as long as they remain heavy and continue to carry heavy pregnancies. Once this degenerative process develops it is not possible to reverse and return the suspensory branches to normal with rest or treatment. Weight management in any breed of horse is critical to health and soundness.

I am sure that this condition has been diagnosed and documented in a certain number of Peruvian Paso horses on some farms in the United States, but I have not heard of the numbers and the overall incidence as of yet. We have seen this identical problem in Thoroughbreds and Quarter horses, but these are horses that were poorly conformed and passed the predisposing conformation to their offspring. The simple answer to this problem is to not breed bad-legged horses to bad-legged horses, or to breed any horse with a severe inherited conformation fault. Once that becomes obvious, the problem goes away.

In our experience, the Peruvian Paso, as a breed, is a very tough, durable and sound breed of horse when compared to all the other breeds of horses we see at APEMC. I hope that the excitement and confusion over a small group of isolated horses does not continue to cast irresponsible unwarranted connotations on a very strong and sound breed of horse.

Doug Herthel, DVM Mark Rick, DVM
Greg Parks, DVM Ed Hamer, DVM
Carter Judy, DVM DACV