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Horse CareThe Perfect Time to End the Slaughter of American Horses
September 1, 2010 – At the moment, the news is rife with stories about the level of equine neglect in the United States, with many of the articles blaming the “unintended consequences” of closing the US horse slaughter plants and calling for them to be reopened. But in reality, we are coming up on a once in a lifetime opportunity to get rid of this abominable practice once and for all. To understand this apparent paradox, one needs to get past unsubstantiated myths to the real forces at play in the market. First, one needs to understand that it is completely impossible to blame the current glut of excess horses on the closing of the slaughter plants because the closings simply sent the horses over the Mexican and Canadian borders for slaughter. In 2006, the year before the closings, 142,740 American horses were slaughtered, and that number only dropped by 14% the year the plants were closed. By 2008, slaughter was back to the second highest level in almost ten years. Next, it is necessary to understand what really causes neglect, and that is unemployment. After years of studying the relationship between neglect rates and slaughter volumes, I had concluded that there was no relationship whatever. Then I looked at the rates of neglect in Illinois in comparison with unemployment in the state. The correlation was striking. Read more> http://www.horsesinthesouth.com/article/article_detail.aspx?id=12051 Arrest Announced for Failure to Report Horse DiseaseSeptember 1, 2010 – TALLAHASSEE — Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles H. Bronson today announced the arrest of an Indian River County woman who allegedly tried to conceal from authorities her two horses that were infected with Equine Infectious Anemia (EIA). Arrested by Bronson’s Office of Agricultural Law Enforcement (OALE) was Regina Chesser, 56, of Fellsmere. She was charged with failure to report a dangerous transmissible disease, which is a second-degree felony. Authorities allege that Chesser brought her horse “Dolly” to a Vero Beach veterinary clinic to be tested for EIA. When the test results were positive for EIA, authorities with the department’s Division of Animal Industry attempted to contact Chesser only to find that she had given the alias Cheryl Hearndon with a false address and phone number to the clinic and used a an email address registered to a friend. The false information was given because Chesser believed “Dolly” was infected with the EIA virus. The case was turned over to Bronson’s Office of Agricultural Law Enforcement to initiate a criminal investigation of the matter. After an extensive search, Chesser’s true identity and location were discovered. Authorities then learned that there were two horses on Chesser’s property and subsequent testing showed that both of the horses were carriers of EIA. FEI Announces Detection Times for Methylprednisolone Acetate
1 September 2010 – The Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) has announced detection times for Methylprednisolone Acetate, a frontline treatment for lameness in the equine athlete. The findings from recently completed studies on the use of intra-articular Methylprednisolone Acetate show the detection times as 28 days for the 200mg dose and 14 days for the 100mg dose. The FEI recognises that any strategy to reduce the level of doping and medication offences must contain an element of guidance and education. With this in mind there has been an increased effort to provide detection times for substances that are in common usage. The detection time is the time taken for an active substance administered to a horse by a specified route and dosage to fall below a level at which the FEI would declare a sample positive. It is important to note that detection times may vary depending on dose and number of injection sites used. Please note that a detection time is not the same as a withdrawal time. The withdrawal time must be decided by the treating veterinarian and is likely to be based on the detection time plus an appropriate safety margin to allow for individual variation. The full list of FEI detection times can be found here. Media Contact: Graeme Cooke FEI Director Veterinary Department Tel: +41 21 310 47 39 Email: Graeme.Cooke@fei.org The Public Has Spoken – Our Pony Express Goal Has Been Exceeded!Dear Supporters, Wow! What amazing supporters we have! On August 1st, we gave you a goal of 20,000 letters to take with us for our Pony Express Mustang Delivery to Washington. Our deadline was set for September 1st. We just wanted to let you know that we have completely blown our goal out of the water with the overwhelming response from so many wild horse supporters! Just over this past weekend, we received 7,234 letters from so many of you, which brings our current count to 26, 995! *Keep the letters coming and each of you can stand as a voice for each individual mustang that has been rounded up by the Bureau of Land Management and the ones left on the range. We are their voices, their spokespeople. Disaster Tips for Horses
The following items are recommended for inclusion in a disaster kit specifically for horses. Make one kit for each horse in your care. Food and Water: * One-week supply of the food or special feed your horse is used to eating. Store in an airtight, waterproof container and rotate every three months to ensure freshness * One-week supply of water, stored in a cool, dark location. 50-gallon barrels are good for storing water * If tap water is not suitable for humans to drink during a disaster, it is also not suitable for cats to drink * Feeding and water buckets |
