Category Archives: Rescue/Protection Sources

Diamonds in the Rough Neigh Days (Updated)

We at Diamonds in the Rough equine rescue are putting together our 2nd annual Neigh Days on April 21, 2012. We are looking for cash sponsors and product donations for our raffles and silent auctions. We also would like to invite you to be a vendor at our event. If you could please find it in your hearts to help out our rescue horses, contact us at 804-815-4286 or email LauraD.DITR@gmail.com or mail to 5654 Kings Ridge Rd. Gloucester, VA 23061. Please read below our sponsor levels and about our 501(3)(C) rescue group. Thank you!

Neigh Days Spring of 2012

To be just a vendor – $300 if you are selling products, $100 for information only booths. Free to rescue groups. (We do ask that those rescue groups that are having booths please promote our event to help generate a large crowd.)

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America’s Youth Appeal to the President to End Horse Slaughter

January 6, 2012 – Chicago (EWA) – Jo-Claire Corcoran of the Equine Welfare Alliance’s Research Team has launched a children’s letter writing campaign to end the slaughter of American horses. Canadian partners have launched a parallel campaign aimed at stopping horse slaughter in Canada.

A similar campaign forty years ago resulted in the passage of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act that was passed on a unanimous vote in both houses. Jo-Claire commented, “As Wild Horse Annie proved in 1971 congress listened to the children of this country. Sometimes we do not give our children credit for their ability to comprehend. Children growing up on farms which raise animals for food are aware those animals are going to slaughter to become food; they understand those animals were raised for that purpose.” She added, “My grandson understands the difference between animals raised for food and animals that are not raised for food.”

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Treachery of Congressional Horse Slaughter Cabal Exposed in Ad Campaign

January 1, 2012 – Chicago (EWA) – Equine Welfare Alliance (EWA) launched a major campaign on December 30 to expose the underhanded move by Rep. Jack Kingston (GA) and Sens. Kohl (WI) and Blunt (MO) that reinstated horse inspections and opened the way for horse slaughter to return to US soil.

On a must pass bill, the three legislators in a tiny committee quietly removed the language that prohibited the use of taxpayer dollars to fund horse inspections. The action effectively legalized horse slaughter in the US without a debate in the full house and senate, where a straight vote would have failed.

The ad campaign was launched in major theaters running the War Horse film in the legislator’s districts and also reached out to Montana and Wyoming to cover Sen. Baucus and state Rep. Sue Wallis who has become the face of horse slaughter as well as Wallis’ Representative Cynthia Lummis of WY.

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Mystery Surrounding Abandoned Horses Finally Solved

Chicago (EWA) – A six month investigation by the EWA and other animal investigation organizations has finally determined the predominant source of abandoned horses in the Southwestern US. The findings show that most or all of more than 5,000 horses a year are being abandoned after being rejected for slaughter at the Mexican border.

The investigation explains the source and reason for abandonments, most of which have been reported in the vast stretches of isolated land north of the Mexican border since 2009. Most of these horses could clearly be identified as domestic stock from such indications as nail holes in their hooves (where shoes had recently been removed) but no other clues to their source were found.

Until now articles about their discovery have speculated that they were abandoned by individual owners because they could no longer afford to feed them. The horse slaughter lobby has further suggested that this was made worse because individuals “no longer had a slaughter option”.

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Unwanted Horse Coalition Media Roundup

November 29, 2011 – Edition 26

UHC’s Operation Gelding Continues with More Clinics
The Unwanted Horse Coalition’s [UHC] Operation Gelding program has aided in gelding 276 stallions to date. The program, which was first launched in late August 2010, is able to continue aiding in the castration of stallions thanks to the support and seed money provided by the American Association of Equine Practitioners Foundation [AAEP]. Operation Gelding is designed to offer funding assistance to organizations, associations, and events that wish to conduct a public gelding clinic under the name and guidelines of Operation Gelding. An organization that has completed an Operation Gelding clinic will receive funding of $50 per horse, $1,000 maximum, to aid in the costs associated with the clinic.
Read More…

Free Listings for Equine Care Facilities and Rescues on the Nation’s Largest Transactional Horse Website
The Unwanted Horse Coalition is joining forces with the Equine Network, the nation’s leading publisher of equine-related content, to help connect people looking for horses to rescue horses in need of homes through the new A Home for Every Horse Program. Rescue organizations can list their horses for free on Equine.com, the horse, trailer and horse property sale site that receives 2,865,600 unique annual visitors. Click here to find out how:
Read More…

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Old Friends Receives Second Grant from ASPCA

Funds to Provide New Paddocks for More Retirees

GEORGETOWN, KY – NOVEMBER 21, 2011 – Old Friends, the Thoroughbred Retirement Facility and 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization, has received a second $50,000 grant from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). The announcement was made today by Old Friends founder and president Michael Blowen.

In 2009 Old Friends was one of five organizations chosen to participate in the ASPCA’s “Rescuing Racers Initiative,” a $1 million granting opportunity made possible by a generous donor designed to support horses impacted by the racing industry.   Old Friends also received a $50,000 grant in 2010.

The majority of the funds will be used to construct four new paddocks on Old Friends’s Dream Chase Farm in Georgetown, KY, allowing the organization to provide safe retirement for even more Thoroughbreds.

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Handful of Legislators Condemn Horses to USDA Approved Abuse

Washington, D.C. (November 15, 2011) – It would appear that some in Congress are all talk when it comes to seriously reducing federal spending and decreasing the size of  government.  Despite overwhelming objections from the American public and the horse community, and despite Congress’ own supposed belief in fiscal restraint, the fate of America’s horses was undermined by three Members of Congress and their staffs behind closed doors this week.  For years, an amendment to the annual Agriculture Appropriations bill has prevented tax dollars from being used to “inspect” horse slaughter facilities in the U.S.  The House of Representatives voted this year to again include it in the Fiscal Year 2012 Agriculture Appropriations bill, but three members of the Conference Committee, Representative Jack Kingston (R-GA),  Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI), and Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO), removed it from the final bill.  A fourth member of the Conference Committee, Representative Sam Farr (D-CA), was the lone objector.

“I have been in Washington for a long time and this move baffles me.  Both parties talked about making the hard cuts in federal spending and yet behind closed doors, three of the four men thought it was a good use of taxpayer dollars to ignore their colleagues and restore a federal program that will cost Americans at least $5 million a year and pull limited USDA inspectors from ensuring the humane treatment and safety of our nation’s food supply. To make matters worse, this was all done to appease a few foreign companies and Big Ag,” said Chris Heyde, deputy director of AWI’s government and legal affairs department.  “This action shows the true nature of some elected officials — that they are more concerned about helping special interests than doing what they were elected to do.”

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Good Clean Fun According to Sue Wallis

November 6, 2011 – Preferring to deal in facts, we prefer not to editorialize about personalities. However, sometimes a public figure will say something so revealing about their motives and ethical beliefs that it suddenly shines a light into motives that had never seen light.

We are, of course, referring to the heretofore enigma that was Sue Wallis, WY state representative and self-appointed scientist, veterinarian, medical doctor and omnipotent master of all aspects of horses and their welfare.

In recent years, Sue Wallis has effectively galvanized the pro-horse slaughter movement and become its undisputed leader. As she has accomplished this, she has become ever more vitriolic in her attacks against those she sees as “animal rights extremists”, blaming them for all manner problems facing the horse industry, and immediately proclaiming that any evidence emerging to the contrary is a lie.

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President Obama Urged to Keep Campaign Promise

November 2, 2011 – Chicago (EWA) – During his 2008 campaign, President Obama promised his unequivocal support for a ban on horse slaughter. “Now is the time for you to keep that promise, Mr. President,” says John Holland, president of Equine Welfare Alliance.

Calling it “paramount to public health”, the Equine Welfare Alliance (EWA) and Animal Law Coalition sent a letter to President Obama, urging him to support a ban on equine slaughter for human consumption.  The groups also presented the president with more than 6,000 signatures on a White House petition calling for an end to equine slaughter for human consumption.

At the time the petition was created, the White House indicated the administration would consider any issue with at least 5,000 signatures. The equine slaughter ban petition easily gathered more signatures, more quickly than a petition created to reinstate equine slaughter for human consumption in the U.S. The opposition petition was lacking 2,750 signatures when the petition to ban horse slaughter reached 5,000.

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ASPCA Celebrates Rescued Horses with Parade at Alltech National Horse Show

Equine Welfare Ambassadors and World Class Riders Will Take Center Ring on November 6

LEXINGTON, KY — Sunday, November 6 has been officially designated as “ASPCA Day” at the Alltech National Horse Show in Lexington, Ky. and to celebrate, the ASPCA is holding a parade of rescued horses that will be highlighted in the competition arena preceding the finals of the prestigious ASPCA Maclay National Championship competition.

The Alltech National Horse Show, 128th Edition, will run November 2-6, 2011, in the Alltech Arena at the Kentucky Horse Park, site of the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.

Horses from the Kentucky Horse Park Mustang Troup will begin the parade. These mustangs were once completely wild on the plains of North Dakota and were later rounded up and removed from their native land. Rescuers have since worked to rehabilitate and train them, and they are now much more accustomed to humans and have become trustworthy riding and performance horses.

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