The plight of unwanted horses inherently brings up emotions in horse lovers.
Unfortunately, that vulnerability gets capitalized on by people in the horse world looking to make a few quick bucks. Call it horse trading, brokering, kill-pen bailouts, or “saving a horse from slaughter,” more times than not, the horse in question isn’t saved. Instead, it returns right back into the auction-save-quarantine-alleged new home-back to auction cycle.
Here, we’ll arm you with facts about kill-pen bailouts so you better understand the cycle and can educate your well-meaning friends on what actually happens to the dollars they donate to “save” a horse. Tinia Creamer from Heart of Phoenix Equine Rescue provides insight into a scenario she knows all too well.
The Scenario
For ease of explanation, we’ll work with a single scenario. You see a plea on social media: “Save Chief before he goes to slaughter! We must raise $3,000 to keep him off the trailer and into a good home!” Your eyes grow sad seeing a photo of an emaciated horse in need of veterinary care. You decide to kick in $100 toward the cause. Chief reminded you of a horse you had as a child with his big blaze on a sorrel face.
Fact 1: The Money Required to
‘Save’ the Horse Is Inflated.
The $3,000 demand is grossly inflated. If he were to go to slaughter, the seller might get $300. The $3,000 to “save” him is because of the phases he’ll go through over the course of this cycle.
First, the broker gets a cut. Then the horse has to be transported to quarantine, which gets the driver a cut. Quarantine isn’t free, so that facility gets a cut, too. Every cog in the system has a hand out for some of the money raised to
“save” Chief. That horse almost certainly won’t get the veterinary care he needs during this course of time, nor the training required to become a safe horse on any level, even just as a companion.
Additionally, there’s no way to track how much money was actually raised for Chief because it’s a crowd-sourced effort. He could raise $3,000 or $10,000 and the donors will never be the wiser.
Fact 2: Chief Likely Won’t Go to a Good Home.
Once quarantine is up, Chief has to go somewhere. If it was a crowd-sourced bailout, it’s easy to make up a story about where he went and how great his life will be, when in actuality, he’s back on the auction lot. But if an individual bailed him out, Chief is now their responsibility. Many people who participate in bailouts aren’t horse people and don’t have a place to keep a horse like Chief. In the end, someone like Creamer has to come in and rescue the horse from those unsuitable conditions, which could’ve avoided if the horse was placed in a rescue situation to begin with. Or, once again, he’ll go back to the auction, and more money will be made on his fake rescue.
“We get it constantly—bailed-out horses with nowhere to go or going to a home that can’t properly care for the horse,” Creamer said. “People don’t think through the entire situation. They’ve spent $3,000 and the horse still isn’t safe. In fact, he’s probably deteriorated. And now he has nowhere to go unless a rescue steps in and takes on the responsibility from the person who bailed out the horse. Or he’ll go right back into the system.”
Fact 3: These Horses Are Often Sick and Dangerous.
Even if you do have the means and a facility to bring Chief home, do you want to risk your safety and the health of your other horses? Horses coming from Chief’s situation were often abandoned to begin with because the former owner couldn’t afford needed veterinary care, the horse posed a serious danger to humans and/or horses, or the horse was at the end of his life. In all these cases, the horse likely was a candidate for euthanasia, but either the owner couldn’t afford that path or emotionally couldn’t face that reality.
“We encounter many feral horses, stallions, horses that have had it with this cycle, and elderly and sick animals when we intervene in these bailouts,” Creamer said. “Most people have no business handling these horses.”
Fact 4: Bailouts Hurt Legitimate Rescues.
Money donated to bailouts could be used to support above-board rescue facilities. If Chief is “bailed out” but then must be taken on by a rescue from an unsuitable home, he creates liabilities. That program now must provide the veterinary care the horse was denied, the training required to simply make the horse safe to handle, and the boarding that Chief needs. But the rescue didn’t get the bailout money, which further strains their budget.
Fact 5: Education Is Key.
“These horse traders posing as rescuers are making millions of dollars on
the backs of suffering horses,” Creamer asserted. “We have to be honest about this cycle. It’s hard to be vocal about the truths of the situation on these social media posts. These bailout pages have fierce defenders who believe they know the outcome.”
Find constructive ways to share your knowledge of the situation and the
truth behind it. Arguing won’t help; however, thoughtful conversation can be effective. Creamer recommends language such as, “These horses aren’t in danger of slaughter; they’re in danger of neglect if we continue to support these brokers.”
It’s crucial that people understand that many horses in rescues don’t come from bailout situations, and the bailouts reduce resources that could help horses under proper care. The money given to support bailouts largely ends up in the pockets of the people running the game, not to support the horses’ needs.
“Reach out to your representatives and ask for the borders to be closed [for slaughter] and that they support the SAFE act,” Creamer added. “And ensure
that you’re never part of the problem. Never let your horse become part of
this cycle.”
