On Monday Shari, our Shelter Manager in Oklahoma, headed to an auction to save lives. It was a long drive but she finally arrived.
In the end she was able to rescue these two adorable little mini mules.
They took turns loading into the trailer. Shari was so happy that they loaded so easy.
They are so cute! They seemed to be friendly and were curious about what was happening to them.
Soon they were ready to hit the road back to the shelter. This one is so cute!
Sadly, the big slaughter truck was waiting to load up the horses that were purchased for slaughter. It always breaks our hearts to see the horses loading up on the big trailers.
After the drive to the shelter they unloaded into their waiting pen.
The next morning Shari spent some time evaluating them. They are both trained to lead and lift their feet. Chloe looked so cute in her bright pink halter.
Sassy thinks she looks fancy in a bright pink halter too.
Saturday Shari went to another auction to save even more lives thanks to your donations. This poor donkey caught Shari’s eye as he reached through the bars trying to get some attention. Over 100 horses were consigned for sale before 4:00 pm.
Shari noticed this Palomino mare. She is so beautiful she would catch anyone’s eye.
Upon closer examination, it was clear that this poor girl was really suffering. She had a horrible, untreated old injury on her right rear leg. The injury was clearly causing a lot of discomfort. Shari was really hoping to rescue her as she obviously needed a lot of help.
There was also a poor little donkey who was severely neglected.
Her hooves were very long and twisted. It was causing her a lot of pain and discomfort.
We find it interesting that the auctions usually start late at night, as if to hide the dirty secret of horses being sold for slaughter. We find this at many auctions across the US, horse auctions late at night on a Saturday night. Shari sat down in the auction, ready to bid and save lives. The auctioneer made an announcement: “You can’t buy riding horses for $400, they are worth more than that to kill them.” Oklahoma is a very pro slaughter state. Shari was able to save 5 precious lives at the auction. Sadly the Palomino did not go through the auction ring. Shari kept looking for her but she was nowhere to be seen. Shari was very worried about her, and went to talk to the auction staff. She was afraid the Palomino had been sold to slaughter in the back alleys. The auction staff came up with excuses as to why she wasn’t sent through the ring. She told them that she really wanted her and asked them to please call her if she was able to buy her. Meanwhile, the group of 5 she rescued was getting ready to load up. She saved the donkey with bad hooves, an older mare in her 30’s, a colt with a seemingly malformed back, an adorable unusual colored grey colt, and a the paint donkey seen above. Shari noticed the paint donkey had a twisted front right hoof. She bent down to look at it, and he promptly bit her on the head. It was already close to midnight. That was the last thing poor Shari needed!
They all loaded up safely for the 2 hour trip back to the shelter.
Half an hour down the road, at 11:45 pm, one of the auction staff called Shari and said the Palomino mare’s owner was willing to sell her for $500. She told them that she would pay the current slaughter price, $400. They said they would meet halfway at $450. Shari turned the truck and trailer around and headed back to the auction.
Almost back to the auction, Shari heard a dragging noise coming from her trailer. She stopped the truck and went to investigate. The tongue jack on her trailer fell apart and was dragging. It couldn’t be fixed on the spot so the jack was taken off. Shari would love to have a larger, newer trailer. We could rescue a lot more horses in Oklahoma with a bigger trailer.
The Palomino mare was paid for and loaded up. We are so thankful that this precious horse wasn’t shipped to slaughter.
It was a very long drive back to the shelter. It had been such a long day for Shari and she was completely exhausted.
By the time she made it back to the shelter it was about 3:00 am. The animals were happy to get out of the trailer. She got them settled in then headed to bed for a few hours of sleep before she had to go to work the next day.
The next morning Shari was able to see the animals in daylight. She told them a quick “Good morning,” as she headed to work. Shari is one of our best volunteers, she has put in more hours rescuing horses from auctions than anyone!
Because of the late night and Shari having to run off to work we don’t have photos of all of them in the daylight, but we would like to introduce you to the animals that were saved from slaughter.
This adorable little baby is about 6 months old. He is a very unique grey / steel roan color. He is exceptionally sweet. His name is Avatar.
This is Dolly, the Palomino mare with the injured leg.
In the daylight Shari was able to see it. She seemed to walk sound, but Shari knew a vet was going to have to make the ultimate decision. She hoped that the Last Act of Kindness wouldn’t be the ultimate answer.
Diva the donkey has the really bad hooves. It looked like she was severely foundered, and she had fat pads all over her body from eating too much.
Her poor little back hooves were a mangled mess. It was so sad, she has been neglected for so long and then her heartless owners dumped her at the auction.
Picasso is a very cute paint jack donkey. He needs to get his gelding operation as soon as possible. Picasso is the donkey who bit Shari on the head when she tried to look at his hooves. She believes he was just under stress and duress at the auction because he really does have a sweet personality.
His poor little face has a large scrape down the front and he is sunburnt around his eyes.
His right front hoof is twisted. Shari was hoping that the vet would give him a good quality of life assessment and be able to give a treatment plan.
Dunbo is a little colt with the really bad conformation or deformed back. The vet will be checking him out shortly.
Annie is the older mare in her 30’s. She was so skinny, sad and bedraggled. It is so sad that her owners dumped her at the auction with no thought for her future. She really needed rescuing!
Avatar and Shari say “Thank you so much for your support to the Oklahoma Auction Rescue! Without your support, none of the animals in this blog would have been rescued and saved from slaughter. They would probably already be killed at a slaughterhouse, so, Thank You!”
