SQUIRRELWOOD EQUINE SANCTUARY

We have been given a grant by the wonderful organization, One Horse at a Time. They offer grants for gelding, and also emergency vet fees. Please consider a donation to this terrific organization. Click on the logo to see their website and to get more info.

Our new resident, JJ's Northern Gal is settling in well. Please visit our available horse page to find out more.

SES Has been awarded a grant by the ASPCA for winter hay. Thank you to the ASPCA for caring for animals. Their boots on the ground approach coupled with lobbying and efforts in Washington is outstanding. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR
This year has been a rough one here at the rescue. We have struggled to maintain the herd and we did not bring in many horses. It has been frustrating to be unable to "rescue", but to do the responsible thing we did not increase our herd size until horses were adopted. Many other friends in the rescue world also struggled this year. We are not alone. The charity world has been greatly affected by the faltering economy. We hope the new year will bring improvements. If not, we hope to maintain our herd and continue writing grants and working hard to fundraise. This year saw the adoption of Bill Place, Isla and Stitch. Sadly we lost Tamale, Sunshine Cathy and Paris. We miss them, but know they were afforded a peaceful and loving end. They never had to experience the horror of slaughter. We know we made a difference in their lives. SES brought in Augustus, Abby, Noelle, Charlie, Pippy and Northern Gal JJ. We are helping to make a difference in their lives and keeping them safe by pulling them out of the slaughter pipeline.
It is our goal to introduce programs for the local school age children in 2012. We hope to offer humane education to these kids. Offering them the chance to experience hope and love through the animals that have found a second chance here.
Please consider a tax deductible donation to allow us to launch these programs.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
SES attended Unadilla NY auction on the evening of the 23rd. We were able to pull 3 horses. It was a quiet sale, with not a lot of animals. The brokers were in attendance and even bidded us up when they realized we were a rescue group. We are pleased to introduce our new rescues, Noelle a young TB mare, Charlie a pudgy pony gelding and Pip a tiny weanling pony. They are in QT and we will be posting updates about them. Sadly, Noelle is very sick with pneumonia. She was the mare nobody wanted, even the brokers. She was coughing and wheezing. For $10 we saved her life.
Best Wishes for the rest of 2011 and the coming New Year!

As many people are now aware, President Obama signed a spending bill this past November. This bill now opens the door for domestic slaughter to once again resume. This spending bill allows the USDA to inspect meat and slaughter process facilities which are slaughtering horses for foreign consumption. This is the only thing that stood in the way of slaughter here in the United States, and was the reason slaughter plants closed. There is some evidence that a number of states are looking to build or retrofit existing facilities so they can begin slaughtering horses. We have reviewed the various news articles that have been all over the internet and it is hard to figure out if Temple Grandin has been approached to design any of these facilities. Dr. Grandin is the foremost authority on humane slaughter of animals, and has designed many of the systems in use today. She has been quoted saying it would be very difficult to make a humane processing system for horses, due to their flighty nature and tendency to panic. In the past week, Canadian Horse Defence released video of the state of the art facility in Quebec where horses are slaughtered. This report included video of the horses in the kill box. Many are seen shaking violently, buckling at the knees and falling repeatedly. Clearly these animals are not quietly going to their death. If that wasn't bad enough, the stun process was worse. Multiple horses were failed to be stunned effectively, some requiring multiple stuns. One in fact took more than 4 minutes and 11 stuns by the attendant. There is something very wrong. Many horse industry friends and vets I know argue that there are too many unwanted horses. I agree with that. The economy is such that many people no longer have the means to care for their animals. I do not agree that this type of slaughter is the answer. No animal should meet its end as these horses in the video did. Death should not be in terror and panic.