Horses taken by animal control.?

Question

I took part in a horse rescue today. 60 horses total were removed from some of the filthiest conditions I have ever seen stalls in.
Six weeks ago Animal Control (a Division of the IL dept of AG) was tipped off to 14 dead horses on a farm in various states of decay. and 60 other horses in various conditions from exellent to ematiated. The owner was given every opportunity to clean it up get vet care and feed and would be monitored by the local Animal Control.
The owner FAILED to make any signifigant improvments to the conditions.
60 horses are ALOT so many private ranches were ask to help out boarding them, where myself and many other horse folks came into this.
Seems to me this is how a humane investigation should happen. Proper Regulatory authority contacted, A rational educated investigation, Reasonable time for the problem to be fixed, and then failing that the animals siezed.
What do you guys think?

link to the Story someone said they had video on the news site also if you want to dig it out.

http://www.wandtv.com/global/story.asp?s=7065885

to me this is just another reason to re open the slaughter plants. How many horses do you think private stables can take? Recue facilities are filled to the gills and this owners options were beyond limited.

After reading some of the replies I have to wonder if some of you are literate? Did you read the part about animal control a division of the IL DEPT OF AG, doing the investigation and contacting private barns and asking for help in taking the animals!
Idiot I didnt steal them I was ask by the Government if I could house some of them.

Bonsylar no wonder you can,t be educated you can't even read, You need to get that diarhea of the fingers under control.

From what I saw some of these horses can be rehabilitated. Others are just too wild and not mentally up to it.
Texas I will see what they are doing as far as adopting these out and send some contact info.
One of my points in this is that this is a good example of resources being stretched to the limit and breaking,
As much as I like horses I can only take a limited number as can most others. Private barns are a very limited option in dealing with these siezures.
I make my living from my horses and my hay. If I take too many rescue horses I lose profit.
Extreme example if I took 60 rescue horses it would cost me
$27,000 in farrier service annually just for trimming
$39,000 in hay (roughly 6,000 bales)
$21,900 in feed/ supplement
$ 8,100 in immunizations
Alot of time and these cost are just the basics.
I don't think people understand 1 rescue horse cost about $1,600 per year each. Just for the most basic care
That doesnt include rehab training.

Raise it I can't condem the owners to much. The owner rumor has it was a legal and legit horse broker who traded in auction horses. (whether you like it or not that is a legal occupation)
When the sluaghter plants were closed alot of people all over the country who are brokers ended up not being able to move their horses and were not prepared to take care of them for a long period of time.
When this started last month there were 86 horses(ok 14 were already dead).
Lets face it in the horse market today you an't give a untrained grade horse away, The private rescue organizations are for the most part over capacity.
The guy did hire 2 people to try and get the place up to shape. Your average horse broker / trader isnt a millionair. I personally hope he gets a slap on the wrist and gets out of the horse business. No animals shouldnt be treated like this, but brace yourself we are going to see alot more of this all around the USA in the next few years

I appreciate the offer of a donation Texas but must decline. I only took 3 of them. LOL I learned the hard way not to let my heart overload my wallet. Initially I don't hold alot of hope for 3 three being adoptable without ALOT of time and work I took some of the ummm thinner ones I guess is the polite way to word it.
I wonder whats going to happen when private barns can't absorb anymore of these horses.
We should all thank the people that got the slaughter ban in place. They have state and local governements literally begging for help. How many of the animal rights groups, and actisit, and people so opposed to slaughter do you think were there yesterday?

Answer 1

It's a sad state of affairs when people won't use their heads and consider all sides rationally.

True horse and animal lovers would not scream "OMG STOP ALL US HORSE SLAUGHTER" why? So Mexico and Canada can stuff our horses into double decker trailers with no food or water to suffer for hours until death?

Real horse lovers would demand humane treatment and transport, food, water and as painless as possible slaughter (read Temple Grandin's work) in the US rather than out of sight, out of mind.

I'm starting to wonder if American politics suffers from Borderline Personality Disorder. Everything is black or white, this or that and the rational area in the middle gets overlooked.

Answer 2

Neglect means starvation, no shelter, dying in their own feces - just because the fencing is a bit crap and you don't agree with how the woman cleans her stalls, that is no reason to report her. Many people deep litter their stalls and then strip them once a month - that is not neglect, it's a way to be economical with shavings which are very expensive these days. If he gets turned out for a couple of hours, that is exercise so you can't say he's never ridden or excercised and perhaps there is some reason why he's not ridden, could be an old injury or perhaps he flips over backwards when girthed - who knows? If he has hay, water (feed if needed), adequate shelter from the elements etc, the humane society won't do anything anyway because the basics are covered to maintain the animal. Quite frankly, people need to do something about horses that are real subjects of abuse and neglect instead of reporting everyone else just because they don't maintain their horses and property to the standard of some huge multi-million dollar Thoroughbred farm. If you don't like the fencing, perhaps you might want to shell out $12,000 for a mile of 4 board plank or if the stalls are that bad, how about chucking in $50 for 10 bags of shavings - afterall, you state that you are helping take care of the horse?

Answer 3

The County Attorney is not sure what charges will be filed??? What? Prosecution to the fullest extent of the law!!! and then some!!!
Yes, I agree with your process of seizing horses when it's necessary (being politically correct).
I must say part of me wonders why we give them a chance to fix the situation though. They have got to know that there horses are starving (obviously the aren't feeding them) or don't have water. Gosh, I'm sure they smell the stench of rotting flesh. They really don't deserve a chance to fix it, they already "knowingly" F***** up.
I commend you for being there to help those poor guys.
You do have to wonder if the slaughter houses were still open, would this particular situation have happened?
There's only so many rescue/ rehabs available. I can't imagine if this ban (and stupidity) keeps up, what it will be like 5 years down the road. Much worse, I would have to assume.
That's really awful.
Thanks for sharing though.

***********edit********
Bonslar, your are the PERFECT exacmple of someone who should read the whole question (thoroughly) before answering.
Those of you condeming him a theif are the reason there is this problem in the first place!!!! You need a good smack right upside your heads!!!!

Answer 4

I can never figure out why people don't either turn over the animals at the start or make the effort to care for them once they are threatened with the removal of the animals. They just prolong the animals' suffering and increase their punishment.

There aren't many ranches big enough for that kind of thing around here, but there's always cases about cats and dogs kept in the same conditions on the news up and down the state. It's so sad for those poor horses. It's great that there were people willing to take them in.

You know, it always amazes me how stupid some people on here are, and how they seem to read the first line of the question and answer without even considering the rest.

Answer 5

Sounds like all the correct steps were taken. Such a tragedy that people let this happen to their horses. You don't mention but I hope the owner was taken to court so he wont be able to do it again. Although its not on the same scale, I knew of a lady close to where I live who did the same with cats. She was given so many chances and she just kept getting more cats. Finally they stepped in and now she cant have any animals.
One of the difficult things about these types of cases - and I have no way to know if this is the case with the horses - is that these people don't set out to harm the animals. They often are mentally ill and they hoard the animals until they get so they don't know what to do. Unfortunately cases like this will happen again. The only thing that will help some times is for people to get more proactive and when they see someone starting to do something like this, call the authorities before its too late.

Answer 6

We were involved in rescue for years where we used to live. Mainly we got them out before things got rotten and we had barns all over the county who could take a couple and rehabilitate for resale or retire and it worked pretty well. There was no large animal rescue facility, just a band of private owners willing to do whatever they could. We boarded, but donated our efforts and our stock trailer. This all came about AFTER the barn full of dead horses. The owner locked the door and left for parts unknown. A neighbor noticed the smell and alerted the authorities. We pulled several barely living horses out of this mess and got them into private barns. Only a few made it long term as they also had severe psychological trauma as well as physical and at that time there weren't a lot of professionals in the area equipped to work with them. But it got the ball rolling and life got better for horses in the area. Especially as animal control and the humane society now had somewhere to go with these cases, before they just left the animals at home and tried to manage the situation. Recently, in this area a farm was shut down with 150 arabians in bad states of decay being confiscated from a nearby farm. These horses went all over the country with an appeal made by the area arabian regional club putting out a nationwide call for homes. All the horses were absorbed privately. There are no rescue facilities around here. I get calls all the time and I have no room for more, but am seriously thinking of adding a couple lean tos and pastures to help out. My spouse counts the horses every morning., in case someone dumps another herd on us. Used to worry about theives, now we worry about dumpers and animal control tells you to keep them until the owners are found...hah. When pigs fly...
I applaud your efforts. The private sector is going to be the place to pick up the slack a lot more in the near future.

Answer 7

It takes time, I think it was appropriate (to give people time, not the horses). The horses should have been removed immediately, but that is not the way the law works. If you would have removed them immediately, it basically would have been an authority rule. Since we live in a democracy, people have to be given time to change.

I completely agree with you on opening the slaughter houses. I own horses, and most horse owners agree (look at Equine magazine a couple months back for an example of the support for reopening slaughter houses). They are an awful truth, but we need them. There are already feral horses running around. We had one right after they shut down in my city (central Wisconsin)- half starved to death and completely wild.
Most people who want to shut them just look at how the animals are killed (or protrayed to be killed). They do not look at the fact: where will all of these unwanted horses go? Rescue shelters can only take so much. I volunteer at a couple, and they are refusing people because there is literally no more room or money.

As for the option to euthanize (which I would always pick for mine, but I have the money) that is $2-400 or so JUST for the drugs. That does not include removal.
We have helped some one who literally lost all of her money - she lost her house, job, etc from a string of bad luck. She advertised 5 free horses of various riding abilities, but unworked with for 2 yrs. No one returned her call. We took them, are working with them, and are in the process of trying to sell them for cheap since no one calls on a free horse.

Answer 8

Something very similar happened here a few years ago. but few horses were actually rescued. The owner placed many with friends who had equally abominable conditions but escaped the scrutiny. Too much notice.

Many people involved in this sort of travisty are dealers who hope to turn over the animals for sale to the unsuspecting, or even to take them to the lvestock sale for meat . Oh well, dog food comes from somewhere and there is an export market for horse meat.

60 is a LOT. No animal should be kept in abusive conditions, regardless of their intended end. Bless all who gave them homes.

Answer 9

Wow, how sad is that! I don't think that the government could have taken anymore steps than they did, if they had waited, more of those horses would have died a tragic and painful death. I hope that some of them will be rehabilitated and I'll pray for the ones that can't.

It is a sad thing to think about horses having to go to a slaughter house but what else can we do? I know I can't afford to care for 60 horses and some of them are so malnourished that they won't make it and keeping them alive is only prolonging their pain. What a horrible tragedy.

Answer 10

Mike, how totally AWESOME of you and the others for stepping up and helping those horses out! I pray God blesses ya'll for doing that. I wish I was closer and could help you out. If you need any kind of funds, please email me and I will send you what I can. I will adopt one of those and pay for the feed. Kinda like the African kids! LOL But I really mean what I say, I'll adopt one. I just don't think we could get it here to west texas! If your game for that then let me know and I'll do it.

On this issue, people are just sick. That's all there is to it. If you watch Animal Cops enough then you will get just pissed off at those FAT %%^#@ people with animals about to die because they don't have any food. The Animal Control was right in what they did. You are right, re-open the slaughter houses!
BOB- have you ever seen a horse die from the needle?? I would bet not. There is NOTHING peaceful about it. You need to go see it before you comment on it.
Again-way to go Mike!
EDIT: not a problem. Just like to help when I can.