As you know, we have rescued 100’s of horses from a grim and uncertain future at livestock auctions over the years. Winter is coming on, and more than ever people are dumping their horses at livestock auctions in droves. We have never seen higher hay prices going into winter, when hay should be cheap and plentiful. People are losing their jobs and their homes, and killer buyers are taking advantage of it all.
We have a volunteer who attended an auction recently as a humane observer and got pictures of their conditions for us. You can see the hopelessness in this horse’s face. At one time no doubt this horse was loved, cared for, trained, and gave many wonderful rides to its owner. Now you can see all hope is gone. Dumped at a livestock auction, its head hanging low…
…his body emaciated from starvation. This horse easily could have been in a home that did not feed it, Animal Control came out and said “You have 48 hours to do something or we are seizing the horse and pressing criminal charges” so they dumped him at a livestock auction, washed their hands of their ‘problem’ and walk around to repeat the cycle of abuse. Animal Control probably did a follow up call and the owner says “I got rid of the horse.” Now this poor horse is fending for itself at an auction, where the only ride out is in the back of a killer buyers trailer. Mexico slaughters emaciated horses, uses their bones and hides, while Canada slaughters the fat horses, paying more per pound.
This is a pen full of mules at the auction, probably from a pack station. They no doubt worked hard all summer long, but now that winter is coming on, they don’t want to pay to feed them over winter. They too are tossed aside like yesterdays newspaper.
If you notice this horse has his tongue sticking out. We might look at it and say “How cute, he’s trying to get attention!” One horse trader / killer buyer was trying to sell a horse for higher profit at an auction, but the horse had the same habit. The guy thought that if the horse’s tongue wasn’t hanging out he could get a higher price. He took his knife out and chopped the horse’s tongue off. Tawnee has had years of experience with this particular killer buyer at auctions and he is one of the more grossest, cruelest people imaginable.
Wintertime is always a hard time to adopt horses into homes, particularly elderly horses who have given their all serving humans. This does not give us the excuse to turn a blind eye and let the horses spend their last few days in the miserable ride across the border only to be shot or knifed to death at a slaughterhouse. There is no humanity or compassion in ignoring a horrific situation just because you do not have an ideal solution. In an ideal world every animal would have a loving home full of food and warmth. In an ideal world our organization could give every horse that loving home. We can’t wait for the ideal world to happen on its own, we have to do what we can to relieve suffering wherever we find it. You can help!
These horses deserve love, food, and kindness, even if it is only for a few days, and then give them a big bucket of yummy treats and the last act of kindness. Let them know that they are loved, that they are of worth, and that they are not trash.
A recent video series released on Youtube is an interview by a former killer buyer taken in front of DA in his office. It goes into the gory details about all the ‘tricks of the trade.’ Things like shooting a horse in the eyeball with a bb gun if it is a kicker. The horse gets so distracted by its intense agony that it forgets to kick those around it on their long trip to slaughter. Things like wiring a horses mouth shut with bailing wire if it is a biter for the 1,700 mile trip. If you have the remotest feelings that perhaps we should start slaughter up again, watch the videos! You will not believe what he describes, and remember, this was under the watchful eye of the United States Department of Agriculture inspectors. When animals are considered “food” it seems to be that people assume it is ok for them to experience intense agony, pain and abuse of all kinds on their way to the dinner plate. For part 1, click here.
To watch part 2, click here.
We are planning on rescuing 15+ horses each month, perhaps bi-monthly once it gets rolling smoothly. We need to raise $5,000 for this initial rescue, transport, and care of the horses on death row. Please help us save as many horses from the cruelty of slaughter as possible, click here.