New animal abuse claim hits Canyon tribe’s land

Animal-welfare advocates for years have complained about the treatment of pack animals in the Havasupai Tribe’s section of the Grand Canyon — and, via cellphones and social media, the outside world is quickly learning about their concerns.

While there’s no sign yet of fewer people visiting the popular destination and its blue-green waterfalls, Arizona tourism could be getting a black eye in the process.

A tribal representative contends that progress is being made to improve the lives of transport animals on the reservation, despite another incident that has created concern.

That incident, which a witness said took place April 16, involved an alleged kick to the head of a horse. The animal was lying on the ground after falling on a trail.

Screenshots from a video taken by a colleague of Phoenix resident Rob White, who runs a video production studio, have made the rounds on social media. The screenshots show the downed horse, but not a kick.

White and his colleague were hiking the trail at the time. White also provided video to The Arizona Republic. Different segments show a wrangler unstrapping cargo from the horse and the wrangler helping the horse to its feet.

In a report of the incident White made to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, he said the wrangler kicked the horse just prior to the horse standing. The video clip does not show a kick.

The incident has elicited an online protest at Change.org and some poor reviews for Arizona on TripAdvisor. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, posted a report, along with some of the photos, on its website.

The animal-welfare group claims more than 245,000 emails of a complaining or protesting nature have been sent by its followers to the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C., and to the Phoenix public-relations firm that represents the Havasupai Tribe.

While demand to visit the area remains high, some tourists clearly are turned off by such incidents.

“I would like to know as a tourist where I am going is fun and not some evil, cruel place,” said Sabine Schuessler, a woman who lives near Frankfurt, Germany, and has visited Arizona before.

“I have been telling folks here in Germany about this and they are outraged,” she wrote in an email to The Arizona Re

public. “Everyone that knows about it will not even consider to visit Havasupai.”

Susan Ash of Stop Animal Violence, or SAVE, a Flagstaff group trying to raise awareness of the treatment of the animals, said pack animals owned by tribal members regularly transport various goods up and down the canyon, often using members hired out as guides and wranglers.

The group opposes the continued use of the animals without extensive improvements in their care. Ash said she hasn’t been to the tribe’s land lately but has been working with colleagues in the area.

Pack animals and helicopters are the main means of delivering cargo to the remote village of Supai.

Various outfitting companies also hire the animals to transport tourists and their supplies. Tourists also can hire a mule or horse directly through the tribe’s travel office.

Cargo carried to tribal land includes U.S. mail. A postal spokesman in Denver said the agency wouldn’t purposely condone ill treatment, but he added that it doesn’t own any of the animals and doesn’t oversee their welfare.

The service drops off and picks up mail at Hualapai Hilltop at a higher elevation. From there, pack animals descend roughly 8 miles to the village of Supai.

From Supai, animals sometimes carry tourists and their gear a bit farther to campgrounds in the area.

In an interview with The Republic,

White said he didn’t see the horse fall but said he witnessed the kick by the unidentified wrangler. He didn’t know which company the wrangler worked for but said that the man told him he wasn’t the horse’s owner.

As White described it in a statement he filed with the Supai office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the man “gave the horse one swift kick on the bridge of its nose, using the middle of the sole of his boot.”

The wrangler then pushed on the horse to help it to its feet, White added.

Abbie Fink, spokeswoman for the Havasupai Tribe, said the tribe is investigating the complaint, adding that the hiring of a tribal prosecutor and judge late last year has brought a higher level of enforcement.

She said there have been three animal-abuse convictions on tribal land since August 2017, with cases pending against two other individuals in the past month and a half, not including what might transpire from the alleged horsekicking incident.

Fink pointed out that camping spaces fill up quickly to visit the area and its renowned waterfalls, though this year’s reservations were made before the latest incident. So far, she said, “it’s difficult to equate it with any direct impact on tourism.”

Along with increased law enforcement, the tribe recently entered into a partnership with the Humane Society of the United States that includes occasional veterinarian visits, with hay and other supplies brought in and a shaded structure built for impounded animals.

“We’ve made good progress, but there’s more to be done,” said Kellye Pinkleton, the society’s Arizona state director.

“Every community has bad actors,” she said, also noting that the area’s inaccessibility makes it difficult to import feed, supplies and veterinarian care.

People in other states, and even nations, have paid attention to the incident, owing largely to internet postings.

Beth Nordmeyer said she is reconsidering a planned trip to Arizona next year. “I love AZ, but this horse and mule abuse should be stopped,” she said in a note to The Republic. “My goal is to educate as many people as I can here in Minnesota of this suffering.”

Wendy Mihalic didn’t witness the April 16 incident. But during a recent visit to Supai with seven family members, Mihalic said she saw what she viewed as signs of mistreatment.

She described scrawny, swaybacked, panting and overburdened animals that didn’t appear to have access to food or water.

Mihalic, a retiree who splits her time between San Diego and New Mexico, said she wouldn’t have made the trip if she had known how the pack animals are treated.

Mihalic described herself as “conflicted,” recognizing that tourism helps the low-income reservation but vowing never to return. “Nobody in my family will ever go back,” she said. “I can’t do it.”

During a recent hike to Supai, Los Angeles resident Bree Bresciani said she noticed multiple animals with open wounds where saddle straps had cut into their backs.

“I saw many horses and mules alike that were so skinny their ribs were showing, and they were hyperventilating due to exhaustion,” she wrote in an email to The Republic. Their wrangler made the heavily laden pack animals run up the canyon, then tied them to a railing with no water in the trough.

“Havasupai is breathtaking, but I can’t say with certainty that I’ll ever return, solely based on the cruel and callous treatment of these beautiful creatures,” Bresciani wrote. “It breaks my heart to have witnessed it first-hand.”

Ash, of SAVE, said she believes the animals that deliver supplies to Phantom Ranch, in the national-park section of the Grand Canyon, are well-fed, watered, rested and properly trained.

“That’s the model, right there in the neighborhood, on how to properly care for pack animals,” she said.

Ash said the horse that was kicked was removed from tribal land and is currently recovering from malnutrition, sores and pneumonia. The Republic couldn’t independently confirm that claim.