The Horse Indicator..
kind of long but very telling and VERY SAD.. :(
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Domestic horses: recession victims
As economy worsens, more horse owners abandon animals across Nevada, the West
By Jeff DeLong • jdelong@rgj.com • December 20, 2008
Buzz up! A purebred Arabian colt was found abandoned, underfed and tied to a telephone pole late last month in Carson City.
Its future is uncertain, and its plight is part of a national trend of increasing horse abandonment cited by livestock, agricultural and animal control officials in Nevada and across the country.
The colt abandoned in Carson City “just needs a home,” said Dani Amaru, an officer for city’s animal services department.
That will probably happen after a public auction later this month, but many horses aren’t so lucky. As the economy worsens and the cost of feeding and caring for horses rises, more people are abandoning their animals into the wild, where many starve and die.
No national numbers are available, but there are “definitely thousands of them out there,” said Dave Duquette, an Oregon horse trainer and president of the United Horsemen’s Front.
Abandonment ‘accelerated’
In Northern Nevada this year, 63 abandoned domestic horses have been found. It’s an unprecedented situation, said Ed Foster, spokesman for the Nevada Department of Agriculture.
“It’s accelerated since the beginning of the year, and it’s a national trend,” Foster said. “It’s a real problem.”
Nevada is home to roughly half the estimated 33,000 wild horses that roam the open range across the West. Many domestic horse owners believe their animals, if released into the wild, will be adopted by wild herds. They are sadly mistaken, Foster said.
“The wild horse herd will reject them in the most violent manner,” Foster said. “It ends up being a bad end for that horse.”
“It would be basically like someone dropping you off in the plains of Africa,” agreed Willis Lamm, a Stagecoach horse trainer and member of the Lyon County Animal Control Advisory Board.
“You’re better off shooting the horse than putting it through something like that,” Lamm said.
With the economy worsening, no easy solutions are in sight, experts said.
“It just sort of provided that perfect storm where folks have to decide whether to feed the kids or feed the horses,” said Dr. Kerry Rood, a veterinarian with Utah State University. “I believe it’s becoming a serious problem, and I think it’s only going to get bigger.”
And sale of horses is becoming “less and less” of a viable option under current conditions, said Patricia Evans, an equine specialist at Utah State. Auctioneers screening horses proposed for sale are turning them away if they don’t think they will bring enough money, Evans said.
“We have a lot of horses going to auction that just don’t sell, and a lot of them are really good horses,” agreed Dr. Mike Short of the Florida Department of Agriculture.
Across the country
Examples of the scope:
o Jack Noble, field operations manager for the Oregon Department of Agriculture, responded in September to a report of domestic horses abandoned on a rural road in that state’s Willamette Valley. He found 11, all filthy, sickly and starving.
“They were just let loose, and they were severely malnourished,” Noble said. “It’s disturbing to see any animals that have been abused in that way.”
The horses Noble found were sold at auction for $5 to $40 each, surprising considering their condition, Nobel said. Otherwise, they likely would have been euthanized, he said.
o In Wyoming, “huge increases” in the number of domestic horses being dumped on public and private land are occurring, said Jim Schwartz, director of the Wyoming Livestock Board. “People are just dumping them out there, and they don’t know how to survive,” he said.
.Lee Romsa, Wyoming’s brand commissioner, said he would normally handle six to eight cases per year involving abandoned domestic horses. This year, he said, “we’ve had at least 41.”
o In a situation he described as “absolutely insane,” Idaho State Brand Inspector Larry Hayhurst said he’s dealt with about 50 such cases this year, up from one or two during a normal year. A “significant increase” in the problem is also reported by Steve Merritt, spokesman for the Montana Department of Livestock.
Slaughter an issue
While a bad economy and a lack of financial capability for people to care for their horses might be a large part of the problem, others also point to a lack of any American slaughterhouses for horses. The country’s last such facility in Illinois was closed in 2007.
“That is definitely a factor,” said Morgan Silver, executive director of the Horse Protection Association of Florida. “There was an outlet before because they could be slaughtered.”
Duquette of the United Horseman’s Front in Oregon described the shutdown of American slaughterhouses as the true “root of the problem.”
But the issue of horse slaughtering remains highly controversial. Bruce Friedrich, spokesman for People for Ethical Treatment of Animals, said closure of American slaughterhouses was a necessary end to a “horrifically abusive” practice.
PETA helped lead legislative efforts to close the Illinois slaughterhouse last year and others earlier in Texas, Friedrich said. The group is now pursuing law to prohibit shipping of American horses to slaughterhouses in Mexico and Canada.
“The idea of slaughtering your companion animal is a perverse betrayal,” Friedrich said. “We need a solution, but we need a compassionate solution.”
Silver said the debate over slaughter is a symptom of a larger issue — too many horses across the country.
“It’s actually a cart before the horse sort of thing,” she said. “The cause is overproduction. The cause is rampant overbreeding.”
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