Saturday Afternoon at a Rescue

Originally Published November 16, 2021

They were getting blankets on the horses before sundown, on those without winter coats, and those recently from the auction. The donkeys were less of a concern.  Hearty and thick with fur, they watched with detached amusement.  

Debbie has run this rescue operation for years.  With the air of a battlefield nurse, she ignores our offer to help and goes back to blanketing.  She has no time for us or for the single volunteer today.  Decisions have to be made quickly.  There are 40 equines, including a dozen donkeys.   Some will be adopted out. Others won’t make it.  Some will stay indefinitely, watching the new ones come and go.

Ten years ago there were approximately 148,000 equines sent to slaughter.  Last year there were approximately 14, 000.  In the interim, US slaughter houses were banned, Canada stopped taking equines due to the prevalence of drugs, most commonly Phenylbutazone or “Bute,” commonly administered to US horses for pain.  The rest were sent to Mexico to experience the most primitive and grisly of deaths.

The market for horses at auction is a complex one.  There are private buyers, rescue organizations and kill buyers.  Some private buyers may in fact be buying to “fatten up” and later sell to a kill buyer.  Some kill buyers may be purchasing at the “per pound” price only to resell to a private buyer. Some rescue organizations may not truly be able to handle the horses they adopt. All of this raises ethical questions, even among the most dedicated horse lovers, for which there is really no good answer.