Horses destined for slaughter rescued as part of new initiative

Four horses have beenrescued fromthe slaughterhouse, thanks to efforts by the Southlands Riding Club in Vancouver.

The club took in the horses as the initialeffort in itsnew horse rescue and rehabilitation program

"They're all from auctions where they were destined to end up being on someone's dinner table," said Robyn Hunt, a horse trainer and riding coach at the club who was involved with the selection of the rescued horses.

Rescued from slaughter

According to the club's Facebook page, one of the horses rescued Swagger, a male ponyestimated to be about four years old was purchased with a successful bid against a meat buyer in an auction in Eugene, Oregon.

Another pony, Foster, was rescued after negotiations with a meat buyer who had purchased the animal at an auction in Kamloops.

Alsorescued: mares Tabitha and Missy Blue.

Hunt said horses are expensive animals to keep, which is one of the reasons why owners may auction off the animals to slaughterhouses.

"Sometimes someone has hoarded too many animals, othertimes a horse has become elderly and non-usable andthey don't want to pay the money to humanelyput themto sleepso they send them to auction to get a couple hundred bucks."

'A great life'

Hunt said Foster will need to stay with the club for two to three years before he is rehabilitated and ready for adoption, but the other three horses should be able to berehabilitated within a year.

"We are going to give them a great life and hopefully they aregoing to have owners who are going to love them for their future years."

To hear the full interview listen to the audio labelled:Southlands Riding Club rescues four horses from slaughter