Rescuers sometimes can't work fast enough
Special to Neighborhood Post
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Since founding Pure Thoughts Horse and Foal Rescue three years ago, Jennifer Swanson and Brad Gaver have placed more than 350 horses in permanent homes.
They currently have 24 horses at their farm in Loxahatchee, most of which are ready to be adopted.
|
Pure Thoughts started as a rescue service for "Premarin mares." The urine of pregnant mares is used to make Premarin, a hormone replacement drug. Pure Thoughts has expanded its rescue mission to include horses awaiting slaughter for human consumption.
Many of the horses Swanson and Gaver rescue are plucked from pens where they are waiting to be shipped to slaughter.
Many of the horses were once someone's pet - healthy animals that were put up for auction by unsuspecting owners. One of the horses at Pure Thoughts, Howdy Cowboy, came with two pages of handwritten notes and instructions written by a little girl who obviously had no idea that her beloved horse had been bought for slaughter.
Often, racetracks sell horses to slaughter after they have been injured. One of the horses at Pure Thoughts, Affirmed Fever, is the grandson of Affirmed, the last thoroughbred to win the Triple Crown.
Racehorses, even famous ones, are not safe from slaughter. The most famous case was Ferdinand, the 1986 Kentucky Derby winner. He was retired and shipped to Japan to stud. He was unsuccessful in breeding attempts, and was slaughtered and "most likely used for pet food," according to the Humane Society of the United States.
Affirmed Fever came close to the same fate. "He broke down at his last race," Swanson said. "They don't give them time to recuperate. The slaughter truck comes right to the track."
Swanson and Gaver work with a network of rescue organizations and individuals who live near the auction houses. Some work directly with the auction houses to buy back horses. Sometimes, they succeed in getting horses out of the "kill pens" in time.
Other times, their efforts fall short.
Swanson said she once got a call from a fellow rescuer who was worried about a particular horse. "She said, 'There's this pony, I can't stand it! He's just so sad!' He was only $60. I told her to go get him. She ran back and they had just slapped the sticker on him," Swanson recalled.
"What really haunts you are the ones you miss."
The "sticker" is a green U.S. Department of Agriculture sticker. Once that sticker is put on the horse, there is no turning back.
Swanson, Gaver and other horse rescue organizations are in a constant race against time to get as many horses out of harm's way as they can. That race might come to an end with the passage of the Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (H.R. 503.) The U.S. House of Representatives voted 263-146 on Sept. 7 to ban the slaughter of horses for human consumption. The bill has to pass the Senate and be signed into law by the president.
Currently, there are three slaughterhouses in the United States that deal exclusively with horses: Cavel International in DeKalb, Ill., BelTex Corp. in Fort Worth, Texas, and Dallas Crown in Kaufman, Texas.
Every three weeks, Pure Thoughts takes in a new group of rescued horses. Many of them will spend months at the farm recovering from the ordeal. Some have emotional problemsand a tough time trusting people. With time, though, most of them are transformed into great pets by a network of people determined to see them survive.
__,_._,___
No comments:
Post a Comment