Dumped Livestock

I had been hearing about folks around the country waking up to find new horses in their pastures that weren't there the night before. I hadn't heard of it happening here though, until the other day. A couple pulled up in my driveway in a van and asked if I had lost a horse and a donkey. I told them no that I hadn't and they then told me that they had a horse and donkey show up in their pasture and they couldn't find who they belonged to. I told them they might have been dumped as I had seen them on the side of the road a few miles from me and had made some phone calls to find the owner. They were gone when I went back by so I figured the owner fixed the fence and secured their animals. I guess not as this gentleman in the van was telling me that they were quite content in his pasture. I told him about the horses being dumped around the country because they aren't worth anything and so many can't afford to feed them anymore. This really ticks me off. Not only are they sentencing the horses to a potentially horrible death and miserable existence, but they are a serious danger to people driving down the road. If someone hits one of those animals then there is a very very good chance that they will not walk away from that crash. Hitting a 1200 lb. horse is not like hitting a 300 lb. deer and we all know the damage that can be caused by hitting a deer. Just imagine the havoc wreaked by hitting something much much larger. A semi or mac truck is about the only thing that has hope of surviving. So whoever dumped those animals on the side of the road felt that it was ok to endanger everyone driving down that road. This follows right along with the post I made not too long ago about the horse slaughter issue. If the slaughter houses were open this would not have happened, there would have been somewhere for the owners to send their stock. Or here is another thought......get rid of the stigma of eating horse meat and maybe the family that is on hard times could have filled their freezer for the year! I know, I know don't flame me or send me ugly emails for that comment. Really though think about it, no difference between a horse or a cow. However, instead of endangering other folks' lives they could have helped out their own situation. It's much more responsible of an action than dumping them. Blessings from the farm, Kat