We got a call this morning that sent all of our staff into emergency rescue mode. It was a call we thought we would never get. A semi trucking business owner called us looking for help. He typically hauls cattle in his business, but yesterday one of his workers ended up hauling 45 horses from out of state and the ownership of these horses ended up being turned over to him. The horses got to his place about 9:00 last night and he cannot keep them. He said the horses were all hungry this morning, and he decided to put them out in one of his pastures and gave them lots of hay. He does not want to send them to slaughter but he doesn’t know what other options he has and was asking us if we would please take them all! He said he has seen us at auctions and knows we rescue a lot of horses from being sold for slaughter and called us hoping that we could help.
We were trying to figure out what a whole semi truck load of horses would cost and we asked him how much he wanted for all of them. We were thinking he would ask for $15,000-$20,000. He said he would take $5,450 and delivered them to our shelter. He’s not looking to make a lot of money off of them, he wants to cover his trucking expenses, his workers and other expenses. This man is reaching out for help trying to get them in a better situation before he’s forced to do something he really doesn’t want to do. He could have called up any of the kill buyers that he sees it auctions and make a lot of money off of these horses, but he doesn’t want to see them ship to Mexico and killed in a slaughterhouse. We had a staff meeting to determine the logistics of rescuing and sheltering all of these horses and determined that we do have the ability to rescue them if the funds are raised to help with their intake cost. One of the issues with rescuing them is we do not have a loading chute to get them off of the semi truck, however, we can build one. This truly is an amazing opportunity to be able to rescue so many horses from being shipped to slaughter!
Rescuing 45 horses, even though their price is greatly reduced, is still going to be extremely costly. Here is a breakdown of the projected costs involved in order to save these horses.
$5,450 – $121 per horse
$750 – Build the semi-truck unloading chute
$11,250 – ($250 per horse) Medical care, veterinarian exam, vaccinations, deworming, microchipping, gelding operations.
$1,575 – ($35 per horse) – Farrier care
$5,625 – Trainer evaluations and continue training.
$13,500 ($100 a month per horse) – Sheltering care and feed, 30 days quarantine, approximately 60 days of sheltering while in our adoption program.
Total $38,150 ($847 per horse)
The trucking company has to have them gone by this Thursday so we have a very limited amount of time to raise the funds necessary to rescue and shelter these horses. Donations are needed right now, please give now!
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By phone: 1-888-HPHS-077
By USPS:
Horse Plus Humane Society
P.O. Box 485, Hohenwald, TN 38462
Horse Plus Humane Society is a 501(c)(3) non-profit animal welfare organization, tax ID #20-1156396.
www.HorsePlusHumaneSociety.org
GuideStar: https://www.guidestar.org/profile/20-1156396