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 It cost about $200.00 for us to have our
vet humanely euthanize an
equine and have it's body removed.
It is the kindest thing to do for all the unwanted horses, ponies,
donkeys and mules in this world. Their previous owner
grew tired of them, or perhaps the equine has become to old
or lame to continue work, so they are dumped off to die
either horribly, or gently. The choice is clear:
humane euthanasia is a far better option then allowing them
to step aboard a trailer for Canada or Mexico to be
slaughtered.
We always want to have enough funds in the LAK fund to be
able to let 6 horses fall asleep peacefully.
Help if you
can, it will
be greatly
appreciated.
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The Unwanted Horses Need Us
by Tawnee Preisner - 4/21/08
I love
horses and always will, horses are my life and I love to see the horses playing
in the wind, bucking, kicking and racing around as the wind blows.
In 2003 I started to see a glimpse of the picture of what horses are going
through each day, it’s pretty sad. This rescue started when I rescued one horse
from an auction to be my very own horse. Her name was “Skip,” and she was
a really great horse. After seeing all those other horses at the livestock
auction and knowing what was going to happen to them, I decided to step up and
do something about it. Since then we have saved 491 equines as of 4-21-08.
I could have turned a blind eye to all those horses and lived happily ever
after with Skip and never worried about what was happening in the real horse
world. Most people have absolutely no concept of what unwanted horses fate
is, or they choose not to think about it.
When I go to auctions I see lots of horses. Some have 4 good legs and
sometimes there is that one standing there with a deformed leg, it is such a
sweet horse but there is no way I know that I can place that horse into a
forever home. And then there is that 30-year-old horse with Cushings and it has
a buddy of the same age standing there together. Their cruel, thoughtless owner
decided to dump them when they needed their owner the most. And then there is
the young horse with no training and no hope. I look at them, they are so
sweet and I would love to save them, but I cannot, for they are unadoptable. I
know that I would never be able to adopt them out and if I did save them, the
horses with deformed legs and all the other horses that really need to be saved,
NorCal Equine Rescue would quickly overrun with unwanted horses, with no hope of
finding them homes, and we would run out of funds and have to close down. NorCal
Equine Rescue’s financial existence is primarily from adoption fees.
Unwanted horses, with no adoption fee, bring in no funds to buy the next $1200
load of hay.
So again we are forced to turn a blind eye to those unadoptable horses. It’s
time to step up for the right.
At one auction I attended recently, an old horse
with Cushings and it's buddy, who were both unadoptable, were purchased by an
out of state killer buyer, loaded into the huge out of state trailer and hauled
away to their death because I was forced to turn a blind eye. When they
were in the auction ring I had to put my hands over my face, forcing myself not
to watch, but knowing that saving every horse that needs it would be certain
financial suicide for all the other horses that equally need to be saved, but
can be adopted into wonderful homes. Why are we turning a blind eye to these
horses that really need us? Is it because we know that we cannot save all the
horses, and it so much easier on us to have a policy of trying to take in horses
that we know we can adopt, then doing the right thing for those unadoptable
horses? It is certainly so much easier to turn a blind eye and not think
about it, letting them go to the killers and be brutally killed. It’s terrible,
but what if the funds were there to give the horse with Cushings and it’s buddy
a gentle and loving ending to their
magnificent lives together. Isn’t that better then turning a blind eye and
letting them be brutally killed? I feel that
euthanasia is much better then turning the blind eye and letting them go to the
killers.
It has taken a long time for me to start seeing this whole new side of the
picture. Before I have been so happy just to save those 9-12 horses from the
auction that I didn’t really look at the whole picture as I’m seeing it now.
There are just not enough homes for all the horses. The answer is not the
slaughterhouse by any means. The answer is for the back yard breeders to stop
right now, and for those who are able to step up and do what they can for all
the unwanted horses. This is the hardest decision I have ever had to make for
our rescue. It is so sad… It is extremely hard on us, saying "Good-bye, I
love you!" to these unwanted horses as they fall asleep. But if we don’t they
will be brutally killed at a slaughterhouse with no thought of who they are, no
last hug, they are just killed with no thought.
I get calls almost every day, “My horse is lame and I can’t take care of it
any more, can you take it?.” Sadly to say I have to say no, we can’t take in
unadoptable horses right now, then I hear “hmmm… well I guess I’ll take him to
the auction”. Another unwanted horse I turned a blind eye to. But what happened
to that horse? Wouldn’t it be better to bring that horse into our rescue, try
our best to adopt that horse into a loving home and if no home could be found
then say good-bye, I love you, and let it fall asleep peacefully? Or is it
better to just say “we can’t take in unadoptable horses right now” and another
unwanted horses ends up at the slaughterhouse to
be brutally killed?
I know it’s
hard for most people to understand, as you are not in our shoes saying no to
those unwanted horses every day and knowing that is going to happen next. The
fact is that when we are forced to turn away the horses that truly need us,
usually they end up being abused, mistreated and brutally killed.
It’s
like when NorCal Equine Rescue started, we started looking at the picture, but
if we really care about all the horses we must look at the whole picture, not
just the pretty side.
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