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Saving Montana: The International effort to save a pet
horse from slaughter
by Gail Vacca
The following is an amazing story of the recent international effort undertaken
by a group of incredible people who, for two days in May, came together to save
the life of a sweet little Appaloosa mare from Canada.
I guess the only place to begin this lengthy, exhausting tale of one horse
saved is at the beginning...
On Thursday, May 12, 2005, I received a phone call from Cory Goodon, a horse
owner from Alberta, Canada. I had never met or even spoken to Mr. Goodon, but I
could easily determine, from the tone of his voice, that he was at wits' end.
Little did I know how many lives this phone call would soon touch.
Cory quickly told me his tale of how he had sold his family's pet horse,
Montana, at a Canadian auction the previous Sunday, May 8, to what he thought
was a "good home." A few days later, he discovered, to his shock, that Montana
had been purchased by local horse trader Scott Irvine, who was in the process
of delivering his load to the Cavel International horse slaughter plant in
DeKalb, Illinois. The shipment was due to arrive at Cavel early the next
morning -- Friday the 13th.
How could this happen? How could a "good home" become, instead, a five-day-long
nightmare of being jam-packed in a double-decker trailer with dozens of other
horses journeying across half a continent, only to end up at the door of an
equine slaughter plant?
The answer is as simple as it is frightening. In both Canada and the United
States, equine auction houses and contract meat buyers (also known as killer
buyers) are not legally required to disclose their intentions regarding the
horses they purchase. Although the Horsemen's Council of Illinois repeatedly
claims that Illinois auction houses must disclose to potential buyers that any
horse sold at auction could be sent to slaughter, that statement is false.
There is no such law in Illinois -- or any other state -- that requires such a
disclosure. Thus, fraud and misrepresentation on the part of auction horses and
horse traders are routine. The fact is, most owners bringing their horse to
auction have no idea that the horse could end up being butchered in one of
three U.S. horse slaughter facilities, or in one of a number of plants in
Canada.
Cory convinced me that he was desperate to buy back Montana -- alive. I told
him we would do everything we could to help him, but that it would take a
near-miracle for us to pull it off. Time and circumstances were not in our
favor.
We quickly went to work putting together the network of people needed if we
were to have any chance of rescuing Montana -- starting with the DeKalb Police
Department.
The police kindly agreed to contact both Irvine and Cavel officials to
encourage them to "do the right thing" and sell the horse back to the owner.
The trader agreed, but for a considerable price: $2,500. A quick, hefty profit,
if there ever was one! He had paid $400 for the 800-pound mare. Montana's
frantic former owner instantly agreed to the outrageous demand, and Irvine
called Cavel to ask that the little Appaloosa be spared from the kill pen.
The next step was perhaps the most crucial aspect of this effort. How to get
one horse, imported from Canada in a sealed trailer and destined for slaughter,
out of the slaughter plant and legally released back into the healthy horse
populace?
This proved to be the most difficult hurdle we faced in bringing Montana to
safety.
In Illinois, as in most US states, horses transported to slaughter plants,
unlike all other horses, are not required to have coggins or health
certificates. Again, the Horsemen's Council of Illinois has been misleading
Illinois horse owners by repeating the untrue statement that horses transported
to slaughter in Illinois must have proper health documents to enter the state.
There is no such law on the Illinois books, and, in fact, slaughter-bound
horses are exempt from all Illinois laws that are designed to protect the
healthy horse populace of the state. They are not required to have negative
coggins test certificates, certificates of veterinary inspection, or entry
permits.
In order to move forward with our plan to remove Montana from Cavel, we
realized that, under Illinois law and in the interest of protecting the health
and well-being of local horses, we would need a quarantine facility with no
other horses nearby. Thankfully, once again the DeKalb Police Department came
to the rescue. A patrol officer, Reda Reese, knew someone who had the perfect
spot, where Montana would be safe and where no other horses would be in danger
of coming into contact with any disease to which the little mare may have been
exposed.
The next order of business was finding someone who would be willing to haul a
potentially ill horse and, afterwards, thoroughly disinfect their trailer.
Enter Barb Boubelik-Chemielewski from the Lazy Maple Equine Rescue and
Rehabilitation Center in Leland, Illinois.
By 12:01 a.m. Friday, the plan to save Montana had begun to take shape. We all
called it a night. Barb and I would meet in a few hours and drive to Cavel to
get Montana.
At 5:00 that morning, we arrived at the plant. One double-decker was already
backed up to the plant, and a second was waiting its turn to unload. As if that
weren't sickening enough, a third trailer was directly in front of us on the
road, outside the gates. Here it was before dawn, and already more than 100
horses, who for no good reason would be killed today for their flesh. I had to
wonder how many of these doomed horses were just like Montana -- purchased
under false pretenses, their duped owners completely unaware of the fate that
lay ahead for these poor creatures.
We were met by Off. Jason Watson of the DeKalb police force, who informed us
that we would have to wait for quite some time, as the double-decker that the
Canadian mare was on would be second in line to unload. And so we waited while
each and every horse was off-loaded from the first trailer and then
slaughtered.
By 7:00 a.m., every horse from the first load was dead. That was when the
Canadian trailer backed up to the plant to unload. We waited and waited and
waited, but no Montana. Finally, Craig Bovard, the USDA Veterinary Medical
Officer working at Cavel, came out to tell us that they had indeed found
Montana and that he had separated her from the others aboard her trailer, who
would all soon be killed. He added that it would be a while before the proper
documents could be secured for Montana's release.
And so we waited again.
I received a phone call at 9:30 a.m. from a USDA Canadian border inspector. She
told us that it would take several hours to secure the paperwork to release
Montana. It would have been fruitless to wait at the plant. We decided to go
home and come back later. Before we left with our empty trailer in tow, a
fourth double-decker pulled in with yet another load of horses who would die
this day at Cavel. Friday the 13th of 2005 was indeed a bad day for the horses.
The saga continues:
2:00 p.m.: Inspector Bovard calls to inform me that he will have to personally
inspect the facility where Montana will be quarantined in order to ascertain
that no other animals can be exposed to her during quarantine. Luckily, it is
only a few miles away, so he quickly drives over there to see if the
accomodations are up to snuff. He suggests a few minor changes, which are
quickly made, then agrees that soon Montana could be released to our care.
3:30 p.m.: Barb and I return to Cavel. They are done killing now, so they wave
us to the loading dock, where we will at long last meet Montana and lead her to
safety. I am amazed at how relatively good she looks considering her long and
perilous journey of the past five days. She is a little scraped up about the
head and legs, dehydrated, and sopping wet with sweat from fear, but she has
somehow, some way, managed to avoid serious injury. She is a little mare,
perhaps 14.2 hands, but mighty! She must be mentally and physically strong to
have endured so much and still be standing. She walks peacefully into the
trailer. This ride will be brief. Just a few short miles to water, hay, and
safety!
4:00 p.m.: Montana is settling in to her stall, eating hay, and drinking well.
She is wobbly legged and still obviously frightened, but she remains calm. We
will let her rest a while and check back on her later.
6:00 p.m.: Montana is eating hay and has already drunk a full five-gallon
bucket of water. Things are looking good. I start her on antibiotics, hoping we
can get a jump on anything she may have been exposed to during her long ordeal.
My veterinarian agrees to visit her Monday, unless we call on him sooner. We
will pull blood for a coggins test and begin to get the paperwork in order so
that Montana can soon be cleared to begin her journey back home to her family
in Alberta.
A million little decisions and actions had to go our way during these two days
in order to save one horse. Thankfully, they did. This was truly an
internationaI effort of compassion on behalf of this little mare and her
family.
Many people have earned my heartfelt thanks: Lt. Dan Gerace and patrol officers
Reda Reese and Jason Watson of the DeKalb Police Department; Dr. Lydia Gray at
the Hooved Animal Humane Society, for her help and guidance regarding the
paperwork necessary to return Montana to the healthy horse populace; Craig
Bovard, the USDA Veterinary Medical Officer who helped us get the right horse
and arranged for us to get everything in order so that she could be released
into our custody; the Canadian officials at the Canadian Food Inspection
Agency, who handled the paperwork on their side of the border; Barb
Boubelik-Chemielewski of Lazy Maple Equine Rescue, who went the "extra mile" to
transport Montana to safety, as she does for any horse in need; and Montana's
owners, Cory and Roxanne Goodon, who did the right thing once they discovered
what fate lay ahead for their little mare. A lot of horse owners would not have
gone through the emotional or financial expense that the Goodon's endured to
save a horse.
This was perhaps the most bittersweet day I have ever had throughout my long
career with horses. While I am exceedingly grateful that Montana's life was
spared, I am heartbroken at all the lives we could not save that day at Cavel.
I am sickened that horses continue to suffer abuse by equine auctions, killer
buyers, and slaughter plants. There is no excuse in this day and age, when we
as a human race are more compassionate to animals than at any time in history,
for these injustices to go on unabated within the horse industry.
We must all commit to taking whatever moral and legal steps are necessary to
bring horse slaughter to an end in this country. The needless suffering of
America's horses at the hands of the foreign-owned horsemeat industry and their
suppliers must stop. Anna Sewell wrote in her classic, Black Beauty, "If we see
cruelty or wrong that we have the power to stop, and do nothing, we make
ourselves sharers in the guilt." We must all take responsibility for these
noble equines, who give us all so very much.
Let us not be "sharers in the guilt." Please, contact your representative in
the U.S. Congress today. Don't delay. Urge your legislator to co-sponsor the
American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (HR 503). Ending horse slaughter is the
single most important thing we can do to improve the welfare and humane
treatment of all horses.
For more information on horse slaughter and equine protection, please visit our
website at www.horse-protection.org
For more information or to send your comments to the wonderful people involved
in saving Montana, please visit the websites of Lazy Maple Equine Rescue and
Rehabilitation Center (www.lazymapleequine.org)
and the Hooved Animal Humane Society (www.hahs.org).
To thank the DeKalb Police Department for their efforts on behalf of Montana,
please email the department at www.cityofdekalb.com
Sidebar item
Protecting your horse from slaughter
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Any horse whose sale value is less than $1,000 could potentially be at risk of
being purchased by slaughter plant buyers, both at equine auctions and, to a
lesser degree, through private sales. The following guidelines and alternatives
are offered in order to help you protect your horse from being puchased by the
horse slaughter industry should you find it necessary to find him/her a new
home.
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Avoid selling your horse at auction: Instead of selling at auction, list your
horse for sale via an internet equine classified advertisement board or in
printed equine publications. If you must sell your horse at auction, always
place a "reserve" bid on the horse of $1,000. You still must be very careful of
would-be buyers at auction, as there are some nations that buy and export live
horses to their respective countries for eventual slaughter and that will pay
far more than $1,000 for those horses.
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Private sale to an individual with verifiable references: Always carefully
screen potential buyers. Ask them to provide you with both veterinary and
farrier references. Be certain to question buyers as to where the horse will be
stabled and what level of care they will provide. Once a sale is agreed upon,
require the buyer to sign a "protective bill of sale" giving you the first
chance to buy your horse back should the seller no longer need/want the horse.
A protective bill of sale also prohibits the buyer from selling the animal to
slaughter or to a representative of the slaughter industry. A protective bill
of sale is available online at www.ahdf.org.
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Donate your horse to a reputable equine rescue or retirement facility. There
are hundreds of equine rescues throughout the United States. The American Horse
Defense Fund has recently published a book which includes a comprehensive
listing of rescue and retirement facilities. The book titled "Alternatives to
Auction and Slaughter: A Guide For Equine Owners," is a must read for all horse
owners, and is available for purchase online at www.ahdf.org or by calling
toll-free to 1-866-983-3456.
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Lease your horse to an individual. Private leases are a good option, but,
again, careful screening of the lessee is a must. Require verifiable references
and a "protective lease agreement," which is also available online at
www.ahdf.org.
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Donate, sell or lease your horse to a therapeutic or handicapped riding
program.
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You can usually make legal arrangements for the horse to be returned to you
when he is retired.
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Donate your horse to a police department mounted patrol unit. You can usually
make legal arrangements for the horse to be returned to you when he is retired.
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Donate or lease your horse to 4-H or Pony Club members.
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Humanely euthanize your horse. Every horse deserves a humane life and a humane
death. When faced with end of life decisions, veterinarian administered
chemical euthanasia is the final act of kindness you can offer your horse.
Gail Vacca
Illinois Coordinator
National Horse Protection Coalition
Phone: 815-761-4937
Fax: 815-787-4957
www.horse-protection.org
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