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Farmers
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Contact John Hansen Office:
402-476-8815, Fax: 402-476-8859,
Cell: 402-580-8815 |
For Immediate Release July
29, 2011
Farmers Union Board of Directors Authorizes the Vic Jensen
Defense Fund
LINCOLN—The Nebraska Farmers Union (NEFU) Board of Directors took
action at their summer meeting to establish the Vic Jensen Defense Fund to help
the embattled fifth generation Burt County horse breeder with his legal
expenses. Jensen has been charged with
17 counts of neglect and abuse, and is facing seizure of his horse herd, equipment,
and up to 17 years of imprisonment as a result of charges brought by Burt
County Attorney Dan Smith.
“Our Board of
Directors felt that the provisions of LB1084 that were amended into LB712 and
passed by the 2010 Legislature to deal with pet and equine neglect and abuse
issues have unintentionally created a punitive complaint based system that violates
both Vic Jensen’s private property rights and civil liberties. The law allows jealous competitors, people
with personal vendettas, or organizations such as the Nebraska Humane Society with
organizational agendas to use the legal system as a means to unfairly seize horses,
personal property and put horse owners in jail,” said John Hansen, NEFU State
President.
Hansen said “In
the Vic Jensen case, the basis for the medical problem began with blister
beetle infected hay. The basis for the
legal problem stems from the fact the Nebraska Humane Society and the Burt
County Attorney and Sherriff failed to do their homework,” said John Hansen,
NEFU State President. “The medical facts in this case are overwhelming. Vic Jensen’s horses were not neglected or abused,
but they were poisoned by exposure to blister beetle infected hay causing toxic
cantharidin poisoning.”
“Something is
seriously wrong when a hard working fifth generation taxpaying Nebraska
citizen, who is a military veteran, a respected horse breeder who has earned an
animal science degree from the University of Nebraska, and is a certified veterinary
technician is being driven out of the horse business and facing 17 years of
imprisonment because he had the misfortune to purchase hay that was infected
with blister beetles. It appears to us that
common sense along with Vic Jensen’s private property rights and civil
liberties have been thrown out the window here.
This is just plain wrong,” Hansen said.
Hansen said his
organization’s research in to the Vic Jensen charges has raised a lot more
questions than answers. There was a troubling
comedy of medical, legal, and due process errors that were made by the Nebraska
Humane Society and the Burt County Sherriff and
Nebraska Farmers
Union Board is asking horse owners everywhere to appreciate the gravity of the
Vic Jensen case and its implications for all
Nebraska Farmers
Union has prepared a brief summary of information about blister beetles taken from
three primary sources listed at the bottom of the page for background
information on this issue:
While blister
beetles have made their home in
Blister beetle literature indicates there are over
200 species of blister beetles, varying in size, shape, color, and
toxicity. There are three primary blister
beetle species in
* “Signs and
symptoms of cantharidin poisoning in a horse may include blisters and ulcers in
the mouth, gastritis, esophagitis, edema of the submucosa of the intestine,
colic, diarrhea and blood and mucous in the stool. Other signs include frequent
attempts to urinate but voiding of little urine and blood in the urine. The
lowered blood serum calcium levels may cause body tremors and a breathing
pattern characterized by a periodic jerking contraction of the diaphragm
(synchronous diaphragmatic flutter) associated with the heartbeat. Poisoned
horses may place the muzzle in water without drinking, have an increased temperature,
increased pulse and breathing rate, be dehydrated, depressed and in
shock.”
The toxic blister
beetle tends to invade the perimeters of alfalfa hay fields between the first
of June and the middle of September, especially when alfalfa is blooming and
ready to be cut. If a conditioner or
crimper is used when the hay is cut and put into windrows
for baling or stacking, the colorless and odorless cantharidin liquid may be
squeezed out of the blister beetles into the hay, making contaminated hay very
difficult to identify unless blister beetle parts happen to be included in the
sample.
*
** Purdue University Fall 2006 Newsletter “Blister
Beetle Poisoning: Cantharidin toxicosis
in Equines” by Cindy Echevarria http://www.addl.purdue.edu/newsletters/2006/Fall/EquineCT.htm
***“Blister Beetle Toxicosis” by J.E. Palmer, VMD, Large
Animal Neonatal Intensive Care program at the Graham French Neonatal Section of
the Connelly Intensive Care Unit, New Bolton Center, University of Pennsylvania
NFU has been working since 1902 and
NEFU since 1913 to protect and enhance the economic well-being and quality of
life for family farmers, ranchers and rural communities through advocating
grassroots-driven policy positions adopted by its membership.
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