Homelessness hitting horses

Homelessness hitting horses

Hat Tip: Delusional Duck

Sunday, March 15, 2009 Homelessness hitting horses
Megan Miller CAPITAL NEWS SERVICE
WOODBINE, Md.

Maryland horse owners are "dumping" their unwanted livestock at 10 times the rate of last year, and the horses they're shedding are not just backyard ponies, according to informal statistics from rescue organizations.

Horse-rescue operators are wrestling with a staggering number of horses in need of homes, a byproduct of the region's crumbling economy, struggling racetracks and the closure of U.S. slaughter plants.

Kathy Howe, president of the Days End Farm Horse Rescue in Woodbine, keeps records of every call the farm receives from owners trying to surrender horses.

In February 2008, Days End received eight calls involving eight horses. In February 2009, Ms. Howe recorded 17 calls involving 101 horses - a tenfold increase in just one year. Of the 101, 47 were thoroughbreds.

The majority of callers say they're surrendering their horses for financial reasons, Ms. Howe said…

[…]

But Nicky Ratliff, executive director of the Carroll County Humane Society, thinks many are racing or show horses no longer wanted in the industry for financial or performance reasons.

"Any time that you are using animals for any kind of competition, a certain percentage of those animals will never be able to compete on the necessary level," Ms. Ratliff said. "You're only going to take the cream of the crop. You see how they perform, and the ones that don't, don't have another use."

Read the entire article here: Homelessness hitting horses

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http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/15/homelessness-hitting-horses/
Kevin Dayhoff www.kevindayhoff.net http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/