Prosecute Tom Davis for Selling Wild Horses to Slaughter and Investigate Salazar's Connection

  • by: Susan V
  • recipient: US Department of the Interior Office of Inspector General, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado, State of Colorado Conejos County District Attorney’s Office

Based on an investigation by US Department of the Interior's Office of Inspector General, between 2008 and 2012 Colorado rancher Tom Davis spent $17,940 buying truckloads of horses from DOI’s Bureau of Land Management, which spent more than $140,000 transporting the horses to Davis. OIG’s report says Davis admits that most of these “government protected” horses were killed at slaughterhouses in Mexico.

According to that same investigation, Davis made $2500 to $3000 on every load of 35 horses he had slaughtered, as many as 1700!

OIG’s report also refers to allegations that Davis “had farming and trucking connections with former Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar,” and ProPublica quotes Davis admitting he did “quite a bit of trucking for Ken.” ProPublica says Davis began receiving “truckload after truckload” of horses, supposedly agreeing to BLM’s anti-slaughter requirements, only weeks after Salazar became head of DOI.
Despite this information, OIG says it did not “further investigate” the alleged Salazar/Davis connection “due to lack of evidence.”

As for Davis’ admitted crimes, first the misdemeanor for shipping the horses out of state without brand inspections and second, multiple felonies for sending 1700 horses to slaughter, the State of Colorado and Conejos County District Attorney’s Office have “declined civil and criminal prosecution," adds OIG.

Sign this petition to demand both an investigation into Salazar’s connection to Davis and prosecution of Davis for his crimes.





We, the undersigned, say there is adequate evidence for both an indepth investigation into Salazar’s connections to Tom Davis’s crimes and no question that Tom Davis broke the law.


Not only in his interview with Propublica, but in his alleged confessions to the OIG, Tom Davis admits he knowingly sold close to 1700 horses to middlemen whom he knew were selling horses to slaughterhouses in Mexico.


Furthermore, the evidence reported clearly shows that Davis knew the terms regarding his buying and selling these “protected” horses from the BLM, and he knowingly misled the BLM about his past activities and future intentions, later justifying his actions, based on alleged statements to ProPublica, by saying the BLM knew what he was doing and allowed it.


The latter seems likely to be the case, and the BLM should also be under investigation for failing to ensure that Davis was doing as he promised, which appears to have been intentional neglect on BLM's part.


Based on evidence submitted in a number of reports on this issue, it seems quite apparent that the BLM faced problems with having to care for too many corralled horses exacerbated by a decrease in legitimate adoptions and, as a solution, chose to turn a blind eye to the illegal handling of the horses via sales of truckloads to Davis.


This entire matter smacks of corruption, which there is no excuse for OIG to fail to investigate, and the State of Colorado to fail to prosecute, after Davis admitted he committed the crimes.


Many believe BLM has created its own problem by using corralling/warehousing of horses as its solution to overpopulation. However, noted the Ely Times last July, BLM is finally in the process of “exploring wild horse solutions other than warehousing.”


Even so, nothing BLM is doing now excuses Davis’ crimes or OIG’s unwillingness to investigate Davis’ connections with Salazar.


We insist that these two issues be properly addressed - that Salazar’s connections to Davis be investigated and Davis’ crimes be prosecuted.


Thanks for your time.

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