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August 4, 2007

Horse Cruelty Investigations-Rescue, Slaughter, Neglect

In the past year, the EPN has assisted the PA State Police in
investigating cruelty cases involving 30 horses.

The reason I am writing this message is because what these cases have
in common is that no one complained to the PA State Police or any law
enforcement agency for that matter. In a situation outside of PA
people, including a professional trainer, whose client's horse broke
its leg, did nothing while this horse stood in a stall with a broken
leg for 3 weeks before being sent to slaughter!!!!

The people involved in the case of the horse with the broken leg
argued that slaughter is the answer. The EPN's response was that
everyone involved who allowed that horse to stand in the stall with a
broken leg for 3 weeks until it lost 300lbs because it was in too
much pain to eat, is guilty of cruelty and should be prosecuted!!!!

This situation was not about the owner's inability to pay the vet -
SELL something to pay the vet-like maybe your Saddle-, take out a
loan, make payments, or whatever it takes to pay the bill. As for the
vet, SHAME ON YOU!!!. Turn the bill over to a collection agency. Take
them to small claims court. Report the client's lack of payment and
damage their credit report & credit score. I can guarantee you they
will come up with the money. Oh, I'm sorry that means the owner can't
eat lunch out today or the owner had to sell something to pay their
bill!!! Too Tough! Grow up!

The "professional trainer" involved who allowed this to happen should
lose all privileges to compete in horse events. How these people
looked themselves in the mirror everyday, I do not know.

The people involved simply did not have the courage to put this horse
down. I do not believe that nobody in this area owned a gun & knew
how to use it. I do not believe that there was not a rendering
company available that would shoot the horse & remove the carcass.

These people hoped that by some miracle the horse would get better or
would be dead one morning so they would not have to make a decision
to kill the horse. When it finally lost so much weight, probably to
the point where it was an embarrassment to the barn, someone threw a
fit that the horse had to go. Therefore, what do they do, send it to
slaughter!! Hundreds of miles on an overcrowded trailer to a
slaughterhouse!!

So, how did the availability of slaughter prevent this horse from
suffering???? The availability of slaughter allowed cruel people to
maintain a horse for 3 weeks with a broken leg that caused such pain
it lost 300 pounds. The availability of slaughter allowed them to
LOAD this poor horse on a trailer & ship it hundreds if not thousands
of miles to a slaughterhouse. We don't know if he survived the trip.
We don't know if he went down on the truck. We don't know if he wore
holes into the side of his body from leaning against the sides of the
trailer like the horse in the USDA study loaded out of New Holland
for Carolyn Stull's study did for the Commercial Transportation of
Horses to Slaughter Act do we?

These people disgust me.

In one of the cases the EPN assisted the State Police the reason
given in court for the horse being a walking skeleton was that, "the
load of hay was moldy and I noticed he was losing weight".

Uh the owner hadn't missed any meals and I am sure that when a loaf
of bread or cheese becomes moldy in her house she throws it out.
Course who knows maybe she feeds it to her horse. She testified she
owned her horse since he was a yearling, now he is 12. She failed to
mention that the State Police had told her years earlier to provide
shelter to this horse.

Outcome- she called the vet because he lost weight and the vet told
her to buy some feed with higher protein and feed soybean oil. Uh
what happened to sound horse management-feed good quality hay!!!
Because the horse's condition has improved the case will be
dismissed, but she had to pay a defense attorney that probably cost
close to a $1000.00. That would have bought her 250 bales of good
quality hay, enough to feed her horse for almost a year.

The point is we need to stop spending time talking about horse
neglect and take action. Learn your state's laws. Speak to your vet.
Urge them to speak to organizations such as the EPN regarding
offering their assistance to law enforcement agencies. This does not
mean they are expected to work for free for law enforcement.

Every time the EPN discusses this issue with law enforcement, we
explain the role of the vet. The investigator MUST contact the owner
of the horse in question and explain to them that this horse is, "the
subject of a CRIMINAL investigation. The REASON the owner is having
the vet look at the horse is to determine WHY the horse is in this
body condition, lameness, injury, etc and WHAT the owner has to do to
CORRECT the situation." Each situation is different but the owner's
vet must understand and be informed that this case could go to court
and that law enforcement is going to have their own vet.

In most cases if the owner's vet understands the situation, they are
going to do the right thing. What vet wants to go into court against
another vet and make statements that are contrary to accepted equine
medical care standards and management?

Nothing is 100% so even if all the proper steps are taken there are
going to be cases where an owner is not held accountable. That is NOT
a valid argument for doing nothing. Right now across the United
States, the horse cruelty laws on the books are not being enforced as
they should be.

What can you do? First, learn your state's law. What acts are
illegal? Who has jurisdiction? In my area, who enforces the law? Do
not expect law enforcement to do a good job with horse cruelty
investigations if they are not familiar and they do not have the
resources. Be willing to assist if necessary. The EPN is available to
speak to law enforcement officers regarding horse cruelty
investigations- questions to ask, evidence that needs to be
collected, and depending on location, available to assist officers on
the scene.

I have had numerous people contact me regarding neglect cases. Only a
handful of the people have taken action. The majority of the time
they just want to tell the story to relieve themselves of the
emotional burden of what they have witnessed and expect the EPN to do
the work for them. I cannot do that if I have not witnessed the
situation. What I can do is assist you in reporting the situation and
contacting law enforcement and providing them with information so
they can do their job. In the situations where people have done that
there has been successful outcomes.

The other case that prompted this post is the case of the
woman, "doing rescue". Owner is a dealer "rescuing horse from
slaughter". What I cannot understand is why no one called law
enforcement sooner. Locals in the area had been talking about it
among themselves, some even urged their vets to take action, yet no
one called law enforcement.

Why?? Because this owner was doing "rescue"? If someone is doing
rescue and horses' conditions are in violation of the law, then there
darn well be a court case ongoing! If not, how in the world is the
person who put the horse in this condition going to be held
accountable for their actions?????

These horses have been suffering for months, yet none of the people
in the horse community took action to call law enforcement. I do not
understand.

Does anyone believe that if neglectful owners are not held
accountable for their actions toward horses, is their bad behavior
going to change? If Society does not punish owners, who fail to
provide necessary food, water, shelter and vet care to their horses
what message is Society sending to its citizens??
Owners of neglected horses always have excuses as to why their horse
is poor condition.

Society has indicated through Legislation and State Statutes that we
expect our members to care for their animals and if they don't they
can be punished.

I constantly here the excuse/comment/statement/argument that people
cannot pay the vet, how do we expect people who will not get a vet to
put their horses down, we cannot make people do this.

I disagree.

What does American Society due to hold people accountable for their
actions? If you fail to pay your utility bill, what happens? If you
fail to purchase car insurance what happens? If you do not follow the
rules and you are caught what happens? You are held accountable by
removal of privileges, money, or your freedom (jail).

So how do we hold people accountable for failure to care for their
horses?? Society holds them accountable by convicting them of cruelty
and making them pay a fine, removal of their horses, ordering them to
pay for the cost of caring for and rehabilitating the horses, and or
sending them to jail.

Any person who fails to take action when they see a neglected animal
is guilty of failing to do Your Civic Duty. Your failure to take
action is allowing the neglect and cruelty to continue. Law
enforcement responds to citizen complaints. They do not drive around
searching out crime.

The EPN is NOT suggesting you stop and inquire as to what is going
on, that is NOT your job. It never ceases to amaze me that published
articles and speakers will encourage people to stop and investigate
why this horse is in the condition it is before they call law
enforcement! Uh, would they also recommend that you stop and ask a
person whose behavior is suspicious and ask them what they are doing?
Ask a burglar or robber what he is doing breaking into a building or
threatening person? Do they expect you to use your car to slow a
person who is speeding through construction or traveling on the berm
to avoid traffic to stop them? Of course not! Its not your job! Your
job is not to investigate neglect or any other crime.

It is law enforcement's job to investigate WHY the horse is in the
condition it is in and take appropriate action. If there is a
legitimate reason as to why the horse is in this condition then that
will be determined by the investigation. This is where vets come into
the picture.

Sadly, we have some vets who cover their clients actions because they
do not want to see them, "get in trouble". The role of the vet is not
to determine whether or not a crime is being committed. That is NOT
their job. That is the job of law enforcement. The vets job is to
determine why the horse is in a body condition that is NOT accepted
horse industry standard. WHY is the horse lame? WHY is the horse
sick? Why and what action needs to be taken to CORRECT the problem.

The job of determining whether or not an owner is guilty is that of
the Court. Law enforcement officers or district attorneys present
their evidence as to WHY the owner is guilty. The owner or their
defense attorney presents evidence as to why they are not guilty.
Then the Judge decides.

Sadly, far too many horse cruelty cases are lost because law
enforcement does NOT investigate properly, they fail to collect
evidence, fail to hold evidence according to the Rules of Evidence,
and then they fail to present it correctly resulting in the defense
attorney making a motion to have the evidence excluded. End of case
lost due to a technicality because law enforcement failed to do their
job.

Then law enforcement, typically humane society organizations agents,
blame the law, blame the court, blame everybody but themselves as to
why they failed to successfully prosecute the horse neglect case.
Then the welfare groups take on the attitude that they "don't do
horse cases." In the EPN's point of view that is fine. If you are not
going to do your job right, if your failure is going to weaken the
law, if your behavior is going to fuel Agri-Business and Horse
Industry arguments that these cases are nothing but a bunch of
emotional "do gooders" than better to do nothing until they are
willing to learn the RULES and to play by them.

Cruelty laws can take away people's property,(money and animals) and
their freedom. Law enforcement has a responsibility to the horses
involved and to the U.S. Constitution to do it right.

In horse cruelty cases a major problem is that the owners who have
failed to provide necessary food, water, shelter, and vet care are
not held accountable. Well meaning people, start feeding the horses,
taking on the responsibility of caring for the owner's horses(at the
same time destroying the evidence of neglect)or they attempt to
purchase the horses.

What people fail to do is call law enforcement agency that has
jurisdiction and file a complaint. Alternatively, they do call and
law enforcement fails to do their job.

As lovers of horses can do better. We must do better to see that
neglectful owners are held accountable for their actions. For those
of you who are parents, what would you do if your child failed to do
what you told them to do? Would you reward them, or would you punish
them?

The excuses I hear for neglecting their horse is the same excuses a
child would give for failure to feed the family dog. They are not
valid.

It is time to stop talking about the horse down the road or the horse
at the auction, it is time to punish the person who did this and
everyone who allowed it to continue and benefited from the horse's
suffering.

Christine Berry
EPN
Equine Protection Network
www.equineprotectionnetwork.com

Posted on SHARE Yahoo group - Aug. 5, 2007