Friday, March 12, 2010

3-12-10

Wow this has been a hard journey for the last few days. All our staff is getting tired and the calls keep coming in and being made. About 600 minutes (10 hours) has been spent on the phone for this poor horse since Tuesday and the phone calls are the easy part of this journey.

Wednesday was spent making phone calls, arranging a protest, getting vet reports, making proper arrangements with the media, making protest signs, anything we could do to make the point known that we are not happy that this horse is left in a bad situation. It was a very busy, hectic day, and it was also our Euthanasia Clinic day, which the vet staff took over to free up our staff to work on saving the poor horse.

Thursday morning everything was packed up, arrangements had been made and the protest signs were loaded.

The truck and trailer were heading off, along with the van carrying volunteers. We were hoping that the horse might be surrendered, so the truck and trailer went along.

After a few stops our caravan got longer. More volunteers joined in to give the voiceless horse a voice.

Everyone met at the arranged meeting spot, and everyone waited a few minutes for the press to arrive and to make sure everyone was there.

We would like to thank Action News 12 from Chico for sending a reporter out for the day.

Grass Valley Union newspaper also covered the events, KNCO also did interview for the radio.

Channel 12 started making interviews while waiting for everyone to show up. This local lady reported to the interviewer that this animal control does this a lot, if it is a large animal, they don't want to deal with it.

When everything had been arranged everyone headed up to where the horse is being abused.

Something has to be done to help this poor old horse other than recommending a feed plan and saying "We will check on it in a week." Animal Control had gotten a vet out on Wednesday, but the horse was not seized and the owner was not cited for the obvious abuse.

Volunteers grabbed protest signs and got to work protesting. Letting their point be known!

The owner was more than a little peeved that people care that his horse is suffering. He doesn't seem to care that his horse is, per the attending vet, medically fine, and yet is a body score of 1,starved to the point where the only skinnier it can get is after death. He is living in a dream world where starved animals do not suffer or get cold at night.

After the owner stormed off in his car, and the protest was over, they all headed to their next destination...

...Nevada County Animal Control. We really didn't get anywhere, we did talk to the Animal Control officer that is responsible for the horse being left with the abusive owner, click here to watch.

Animal Control's only interest was to get us out of town and to stop bugging and harassing them.

On the way back to the rescue we drove by the horse once again, and were very happy to see a blanket on the horse. It's tail wrapped and cleaned up somewhat from the manure. It's amazing how much work we had to go through to get the emaciated horse blanketed and cleaned just a little. Now let's hope he didn't just take vet wrap and wrap the tail up, as vet wrap without cotton can restrict blood flow, acting as a tourniquet.


On the way back to the rescue, everyone's hearts were heavy, but at least through all of our hard work we managed to get the owner to blanket his horse before this storm hit. He won't have to sit out in the open with no blanket on through this rain storm.

Driving back to the rescue Tawnee saw a horse alongside the road and the caravan pulled over for a closer look.

It is a horse that had been adopted from us back in 2007, over 1,000 horses ago. It was such a refreshing sight to see a horse so well cared for. With new shoes, nicely groomed, enjoying life.


Her name at the rescue was Go Spot Go and she came to us from an Animal Control that does its job. They seized her, along with her pasture mates, rehabbed her, and then placed some of the horses with us so we could find homes for them. We named her Go Spot Go because of all of her spots.

After a long hard day of banging our heads against the brick wall known as uncaring Animal Control, it was so refreshing to see a horse that a few years ago was seized from an abusive home by Animal Control in a different county, and the horse now has a perfect home. Nevada County Animal Control, do the right thing, seize the horses on Mooney Flat Rd, and the other animals that are suffering at the same location, and put him on probation from ever starving another animal ever again. The laws in California are clear, follow them.

We are still hoping that an answer will come for this poor horse before his owner starves him to the point of death and murders him with a gun. We are doing many things behind the scenes to make it happen. We would like to thank an anonymous donor for stepping forward, and if we do manage to get the horse, will sponsor the entire rehab at the equine hospital and provide a lifetime sponsorship for him. We just need to make it happen.

Channel 12 has their news segment up, you can read the article and watch the news clip by clicking here.


Many thanks to all of our extremely generous donors, Ruthann C. - Suzanne F. - Ian and Janice W. - Karen H. - Paula E. - Annamary H. - Montana H. - Becky W. - Anonymous - Joy G. - Kathy G. - Erin A.

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