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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2015
Report:
Mustangs
sold for
slaughter
A buyer of wild horses is
alleged to have sent about
1,700 animals to their death.
66
Record hurricane
slams into Mexico
At one point, Category 5 Patricia had winds of 200 mph
By John Ingold The Denver Post
The nation’s largest buyer of wild
horses repeatedly lied to federal officials and sent roughly 1,700 mustangs to the slaughterhouse, according to a scathing federal report issued Friday finding significant
oversight lapses within a Bureau of
Land Management program that is
supposed to provide the horses
with good homes.
Between 2008 and 2012, La Jara
rancher and livestock hauler Tom
Davis bought 1,794 horses from the
BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program, which manages tens of thousands of mustangs that roam across
the West and are, to many, potent
symbols of the land’s unbridled
majesty. The next-largest buyer
purchased 325.
When investigators from the U.S.
Department of the Interior’s Office
of Inspector General confronted
Davis about the purchases and
asked him how many of those horses had been resold for slaughter, he
told them, “Probably close to all of
them.”
According to the report, Davis
sold many of the horses to buyers
near the Mexican border. Investigators found records indicating at
least one of those buyers transported large numbers of horses across
the border to slaughterhouses in
Mexico. However, because local inspectors who certified the transports often didn’t actually inspect
the horses, the inspector general’s
investigation could not verify that
they were the same horses.
Davis told investigators that he
assumed the wild horses would be
slaughtered, saying there was only
“one place to go ... to the kill plant.”
Investigators first began looking
into Davis’ dealings after news reports, including some published in
The Denver Post, raised questions
about where he sent the horses he
bought.
Since 1978, when the BLM first
implemented a sales program as a
way to control herd sizes, it has
HORSES » 5A
A member of the Red Cross speaks to evacuees at a shelter in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, on Friday while Hurricane Patricia
roared toward Mexico’s Pacific coast, prompting authorities to evacuate villagers. Hector Guerrero, AFP/Getty Images
Get the latest: See photos and read
By Christopher Sherman
The Associated Press
puerto vallarta, mexico» Hurricane Patricia roared ashore in southwestern Mexico as a Category 5 storm Friday,
bringing lashing rains, surging seas and cyclonic winds hours after it peaked as the
strongest storm ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere. Forecasters said it had potential to do catastrophic damage.
There were early reports of flooding and
the latest as Hurricane Patricia churns
across Mexico. »dpo.st/patricia
landslides but no word on fatalities or major damage. TV news reports from the
coast showed some toppled trees and lampposts and inundated streets.
Patricia’s center made landfall in a relatively low-populated stretch of the coast
Top central Pacific region hurricanes
category
4
John
Aug. 1994
5
Measured in miles per hour
Patsy
Sept. 1959
Rick
Sept. 1985
173
144
1960
’65
’70
’75
’80
Iniki
Sept.
1992 173
Fabio
Aug.
1988
144
138
’85
By Jason Blevins The Denver Post
Jackie Miller was in Lamar this summer,
talking with dozens of kids about how they
could better enjoy life outdoors.
“More than half of the kids in the room
had never been to John Martin Reservoir
State Park,” said Miller, the director of
youth initiatives for Great Outdoors Colo-
HURRICANE » 18A
BOTH
Gilma
July 1994
’90
’95
200
161
161
Source: NOAA
Patricia
Oct. 2015
Ioke
Aug. 2006
Emilia
July 1994
2000
’05
’10
’15
The Associated Press/The Denver Post
Six communities to get outdoors money
Hoping to get kids outside, GOCO
selects the first areas to receive
funds for parks, trails and more.
near Cuixmala. The nearest large city, Manzanillo, is about 55 miles southeast and outside the extent of the storm’s hurricaneforce winds.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center in
Miami said the storm that had 200 mph
winds earlier in the day had weakened
some but remained a very dangerous Category 5 hurricane with maximum sustained
winds of 165 mph at landfall.
Patricia’s projected path headed over a
rado. “That’s only 12 miles away from town.”
GOCO on Friday tapped six communities, from Leadville to Lamar, to launch its
$25 million Inspire Initiative grant program,
which hopes to help remove some of the
barriers between kids and the wild spaces
next door.
Each project will receive as much as
$100,000 to help refine plans that could
lead to $1 million to $5 million of funding for
parks, trails and programs aiming to get underprivileged kids into their wooded backyards and, eventually, into the backcountry.
“This will give our youths opportunities
to learn how to camp, fish, bicycle and get
outside safely. These are things that low-income people currently don’t have access
to,” said Fany Mendez, a leader of southwest Denver’s Westwood Unidos community group, speaking through a translator.
Westwood, one of the poorest neighborhoods in Denver, hopes to use GOCO funds
to develop parks, trails, safe bike routes
through dangerous alleys and a “My Outdoor Colorado” program similar to the “My
GOCO » 5A
COMING SUNDAY
TRANSGENDER
IN COLORADO:
A SOLDIER’S STORY
Although officially banned, an
estimated 15,500 transgender
people are serving in the military.
Trish King, a Fort Carson soldier
who has served for 16 years, wants
the Army to recognize her as
female. “Transgender people have
always served,” she said. “Our
presence is nothing new.”
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