Posted on 01/31/2008 2:23:17 PM PST by mdittmar
ZIMMERMAN, Minn., Jan. 31 (UPI) -- The operator of a horse-rescue organization in Minnesota said the number of neglected horses needing care has gone up dramatically as the economy slows.
Drew Fitzpatrick is now caring for 90 horses at the Minnesota Hooved Animal Rescue Foundation in Zimmerman. She told the St. Paul Pioneer-Press Thursday the economic downturn has been tough on horses bought when times were good.
Wade Hanson of the Humane Society said calls about neglected horses are running at 15 a month, while about 15 horses are dying needlessly a year. Both neglect cases and deaths have quadrupled, the report said. Hanson said many newly rich people bought spreads in the country and added horses without knowing much about them. "They thought they were going to be ranchers," he said.
"They are so clueless. I have talked to people who didn't think horses needed water in the wintertime, because they would just eat snow."
Some of the horse owners put stallions and mares in the same field, not realizing that would lead to more horses.
From what I understand, people are just shipping their nags to Mexico, subjecting them to more stress and shoddy slaughterhouse standards. The law of unintended consequences.
What bill?
It’s what’s for dinner
Exactly.
Nice horse picture.
Nope. Feels like cannibalism. Despite having been nipped, and stepped on, more than once.
This has nothing to do with the economy. It has to do with the elimination of the horse slaughtering plants in the US and no place to send horses when a person no longer wants it.
The Law of Unintended Consequences strikes again. And the hand-wringers who make these laws never for a moment take into account their responsibility for the increased suffering and misery they create.
The article fails to mention that hay and feed prices have benn driven up in large part by the rush to produce ethanol from corn. Those hay producers who haven’t gone over to corn production are charging far more per ton than they used to. Here in northern Idaho, we’re looking at an average of $200/ton for local grass hay. We can get a better deal by driving 100-150 miles or so to the Columbia Basin hay producers and by loading our own once we get there.
In another triumph of liberalism, the local Rathdrum Prairie hay producers have mostly given up and sold out owing to two things - the real estate boom and the onging campaign against field burning. People who farmed here for generations were ruthlessly assaulted by new move-ins who complained about the annual field-burning that rid the fields of noxious weeds and pests and prepared the soild for the next hay crop. So they pressed for and got burn bans passed and severe restrictions where they couldn’t get an outright ban.
The article does make a good point, though. New-rich city- bred morons are so clueless when it comes to country living, much less sound animal husbandry. Style over substance - so typicaly lib. And these poor animals suffer for it while their owners blame capitalism and George Bush.
Who lobbies for the horses, Mr. Ed?
Don’t forget all of we wives that are going to be beaten after the Super Bowl by our drunken, evil husbands!
(’NOW Hag False Statistic’ Alert!)
“These abandoned horses are a direct result of congressional action.”
And the skyrocketing costs of feed corn, due to the congressionally mandated biofuel requirement.
All horse processing facilities in the US are already closed. They have been since early summer 2007. Unfortunately this is causing severe overpopulation of herds and depressed horse prices. Here in Kentucky many horses at auction cant be sold because it cost more to feed them than they are now worth. If you are feeling charitable you can buy lots of horses for five and ten dollars each. Most people see beautiful horses running in well manicured fields of plush grasses. The type of scene you often see here in Kentucky. Those well intentioned folks equate this with the senseless slaughter of beautiful animals. Horses that are in good health and those that have been properly cared for are not sent to slaughter. The horses which are slaughtered in almost all cases are very old, or in very poor health, and near death. I do not wish to see any animal put down inhumanely but many do need to be put down. In the coalfields of Eastern Kentucky where mining lands have been reclaimed with lush grasses some horses are thriving. But a lot of these horses have just been dropped off here. Many are old and also in poor health. Making these areas into dying fields where animals die a slow and sometimes painful death. If horses are allowed to be put down humanely in a properly run slaughterhouse the carcasses can be disposed of properly. This is necessary to protect drinking water supplies and other livestock. And horse prices could return to normal levels making most horses too valuable for slaughter. Most people who put horses down don’t do it because they hate horses most do it because they hate to see them suffer.
N’importe qui qui mange de la viande de cheval est un âne.
N’importe qui les thats mangent un âne est fichu affamé.
Don’t make me have to come over there!!!
I am in Michigan. I just got a load of good hay for $4/bale. It is going for $6/bale at the auctions.
Four dollars was a VERY good price. I was not expecting such a good price.
Round bales that cost us $25 last year, cost $35 this winter.
Last year was a very bad year for hay (at least in Michgan). We all knew that prices this year would be high and horses would be available cheap at the auctions.
People were predicting $7-$8 per bale. It is not that bad this year... yet.
Do you have horses?
Yeah. We have four.
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