By BARBARA GREEN
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A Sunday afternoon horse sale at Bowie Livestock Sale Barn created quite the social media uproar as citizens demanded to know why such a large gathering was allowed during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Their complaints were made through media posts and calls to local law enforcement, government officials and the media.
The catalog horse auction featured 175 animals for sale. The post for the auction stated due to the COVID-19 virus the planned church service and tack sale were cancelled, and stated “We will practice social distancing during the auction.”
Based on Gov. Greg Abbott’s recent executive order telling citizens to stay home and implementing the “essential business” protocol, livestock auctions are exempt from the order requiring crowds be limited to less than 10 in number.
Enda O’Dwyer, whose family owns and operates the livestock auction, said they discussed continuing their monthly sale and felt possibly no one would show up and they would continue through the online sales.
“We have buyers who go online from all over to buy horses, so we went ahead. We also took steps to set up social distancing and other accommodations to reduce people being together,” said O’Dwyer.

Read the full story in the mid-week Bowie News.