Saving from The Kill Pens
This IS thier last chance! Next stop is the SLAUGHTER HOUSE!
Dolly’s (aka 007) short story is that she was sold to a “kill buyer” to be sent to slaughter. She is a strong working horse that was in good shape, only 14 years old, and was carrying a baby. She was most likely used to work ranches. The owners felt they didn’t need her anymore and sought to make a quick easy buck.Dolly’s rescue costs, just to get her here safe, was about $2600. She was in good condition so no major vet issues as of now. Not all are that lucky. Many will get sick in the pens or are severely emaciated.
What is a Kill Pen?
A kill pen/ feedlot is the last stop for many horses before the truck to the slaughter house.
They may be there a day or weeks depending on the load size the kill buyer needs to fill their quota/order.
Gone are the days of the glue factory trip for the old and crippled. These horses are as varied as the colors of a tapestry. They are well-bred, old, young, workhorses, family pets, show horses, wild mustangs, lame, skinny, abused, and happy fat horses.
Some are sold with 100% knowledge of where they will end up and some will draw the short straw.
These horses are loaded and shipped to Mexico or Canada. There they will either be killed for their meat or sent live in crates overseas to meet the same fate.
These horses need saving! This will be a long journey to raise awareness and help those we can.
All animals and pets deserve better than this!
Our goal is to devise a program where we can make rescuing kill pen horses more affordable and feasible for people to adopt and/or help.
Purchasing before the kill buyers at auction, fundraising specifically for these horses, and transporting and quarantining ourselves are all means to make this dream a reality.
Stay tuned as we all learn together.
It’s been four months …
Since our first Kill Pen rescue and boy, have we learned a lot!!
We have also added 5 more horses that were pulled for the slaughter pipeline.
Each day a new perspective is gained, a new lesson learned, and new ideas formed. The horses are thriving and our hearts are full.
As Maya Angelou said,
“Do the best you can until you know better.
Then, when we know better, do better.”
We started this completely blind, only knowing we could not let this mamma horse end up on a dinner plate. The rest we figured out as we went. You really can do anything you set your mind to – where there is a will, there’s a way.
Now that we know better, we will do better!
There are many varied opinions on the pros and cons of rescuing from the slaughter pipeline. If you so choose, you may do your own research.
100% Fact – The life of the horse(s) you saved is forever changed.
Our plans going forward are as follows:
- TO CONTINUE SAVING what horses we can, focusing on the “less desirable”. Rehabilitating and preparing them to move on to their forever home.
- TO STAY CURRENT on what “kill pens” are truly, in fact pens that load semis to slaughter. Those will be where our saves come from.
- TO ATTEND AUCTIONS in hopes of rescuing (purchasing) horses before the kill buyer.
- SHARE OUR KNOWLEDGE and help others save slaughter pipeline horses on their own (e.g., what kill pens are legitimate, what auctions are high risk, how to bail, transport costs).