Does anyone have info on this? I can’t find anything beyond facebook posts and the info on SAFE’s website is minimal, you’d think there would be some kind of news article or something?
Sounds like the horses were purchased off of multiple feed lots for “rescue” and of course are now in need of actual help.
The information does say there was a hoarder situation. With the lengths of some of the dreads on those horses and the number of stallions and foals/youngsters I’d say it was baby daddy bred his own mommy for half of them. Possibly a breeding operation with an elder or ill owner and family surrendered the animals?
the FAQ states kill pen refugees, but they look far too similar to me, unless the individual was “rescuing” types. There’s 40 and about 14 foals at foot or juveniles.
There is one in there with a mane that looks over two feet long, how long does that take?
Lots of “females” and “studs”. A quick scan shows one gelding. Although the website discusses an owner who purchased feedlot horses over the internet, the gender mix does sound like they’ve been held in common pens and very likely the stallions are breeding their mothers and sisters. So there is no knowing how inbred individual horses may be.
In their list of costs under the Donate button, they list $5,200 for gelding males. I wonder if they plan to geld all of the stallions before they go out. It might be difficult to do follow-up care at that location, though.
Many characteristics of a classic horse hoarding situation. From what is on the website, sounds like a common cause of outing the situation. A landlord trying unsuccessfully to remove the tenant and discovering the situation with the horses.
Anyone know about the reputation of the rescue organization, “SAFE”?
Yeah they all look in rough shape. SAFE has been around for quite awhile, they are fairly well known in the area and I haven’t heard anything sketchy about them. I do find it a little odd that there is zero mention of these horses being seized anywhere else besides the fundraiser, I can’t find anything in local news channels, nothing from the ASPCA, etc. From the comments on SAFE’s fb post they are turning away offers to foster some of the horses as well. Though who knows, this could be par for the course for an ongoing investigation or surrender?
And @ReSomething I agree, they all do have a similar look and I am sure there’s been inbreeding. It looks like they have been in rough shape for quite awhile.
SAFE is legit. Well established, well run, high profile and excellent reputation in the area. Almost scarily “put together” in outward appearance “for a rescue” (my personal opinion), but I do believe they are what they portray themselves to be.
https://www.safehorses.org/
I wonder if the owner signed them over to avoid prosecution. This would mean it was not a “seizure” and may not have involved LE enough to alert the media.
That is a lot of untrained horses to try to place! At least most of them dont appear emaciated.
No slipper feet either, but that may have meant several farrier days. Honestly this hoarder AND the fb fake rescue, that is th e kill pen “rescues” need a slap down.
I know there were others involved a month or two ago but now it seems that SAFE is running all placements on the horses and all other info has been removed. If I recall the person who owned the horses or someone involved with them reached out for help. Some of those studs are sure cute!
Complete guess, I have no actual knowledge. Sometimes a rescue has a working relationship with law enforcement. Law enforcement would rather deal with just one entity. And they need to know it is a reputable one. LE wants an organization that will take the problem off their hands and resolve it. The last thing LE wants is to be accused months later of handing animals over to what turns out to be yet another irresponsible caretaker.
Not all rescues are created equal, and the name or description on an organization does not mean the LE will be willing to work with them. So, anyway, that’s speculating one reason that SAFE might be in charge and no other rescue is showing up by name.
A reputable rescue will only work with approved fosters. They are usually looking for more fosters, but they have a process in place to verify that a prospective foster home knows what they are doing with horses and have the facilities and wherewithal to care for them.
It’s unfortunate, but these “save them now!” stories tend to bring out people who like the idea of rescuing, but have no understanding of how to manage the animal, and don’t have the right property or knowledge to care for them adequately. Rescues must be as sure as they can be that fosters are able to provide care.
They appear to be quite clear that they want adopters and fosters that are able to handle the untrained. I am actually wondering if the hoarder didn’t seek out Rocky Mountain horse types, they look very similar, small, the manes longer than I would expect from some breeds even if neglected.
Moore’s specializes in reselling ASB, it wouldn’t be difficult to have a standing order for a type, but moores is not cheap, their quarantine isn’t cheap and shipping isn’t cheap, just to neglect the animal. I guess a hoarder doesn’t have to make sense to the rest of us.
Yeah, animal hoarding does not make sense to people who are not animal hoarders. The rest of us see all of the illogical problems of it that the hoarder, by definition, does not see.
People who can foster untrained horses will be harder to find. Blessings on all those who are able to step forward to help these horses.
There is an update on this case from SAFE here:https://www.safehorses.org/fall-city-forty-the-full-story/?fbclid=IwAR2joR5W540e4zVjxzWuH0URgO_2LuthSW7U1RxU4wg0rhx7upHdiaExib4. SAFE was trying to rescue these horses from the situation they were left in by the previous “rescue” called Hunter’s Wind Wild Horse Rescue. The owner Sharon Hunter has other horses in Auburn that are in a similar situation. Ms. Hunter was previously cited by King County for neglect:https://www.kingcounty.gov/~/media/independent/hearing-examiner/documents/case-digest/appeals/animal%20enforcement/2018/2018%20july/V18007800_Hunter.ashx?la=en
:eek: :no: :mad:
OMG what a nightmare.
Even after some form of intervention, animal hoarders frequently go back to hoarding. This is so unfortunate but not a surprise. And the stallions are still stallions, going back in with the mares.
Too often the existing laws are not sufficient to protect the animals. And/or, there is a reluctance to apply it.
I wonder if SAFE and the property owner tried to get some sort of neglect action going with law enforcement? It doesn’t say. It is possible that they thought that they would get more cooperation from the horse owners if they didn’t do the neglect. But once the animals have received some care, they no longer look like candidates for legal neglect action.
Absolutely insane. If there is ever another case similar to this anywhere make sure to geld those stallions first thing, because it looks like they tried to save their resources on that after responsibly separating the animals. There must be some way to market the deed for people to sponsor individual gelding surgeries.
And the property owners should have gone through the whole process of posting the lien and transferring ownership of the animals through legal channels, though a really crazy hoarder might just buy them all back.
What a nightmare, I hope they kept records and can somehow file for animal cruelty, but all I see is a big mess and the lawyers getting the cash that the horses need.
Here’s another update: http://www.redmond-reporter.com/news/more-than-100-horses-are-being-hoarded-by-a-nonprofit-in-puget-sound/
This sounds like a classic hoarding case. Especially that instead of re-homing the horses, she reduces herds simply by moving some or all of the horses to another herd. So the problem is expanding in scope. And will expand exponentially if stallions and mares are in together on more than one property.
When authorities act promptly and responsibly, they can step in while they are dealing with a more reasonable number of horses, like the 6 described in the first county. When authorities delay in a hoarding case, the herd grows. Dealing with dozens of horses in distress is a huge problem for any law enforcement agency and for the rescues who try to step in to help.
Laws are woefully inadequate to deal with hoarders on this scale (or often any scale). I wish there were laws that prevented sellers from selling to people identified as hoarders. Because the hoarders never stop acquiring no matter what legal sanctions are imposed.
And for what it’s worth, every horse sold at auction is not bound for slaughter, as the article seems to assume. This fictional idea that auction = slaughter is being promoted in the horse culture by unethical businesses claiming to “rescue” slaughter-bound horses “from auction”. In fact they are just marketing horses that are not bound for slaughter. The more marketable horses “ship” to the next auction, not the slaughterhouse. They go through auctions from dealer to dealer, and finally to private owners. But the more unethical dealers are sucking in buyers who are motivated to “rescue”, including people like this hoarder.
Horses that are truly bound for slaughter are rarely seen by the public. Most true killbuyers do not have the internet resources or the time to market to private buyers. They want to complete the load asap, and ship out to get a check for $13,000 to $15,000 per truckload on delivery to the slaughter transition point. That is their business. Private owners like this lady buying from auction don’t really intervene in that process. But the private buyers think that’s what they are doing.
I’m not so sure that the authorities were even aware of the issue until the Fall River group and involvement of SAFE.
Moving in the middle of the night is an infamous way to escape responsibility and it looks like that has been the MO for this individual, so once the property owners no longer have the issue they may not know where the horses were moved or proceed with further contact. It’s not fun being accused of harassment as a private individual and AC, Houston animal cops notwithstanding, usually doesn’t have the budget to travel the countryside observing from the roads. Not to mention that at least the 40 were not in really bad flesh. Around here it takes a few dead ones to get things moving. Then the neighbors call the news media and the gruesome photos spur AC into action.
I think the article is fairly unbiased and comprehensive though I’m speaking from the perspective of a horse person, with unspoken assumptions, for a non-horse person there may be a different set of assumptions that aren’t dealt with. I think it does say there are fates that lead to death after prolonged suffering, so a relatively quick death from slaughter isn’t the worst case.
In any event the more publicity this person gets the more likely that she will be frozen out of the leased pastures that are available, of course walking up to a property with a field, cash in hand, and non-horsey owners may get her a spot for a while.
I really hate animal hoarders as the animals suffer so all with good intentions. I have to pity the hoarders also though, as it can happen so easily to slip into the mindset. I have too many cats and my house is not the tidiest, if my DH were to pass things could go really bad really fast.
I wonder how she is moving these horses? Does she pay a hauler? Have her own rig? For one of the moves it sounds like she had to relocate 25 horses. That is a lot of trips even if she had a 6 horse stock trailer or a fair bit of money to have them professionally moved.
If she has her own rig I would think she would need help loading them. Who is helping her with that? I would guess some/many of these horses don’t exactly self load. She seems to pick properties with non-horse people as owners so I doubt they are helping to load. I wonder if she has somebody else involved that is enabling her in some way.
It also sounds like there is no state agency that can continue to go after her. Therefore she just moves between different counties to avoid seizures and more prosecution. I really wish that states would have better laws to protect animals and had better agencies/budgets to enforce those laws.
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