The U.S. attorney will handle the investigation into circumstances that led authorities to find and seize 64 wild horses from a well known Utah based kill buyer, Dennis Kunz. The horses were supposed to be in an Oklahoma holding facility. Yet, they were found in the custody of Kunz en route apparently to slaughter in a cattle truck.
Animals Angels traced the Department of Transportation registration for the cattle truck to Willard, Utah based DK Ranches owned by alleged longtime killer buyer Dennis Kunz whose transaction records with American slaughterhouses dates back to at least 2003.
For more, read R.T. Fitch’s report that "federal law enforcement source confirmed to Horseback Magazine earlier this month that the horses were part of the BLM’s program that sells older horses which [allegedly] can’t be trained. The horses did not come from the agency’s adoption program, he said".
Under the Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act, 16 U.S.C. Section 1331 et seq., wild horses and burros over 10 years of age can be sold. Also, horses or burros who have been offered for adoption 3 times to no avail, the so called 3 strikes horses or burros, can also be sold. But it is currently illegal for BLM to sell them for slaughter and there is supposed to be a prohibition in the sales agreement stating the buyer will not slaughter the horse or sell him or her for slaughter.
"The probe centers on the removal and seizure of the horses in Utah by local BLM officials."
Read Equine Welfare Alliance Vice President Valerie James-Patten’s Slick in the Night, for a look at the PEER report of BLM’s involvement in sending wild horses and burros to slaughter.
Photo courtesy of Respect4Horses