Page 32 - AT

A32 FEATURE
Tuesday 14 January 2020
Oklahoma program offers rescue for horses, other equine

By SEAN MURPHY of horses that are at risk."
Associated Press A collaborative study con-
EDMOND, Okla. (AP) — ducted last year showed
When Ken Friend learned a nearly 5,000 horses were
job transfer meant moving received at various res-
his family to California from cue facilities during a six-
the small farm they'd been month period in 2018, with
living on in rural Oklahoma, nearly 90% of those horses
he knew he'd have to find ending up adopted. The
new homes for his animals. study showed many of the
In addition to the four dogs horses were seized by law
Friend had adopted over enforcement. Located on
the 14 years he and his wife gently rolling hills on the
lived in Tecumseh, they also outskirts of the Oklahoma
had four horses who en- City suburb of Edmond, the
joyed free rein on 80 acres pilot facility in Oklahoma
(32 hectares) of Oklahoma already has taken in more
pasture. Friend managed than 50 animals, mostly
to find homes for two of his horses, but also some don-
dogs and gave away one keys, said Thomas Persechi-
of his riding horses, but he no, ASPCA's director of
struggled to find a home for equine welfare.
his longtime pal, a 28-year- "In a good number of situ-
old appendix quarter horse In this Thursday, Dec. 12, 2019 photo, Katrina Friend works with a horse at Nexus Equine in Edmond, ations, people hold on to
named Indigo. "That horse Okla. Associated Press their horses longer than
was my buddy," Friend said. they anticipated because
"I rode him for years, and I recent months, prosecu- they don't have the option
just couldn't see giving him tors filed criminal charges of taking it somewhere," he
to anybody." in cases involving cruelty said. "For some people, that
After months of searching to horses in Colorado,Illinois horse may end up in an at-
with no luck, Friend turned and Vermont. In one case risk situation and go some-
to a new equine rescue in Pennsylvania, starving place where the owner
facility operated by the horses with no food were never intended it to go."
American Society for the found eating tree roots and Among the animals avail-
Prevention of Cruelty to An- fence posts. Several years able to be adopted are
imals. The nonprofit agency ago Oklahoma ended a two donkeys, Albert and
says the pilot program is the 50-year ban on the slaugh- Yankee, miniatures like
first of its kind in the U.S. that ter of horses, with advo- Tomahawk and Jack Frost,
will accept any horse, no cates for the change cit- and about a dozen horses.
matter its condition. ing the growing situation of A similar pilot program in
Experts say the problem horses being abandoned in Dallas last year helped
facing equine owners like their old age. The problem nearly 60 equines in less
Friend is a growing one can become more acute In this Thursday, Dec. 12, 2019 photo, Tom Persechino, Ameri- than six months, Persechino
can Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals' director of
across the country, some- in states with volatile econ- equine welfare, walks in a paddock with some newly acquired said. About 30% of those
times leading to horses omies, like Alaska, New miniature horses at Nexus Equine, in Edmond, Okla. were relinquished due to
starving to death. Just in Mexico, North Dakota, Wy- Associated Press health reasons and had to
be euthanized upon arrival,
oming or Oklahoma, which but nearly all the rest were
rely heavily on the energy successfully adopted into
industry. Some horse own- new homes.
ers might lose a job or fam- The main reasons people
ily income, or even grow bring horses to the facility,
too old to properly care for Persechino said, are that
a horse, said Dr. Dan Burba, owners are physically un-
head of the Oklahoma able to provide them with
State University's Veterinary proper care, the horses are
Clinical Sciences Depart- too sick or the owners are
ment. "There are owners moving. Friend's horse, In-
with neither the room, time digo, one of the first to be
or resources to keep these taken into the facility, has
animals through their lon- been placed with an Ed-
gevity," Burba said. "Horses mond family and renamed
now, with the care they're Amos. "They send me pic-
receiving, they're living lon- tures. He's put on a little
ger, there's more of them bit of weight, he's looking
out there, and it some- happy and things are go-
times gets to a point where ing great," Friend said from
owners say, 'This horse is his new home in California.
In this Thursday, Dec. 12, 2019 photo, Tom Persechino, American Society for the Prevention of too old for me to keep,' or "They stay in touch with me,
Cruelty to Animals' director of equine welfare, walks in a paddock with some newly acquired 'It's taking a lot more care which I appreciate, so I
miniature horses at Nexus Equine, in Edmond, Okla. from me than I can afford.' know he's well taken care
Associated Press
"These are the populations of."q