The Miller guy is making the claims against a keeper of horses. Animal rights hate mongers are so self-righteous & happy when they throw on their animal rights cap and set out to vilify a keeper of animals. Bet he never stopped to think about how much worse off these horses would be if nobody tried to Pasteur them.
Miller targets horse breeder in KS (Nevada DM)‏
From: netwatchers@yahoogroups.com on behalf of Netwatchers (netwatchers2010@gmail.com)
Sent: July 6, 2010 1:53:11 PM
To: Netwatch (Netwatchers@yahoogroups.com)
Nevada Daily Mail & Herald-Tribune (MO)
Local horse traders targeted by animal rights Web site
By Michael Pommier
Friday, July 2, 2010
http://www.nevadadailymail.com/story/1647167.htmlFORT SCOTT, Kan. -- A local horse trading operation has become the
focus of animal cruelty allegations, but the company under scrutiny
says there's no basis for the group's concerns.
Tucker Brothers, LLC, has been targeted by the animal rights Web site
Thomas Paine's Corner (thomaspainescornerwordpress.com) for the
alleged neglect and starvation of horses on their farm located a few
miles south of Fort Scott.
Jason Miller, senior editor and founder of Thomas Paine's Corner, said
the content posted on the Web site was provided to him by "anonymous
individuals" who claim to have witnessed the mistreatment.
Raymond Tucker, owner of Tucker Brothers, LLC, said the allegations
are false. He did say that he has thin horses on his property which
consists of about 1,000 acres of pasture. He said the horses were thin
when he bought them, noting that the economy has caused many people to
sell or auction their horses because they can no longer afford to keep
them. In addition to buying horses, Tucker added, many people will
bring "sorry" horses to his property and leave them there.
"I buy sorry horses and a lot of people bring sorry horses out here
and dump them out," Tucker said. "It's the economics of the thing,
people are just getting rid of their horses in a mass exodus right
now.
"We don't mistreat them, you can't find a hotshot in my barn ...
whenever we load horses, we load them on goose-necks, we don't use
semi trailers."
Further allegations against Tucker are that he does not provide
sufficient food or water for the horses on his farm. Tucker said the
horses that are too thin to be shipped to buyers get "turned out" or
sent to pasture. and they graze his 1,000 acres of live creeks, ponds,
and grass that is "belly deep."
"They have plenty of water, plenty of grass," he said. "Nobody is
beating on one, nobody is mistreating one ... no matter how sorry they
are.
"If I kick (a horse) out to pasture ... (it) gets a chance to fatten
up ... They either fatten up or they die ... that's just the cold hard
reality of life."
Tucker has also been alleged to ship horses to slaughter houses in
Mexico or Canada. Tucker said he sends about 100 horses each week to a
buyer in El Paso, Texas, who then decides whether to sell the horse or
sent it to a slaughter house in Mexico.
"I don't sell directly to slaughter houses, but a lot of them end up
there," Tucker said.
Although he does not send the horses to slaughter houses, Tucker
believes that slaughter houses being outlawed in the United States was
a bad idea and blames the "tree-hugging liberal do-gooders" for the
action. He said before it was outlawed, horses rarely had to be
transported more than 400 miles to be slaughtered, now they travel
well over 1,000 miles.
"Since they quit killing horses in the United States, why that (the
lengthy trip) is the worst thing that ever happened to a horse," he
said.
Tucker had been contacted by Miller for the first time Thursday during
a one-hour long telephone conversation. As a result of the
conversation, Tucker invited Miller, who he described as "completely
ignorant," to tour the farm and see all the horses Saturday evening.
"I want to go down there and take a look ... I'm concerned based on
some pictures," Miller said. "I'm not quite sure what I'm going to
find when I get there."
Tucker added, "There is nothing secretive, nothing mysterious -- we
just buy and sell horses."
Bourbon County Sheriff Ron Gray said that he is currently
investigating the allegations and has made contacts with state
officials. He said that with the holiday weekend a response from the
state is not expected until sometime next week.
Thomas Paine's Corner was founded in 2005 by Miller to promote the
belief that the oppression and exploitation in the world is rooted in
the way society and culture treat animals.
"It's pretty multi-dimensional, but we tend to focus mostly on an
animal rights agenda ... but it is anti-oppression, anti-exploitation
in general," Miller said.