Dept. of Justice refuses to take any action against Spur Livestock, BLM contractors who sold wild horses to a kill buyer

In this case, there was NO justice.  Wild Horse Freedom Federation did an investigation and found that a BLM long term holding contractor, Spur Livestock, sold wild horses to well known kill buyer Joe Simon.  R.T. Fitch, President of Wild Horse Freedom Federation, publicly presented an official government document with proof of this to the National Wild Horse & Burro Advisory Board at their meeting.  Joan Guilfoyle, Division Chief of the BLM’s Wild Horse & Burro Program, was present.

However, the Department of Justice (DoJ) only issued a letter of declination.  A declination decision is generally viewed to mean that the DoJ , in the exercise of its prosecutorial discretion, declines to prosecute or bring an enforcement action.  

So, the issue of a current BLM contractor selling wild horses to a kill buyer, most likely for slaughter, was just swept under the rug.

BLM “Spin Doctor” is “Out to Lunch”

 Debbie Coffey   PPJ Investigative Reporter

Director of Wild Horse Affairs, Wild Horse Freedom Federation             
Copyright 2013       All Rights Reserved.

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“When wild horse advocates contacted the BLM with questions about my article and the sales of wild horses to Jim Reeves of Spur Livestock, Debbie Collins, BLM’s “Information Center Coordinator” sent an inaccurate reply……….

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In what could be the “perfect storm,” my last 2 articles tied together, because those busy bees in BLM made a feeble attempt to disparage my article about Spur Livestock (which has a BLM contract for a wild horse long term holding pasture and is co-owned by Jim Reeves) selling wild horses to a kill buyer and also seemed to illustrate points I made in my article about BLM public relations manipulation.

When wild horse advocates contacted the BLM with questions about my article and the sales of wild horses to Jim Reeves of Spur Livestock, Debbie Collins, BLM’s “Information Center Coordinator” sent an inaccurate reply (portions below).   Debbie Collins’ comments are in black.

My clarification is in red.

Debbie Collins (BLM)

: “The BLM did sell 72 horses to Jim Reeves, of Spur Livestock, in 2008.

DEBBIE COFFEY

:  That’s what I said.

Debbie Collins

:  The BLM sold him 36 geldings on September 9, 2008, from the Palomino Valley Facility in Sparks, NV and 36 mares on September 23, 2008, from the Canon City Correctional Center in Canon City, CO.”

:  You’ve got it backwards.  On 9/9/2008, Jim Reeves bought 36 geldings, ages 11-13, from the Canon City Maintenance Facility (prison) in Colorado and on 9/23/2008, Jim Reeves bought 36 mares, ages 11-12, from the BLM’s Palomino Valley holding facility in Nevada.

“The White Horse long-term pasture is an all-gelding facility; therefore, it would not have been possible to sell him mares from the White Horse gelding facility.”

It doesn’t matter what facility the wild horses came from.  The BLM states that they do not sell our wild horses to slaughter, but their contractor sure did.

“Since Mr. Reeves is a partner in Spur Livestock, he was strongly advised that any wild horses he purchased had to be kept completely separate from the wild horses in the White Horse long-term pasture.”

Nowhere in my article did I say the wild horses he bought WERE in the same long term pastures as wild horses, or that they were kept “together.”

Wild Horses sold to Kill Buyer by BLM Contractor

Debbie Coffey

PPJ Investigative Reporter

Director of Wild Horse Affairs, Wild Horse Freedom Federation               

Copyright 2013 All Rights Reserved.

Photo by Kurt Golgart

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Debbie Coffey and Wild Horse Freedom Federation thank Animals Angels for their assistance with this investigation.

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In a telephone conversation with Jim Reeves, when asked about the 72 horses he bought as pack animals, he said “I’m told not to talk about this kind of stuff.”  He said “I can’t talk about this” and “That’s BLM business.”

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While the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has been trying to convince the public that the BLM does not sell wild horses to slaughter, Wild Horse Freedom Federation has obtained proof that a BLM Long Term Holding contractor sold wild horses directly to kill buyer Joe Simon, who is well known for sending horses to slaughter, and who owns JS Ranch (“Farms”) in Perkins, Oklahoma.

To give you a little background, the BLM uses lame excuses to remove wild horses from their federally protected Herd Management Areas while letting other “uses” take over.  For instance, BLM claims wild horses cause “degradation” to the range, but then allow oil and gas drilling (and fracking) on the same land.  The BLM uses helicopters to round up the wild horses, then puts the horses in short term holding facilities, maintenance facilities, and ultimately, ships horses to same-sex long term holding pastures, where the public is led to believe the horses spend the rest of their lives.

Jim Reeves and Lyle Anderson own Spur Livestock, and have a contract with the Bureau of Land Management for a long term holding pasture for wild horses on private lands within the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in South Dakota, as well as on Indian Trust Lands administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.  This facility is the Whitehorse Wild Horse Long Term Holding Facility.

Wild Horse Freedom Federation received records from the South Dakota Brand Board that reveal on 11/8/2008, while under contract with the BLM, “owner” Spur Livestock sold 34 horses with “BLM tattoos” to JS Farms, owned by kill buyer Joe Simon.

Animals Angels has written about kill buyer Joe Simon (scroll down to the 2^{nd article “What is the Price Tag for Suffering”) here}                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           It is important to note that state brand boards do not “recognize” BLM freezemarks  

^{(which BLM puts on the left side of wild horses’ necks after they are captured) as official “BRANDS,” so the state brand board inspectors may completely ignore the BLM freezemarks and instead, note that wild horses have “NO BRAND.”}