It’s a known fact that in times of recession, some people are forced to abandon their pets. The ASPCA and other organizations are overwhelmed by the numbers of cats and dogs that end up in their hands. What few people realize is that sometimes the abandoned animals include horses too. Pregnant Mare Rescue of Aptos does. Since the non-profit group was founded four years ago, they have rescued some 60 horses from abandonment or worse, the dinner table.
Lynn Hummer, who founded the group, claims that people tend to treat horses like property, rather than pets. “Our dogs and our cats are our pets,” she says. We love them. We keep them forever. People don’t do that with horses and that’s part of the problem, why so many horses end up at slaughter.” Since the slaughtering of horses for meat is illegal in the U.S., that means that the horses are shipped to Mexico or Canada, and from there they are shipped to Japan and Europe.
The group is looking for new homes for the horses, but this is becoming increasingly difficult because of the recession. Owning a horse costs a lot of money, and they are not the kind of animal you can bring home and keep in the backyard. Still, the group is looking for donations so that they can continue saving the animals, one stallion, one mare, one colt at a time. Read more at KTVU.
