SETTLEMENT REACHED IN HORSE SLAUGHTER LAWSUIT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Wednesday, October 15, 1997

Howard Crystal howcrystal@aol.com
Michael Markarian, mmarkarian@fund.org

RENO, Nev. -- Today, The Fund for Animals and Animal Protection Institute reached a settlement agreement with the Bureau of Land Management over the mismanagement of a federal horse adoption program which ended up in thousands of horses being slaughtered for food.

The groups had won an injunction in U.S. District Court in Reno in 1987 that prohibited the BLM from transferring the titles of wild horses to individuals who had expressed an intent to use the animals for commercial purposes. This year, however, the plaintiffs returned to the Court after an Associated Press investigation revealed that BLM employees engaged in a "don't ask, don't tell" policy to avoid learning adopters' intentions, and that thousands of horses were still being sold to slaughterhouses. In the settlement agreement reached today, the parties agreed to the following provisions:

• The application for title of an adopted horse will include a signed affidavit, under penalty of perjury, that the adopter has no intent to sell the horse for slaughter, for bucking stock, or for commercial processing. Taking title with this intent will now be a violation of federal law.

• BLM will work to negotiate memoranda of understanding with slaughterhouses in the U.S. and Canada that slaughter horses for food, ensuring that slaughterhouses retain all paperwork on BLM freeze-branded horses and make the paperwork available to BLM annually or upon demand, and that slaughterhouses will notify BLM immediately upon receipt of untitled BLM freeze-branded horses.

• BLM will work to negotiate a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Department of Agriculture that would allow USDA inspectors of slaughterhouses to notify BLM if the inspector becomes aware of untitled BLM freeze-branded horses during inspections.

• BLM will prohibit all horse adoptions through power of attorney, and will prohibit the adoption of more than four animals during any one-year period.

Judge Howard McKibben of the U.S. District Court in Reno approved the settlement agreement today, and indicated that he was "delighted" with the outcome of the settlement provisions.

"This settlement will halt the BLM's version of don't ask, don't tell' when it comes to horse adoptions," says Howard Crystal, attorney for The Fund. "There will be an inquiry into adopters' intentions, and an adopter who takes title while intending to sell the animals to slaughter will be in violation of federal law."

Adds Cleveland Amory, founder and president of The Fund for Animals and best-selling author, "Our wild horses and burros are living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West, and this settlement agreement will force the BLM finally to start treating them as such."

A copy of the six-page settlement agreement is available by calling (301) 585-2591 or sending e-mail to fund4animals@fund.org.