New BLM rules restrict sales of wild horses

Source: Associated Press

New BLM rules restrict sales of wild horses

AP foreign, Saturday January 5 2013

SANDRA CHEREB

Associated Press= CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — Sales of wild horses and burros will be restricted under new rules announced Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management after an investigation into the sale of more than 1,700 horses to a Colorado livestock hauler who supports the horse meat industry.

"It is a response to that inquiry, which is being conducted right now by the Office of the Inspector General of the Interior Department," said Tom Gorey, BLM spokesman for the wild horse program in Washington, D.C.

The inspector general is investigating what became of 1,777 horses sold since 2009 to Tom Davis. Wild horse advocates fear the animals were taken to Mexico for slaughter.

"He's the biggest buyer among all of our buyers over the years," Gorey said of Davis. Since 2005, when the BLM first allowed people to buy horses in bulk as opposed to adopting them, the agency has sold 5,400 animals, Gorey said.

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