Horses (unattended) in the York area

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Blue Rider

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A rare post in NL for me, but worth sharing.
On a callout in the York area today, along the A166 between Dunnington and Full Sutton there are a large number of horses, of various breeds/age's/colours that have been tethered very very close to the carriageway, and appear unattended in every sense of the word.

3 Loose horses were caught today during my passage of the road, RSPCA are nothing short of useless. (Will attend only for neglect), WHW have proved useless and unable to attend - local police are unable to attend.
The result?? Those that caught the loose horses and removed them from a national speed limit highway, couldn't find a reasonable answer, and with no safe place for the horses to be secured - they were released back onto the same main road.
Now I'm rather astounded that the local police will only get involved if there's an accident - let's hope the 2 coloureds legging it down the A64 Dual carriageway know the highway code.

I assume that the Yorkshire area holds a very different code in dealing with loose horses??
Gladly I would never get involved in the events of today, those that attempted were met with a brick wall by so called welfare organisations - someone remind me why we donate to these people??

My other thought is that of..... have you lost/had stolen a horse in recent weeks? I would suggest this length of road is damn good place to go and have a look round.
The horses in the area, to me personally do not look like those I would associate completely with travellers and appleby.
A large number of Tb's / Welsh A's and C's / ISH and many others were present along with the obvious coloured's.
Secondly, trailers.... 2 layby's towards the old airfield are home to a number of rather nice trailers, which seem a little too nice to be left unattended in a remote parking place shelted by tree's and bushes.

If nobody in authority wants to know, then maybe those of you who have suffered loss, care to check for your own property in the area.
 
Bloody ludacrous the police aren't interested, what are they waiting for, a pile up littered with fatalities, if it's down to money then it's gonna be expensive in shattered lives and hospital treatment, so bloody short sighted, this country is unbeleivable, all the time and money faffing around over privacy laws because some overpaid dopey celebrity if that's the name now can't keep their clothes on.
 
Steeleydan said:
BHS Welfare are very good. Dont get me on about how usless the WHW are.
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I understand the BHS Helpline were willing to offer the numbers of various transport companies to the persons involved :confused:
Not sure how that goes towards being helpful, but it was interesting to watch the conversation take place!!
I am starting to doubt that any of the welfare agencies actually have any interest in helping at source, when the issues happen in real time.
P, fully agree, short term view leads to the long term expense, yet to understand how it cannot be a police issue when several horses are loose on the carriageway of a main A route.
 
Herts police have got a bit more clued up, they now have a network of 'safe houses' for horses seized from roads (they will only do it if they are running loose), and owner has to pay fee and provide proof of ownership for horse to be returned. Oddly not many have such proof.....

They had to use secret places as otherwise the 'owners' would do a ram raid at night or else in broad daylight threatening or worse the yard owners.

Surprised there isnt something similar up there.

BTW just like farmers shoving the fly tip out of their field (where authorities dont give a damn and they have to pay for clear up) into the verge of road (where council has to clear it up); re releasing the horses can routinely mean the releasers are themselves threatened with prosecution despite the reason being that the authorities wont do their job and tackle the issue. So watch out for that.
 
I can't understand the police not being interested - they're usually pretty proactive where loose stock on the roads are concerned...
 
I think now the police just shoot stray horses up here...........!!!

Seriously though it is ridiculous that they just allow them to wander round, what happens if someone is killed as a result as they're not going to be seen so easily at night are they! I don't know why the police, along with the RSPCA don't just seize the loose horses? Oh, I know, there's probably no TV cameras there. Tell you what, ring the RSPCA, tell them you're from Channel 4 or 5 (whoever it was who did the most recent docu thing), you have cameras on site..............I think they'll be there in a shot!!!

ho hum......!
 
loose/stray/unattended horses are a political/logistical/red tape and financial nightmare!! If a charity were to go in and pay for a transporter, vet etc to corale and move all loose horses in the uk and board them they'd be broke within the day! Hence the reluctance to 'get involved', at the heart of this is a public safety issue, on the front of it the horses have food (grass verges?!) so it is a matter of safety for public (and horse) therefore it is a police issue, who should arrive and secure in a nearby field. Unfortunately the police have ended up being sued for damage caused by the horses from farmers when they have done this, so they are also now reluctant to get involved! It is a real shame that this situation does not have anything in place to sort out, I don't think you can hold charities accountable, they do what they can, within their financial ability, but they are a charity at the end of it! Such as stray dogs, the local council should be held responsible and have some sort system to deal with it.
 
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sounds like the same problem we've got over my way (not far from you). There do seem to be a lot more horses this year, or are they just concentrated in smaller areas ?

As for the police, I don't understand there attitude here either. Can you imagine if one of these horses hits a car going at 60/70 mph. It would be instant for everybody, plus the horse. Our roads should be safe for drivers, and horses tethered along main routes is just not acceptable.
 
There are horses tethered along that stretch of road for long periods throughout the year, they are 'owned' by a local travelling family who do check the horses regularly and I am sure they must be known to the police...

It is also York Horse sales on Friday.
 
shysmum said:
sounds like the same problem we've got over my way (not far from you). There do seem to be a lot more horses this year, or are they just concentrated in smaller areas ?

As for the police, I don't understand there attitude here either. Can you imagine if one of these horses hits a car going at 60/70 mph. It would be instant for everybody, plus the horse. Our roads should be safe for drivers, and horses tethered along main routes is just not acceptable.
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Two horses were killed on a main road near me a couple of years ago - they had just escaped from their field. The man who hit them in his car was going 60 odd mph and didn't really have any chance to see them as it was night. He was extremely lucky to have not been killed. My friend's husband had to attend the scene and it was pretty grim, one of the horses was actually in half. Not nice but again, the driver was bloody lucky, I imagine had he had a passenger in the car it may not have ended so well for him.

The authorities really should do something although what i am not sure. Who's goingto want to let someone put horses on their land after all - it's highly unlikely they're going to pay when tethering is free. Maybe the real issue is tethering - should it be banned? Should it be made illegal? I don't know - it's such a difficult one to find any real resolution to.
 
CD
Correct me if I am wrong, but the RSPCA propose that they are the responsible body for animal welfare and enforcement in the UK, do they not?

Therefore I assumed that the said body, would be responsible for the situation and the handling of such an incident?
After all they have put in place the interaction requirements for authority collaboration when dealing with UK animal welfare incidents and reports.

I would hazard a guess and say loose horses interacting with moving vehicles at 60mph, would amount to a welfare concern?
Yes they have access to grass, after all it is a verge - but lack fluids (water) and are tethered in such a manner that the length of tether permits the horse to enter upon the live carriageway.

From today I get the impression that many organisations seek our monetary funding, but are only in it to gain a name for the organisation and produce a public image for fund raising.
It's all well and good to produce the animal welfare act, rules, regulations, controls and seizure's/
BUT what about the animals welfare at incidents like this one, where there is no gain in the public image?
 
the rspca can only act within the law, and to enforce the law with something like this, they HAVE to have the support of the Police. Tethering is an ancient "art", and it has been stamped down on in the new welfare act, but perhaps it IS time to review it's use again.

I would say that tethering on a main road is, under the act, an offence in itself, as the safety of the horses is very compromised. But with 15 or so (see my Appleby thread as well), just in this one concentration, where the hell do you start ?

Human life is the above-all here though, surely ?
 
I've encountered this problem numerous times sadly. Once with a horse that was stuck in the middle of a river, it had been there all night and was very cold (October time.) The RSPCA wouldn't attend, even though they were in the area and when after about four hours of being chest deep in water myself we managed to to get the filly out the RSPCA chap said he wasn't prepared to lead a young horse along a road to get it back to where it came from as it was dangerous and told us to abandon it where it was, with access to a road and people's gardens! Needless to say I led the poor thing back to its field myself.

The police also weren't interested when we had loose horses wandering along the main A road, until a very stroppy neighbour got on the phone and told them that in no uncertain terms that she would hold them responsible if there was an accident and they hadn't reacted. They did show up then after we'd managed to catch the horses.

Another time a loose stallion was galloping through the village so I caught him and put him in my field thinking that someone would soon be missing him - days later and I was still stuck with him even after reporting him missing, eventually someone turned up after checking his field, although it took a good week. So now I am wary of getting involved as I get stuck with the problem.

Shysmum - I think I am the same area as you too!
 
shysmum said:
the rspca can only act within the law, and to enforce the law with something like this, they HAVE to have the support of the Police. Tethering is an ancient "art", and it has been stamped down on in the new welfare act, but perhaps it IS time to review it's use again.

I would say that tethering on a main road is, under the act, an offence in itself, as the safety of the horses is very compromised. But with 15 or so (see my Appleby thread as well), just in this one concentration, where the hell do you start ?

Human life is the above-all here though, surely ?
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But the police don't respond without the Rspca on scene to handle the issue?
Makes a joke of the whole welfare act from where I sit. What is the point.

TS, seems more of this goes on than I realised. I'm struggling to see an inspectors role, if they themselves are refusing to lead a distressed horse. Wasted money on training?
 
NO, the police have the immediate responsibilty to make the roads safe for humans ! They may well call in the RSPCA for advice, but any animals on the road are a police matter.

The police are just not doing what they should be here.
 
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