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For quite some time now I’ve been tracking the efforts of a horse
rescue group that has impressed me with their commitment, sincerity,
and success. I think maybe it is time that you were introduced to
horse rescue efforts. But, to get there, I also have to go where I
would rather not.
Equine rescuers are volunteers that do for horses what pet rescuers
do for dogs, cats, rabbits and ferrets, etc. They are small groups
of courageous and committed individuals who have made a very big
difference for many horses who find themselves at feedlots waiting
shipment for slaughter.
Their goal is to rescue slaughter-bound horses that still have
quality of life that are safe, sound or serviceably sound and usable
with a future for pleasure, competition, or companionship. And, they
are making a difference.
Horses, mules and donkeys are sold through auctions and unsuspecting
owners never realize what happens to their companion animals. Owners
carefully bring their animals to auction in single/double horse
trailers. Once there, they are held in pens until their turn in the
ring comes. I’m sure they are hoping for another good home, but all
too often the meat buyers are the top bidder. Whole breeding herds
often end up at feedlots (young mares, foals, bred mares,
stallions).
Sold auction horses are then penned together until shoved out
through a chute and loaded onto semi trailers. . .mares, geldings,
stallions, ponies. . .altogether. The terrified foals are sometimes
separated from frantic mothers and shipped with calves. Many horses
arrive injured. All are tired and most are very, very scared and
confused.
Once at the feedlot, they are put into holding pens. Originally
sound, many suffer injuries during shipping and from fighting
amongst themselves. The sudden change of feed founder some. Most are
nervous and upset and can’t figure out what has happened to them.
Why can’t they go home? Where are their owners? Where are their
other horse friends who didn’t come with them?
At the feed lot, mares try desperately to protect their foals. Many
horses are too upset to eat. More horses are injured as they try to
get enough to eat, drink water, and stay away from the aggressive
ones. Many horses without shots and quality care are penned together
with those that have had good care. Now all horses are subjected and
exposed to whatever was at the auction house, the transport
vehicles, and the feedlot.
And, now they wait. They wait for the day in the not-too-distant
future when the semi truck comes when they will once again be loaded
up and transported. . .this time to the slaughter house. Often they
are transported on double-deckers designed for pigs and cattle with
ceilings too low for a horse to hold his head in a natural position.
Mares, foals, stallions, injured horses are crammed together.
Fighting and injuries continue. It is not uncommon for severe
injuries to happen during transport. Some even die. It doesn’t
matter now, they are only a statistic. They can even be shipped over
24 hours with no food, no water, and no rest, with broken legs, and
missing eyes. Sometimes, the slaughter houses are in other
countries, a very long ways away.
In 2003, USDA records show that 50,564 horses were killed in the
U.S. for human consumption. Many thousands more were transported to
Canada and Mexico for slaughter. Horse meat is popular in Italy,
France, Belgium, Holland, Mexico and Japan.
A couple of years ago I accidentally saw a hidden camera undercover
report on TV and saw way too much as I scrambled to find the remote
to change the channel. At that time, in the U.S., no sound horse
could be slaughtered. So, they simply took the sound horses and made
them unsound . . .and, then killed them. One beautiful,
well-kept, show horse was caught via hidden camera as it exited a
big black box. . .sound before entering. . .exiting on 3 legs with a
displaced hind hip and now qualified for slaughter. Then they showed
another horse down and one getting what was probably a captive bolt
blown into its head. Like I said, I couldn’t find the remote with my
eyes closed and I couldn’t stop the sound from entering my ears. I
had nightmares for a long time. It still turns my stomach.
Nowadays, regulations say that they must be stunned by a captive
bolt pistol before slaughter. However, lowly-trained employees
sometimes miss and it has to be repeated many times. The horse is
hung up by a hind leg, and then the terrified and flailing horse is
repeated bludgeoned and finally has its throat slit to bleed out
often while still alive.
I have recently read about a darling of the racing world, the
beautiful stallion Exceller. He was born in 1973 out of the 1986
Broodmare of the Year. He won $1,654,003.00 racing in France,
England, and North America. He was the only horse to beat two Triple
Crown winners (Seattle Slew and Affirmed). He won 15 races from 33
starts. He sired winners Squan Song and Slew’s Exceller. He was
inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in
Saratoga, New York, on Aug. 9, 1999.
He was always a healthy horse with a great temperament. It was often
said that a 14 year old could handle him. He retired from racing in
1979, sired several stakes winners, and then was sold and sent to
Sweden in 1991. He bred 118 mares for his new owner.
His Swedish owner, Gote Ostlund, began having financial troubles and
declared bankruptcy. Exceller was sent to a small farm owned by
Anne. He was now 24 years old but still in excellent health and had
sired a foal a few months before. Gote Ostlund wanted Exceller
killed as he had now become a liability to him. Anne asked
repeatedly if she could buy the stallion, pay for the stallion
license herself, and pay off the selling price as she received the
stud fees for breeding. The owner refused. He said Exceller was old
and dead already and it didn’t matter. He would not relinquish the
horse.
Anne stalled the inevitable for several months saying that she
needed written verification. It finally arrived and then she had no
choice. She, herself, took Exceller on that one last walk. He was in
great physical shape and was not ill or injured. She left him where
he didn’t want to be. He smelled the blood and he didn’t want to
stay there. He died a slaughter house death on April 7, 1997.
Ferdinand, 1986 Kentucky Derby winner, ended his life in a slaughter
house 6 years earlier.
That, folks are the fate of many of the horses that we have
exploited through industry, entertainment and business. We have made
them dependent upon us humans. We have asked these noble animals to
do our bidding. . .whatever that may be. These tremendously
glorious, beautiful, powerful, and intelligent animals have bended
to our wills and done what was asked. And, in return, their trust
and willingness to serve us humans is often repaid with a slaughter
house death.
There is a glimmer of hope on the horizon, however. Horse rescue
groups are rising up and saying this isn’t right. These people are
especially devoted and committed, and although too few in number,
they are trying their best to make a difference against great odds.
The realization of Exceller’s fate so moved many people that The
Exceller Fund was established via the Internet to raise money to
rescue Thoroughbred horses that would otherwise be sent to
slaughter. They believe that all horses deserve to live out their
natural lives in a healthy and caring environment regardless of
pedigree, race record, or the quality of offspring.
The Columbia Basin Equine Rescue group’s goal is to rescue
slaughter-bound horses that still have quality of life. They focus
on industry exploited and unwanted horses that are safe, sound or
serviceably sound and usable with a future as pleasure riding,
competition or companion animals. They focus their efforts on the
feedlot in their city.
They maintain a wonderful website and the horses that are awaiting
new homes or sponsorship at the feedlot can be found on the
PetFinder website. More information and pictures of each available
horse is found on their website.
They are currently pursuing a 501 (c) non-profit status and have
been approved by the Charity Division. At present, all donations are
not yet tax deductible as they do not yet have their full status.
For those of you who might be moved and willing to give a
slaughter-bound horse a permanent and loving home or would like to
sponsor one until it does find a home, this is how you do it:
1. Contact a C.B.E.R. volunteer via e-mail or telephone
(509-952-3866)
2. Receive and fill out a questionnaire
3. Upon approval, come see the horses, and pick one out,
purchase it, take it home. A 30-day quarantine is recommended.
4. If you cannot take it home immediately, you must pay $8.00
per day board.
5. Sponsored horses must be vaccinated wormed before being
moved to a foster home (cost is $76.00).
6. Due to an abundance of returned checks and fees, personal
checks cannot be accepted. Please pay with cashier’s checks or cash.
Only horses that have been paid for and are out of the feedlot are
safe. Shipments happen whenever the trucks arrive. . .usually once a
week. The feedlot determines the prices. Any mare might be bred.
If you can’t adopt, foster or sponsor a horse, donations for
supplies are desperately needed. These are large animals in
desperate conditions and providing care for so many of them is
expensive.
Much-needed supplies for the feedlot horses include: penicillin,
wormer, wound spray, novasan, eye ointment, rope halters and leads,
phone cards, senior feed/grain, coupons, farrier help, fungus spray,
digital cameras and digital camera batteries, stable supplies
(buckets, pitchforks, pooper scoopers, water troughs, gates and
panels). And, if nothing else. . .please, a kind word and a prayer
for the horses and the rescuers.
Contact information for The Columbia Basin Equine Rescue: (509)
952-3866, (206) 396-9847, (509) 282-3331, (509) 308-0538.
www.petfinder.com
www.columbiabasinequinerescue.org
Mailing Address: 20502 Ruppert Rd., Benton City, WA 99320
E-mail:
sissy2go2000@yahoo.com
frenchwellsfarm@earthlink.net
Horse Transportation: Charlie Gibson, 509-964-2591.
Other equine rescue groups:
http://www.excellerfund.org
http://www.hopeforhorses.net
As you can see, auctions are not a good option for finding another
home for your companion animal. You also need to be careful and
check out private buyers as well. . .especially for the older
horses. At end of life, please consider euthanasia. For a large
animal (horse) it runs from about $50.00 - $150.00. One vet I talked
to said they first tranquilize and then overdose with anesthesia
which makes the most sense to me. The vet will come to your place.
The horse will not be traumatized and not suffer the horrors of the
feedlot and slaughter house. It will leave its’ physical body at a
place it called home. There are many ways available to dispose of
the body.
Creating a loving home for a large animal requires commitment,
space, love and understanding. There is a substantial financial
commitment as well involving food, tack, shelter, vet expenses and
competition fees. A new beginning will also have an ending. You must
be as committed to providing a safe and full life while the animal
is in your care as to when another home may be required or as to
when the animal dies.
I have written this article with mixed feelings. . .and tears. In
fact, I wasn’t going to write about the slaughter part at all. But,
then in one of those “auspicious moments” when least expected, I
heard someone being interviewed answer that if you know about
something that isn’t right and you turn and walk away or keep quiet,
then you are just as guilty as the one doing the action. There and
then I knew I had to write the whole story. . .not just the
good-feeling rescue parts. Somehow I had to reach deep down inside
and gather courage and go forward through the tears, wakeful nights
and feelings of helplessness.
Horses were a part of my life for many years growing up. As with
most animals and especially dogs, I established a closeness and
understanding of these amazing animals that I’m even still
discovering others did and do not experience. Injustice to these
animals cuts deeply into my being and I have difficulty in
understanding how they can be treated this way.
All animals bred and raised for human entertainment by owners (horse
racing, dog sled racing, dog racing, show competitions, breeders)
are breeding and raising animals for slaughter. The animals give
their all to their human owners, and then are most often cast off as
if it didn’t matter, as if the animal had no feelings, as if its’
life had no value, as if its’ lifetime of service and commitment to
their owners had no meaning.
What, as a human race, have we become? Are we so concerned about
ourselves, our desires, our ambitions, and our priorities that those
of others and the animals don’t matter? And, as for Exceller’s
owner, Gote Ostlund, I think, sir, that you are a member of the
wrong species.
As human beings, we are supposedly at the top of evolution’s scale.
We have been given reasoning power, a mind, intelligence,
discriminative powers, and a heart—where unconditional love and
understanding should reside. We have domesticated our animal
companions and made them dependent upon us. They give their lives
totally to us and perform, race and compete to the best of their
abilities and understanding. They give us their ALL. Do we give ours
in return? The animals never behave any differently than the species
they were born into.
When will I be able to say the same about us humans?
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