Ken Salazar has been a disappointment throughout his tenure as Interior Secretary, but his recent failure to adequately address allegations that his Bureau of Land Management (BLM) was complicit in the sale of 1,700 federally protected wild horses to a known kill buyer is unacceptable.
In September, a ProPublica report exposed Salazar's BLM for selling “truckload upon truckload” of captured wild horses to the kill buyer, Tom Davis, who purchases U.S. horses and sells them to slaughterhouses in Mexico. Davis just happens to be a neighbor and business associate of Secretary Salazar and his ranching family in Colorado.
After hearing this news, the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign (AWHPC) put together an open letter signed by 25,130 Americans which that encouraged Secretary Salazar to halt the BLM's program until he could ensure that no more wild horses would ever again be sold for slaughter. On November 13, AWHPC supporters delivered the petition to Secretary Salazar's office at the Department of Interior and requested a response by November 27. AWHPC has not received a response.
The BLM's wild horse roundups continue full speed ahead, even as video has surfaced online that shows wild horses with BLM brands being offloaded at a slaughterhouse in Mexico. And Secretary Salazar continues to claim he has "no recollection" of Davis, even though they grew up in the same small town and Davis has hauled livestock for Salazar's ranch. In addition, the BLM's sales of wild horses to Davis skyrocketed after Salazar became Interior Secretary in 2009.
Even the White House responds to petitions with 25,000 or more signatures, but Secretary Salazar couldn't manage to respond to our letter signed by 25,130 Americans in a reasonable amount of time. Meanwhile, wild horses continue to be rounded up, removed from their homes on our public lands, and are in danger of being sold for slaughter. Secretary Salazaar has the power to change this out of control federal program, but he refuses to do anything about it.
| Number | Date | Name |
|---|---|---|
| 21047 | Fri Mar 22 03:04:30 EDT 2013 | Megan Schaeffer |
| 21046 | Wed Mar 20 04:05:55 EDT 2013 | Ken Lace |
| 21045 | Tue Mar 19 01:45:13 EDT 2013 | Beth Davis |
| 21044 | Mon Mar 18 16:05:51 EDT 2013 | Elsie Glaeser |
| 21043 | Fri Mar 15 09:42:52 EDT 2013 | KATELYN CLARK |
| 21042 | Thu Mar 14 07:52:34 EDT 2013 | Barbara Wojtas |
| 21041 | Tue Mar 05 22:51:30 EST 2013 | Megan Speight |
| 21040 | Tue Mar 05 20:42:20 EST 2013 | Mary Ryan |
| 21039 | Fri Mar 01 22:12:16 EST 2013 | Michele Bates |
| 21038 | Fri Mar 01 18:22:49 EST 2013 | Dolores Carotenuto |
| 21037 | Thu Feb 28 10:38:28 EST 2013 | Nancy Rubinstein |
| 21036 | Wed Feb 27 19:12:28 EST 2013 | erin ryan |
| 21035 | Wed Feb 27 16:09:38 EST 2013 | Debra DASILVA |
| 21034 | Wed Feb 27 16:09:15 EST 2013 | Debra DASILVA |
| 21033 | Tue Feb 26 17:10:33 EST 2013 | Barbara Erdman |
| 21032 | Sun Feb 24 04:32:38 EST 2013 | Wendy Drott |
| 21031 | Wed Feb 20 19:29:21 EST 2013 | Joan Richardsopn |
| 21030 | Wed Feb 13 19:58:11 EST 2013 | Renee Jones |
| 21029 | Wed Feb 13 19:58:00 EST 2013 | Renee Jones |
| 21028 | Sat Feb 09 14:53:25 EST 2013 | Carol Hansen |
| 21027 | Wed Feb 06 04:45:16 EST 2013 | Judith Renko |
| 21026 | Mon Feb 04 15:32:20 EST 2013 | Karen Kwa |
| 21025 | Sat Feb 02 14:29:26 EST 2013 | Ronald Brown |
| 21024 | Sat Feb 02 13:25:20 EST 2013 | Gunda Chase |
| 21023 | Tue Jan 29 08:19:15 EST 2013 | Vicki Vaske |