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.
Throw some extra hay over the fence :)
What does your neighbor keep his horses for ?
Goody. God bless Illinois for this. I pray they succeed.
This nation was built largely with two things: horses and Winchesters. Horses are our partners, not our food.
Everyone can thank Bo Derek for getting that legislation passed. As such a horse lover, I wonder how she feels about the unintended consequences.
Is corn regularly fed to horses? Funny, mine have never had corn and I don't know a soul that feeds corn to horses.
I once met someone who worked at a place that sold horses. He told me that they would trade in their old horses for fresh ones. The customers sometimes asked what was going to happen to their old horse. He told me that they went to Camp Alpo. I can’t remember what he told his customers.
What are you doing on on a conservative website ? Whether you kill a horse to eat or just kill it to keep it from deterioration, what business is it of yours ?
That’s really sad. I don’t know if I could do that.
Are you a vegetarian or just a hypocrite ?
Oh now, don’t be makin’ fun of Webb’s daughter...
horse dying? shoot-shovel- shut up...
The rise in the numbers of neglected and unwanted horses is a direct result of horse slaughter plants closing in the U.S. as predicted by those of us that tried to reason with anti-slaughter folks. There were approximately 80,000 horses sent to slaughter every year in this country until recently. The question I always asked those who wanted to ban slaughter of horses in the U.S. was “What will happen to all those unwanted horses if there is no place to take them?” I never got a reasonable answer to that question, and yet we will have to figure out what to do with them at some point.
I love horses and own several, and I can understand the point of those that don’t want horses slaughtered for meat- but they must come up with an alternative before removing the system we had to deal with unwanted horses. In the end, just as I predicted- the horses will suffer more than they would have under the old system. Many more will be starved, abused, and neglected before some will realize there has to be a solution to the unwanted horse issue.
A conservative is someone who respects and upholds the cultural and historical legacy of the American past. What you decribe, cinives, is not the conservative position, but the libertarian one.
The American tradition has been that we do not eat horses or dogs (unless one is starving to death and has no other food source). Historically, Americans have regarded both dogs and horses as man's companions and working partners. These animals are considered food sources only in the most backward countries of the world -- and I guess that would have to include France, because cheval appears on the menus of some of the most upscale restaurants in Paris.
But America is not France!!! (Thank God.)
If the Illinois packing plant is going out of business, it's because the people of Illinois want it gone. Who are you to tell them that they may not express their will in this way? This is a state matter, under the Ninth and Tenth Amendments.
I applaud their decision. So does Bo Derek, who tirelessly campaigns on this issue. Free speech in this matter is our right.
Also it is your right: You are entitled to your own opinion. I'm just saying your opinion isn't the conservative one.
You applaud Bo Derek and others that campaigned against horse slaughter- but those of you that supported closing slaughter plants did nothing to see that the unwanted horses would be taken care of any other way. I hold you and others that think like you directly responsible for the rise in abused and neglected horses. The added suffering is on your heads and will be until you come up with a solution to care for about 80,000 unwanted horses per year. This is what happens when people jump up for a cause without thinking it through. No real solutions, just more problems.
Then you must be some kind of ideologue. For otherwise, why would you suppose that I would personally turn a blind eye to the problem of the abuse and neglect of horses? Indeed, if I personally knew of any such circumstance, I'd jump in and do all I could do to help, including financial support or (better, with the right horse, provided I could manage it — and with the right horse, I'd find the means) outright adoption.
I just do not accept that the only solution to the problem of abuse and neglect of horses is to turn them into horsemeat.
I love these animals too much. I regard them as my "little sisters and brothers," fellow biological beings caught in the same net of space and time as I am. They are the nobility of the animal kingdom, IMHO. They gladly work with us humans for our human purposes, learning and executing their jobs as intelligent and able beings. Without the horse (and the Winchester), the great Western Expansion of what was to become the United States of America would not have taken place. They are beloved to me, and I imagine, also to God.
So, do you have any better ideas?
Seems to me the blame for the condition of the animals rests directly on the owners. They’re the ones deciding to not feed or water them. That’s some of the responsibility of being a pet owner.
Pets cost money, that’s just a fact of life. If you don’t want to pay for them, don’t have them in the first place be they horses, dogs, cats, fish, birds, whatever. There’s simply no excuse for mistreating animals.
Blaming it solely on the shutting down of slaughter houses is just blame shifting. People who abuse animals need to be held accountable.
Then just like you’re complicate in a crime when you watch someone murder or rape someone else and can be held guilty because you didn’t try to stop it; so here.
It’s one thing to mind your business when what someone is doing isn’t harming anyone or any thing else. But there are laws against abusing animals. This isn’t a matter of *getting the government involved* as in creating more of a nanny state by having it pass regulations. This is putting a stop to something that’s WRONG.
If that’s an example of libertarian thinking, people can do what they want on their own property, nobody can tell me what to do, etc. then that builds the best case I’ve seen yet against libertarianism and of why libertarianism would destroy this country. If you won’t do anything to prevent wrong, well, there’s no basis at all to complain when you watch a situation like that.
Amen!!! dear metmom!!!
Thank you so very much!!!
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