Sunday, June 15, 2008

Another horse dumped in the Desert


Well, we got in a new arrival today. She is a bay mare who wandered into Sandy Valley and was found by Sandy Valley Ranch, neighbors of Shiloh.

But, let me start at the beginning so you will all know why we are so mad.

Last week, Shiloh's rider, Sabine, who rides and cares for horses after work a few days a week, called Jill. At 6pm a man pulled up to Shiloh's gate with his truck, horse trailer, and a horse in the trailer. No phone call, no appointment, nothing. Just showed up. He had driven all the way from North Las Vegas out to Shiloh to "donate" this mare to us. Actually, he said that it was "his friend's horse" (we've all heard that before) that had been left at his boarding facility. He did not want to care or feed the horse, so his "friend" told him to either give the horse to Shiloh, or just dump it in the desert. Shiloh has made it our policy to not accept horses this way- with no warning, no owner responsibility. Sabine told him to turn around, drive back home, and call Animal Control about the horse or he needs to take on the responsibility and have the horse euthanised by a vet. He said he would do the right thing, but we had a very bad feeling that he was not going to. So, Sabine wrote down his license plate, a description of his rig, a description of the mare, and talked him into giving her his name.

Well, a week passed and here is the mare, the same horse, wandering in from the surrounding desert. The Brand Inspector from the Department of Agriculture was notified. Sally, Sabine, Eric, and Daria all drove over to pick the mare up, who was turned over to Shiloh for it's care, and they gave all of the man's information to the county. Shiloh is insisting that the Animal Control and the Dept of Ag do something about this man. It seems like whenever a horse is dumped, the county just lets it slide and Shiloh takes in the horse and the full financial responsibility and no one is ever prosecuted. Not this time, this time we are going to insist, or we will be contacting the local news about the situation.

It boggles the mind that people will actually dump an animal in the desert to die a slow and horrible death. It is in the upper 90's now, there is no water out there- but people don't care. This is the fifth horse in a few short months that has come to Shiloh after being dumped.

5 comments:

Jenny K. said...

How great that Sabine had the presence of mind to take down the guy's license plate number, and other info. I hope the authorities will respond appropriately. That poor little mare - I can't wait to come out and visit her, and give some extra TLC.

KellyByrd said...

Good work, everyone! The poor mare- she looks so sad...... wish I had realized she was there- we would have 'carroted' her... Thanks to everyone who tried to help me catch NASDAQ to give him a fly mask.... maybe next time!!! He was NOT in the mood today, was he?! It was soooo warm today- I can't believe someone would dump an animal in the desert...... the heat, no water... Unconcienable...

Cheryl Ann said...

OHMYGOD! To dump a horse, in the summer, in 100 plus heat! What an idiot! I am so thankful that she is in good hands now. I want to come visit her, too, and give her some carrots! Poor baby! Yes. Please don't let him get away with this!

Amber said...

I can not believe that people are that stupid! I really hope that animal control does something! Poor thing! We will have to come out there and give carrots and love to all the new arrivals.

Sin City Savoy said...

Have you named her yet? Since we met her, for some reason I keep wanting to call her "Rose/Rosie." She's such a sweet old lady