Making it hard for us to prove the welfare case we had set up yesterday, with the help of the vet, police etc, who were due to attend today. Nicky Turner-Sterling
Hi everyone, Thanks for being patient, I have been down with the horses since 8am and have only just got home after winding down our 'operation'. Several things we wanted to be achieved have been achieved which has been great.
Firstly we wanted the plight of the horses to be highlighted to ensure that they were taken off the small island they were on, at the barns. As obviously this was a potentially really bad situation for them. The fire service were wonderful in this, in that once they could see how bad the situation was, they mobilised their team, to have the horses moved, and supported the owners to ensure this was done safely (ie no one drowned). The failure at this point was that none of the horses, once swum across received any veterinary care, and were left in freezing cold and very wet conditions, soaked through, with no water. It was apparent at this point, that whilst many of the criollo horses were not suffering weight condition wise (criollos are excellent dooers and hold their meat) there were many who were struggling to walk, hobbling, hopping lame, eye infections, open wounds etc. The non criollo breeds (for example one of the appaloosa's) WERE under weight. Hence why there was a mixture of conditions there, some obviously being worse than others. When it became apparent that they were not being provided basic care by the owners IE: vet care, fresh water, hay. This then became our next priority.
Thanks to the donation from Animal Aid a vet was provided last night at their cost. Due to the generosity of some amazing people turning up to help us, we were able to supply the horses with hay (provided for by the horse community) rugs to help keep them dry and warm (again donated by the horse community) and fresh water was provided by a very kind man from Severn Trent who put a tap in for us. Plus lots of love and kindness was poured into these animals by everyone involved, who were hands on at the site. Ensuring that whilst the horses were on site they were given the best care that we could possibly provide them. There are things going on in the background I cant discuss for legal reasons, but this is definitely not the end of this.
The RSPCA's failure in this case has been a HUGE lack of communication. I have a very lengthy discussion with the 2 officers who attended the site today, and got my point across. Whilst some of you guys are being very anti the RSPCA, they are not blind the fact that this situation, especially from the owners point of view, could have been handled much better (in that he could have done more to ensure their safety). They also I feel, have taken the owners word for many things (which were essentially untrue), which I feel they should not have done, but this is to be addressed at a later date. We did set them straight on quite a few things, as the owner had been lying to them about certain things, like saying he had provided basic care etc and he hadn't, and they were under the impression it was him that had provided the vet care, when it wasn't.
We were hoping to prove a welfare case for the remaining animals yesterday, as some, especially the non criollo breeds were in very poor condition (underweight, hopping lame etc) but unfortunately this became impossible when in the night, he took the worst cases away!
We had 2 vets attend to the horses this morning who donated their time, who were able to give them small treatments to ease suffering which was awesome. The welfare agencies who are involved will be attending and following up their standard of care etc. So this is not the end of it from their point of view, they will be ensuring the horses have continued good care.
The sad truth is that many of these horses are destined for the specialised meat trade.
Regarding the dead foals, it was confirmed to me today that these foals had been pts due to contracting salmonella. How they contracted it...well this can be from other horses, contaminated feed, contaminated stabling areas, from the ground or water, stress, many things. Obviously their conditions were less than ideal and being foals they would have been more susceptible. PPL on site were warned to disinfect themselves and boots etc. The bodys should not have been dumped, and again the owner lied to the RSPCA saying someone had come to collect them, and we had stopped them, and having been there yesterday all day, we know this not to be true. Personally I had also tried to get the environment agency involved to dispose of them correctly, as they are on a water causeway, and so that was just rubbish plain and simple.
Everything we set out to achieve initially, we achieved, whilst due to the removal of the worst cases, we were unable to prove a welfare case. I am extremely proud of the whole horse community who came together to try and provide a good and LOVING and KIND standard of care to these beautiful, sad animals. All of you who came down to be hands on, should be immensely proud of yourselves, seriously. Also there have been many many welfare agencies involved like horse watch, and WHW and bridgend and VANAH who have been amazing in providing background assistance, phone calls, emails, etc etc and some attending the site today. They will continue the work that we are unable to do. As previously said due to legal reasons I cant tell you whats going on, but this is not the end of the plight of these horses.
Thank you to everyone who provided your time, money, food, hay, rugs, and even hot drinks and food for the volunteers. I just don't think Thanks is adequate. I am totally over whelmed by the kindness I have seen over the last few days. Its like I said today, with all the hate and vileness in this world, it makes a refreshing change and a wonderful sight to see a community pull together like this. You are all AMAZING. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.
Please note I am ill I have bronchitis and a chest infection, which was making me quite poorly at the site today, on top of a chronic illness (I have M.E). I am exhausted and have struggled all day. I will try to answer questions as much as possible, but I need to rest. So please be patient.
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