Please visit Project Hope and Brooke Hospital:
PROJECT HOPE
BROOKE HOSPITAL FOR ANIMALS
Please be aware that this page contains material of an upsetting nature and there are some graphic images!
~HORSE SLAUGHTER~
Race track rejects are the poor souls that cannot run fast enough. Then there are the one's that have served their purpose at stables and riding camps and also the horses that don't live up to buyers expectations. Usually, these horses end up in the horrible Slaughter Houses.
Horsemeat has become very popular in certain European and Asian Countries as it sells for over $20 a pound. They have the unwarranted idea that horsemeat is a "DELICACY".
The old law of "Supply and Demand" is alive and well!!!
Imagine you are a pregnant mare in the USA or Canada....you are tethered into a tiny stall without adequate amounts of food, water, exercise, or medical attention, and are surrounded by tens of thousands of other mares in the same predicament.
Imagine that your estrogen-rich urine was being collected by your captors while you lived tied up in a tiny stall, unable to turn around or lie down, and the foal you would soon give birth to will be slaughtered for human consumption and exported to Japan, Mexico or Europe...
these foals are considered "just an animal by-product." For What you ask?...The answer is Premarin.
'Premarin' is a frequently prescribed drug given to women who have undergone hysterectomies and to those who suffer from menopausal symptoms. It is also prescribed to post-menopausal women in the hopes of preventing heart disease and osteoporosis. About eight million women are currently taking Premarin. That's eight million women who don't know the facts.
Premarin is the only menopausal drug on the market made with animal-derived estrogen. The facts are that if heart disease and osteoporosis are your main concerns, switching to a vegetarian or vegan diet will drastically reduce your saturated fat and cholesterol intake. The hormones needed to relieve many menopausal symptoms can be found in tofu, berries, soy beans, citrus fruits, and sweet potatoes. Ask your doctor today about the "Cruelty-Free" estrogens available to you.
Common practises of shipping horses for slaughter are....horses being placed into over-crowded holding pens many times standing in disease infested muck. Often sick, the horses are crammed into double-decked cattle trucks. Without sufficient room to hold their heads upright, they travel for 36 hours through summer heat or brutal winter cold without stopping for rest, food or water. Horses can travel as far as from America to Canada with no stops!!
At the slaughter house, the horse is electrically prodded into the "kill box" to be repeatedly bludgeoned in the skull by a dead-bolt gun with a four-inch nail. Alive, and often conscious, the horse is then shackled by a rear leg, hoisted into the air, its throat slit and body dismembered.
No horse is spared this ordeal. These hungry, dehydrated, fatigued and terrified horses include not only the old, sick, blind and crippled, but the young and healthy, our children's pets, mares with helpless foals standing at their side, and our wild mustangs.
The Save the Horses Prohibition of Horse Slaughter and Sale of Horsemeat Initiative, Proposition 6, makes it illegal for anyone to "possess, buy, sell or export from California any horse where that person knows - or should have known - that any part will be used for human consumption".
Again, this abuse is being inflicted upon an animal that has never historically been considered a food animal, but rather a working partner and friend to man. An animal used primarily for pleasure, recreation and sport.
The lies of the horse slaughterers can't stand up to the graphic footage taken such as these photos.
The only reason the illegitimate horse slaughter industry has been able to prey on our companion horses is because most of us haven't known about its existence. Well, now we know.
~STALLION OUTRAGE~
Werribee park is the home of the most prestigious shows in Victoria, and currently is also home to a stallion named Cambridge and two other stallions named Copenhagen and Congressman. So why has these three stallions sparked a huge controversy?
Cambridge an anglo-arabian has been living at Werribee Park since 1997, and he has been enclosed in the stalls originally used as vet boxes ever since. Cambridge used to be known as a world class dressage prospect worth many pretty penny’s although today that is another matter.
The sisters Francesca and Allison Raffaele who owned the horse, in return for agisting their horse on the property worked at Werribee park. It has been stated however that the horse was only confined when he became ill and was unable to be moved, so for how long the horses have been confined is unknown.
The horses are still there and confined at the beautiful Werribee park, with Cambridge the worst of the lot being substantially ill with stress founder, lying in his stall unable to move.
Recently the Bureau of Animal Welfare was prompt to contact the RSPCA so they could send three veterinary inspectors to attend to the three horses at Werribee to provide an independent assessment of their welfare.
2On the 29th the owners of the stallions were issued a veterinary certificate from their vet. This was done to prevent the RSPCA from supplying their own vets to inspect the horses condition.
The RSPCA although went to Werribee to assess the condition of the stabled horses. Cambridge is thought to be in constant pain and shouldn’t be allowed to suffer. RSPCA national president Dr Hugh Wirth has stated that Cambridge is in an ill state and should be put down. Furthermore the sisters are threatening the RSPCA with threats of litigation to deter them from getting to the horses.
Now is certainly the time for all horse owners to band together and fight this horrible occurrence. Keep an eye out on the newspapers, radios, and tv shows for more information on the stallions kept in isolation at Werribee park. Certainly these horses should not be allowed to live in confinement with their stable windows covered in plastic preventing light and letting them live in darkness. It is time to act.
~PROJECT HOPE~
Project Hope first began in 1973 when a concerned Val Collingwood of Wallan, Victoria, wrote into RIDER magazine regarding the number of neglected horses in Australia.
She outlined a scheme whereby someone could co-ordinate the rescue and rehabilitation of these unfortunate animals and she suggested the name Project Hope in memory of a terribly neglected, supposedly aged, buck-jumper from Queensland. She had taken him home to try to save his life, giving him the name Hope, although he had very little. He died three weeks later from massive worm infestation at the tender age (as it was then discovered) of three.
Gradually, Project Hope grew until it became necessary to use newsletters for communication, to introduce memberships fees to help cover costs and to draw up a constitution. The group has steadily grown from there and with the help of a logo and media coverage has become a more familiar name in equine circles within Victoria.
The need for our existence however, is still as strong as in 1973 when it all began.
~BROOKE HOSPITAL FOR ANIMALS~
The Brooke Hospital for Animals has provided free veterinary support for working horses, donkeys and mules overseas since 1934. In many parts of the world, such animals are the only source of income for the whole family. Our mobile veterinary teams treat animals on the spot and our clinics offer them rest and rehabilitation. The Brooke bridges the gap between unnecessary suffering and a healthy, more productive working life by promoting good animal management and owner education.
Brooke vets are given equine veterinary training to offer appropriate treatment and preventative healthcare to reduce the lameness, disease and suffering common to many working horses, donkeys and mules.
WARNING: PHOTOS MAY UPSET SOME PEOPLE!
