MONTANA'S RESCUE FROM CAVEL SLAUGHTERPLANT

THIS HAPPENED SOME TIME BACK BUT IT IS A GREAT STORY OF LOVE AND DEDICATION TO RESCUE A HORSE WHO WAS SENT TO SLAUGHTER….

MONTANA’S RESCUE FROM CAVEL SLAUGHTERPLANT, PLEASE CROSSPOST!
To: “BETHMYSPACE HORSEWARRIOR”

Saving Montana: The International effort to save a pet horse from slaughter
by Gail Vacca

The following is an amazing story of the recent international effort undertaken by a group of incredible people who, for two days in May, came together to save the life of a sweet little Appaloosa mare from Canada.

I guess the only place to begin this lengthy, exhausting tale of one horse saved is at the beginning…

On Thursday, May 12, 2005, I received a phone call from Cory Goodon, a horse owner from Alberta, Canada. I had never met or even spoken to Mr. Goodon, but I could easily determine, from the tone of his voice, that he was at wits’ end. Little did I know how many lives this phone call would soon touch.

Cory quickly told me his tale of how he had sold his family’s pet horse, Montana, at a Canadian auction the previous Sunday, May 8, to what he thought was a “good home.” A few days later, he discovered, to his shock, that Montana had been purchased by local horse trader Scott Irvine, who was in the process of delivering his load to the Cavel International horse slaughter plant in DeKalb, Illinois. The shipment was due to arrive at Cavel early the next morning — Friday the 13th.

How could this happen? How could a “good home” become, instead, a five-day-long nightmare of being jam-packed in a double-decker trailer with dozens of other horses journeying across half a continent, only to end up at the door of an equine slaughter plant?

The answer is as simple as it is frightening. In both Canada and the United States, equine auction houses and contract meat buyers (also known as killer buyers) are not legally required to disclose their intentions regarding the horses they purchase. Although the Horsemen’s Council of Illinois repeatedly claims that Illinois auction houses must disclose to potential buyers that any horse sold at auction could be sent to slaughter, that statement is false. There is no such law in Illinois — or any other state — that requires such a disclosure. Thus, fraud and misrepresentation on the part of auction horses and horse traders are routine. The fact is, most owners bringing their horse to auction have no idea that the horse could end up being butchered in one of three U.S. horse slaughter facilities, or in one of a number of plants in Canada.

Cory convinced me that he was desperate to buy back Montana — alive. I told him we would do everything we could to help him, but that it would take a near-miracle for us to pull it off. Time and circumstances were not in our favor.

We quickly went to work putting together the network of people needed if we were to have any chance of rescuing Montana — starting with the DeKalb Police Department.

The police kindly agreed to contact both Irvine and Cavel officials to encourage them to “do the right thing” and sell the horse back to the owner. The trader agreed, but for a considerable price: $2,500. A quick, hefty profit, if there ever was one! He had paid $400 for the 800-pound mare. Montana’s frantic former owner instantly agreed to the outrageous demand, and Irvine called Cavel to ask that the little Appaloosa be spared from the kill pen.

The next step was perhaps the most crucial aspect of this effort. How to get one horse, imported from Canada in a sealed trailer and destined for slaughter, out of the slaughter plant and legally released back into the healthy horse populace?

This proved to be the most difficult hurdle we faced in bringing Montana to safety.

In Illinois, as in most US states, horses transported to slaughter plants, unlike all other horses, are not required to have coggins or health certificates. Again, the Horsemen’s Council of Illinois has been misleading Illinois horse owners by repeating the untrue statement that horses transported to slaughter in Illinois must have proper health documents to enter the state. There is no such law on the Illinois books, and, in fact, slaughter-bound horses are exempt from all Illinois laws that are designed to protect the healthy horse populace of the state. They are not required to have negative coggins test certificates, certificates of veterinary inspection, or entry permits.

In order to move forward with our plan to remove Montana from Cavel, we realized that, under Illinois law and in the interest of protecting the health and well-being of local horses, we would need a quarantine facility with no other horses nearby. Thankfully, once again the DeKalb Police Department came to the rescue. A patrol officer, Reda Reese, knew someone who had the perfect spot, where Montana would be safe and where no other horses would be in danger of coming into contact with any disease to which the little mare may have been exposed.

The next order of business was finding someone who would be willing to haul a potentially ill horse and, afterwards, thoroughly disinfect their trailer. Enter Barb Boubelik-Chemielewski from the Lazy Maple Equine Rescue and Rehabilitation Center in Leland, Illinois.

By 12:01 a.m. Friday, the plan to save Montana had begun to take shape. We all called it a night. Barb and I would meet in a few hours and drive to Cavel to get Montana.

At 5:00 that morning, we arrived at the plant. One double-decker was already backed up to the plant, and a second was waiting its turn to unload. As if that weren’t sickening enough, a third trailer was directly in front of us on the road, outside the gates. Here it was before dawn, and already more than 100 horses, who for no good reason would be killed today for their flesh. I had to wonder how many of these doomed horses were just like Montana — purchased under false pretenses, their duped owners completely unaware of the fate that lay ahead for these poor creatures.

We were met by Off. Jason Watson of the DeKalb police force, who informed us that we would have to wait for quite some time, as the double-decker that the Canadian mare was on would be second in line to unload. And so we waited while each and every horse was off-loaded from the first trailer and then slaughtered.

By 7:00 a.m., every horse from the first load was dead. That was when the Canadian trailer backed up to the plant to unload. We waited and waited and waited, but no Montana. Finally, Craig Bovard, the USDA Veterinary Medical Officer working at Cavel, came out to tell us that they had indeed found Montana and that he had separated her from the others aboard her trailer, who would all soon be killed. He added that it would be a while before the proper documents could be secured for Montana’s release.

And so we waited again.

I received a phone call at 9:30 a.m. from a USDA Canadian border inspector. She told us that it would take several hours to secure the paperwork to release Montana. It would have been fruitless to wait at the plant. We decided to go home and come back later. Before we left with our empty trailer in tow, a fourth double-decker pulled in with yet another load of horses who would die this day at Cavel. Friday the 13th of 2005 was indeed a bad day for the horses.

The saga continues:

2:00 p.m.: Inspector Bovard calls to inform me that he will have to personally inspect the facility where Montana will be quarantined in order to ascertain that no other animals can be exposed to her during quarantine. Luckily, it is only a few miles away, so he quickly drives over there to see if the accomodations are up to snuff. He suggests a few minor changes, which are quickly made, then agrees that soon Montana could be released to our care.

3:30 p.m.: Barb and I return to Cavel. They are done killing now, so they wave us to the loading dock, where we will at long last meet Montana and lead her to safety. I am amazed at how relatively good she looks considering her long and perilous journey of the past five days. She is a little scraped up about the head and legs, dehydrated, and sopping wet with sweat from fear, but she has somehow, some way, managed to avoid serious injury. She is a little mare, perhaps 14.2 hands, but mighty! She must be mentally and physically strong to have endured so much and still be standing. She walks peacefully into the trailer. This ride will be brief. Just a few short miles to water, hay, and safety!

4:00 p.m.: Montana is settling in to her stall, eating hay, and drinking well. She is wobbly legged and still obviously frightened, but she remains calm. We will let her rest a while and check back on her later.

6:00 p.m.: Montana is eating hay and has already drunk a full five-gallon bucket of water. Things are looking good. I start her on antibiotics, hoping we can get a jump on anything she may have been exposed to during her long ordeal. My veterinarian agrees to visit her Monday, unless we call on him sooner. We will pull blood for a coggins test and begin to get the paperwork in order so that Montana can soon be cleared to begin her journey back home to her family in Alberta.

A million little decisions and actions had to go our way during these two days in order to save one horse. Thankfully, they did. This was truly an internationaI effort of compassion on behalf of this little mare and her family.

Many people have earned my heartfelt thanks: Lt. Dan Gerace and patrol officers Reda Reese and Jason Watson of the DeKalb Police Department; Dr. Lydia Gray at the Hooved Animal Humane Society, for her help and guidance regarding the paperwork necessary to return Montana to the healthy horse populace; Craig Bovard, the USDA Veterinary Medical Officer who helped us get the right horse and arranged for us to get everything in order so that she could be released into our custody; the Canadian officials at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, who handled the paperwork on their side of the border; Barb Boubelik-Chemielewski of Lazy Maple Equine Rescue, who went the “extra mile” to transport Montana to safety, as she does for any horse in need; and Montana’s owners, Cory and Roxanne Goodon, who did the right thing once they discovered what fate lay ahead for their little mare. A lot of horse owners would not have gone through the emotional or financial expense that the Goodon’s endured to save a horse.

This was perhaps the most bittersweet day I have ever had throughout my long career with horses. While I am exceedingly grateful that Montana’s life was spared, I am heartbroken at all the lives we could not save that day at Cavel. I am sickened that horses continue to suffer abuse by equine auctions, killer buyers, and slaughter plants. There is no excuse in this day and age, when we as a human race are more compassionate to animals than at any time in history, for these injustices to go on unabated within the horse industry.

We must all commit to taking whatever moral and legal steps are necessary to bring horse slaughter to an end in this country. The needless suffering of America’s horses at the hands of the foreign-owned horsemeat industry and their suppliers must stop. Anna Sewell wrote in her classic, Black Beauty, “If we see cruelty or wrong that we have the power to stop, and do nothing, we make ourselves sharers in the guilt.” We must all take responsibility for these noble equines, who give us all so very much.

Let us not be “sharers in the guilt.” Please, contact your representative in the U.S. Congress today. Don’t delay. Urge your legislator to co-sponsor the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (HR 503). Ending horse slaughter is the single most important thing we can do to improve the welfare and humane treatment of all horses.

For more information on horse slaughter and equine protection, please visit our website at www.horse-protection.org

For more information or to send your comments to the wonderful people involved in saving Montana, please visit the websites of Lazy Maple Equine Rescue and Rehabilitation Center ( www.lazymapleequine.org ) and the Hooved Animal Humane Society ( www.hahs.org).

To thank the DeKalb Police Department for their efforts on behalf of Montana, please email the department at www.cityofdekalb.com

CALL CONGRESS NOW, TO SUPPORT HR503, THE AMERICAN HORSE SLAUGHTER PREVENTION ACT!
(202) 224-3121