...my treasures do not sparkle they clink,
they shine in the sun and neigh in the night...

 

 

Horse sequestration in Siena Province

27/05/2010

As anticipated on our site, there has been a big sequestration of horses on 24th-25th May. It was actuated by the Carabinieri on order of the Siena’s Procurator Office.

The horses belonged to a former standardbred breeding farm, whose owner was no longer able to provide for their support due to financial problems. The animals were no longer regularly fed or watered and, since the power supply had been cut, they had ended up breaking the useless electric fences in search of food, dangerously wandering on the surrounding grounds.
The situation was even more dramatic for two stallions, locked for weeks inside their stalls without appropriate bedding.

The operation has been coordinated by Maresciallo Davide Massa, with the participation of a task force for the animal welfare of the Health Minister and the local health authorizes (ASL 7 of Siena).
IHP --which is the only recovery centre for mistreated horses in Italy—has been asked to house the sequestrated animals, while the Associazione Nazionale del Cavallo Trottatore (the Italian Standarbred breeders association) has agreed to the Health Minister’s request to provide for the horses’ support for the first month. The Associazione Provinciale Cavalieri Senesi (the Siena Riders’ association) has transported some of the horses to our Rescue centre, in a long caravan of trailers and vans kindly loaned by their associates.

The sequestrated horses moved to us are 23: 9 mares, 2 stallions, 9 fillies and 3 colts. This is a huge effort for our association, and this is also the first sequestration involving so many animals.
We need urgent financial support to cover the most immediate expenses and provide for the horses after the first month; even a small donation can be important for these animals.

Also we urgently need to spread the appeal we are looking for people willing to take care of these horses. And speaking of this, we have made clear to all the involved parties we would prefer to have the horses adopted – checking the new caretakers before and after they got in possession of the horses. On the other hand, since these horses are under judicial sequestration, Procurator’s Office will decide about any purchase request. We can only do our best to ensure the recovery of the horses and put pressure to avoid the sales in favor of adoptions, which are much more in line with our philosophy.
We need help for this too: finding adoptive families within a short time would certainly be a good solution for the sequestrated horses. What we have obtained so far is the Carabinieri’s (and by large, of the Procurator Office) agreement that the horses won’t be put again into the racing circuit and that, obviously, they will be registered as unfit for slaughtering.

PHOTOS

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