The following is from our friends at SHARK. http://www.sharkonline.org/
The Rodeo Mafia Shows its “Love” of Animals
Hank Franzen, owner of the Powder River Rodeo Company, claims he wasn’t involved when 12 colts were gunned down and dumped on land administered by the Federal Bureau of Land Management.
Who was responsible? Franzen’s son, his son-in-law, and a friend.
Franzen and his bunch are claiming that the foals and their mothers were starving. Apparently it never occurred to them to feed them. These thugs are trying to frame what happened as mercy killings.
A number of individuals and parties were mentioned in a May 3rd, 2010 article describing the deaths in the Sublette Examiner, located in Pinedale, Wyoming.
Twelve baby horses killed because their “owner” didn’t want to feed them.
The only individual in the story with any sign of a he art or intelligence is a local veterinarian named Ernie Patterson. Dr. Patterson, stated:
“There’s no reason in my mind that you would have to euthanize the foals and describe it as a mercy killing.”
“If you want to be humane to the mares, you feed them.”
Someone – quick – elect this man as governor of Wyoming, because he is almost certainly the smartest guy in the state. One thing is for certain, he is ten times smarter than the rodeo people we’ve met in Wyoming, and the butt-kissing Wyoming politicians who swagger around the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo.
Federal charges are pending in the incident. Predictably, the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA), with whom the Powder River Rodeo Company is affiliated, has neither said nor done anything about the issue.
This story shows how rodeo people love their animals. This story doesn’t represent just the actions of some thugs in one rodeo company. The silence of the PRCA and every other rodeo person and rodeo association in this case demonstrates how rodeo people view animals, and why SHARK must continue to pursue and expose them.
Canadian Horse Defence Coalition's Blog 
Still no news on where these foals, have come from!? This is a bizarre article,but, so much of neglect and horses suffering, everywhere, owners could get their hands on..(BLUE MOON VIDEO) is really something else… tks to all, who were there..In the future, lets hope, when people, put pictures and stuff, know exactly, what happened, who! did it, and so on… would be nice, cause we r all left with questions, and then, kinda-give-up, over time… tks for understanding.. (S) ect
Anyone who would do this to innocent foals is the lowest of low–a person of no morals or feelings who is a abuser of humans also!
Truth–get off your “liberal” and Peta spiel–this is about the slime element that needs to be run out of town—
Sandra,
EXACTLY! WHO KILLED THEM? Where did they come from? They could be BLM victims. The BLM and its shady dealings that is backed by all the liberal agendas will not quit until our wild horses are all dead.
Did you watch Blue Moons last moments? My friends were the ones who got that on film. Now that is GRAPHIC!
Yes, I did watch Blue Moon’s last moments. I was sick. I’m so sorry you had to witness that first hand.
I just want to respond to “liberal agendas.” It was President Bush who in 2004 rolled back the protections in the Wild Horse Act.
I’m a very liberal person, and am firmly opposed to the BLM roundups.
If you want honesty from others, don’t use tricky and inflammatory wording yourself.
Their is no proof of who did this and until you have FACTS you should not be posting BS about anyone. Point blank, look at what the BLM is doing every day before you buy that these horses were killed by so and so. If you did not see him do it or have no proof then you should not be posting that he did.
Where is the proof? What grounds do you have? You have a picture with a terrible thing but then if you have a picture its worth a thousand words, and a thousand stories. So do not just throw a story out and hope people believe it.
SHARK and PETA are both terrorist organizations who do terrible things. Like lie and make things up too get donations. So where is the links to the news report? I can not find anything online. How come?
Their is something fishy here. Those poor horses died and now God only knows who and why and SHARK is making money off their death. SHAME ON SHARK AND PETA!
Who found these poor foals and when? No predation that I could see, so they must been found fairly soon after they were murdered. And where are the starving mares? More than likely over the Canadian border to a slaughterhouse. I don’t know about other states, but in New Mexico a mare can’t “legally” be sold for slaughter if she’s pregnant or has a foal by her side. The answer? Kill the foal, send the mare to the Sale Barn, pick up your bloody check, and be on your way. DISGUSTING!!!
I’m Canadian. In other states that I know of, and up here, a pregnant mare can legally be shipped to slaughter if she’s not likely to give birth on the trip. Of course, it’s the ever-so-sensitive kill buyers who make this determination.
We have many obviously pregnant mares come north. Of course, many do give birth, or abort from stress. Mares can also be shipped with foals at side. One or the other witnesses their dear one’s slaughter. The foals go for sushi or veal. Some are even live shipped to Japan, where they eat raw horse meat. Foals not meaty enough, end up suffocating in the gut barrel, or are tortured by the plant workers.
I was surprised to see an obviously pregnant mare slaughtered in a UK video; I had somehow thought their humane standards would be higher.
Reisa, thanks for furthering my education on this. I must have misunderstood our Brand Inspector. Maybe she was referring to mares heavy in foal.
U.S. Regs: “Under current regulations, horses are not eligible for transport to slaughter unless they are able to bear weight on all four limbs; able to walk unassisted; able to see out of at least one eye; are older than 6 months; and, if pregnant, are not likely to give birth during the trip.”
Actually, I witnessed another option for disposing of unshippable foals. Take them off their slaughter-bound moms and SELL THEM AT THE FLEA MARKET – 5 two-month-olds were sold, three were rescued (I helped with transport & rehab), and the remaining two were never found.
Our Livestock Board wanted to file Felony Abuse charges, but gave up because they could never get any info on the seller. This happened in a very tight-lipped community where threats are made and carried out if there’s even a suspicion anyone might “rat” on someone else.
Want the laws changed? Talk to and write your legislators. Tell your congressman & representative about how you want the law changed. Get your friends to contact them to. They won’t know unless you tell them.
This is disgusting, as are rodeos and everything that goes with them. The foals are obviously not starving; what monsters these people are.
I hope someone is checking all his horses for BLM freeze brands. We have semi loads of wild horses unaccounted for that have left the roundups and disappeared into thin air..they were not processed-so no brands, and a member of the contractors family was seen retrieving a sack from behind some sagebrush, which may have been payola.. you can pull mane hairs by the roots and have DNA tests done to match up with mares, we can have hair pulled from horses on the HMAs to match up to relatives, to determine if these are members of the wild horses stolen
I will NEVER attend a rodeo again! The killing of these innocent babies is beyond belief! DISGUSTING HUMANS! Wait, maybe the tag “human” is too nice.
Why breed the poor mares in the first place? This is inexcusable neglect and cruelty. I’m sure they could have found a rescue to take the foals. These humans need to be prosecuted to the hilt!
This is so wrong on so many counts and needs to be stopped. This really makes me sick. Whom ever did this needs to get the major extent of the law thrown at them. I just can’t believe how mean and full of hate some people are and how the they tend to take it out on animals and other good people. They will have to meet their maker some day and God help them, cause he isn’t going to be happy for them destroying what he created. Thank u for allowing me to say my peace.
That someone could just shoot 12 foals is far beyond my sense of ethics. IF they really cared they would have taken care of them which is obvious to those of us who really do care. Reisa, I can imagine your day at the rodeo must have been very traumatic. If only others had been as empathetic as you when that happened. It is so hard that people have so little caring and compassion for animals.
Thank you, Kate. I don’t know if it’s fortunate or unfortunate that I trust animals more than people. At least I’m there for them, to the best of my ability. Thanks.
Hank Franzen, owner of the Powder River Rodeo Company, needs to be held accountable. People just “don’t forget to feed animals”. How crazy of a notion is that? These people should have to live through the same treatment. I realize 2 wrongs do not make a right but there is no need to induce such pain and suffering. There need to be more laws to make Hank Franzen pay for what happened. Placing him in jail is the simple way out. Make him do hard labor cleaning up after animals and feeding them. Then if he forgets to feed them, forget to feed him. Make an example out of him to try and prevent any future incidents as this.
I totally agree
These “rogue” humans totally disgust me.
Those foals aren’t even that thin! They’re far from being too emaciated to save. Disgusting.
Re: rodeo. I became politicized at the age of four. My Mom had taken me to the Morris MB Stampede. We watched in horror as a chuckwagon race went bad. Horses piled on horses, tangled in their harnesses. Legs were visibly broken, skewed at awkward angles, some bleeding. They groaned and struggled and injured themselves further. Vets ran onto the track and began injecting phenobarbitol. The struggles quieted as the horses started dying.
Mom took me to the Midway, but rides and cotton candy didn’t take my mind off the spectacle I’d witnessed. I was sick and angry. I insisted Mom take me back to the barns. There, we found a horse tied to the back of a barn. His left eye was gouged out, and flies crawled in and out of the mostly dried gore. He’d been left untreated since who knows when. I still don’t know if he was one of the chuckwagon horses, or had been injured during another event.
Raised in a household where visits to friendly veterinarian Dr. Jones were as common as those to the pediatrician, I tugged on Mom’s hand. “Call the vet!” I pleaded. And she did.
This was my unforgettable introduction to rodeo, and to animal advocacy.
Wow…………….I can’t imagine……I would have been sick to my stomach….
Jeannie, I have the perhaps unfortunate gift of seeing horrors clearly, in detail, before reacting emotionally.