Enough is Enough
By now, it’s a familiar post to those who spend any time on Facebook.
“Bail set at 2xxx carrots. Ships Monday! Please help her!”
What may not be familiar is the sham scam behind these lines.
You see, the local horse trader who used to advertise his $500 semi-feral broncs in the local paper has moved to Facebook and learned how to triple his profits.
Some facts about the horse slaughter process:
There are really only about 10 active kill buyers in the U.S. who have contacts with the Canadian and Mexican slaughterhouses. Everyone else has shifted to trader mode or gone out of business.
These actual kill buyers have contracts with companies outside our borders. They have quotas they have to fill with those plants. They have to ship a set number of horses or pounds of horse to meet these quotas.
These 2 facts mean that they aren’t selling their slaughter loads on Facebook.
Skinny horses do not ship to slaughter. Ponies don’t ship. Foals don’t ship. It is a price per pound game. Kill buyers want fat, healthy horses that will maximize their profits. (Think about it – fuel is expensive, paying a licensed driver is expensive, maintaining semi trucks and trailers is expensive - if you’re not moving quality product, you aren’t making top dollar.)
Now, the local trader – who coincidentally, probably also owns the local auction house – may sell some horses to one of the kill buyers as they bounce horses from sale to sale. But again – he’s not selling the skinny, injured horses who won’t arrive from a long trailer ride in good condition. He’s not in the business of losing money.
So what’s he doing? He’s looking for the off track horses that are tattooed or branded to appeal to those rescue groups. He’s looking for colored quick profitable flips. He’s looking for the neglected herds one of the breed-specific rescues might pay top dollar to save. He’s buying up the skinny horses that the local ag inspector should not allow to be sold and saving a negligent owner from being prosecuted for its horrific condition and neglect.
He’s then listing these horses on Facebook with a “bail and deadline” – often selling horses cross-country which are then hauled with strangles or shipping fever across state lines (and often hauled by independent haulers who don’t hold proper CDL credentials nor decontaminate their trailer between loads) – horses who would not be profitable slaughter horses will make him 3 or 4 times slaughter price with what is simply the “deadline” of another auction. After all, it’s easy enough to buy in a little town auction, post the horses to Facebook for a week, and then resell whatever animals don’t make the “bail” at the larger monthly sale. And now, he’s making so much money that maybe he can buy some of those fat, healthy horses and sell for a profit as the middleman to the kill buyer down south. Or maybe, he starts four or 5 more Facebook pages with the same sob story and buys more horses to sell that way. Maybe he even enlists some friends who start a page calling themselves a rescue to really tug on people’s heart strings and compel them to pay more for those horses.
People buy horses under the impression they are “saving them from slaughter” completely unprepared for the baggage and misrepresentation that often accompanies the horse upon arrival.
We know people who have purchased a horse as “well trained” that arrives with a broken pelvis. We know someone who bought a yearling and received a mature horse. People have purchased from a “kill lot” and received a different horse. Heck, it happened to us working with Standardbred Retirement Foundation trying to assist Metalhead Hanover. There were 2 branded geldings at an east Tennessee lot – we got the horse that was supposed to go to sanctuary in Alabama, she ended up with MH. When we met halfway to exchange horses, we found a horse 300 pounds underweight that could barely walk; eventually diagnosed with a shattered stifle, a gunshot wound to his neck and EPM. This horse had been through at least 2 auctions – one in Ohio and one in Tennessee – before he was intercepted. Livestock inspectors had at least 2 chances to help him and failed. Needless to say, after more than $2,500 in expenses, the only kind answer for him was euthanasia. And the so-called “kill buyer” laughs all the way to the bank while targeting branded horses knowing groups like SRF will “bail them” using donated dollars from people who only want to do the right thing.
Furthermore, when these horses have been bounced sale to sale across multiple states, they have been exposed to diseases, fighting with other unfamiliar horses, fighting for food – buying them is saving them from this fate, but we need to start calling it what it is and understanding that it’s simply modern-day horse trading. The same responsibility that comes with buying a horse in any other way accompanies this type of transaction – up to and including vetting, training, rehoming or euthanizing as the situation may dictate. Buying a “kill pen” horse and then expecting a horse rescue to take it because you did the “saving” is living in a fantasy. Rescues are full and financially strapped – they don’t exist to fix a situation of a buyer’s remorse when someone makes a purchase they aren’t prepared to handle.
It's a vicious cycle that has to stop.
Awareness is the first step. Do you want your $1500 to fund this guy’s business?
There are better options.
One option is to help your neighbor. If you notice a thin horse and someone struggling to provide proper care, assist if you are able. Sometimes a little knowledge is all that’s necessary – people simply don’t know that a horse needs his teeth checked and possibly floated once a year, or that otherwise healthy older horses can easily maintain weight when fed a diet properly tailored for their needs.
Another option is to attend your local horse sale and bid against him. If you can afford to vet and rehabilitate them, buy those $300 and $400 horses as you can. Or, stay until past midnight and buy the untouchable horses that are run through that really will be shipped across our borders and invest in training them to be solid equine citizens before finding them homes.
If you are not experienced enough to do this responsibly, then consider donating to or adopting from your local rescue organization, whether it is Safe Harbor or another accredited, legitimate 501c3 organization. Ask about their rehabilitation and rehoming processes. Watch who posts adoption updates and training videos, and walk away from organizations where horses seem to disappear or who won’t be accountable to donors when asked questions.
Supporting the work of "real" rescues helps keep horses out of the auction and slaughter pipeline, and serves as a safety net for horses and a better alternative for their owners.
Support the breed organizations who truly support their aftercare programs. If you are passionate about a specific breed, get involved and find ways to affect change whether it is rehoming horses directly from a track trainer or becoming a breed ambassador at events. Support the breeders who do the right thing by their horses.
If you are already a horse owner, keep your horses. Have a plan for them in your will; don’t let fate and your family decide their fate if they should outlive you. If you can’t care for them, lease them with a contract and follow up; sell them with a contract and follow up; or euthanize them at home surrounded by familiar friends. There are simply not enough “good and honest” people in the world willing and able to take on an older or special needs horse – and the good rescues are already doing all they can for those they house. Be willing to consider this option when it is offered.
And finally, vote. As long as legislators think horse slaughter is a humane option for “unwanted” horses – as long as they are willing to open a plant in your county – as long as your local sheriff or mayor is willing to turn a blind eye to the neglected horses right down the road and maybe even have breakfast with the guy who is barely feeding them and allows him to sell through the auction instead of face the consequences of his inactions - rescues will continue to be overwhelmed and fighting an uphill battle. Know what your candidates’ values and opinions are on the matter, and let your voice be heard in the voting booth.
