URGENT: 186 Horses in Tennessee Need Help
Posted by Mikki on Jul 30 2009 at 08:59 pm | Tagged as: General
This is an email I received as a member of Back Country Horsemen. I’m posting it as I received it, without doing any research on the situation, because of the very close deadline (Monday, August 3). If you have questions, contact the sender directly, as we here at Our First Horse don’t know a thing about this situation. I hope some of you out there can help:
Subject: URGENT 186 Horses & 30 Mules Need Help in TN
Date: Tuesday, July 28, 2009, 7:23 PM
…
—fwd—
If anyone can help, please email Diana ASAP with the number of horses you can house, thanks. Her email is voiceforhorses@ wmconnect. com
Hopefully more of these horses can be saved!
I am forced to get involved in a horrible situation in Gallatin, TN [near Nashville - OFH] involving 186 horses and 30 mules. There is a rescue that has spoken for all the mules, so we are looking at a desperate situation with horses. HSUS says if we ask for their help, they will euthanize the horses, and they will euth any that we can’t get out of there. HSUS willing to take care of prosecuting the owner, but seems to think saving this many horses is not possible. A dog rescuer named Maureen, who knows nothing about horses (her rescue took 70 dogs from the place) has contacted me for help, and she has bravely determined that the horses won’t die. She had no idea from there what to do next, but her dog rescue volunteers have found trailers and drivers to deliver horses, and have recruited horsie friends to care for the horses that can’t travel. Vets are currently getting Coggins Tests on every horse, and are worming every horse. Unfortunately, the ones that would be best to bring here (because of my vet abilities) can’t make the trip for a while. The rescues in TN all together have arranged to save 40 horses, leaving 146. Can you help me save them? I think if we all network like we did last year, we can do this! The horses are all handle-able and sweet.
There are Quarter Horses and TN Walkers. There are many mares in foal. Maureen thinks maybe 20 mares in foal, but she is trying to sort how many of what as we speak. She thinks there are some ponies as well.
Here is my question for all of you:The trip to our facilities will be too much for most of the horses. I have 44 horses at Horse-Angels currently, and we struggle as always with grain, hay, farrier, bedding, and medication costs. We have lots of land, but these horses need shelter and many sound like they need a stall in my barn. I can put most of my recovered and healthy horses outside if I can afford more sheds for our pastures so that stalls can go to the neediest guys, and I can put the stronger arrivals in my paddocks and isolation area. If I can get 30-40 here to get stronger for a couple weeks, can any of your rescues (or others you may know of that are good quality) commit to taking some? Can you each give me a number that you could house, and I will get those, plus what I can handle, transported here? I will get them strong enough to travel (I will keep the weakest ones here and sort stronger ones for your rescues), and hopefully within 2 weeks , they can be picked up to head north. I don’t know if the volunteer transporters that are currently hauling from TN will still be available to help by the time they can travel, so you would have to find transport. My goal is to get as many out as we can through our networking. That would be great if we could save them all. Realistically, I’m thinking maybe we can get 40 out. Can you help do you think? They want a number by Monday so they can start getting them out before HSUS steps in and destroys them.
Oh yes- there are some elk as well if anyone is interested. Elk can have tuberculosis, so you would want them tested before bringing them home! Thanks so much!
…
Diana Murphy
Founder/President
Voice For Horses Rescue Network
PO Box 566
Toledo, Ohio 43697
(419) 247-0025
www.voiceforhorses. org
This topic was posted yesterday in the Giveaways section:
http://www.chronicleforums.com/Forum…d.php?t=216693
the actual facts are below sent with the permission of the author (known personally by me for over a decade) :
begin:
I have known of this since the beginning and I can assure you this is being handled and the horses requiring immediate attention have already been removed and receiving appropriate vet care. I am attaching below the email sent to this lady from Leighann at HSUS. This was started because a local animal group was upset because they weren’t involved in the rescue and decided to start something because we couldn’t give them details being it is an on going investigation by authorities.
I hope this sheds some light on this.
Good morning Ms. Murphy.
I am the TN director for HSUS. I have tried to call you several times this morning but haven’t been able to get through on your line. Unfortunately, you have been grossly misinformed about this situation. I have been involved with this case providing assistance to the horses and dogs. At no time did I or anyone at HSUS recommend or make a statement regarding euthanasia.
Most of the information you have is inaccurate, from the numbers of animals on the property to the status. We were allowed to take pictures of the dogs and given permission by the owner to place them with rescues. Until last night, only 1 dog in distress had been removed from the property. That dog remains in the care of a veterinarian. I can assure you that no one has taken 70 dogs since there weren’t that many on the property. Since the beginning, HSUS has been coordinating donations of hay and dog food and coordinated the removal of many horses to rescue this week. We will continue to operate in this manner as long as the owner is cooperative.
The remaining horses have not been relinquished by the owner. Although I can not comment on the status of the case, I can tell you that local law enforcement and the District Attorney’s office have been remarkably
responsive. The owner allowed Volunteer Equine to take 23 horses and another local rescuer is working with him to remove a few horses at a time, taking those in the worst condition first. HSUS is assisting by coordinating placement with equine rescue groups. Your effort to bring together resources is admirable and I’m sure we can work together to get these animals to a place where they can receive the best care. In the meantime, I would very much appreciate an official retraction of your statements on any list serves where they were posted. You are welcome to contact me at any time to discuss this further.