(14 February 2013)

The sequestration of the Colleferro equines becomes more difficult every day, even though finally things are starting to move and for some animals at least this place is now only a memory.

First, the good news: on Friday 8 February the Corpo Forestale dello Stato (a forestry police) adopted 19 horses, and transferred them to one of its areas. There, qualified cares will guarantee them a future far removed from the horrors they have suffered up until now.
Within the next few days all the donkeys mules and hinnies (20 in all) will go to the Rifugio degli Asinelli, transported in vehicles loaned by the State Police and – given the critical condition of four of them - assisted by staff from the association. Two very young donkey foals will remain in intensive care in a specialist centre in Rome for the moment, and will join the others in due course.

A happy ending also for the filly foal who survived her ordeal, currently in the Perugia clinic (remembering that the other foal sadly did not make it): she is now out of danger and will shortly be transferred to the Italian Horse Protection centre.
We are informed that the Corpo Forestale dello Stato has agreed to take in more horses, while various plans for the homing of other horses and ponies are in progress.
The Colleferro affair has had unprecedented media coverage, being reported in all the dailies and on TG5 news (see press releases, click on Italian version).

On a less positive note, in the past few days one more horse and one donkey have died in spite of intense medical care: these were further cases of animals found already in a very advanced stage of emaciation and dehydration.

The total absence of funding on the part of the government and the local authorities add to our difficulties. This means that the IHP, the Rifugio degli Asinelli and ENPA are still having to finance the costs of hay and medical supplies. The farm which is temporarily hosting the animals is asking for reimbursement of costs sustained plus costs of machinery used, and staff employed, as are the vets who are caring for the animals. To avoid a stalemate situation because of these expenses we have committed to cover these costs – a situation which speaks for itself, unfortunately.

What we have achieved so far has been made possible entirely by the generosity of those who have donated to the cause. However we are not yet even halfway through the work, there are still many animals to rescue, their confiscation has not been possible up to now because of lack of space.
Meanwhile we are doing our best to feed them, even though we cannot count on the cooperation of the local councils and health authorities (ASL). It took three whole days to get hay taken to a group of more than 20 horses and ponies who had been without food for days. In the end we ourselves had to underwrite the costs. Given that this hideous state of affairs had been going on under their very noses for years, we would have expected more cooperation from them.
We are working to bring every aspect of this matter to light. For now we must count on the sympathy and the support of the person in the street in order to bring this matter to a satisfactory close and to save all the animals: for this we need more funds for essential expenditure.

Italian Horse Protection and the Rifugio degli Asinelli will be back in Colleferro again in a few days. We will send updates frequently and, we hope, will have only positive news to bring you.


CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT HOW YOU CAN DONATE MONEY

SEE PHOTO GALLERY HERE

WATCH THE TG5 COVERAGE HERE (FROM MINUTE 00:29:20)


Related articles:

Colleferro diary, 7 February 2013

Colleferro, the requisition begins - 30 January 2013

Colleferro emergency - 23 January 2013