Horse Abandonment Spiking Nationwide, Particularly In Western States - USA Today

[hatrack]

Jack Noble was pretty sure what he would see when he arrived to check out reports of horses abandoned on a rural road in Oregon's Willamette Valley in September. Noble, field operations manager for the state's Department of Agriculture, found 11 filthy, sickly and starving horses. "They were just let loose, and they were severely malnourished," he said.

Horse abandonment is on the rise across the USA, livestock and agricultural officials say. 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. "Folks have to decide whether to feed the kids or feed the horses," said Dr. Kerry Rood, a veterinarian at Utah State University.

In Wyoming, there have been "huge increases" in the number of domestic horses abandoned, said Jim Schwartz, director of the Wyoming Livestock Board.

"It used to be six or eight per year. This year so far we've had at least 41," said Lee Romsa, Wyoming's brand commissioner. In Nevada, officials have found 63 abandoned horses in the northern part of the state alone in 2008 — an unprecedented situation, said Ed Foster, spokesman for the state Department of Agriculture.

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http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-12-16-horses_N.htm

[Runcible Spoon]

1. that is SO cruel.

it would be better to just put a bullet in their brains than let them wander alone...:cry:

[yardwork]

2. Scum. What kind of horrible person would abandon animals to starve to death?

Wow. If you absolutely have no other choice, turn the animals over to the Humane Society or the county.

[achtung_circus]

4. As Livestock Specialist

with a large Humane Society I ask "what is the Humane Society is supposed to do with them?" Euthanasia? Disposal Costs?

Humane slaughter for meat was an option until recently. And before I hear about captive bolts pistols, the plants I've seen used .22 rifles; the horses were dead sooner than a needle could have been inserted. The post-mortem thrashing is analagous to chickens with their heads cut off. "The Head is Dead".

[yardwork]

5. I know.

[Vanje]

8. ...then you still have disposal

Horse cremation where I work costs 1000-1200 bucks

[Bigmack]

6. I like to be charitable...

and believe that people think that horses can live by grazing. Maybe they think that if they just let the horses go, they will survive.

Of course, if they have horses, they should be aware that the horses are surprisingly fragile.

Dark thought... Why is nobody in my area abandoning nice, fat steers?

[Vanje]

7. What kind of person?

A poor person , with home forclosed , and their back against the wall, and out of options , heart-broken, and hopeless.

Want a horse or donkey? It'll cost you a few bales of hay to trade.
The want ads in rural Idaho are full of them.
Most people are trying to trade a horse for some hay, any amount of hay , so they can feed what horses remain while they try to re-home the lot.


......and sure, the family should have known they were able to properly care for their horse before committing to ownership...but most families dont plan to get laid off , lose their home, and have to ditch their pets when faced with sudden eviction.

Lot of it happening.

The humane orgs are overwhelmed.

I'd call it a crisis.

[yardwork]

9. I know that people are going through terrible times but at least release the animal to the county.

Far better to have the animal euthanized than to abandon it along the road.

[Vanje]

10. My county has no animal facility, and no interest in "animal problems"

An Owyhee County citizen would be informed of the legality of solving an "animal problem" with his / her own gun.


....and then...what do you do with the carcass? Horse cremation costs more than 4 tons of hay.
I dont know how much to contract a back-hoe to dig the adequate hole.

I'm not just throwing up frivilous arguments to your suggested solution.
These are real problems in many rural communities.
These people are in a terrible bind.

[yardwork]

11. Thank you for this information.

These are times when the government should be rallying to help people who are in crisis. Instead, we've wasted billions waging unnecessary wars and bailing out Wall Street.

I don't have a solution. As usual, those with the least suffer the most.

[lapfog_1]

3. The price of hay went through the roof in the last couple of years.

up to $12 a BALE (long bale) here in Arizona.

If you have 2 horses, that's about $4/day to $6/day. Then you need mineral licks and occasional grain feedings. Not to mention vet care and routine grooming and hoof trimming. We do our own grooming and trimming (and my back knows it). But I figured that our two horses are costing us about $2500 per year.

No matter how tough it gets here, the horses and our cats and dogs come first. Even if we have to do without.

Was talking to a neighbor up the lane and she told me that last week she was asked to care for 12 horses... the owner couldn't support them anymore and didn't know what to do. She said she went to look at them and they were starving. She couldn't take them but did give the owner 50 bales of hay (our neighbor has a number of horses and a large barn full of hay).