Q: What happens when the government sells a resource cheaply, paying even for its transportation, to someone who has connections with the Department of the Interior?
A: 1794 federally protected wild horses get shipped to Mexico and eaten.
I've realized that this is an excellent metaphor for 21st century America. Or a banana republic. Or something out of Book 3 of Atlas Shrugged.
- According to the allegations and news reports, Mr. Davis also had farming and trucking connections with former Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.
- Mr. Davis admitted that most of the horses that he purchased through the BLM went to slaughter.
- The agency also did not stop selling horses to Mr. Davis after receiving reports that he was sending the horses to slaughter.
- The OIG declined to investigate Mr. Davis‘ ties to Mr. Salazar.
- The investigation was referred to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado as well as the State of Colorado Conejos County District Attorney’s Office, which declined civil and criminal prosecution (emphasis mine), according to the report.
So who gets fired here, and who goes to jail? Nobody, unless people are prepared to fight back.
Link here:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/oct/24/blm-illegally-sold-thousands-wild-horses-slaughter/
Some more links about wild horse management. Arguably they're invasive, and arguably burros are more so. A certain amount of management is needed, but simply handing over 100s of thousands of dollars to a rancher is not "management".
Ridgecrest Regional Wild Horse & Burro Corrals
Burros Inadvertently Save Life Of Hiker Lost In Death Valley National Park
Photo at top taken from the Sierra Institute's blog. Note that I have no relation to them, and based on their blog, would never. Hint: you don't take wild watercress from a spring in a desert - the wild horses and other animals you rhapsodize about are depending on it.
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