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Case ID: 14942
Classification: Neglect / Abandonment
Animal: horse
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Attorneys/Judges
Prosecutor(s): Larry Epstein




Mustangs starving to death at sanctuary, 70 seized
Browning, MT (US)

Incident Date: Wednesday, Nov 12, 2008
County: Glacier

Disposition: Alleged

Alleged: Robert Bedard

Case Updates: 1 update(s) available

More than 70 Spanish mustangs that were part of a nonprofit effort to protect the rare horses are being removed this week from a 633-acre ranch west of Browning.

The state Department of Livestock and the Glacier Sheriff's Office began investigating the Blackfeet Buffalo Horse Coalition last spring, when concerned neighbors and animal activists notified them that many of the 120 to 130 horses on the ranch were starving or dead.

Glacier County Attorney Larry Epstein also charged coalition founder Robert Bedard with aggravated animal cruelty, a felony, on Nov. 12, giving notice that the horses must be removed by Dec. 5 or be slaughtered.

Only 76 horses remained when volunteers led by the Montana Horse Sanctuary arrived Sunday to begin rounding up the animals and readying them to be taken to new homes across Montana and as far away as Canada and Kentucky.

"This was a recurring problem that every winter these horses were starving to death," said Kimberly Harris, a New Mexico volunteer who became involved with trying to save the horses last January. "We heard about people backing trailers onto the ranch and hauling horses out, but, basically, a lot of them starved."

Harris added that she found bones of dead horses and emaciated live horses when she visited the ranch in March.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the Humane Society of the United States, the Montana Horse Sanctuary, Blackfeet tribal members and volunteers stepped in to help feed the animals in the months since her visit.

"They're actually in good shape now," said Jane Heath, executive director of the Montana Horse Sanctuary. "It's been really great to see people come together to help these horses."

Epstein said Tuesday that prosecuting Bedard was complicated because Bedard posed as a Blackfeet tribal member, taking on the name Bob Black Bull, and the ranch is on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.

Glacier County Sheriff Wayne Dusterhoff said an investigation revealed that the ranch, the horse coalition and Bedard have no affiliation with the Blackfeet Tribe.

Bedard began the Blackfeet Buffalo Horse Coalition in 1994, with a small band of eight Spanish horses, including two stallions.

His idea was to reintroduce the horses to the Blackfeet Reservation, which would help expand the breed, and to start programs introducing area kids to the horses, giving them something to do and hopefully help them avoid alcohol and drugs.

For the first four years, he ran the program land belonging to Lodgepole Gallery owner and artist Darrell Norman. The herd soon grew to approximately 35 animals, prompting Bedard to expand to a neighboring ranch.

Norman, who became concerned that the horse herd was growing too quickly and that Bedard didn't have the skills or interest to control them, began talking about the coalition with animal-rights groups and county investigators.

Harris said the nonprofit's board fell apart over the years, leaving Bedard to run the coalition alone. Over time, Bedard asked the public for money to pay the mortgage for the ranch, with several people stepping in to take over the lease, only to have Bedard fail to make payments.

Bedard has been undergoing treatment in Rhode Island since severely hurting his hip while riding a four-wheeler last winter.

The four-wheel accident left the horses to fend for themselves causing the ranch to be severely over-grazed, Norman said. It also revealed an important clue that Bedard was not a tribal member, as he wasn't eligible for tribal health care.

Pushed by volunteer and former coalition board member Abigail Hornick, the Department of Livestock continued to investigate the allegations of animal abuse.


Case Updates

Bob Bedard says he had good intentions in operating a Blackfeet Indian Reservation ranch inhabited by dozens of Spanish mustangs, horses now at the center of a felony animal-cruelty charge against Bedard.

His Blackfeet Buffalo Horse Coalition, established about 14 years ago, touted Seven Eagles Ranch near Glacier National Park as a place where visiting children could learn about horses, ranching and the traditional crafts of the Blackfeet Tribe. Now Bedard, also known as Bob Black Bull, is accused of neglecting the horses this year and last, some to the point of starvation and death. A charge of aggravated animal cruelty has been filed by Glacier County Attorney Larry Epstein, who says 75 to 80 mustangs were found with no hay or grass on the 640-acre ranch west of Browning. An undetermined number of others died, said Epstein, whose complaint does not pinpoint the time of the alleged neglect.

This week, volunteers have been moving 76 horses off Seven Eagles Ranch so they can go to adoptive homes, mostly ranches in Montana and Wyoming, said Rick Ground, a volunteer and friend of Bedard. Ground said he expects the last horses to be gone by the weekend.

Bedard, who does not have an attorney, denies allegations of animal cruelty. Horse care slipped out of his control after he suffered near-fatal injuries in an all-terrain vehicle crash a year ago in Montana, Bedard said Thursday from Cumberland, R.I., where he now lives with his mother. Bedard, 57, said he continues to recover. Friends and associates did their best to aid his herd of more than 100 horses during his period of disability, he said, but were limited in what they could do, particularly when heavy snowfall early this year cut access to the ranch.

"We lost about 13 horses last winter," Bedard said. Critics say neglect was a problem well before Bedard was hurt. "I don't think it was deliberate," said Abigail Hornick- Minckler, formerly on the Blackfeet Buffalo Horse Coalition board. "I just think this person got in over his head." Testimonials on the coalition's Web site include a letter in which a former mental health administrator from Browning, William Dilworth, said a troubled boy showed improvement after time with horses at the Bedard ranch.

But Katherine Puceta, a current administrator for the Center for Mental Heal th, said she checked the ranch last year as a potential location for equine psychotherapy and found "the condition of the horses so poor and the condition of the ranch so bad that it would not have been safe to take kids out there."

The horses have "started eating and plumping up," said Hornick-Minckler, who has homes in Billings and New York Ci ty and i s a leader i n Browning Horse Rescue. "These Spanish mustangs are one of the heartiest breeds you'll find in the horse world," she said. "They are remarkably resilient." County Attorney Epstein said he has focused only on the quality of horse care in 2007 and 2008 and will not respond to allegations of earlier neglect. The prosecutor said he does not know how many horses died, but he has been to the ranch and "I've seen the skulls and horse skeletons down in the willows."

Animal deaths are common on Montana ranches when the weather turns harsh, said volunteer Ground. Had the volunteers not arranged relocation of the horses, Epstein said, they likely would have gone to slaughter because Glacier County is "not in the horse-raising business." He called the work of the volunteers "an amazing effort." Epstein charged Bedard last month.

The prosecutor said he did not act earlier because of the mistaken belief that Bedard was a tribal member on the reservation, and thus was subject to tribal law. Although not an enrolled member of the tribe, Bedard was ceremonially adopted, much as Barack Obama gained special status in the Crow Tribe when he visited Montana in May, said Ground, a member of the Blackfeet Tribe. "That doesn't necessarily make him a Crow, but it makes him a brother with those Crow tribal members," Ground said. "That's the same case with Bob." Obama was adopted into the Crow's Whistling Water clan and received a Crow name. Ground said Bedard received the name Black Bull similarly. A call seeking comment from Blackfeet tribal officials was not returned. Ground said he and others will participate in a Blackfeet spiritual ceremony on Saturday with the intention of assuring that relocated horses "have a safe trip and will be well taken care of."
Source: Havre Daily News - Dec 6, 2008
Update posted on Dec 6, 2008 - 7:02PM 

References

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