November 13, 2012 The Honorable Ken Salazar Secretary of the Interior 1849 C Street Northwest Washington, DC 20240

Dear Secretary Salazar, We are outraged to learn your agency has illegally sold federally-protected wild horses to a livestock hauler who sells horses to slaughter. A recent ProPublica article (included for reference) revealed that, since you became Secretary in 2009 the Bureau of Land Management has sold over 1,700 captured mustangs to your neighbor and business associate, Tom Davis. Davis, a known kill buyer who purchases horses and ships them to slaughterhouses in Mexico, claimed that he was purchasing BLM horses "to use in movies" in Mexico. That is just one of many outrageous stories that Davis told to BLM employees who looked the other way and sold federally-protected wild horses for as little as $10 apiece. Thousands of wild horses gathered by the BLM are unaccounted for, and I am deeply concerned that these horses have met with the same horrible fate in Mexican slaughter plants. A spokesperson for the USDA confirmed that veterinarians in her agency "sometimes see wild horses bearing the BLM brand in slaughter export pens." And a BLM corral manager told ProPublica that the decision to sell horses "happens in Washington. We are just peons. We do what we are told." We are writing to request that you, in your role as Secretary of the Interior, place an emergency halt to the BLM program pending a full investigation. It's your responsibility to ensure that this program is law abiding and matches the standard of humane treatment that Americans demand for our cherished wild horses. Evidence presented by ProPublica suggests that laws have been broken and wild horses have suffered and met with horrific deaths. This is unacceptable. Please do the right thing by the mustangs and the American public by bringing reform and transparency to this broken federal program. Sincerely, The Undersigned 25,130 Outraged Americans