Kill Pen Rescue

If you know why you're here, click the button! Otherwise, read on.

The combination of the three words -- Kill + Pen + Rescue -- can be a controversial equation. Yes, helping horses out of kill pens puts money back into the kill pen buyers' hands. We get that. At the same time there are several issues that impact our position on this topic.

USTA BRANDING DECLINE -- This issue affects Standardbreds. Standardbreds that don't make it racing, don't often have an ideal future. Standardbreds that never raced face the same. The often end up as Amish or Mennonite cart horses and, unfortunately, are used until the day they are taken to the sale barn and sold...usually to a kill buyer. They usually go to Canada for processing. There are *many* outfits nationwide that work to save these horses. And these workhorses with hearts of gold are readily identified by the stark white freezebrand found on the right side of their neck. This brand has saved hundreds. Literally. Yet now, the USTA is rolling back the mandate that brands are necessary for registration and pushing forward the effort to microchip the horse for registration. This means the (usually plain brown or black) horses cannot be identified at all, and most are not listed as "broke to drive" when they are sold as a loose horse. These registered beauties have large followings that work hard to prevent them from going to auction in the first place and to pull them out when prevention isn't possible. Frankly, a more willing breed is rarely found, in our opinion. We Stand For the Brand (#standforthebrand). Until we can change the USTA's direction on branding, we will continue to help the Standardbred breed out.

THOROUGHBRED RACING -- Thoroughbreds are our heart and soul, but unfortunately, too many small-scale racing outfits, and too many tracks / track officials, are not making responsible decisions with their former racers. We are contacted at least five times a week about Thoroughbreds being dumped with a kill buyer. That's 260 Thoroughbreds a year, and those are just the ones that have racing connections, not those that never made it to a track. Thoroughbreds that last raced two weeks earlier, Thoroughbreds that broke down in a race and sold to a kill buyer instead of being euthanized -- gotta get that last dollar! While New York has made it criminal to sell for slaughter purposes, Thoroughbreds are still getting the short end of the stick IN New York, and they have no protection at all elsewhere. There are still unsavory breeders and trainers selling to slaughter within New York as well. No horse should go to slaughter because it is too slow to race or because it has been used to the point it's crippled and owners won't euthanize. Until the Jockey Club can put in protections outlawing the practice of selling to any known kill buyer, and punishments occur for violations, we will continue to help our Thoroughbreds in need.

JOCKEY CLUB TATTOO DECLINE -- This issue affects Thoroughbreds. Similar to the USTA Branding Decline, the Jockey Club has shifted to microchips over lip tattoos. Not every kill pen owns a scanner, not every kill pen scans, period. Their lean muscling makes it easy to identify them, usually, and the KPs (kill pens) lable them and that's all they need to do -- they will get their dollar, regardless. By working with Kill Pen Rescuers, we are able to pull these horses, identify them, and sometimes even gain support for rehabilitation needs from past connections who had no idea they ended up there. We cannot say enough times that racing connections, more often than not, care where their horses end up. If we cannot identify them on a lot, they need the opportunity to be identified. This can only happen when they are pulled out of kill pens.

KILL PENS DON'T SHIP TO SLAUGHTER -- This is, flat out, a myth. Are there some that take advantage of the heart of rescue and never ship? Of course -- there are crooks in every business. But there ARE pens that ship, and there are pens that may not ship themselves, but affiliate with someone who does. (Ask us about the four-year-old TB who raced and one week later was taken to a direct shipper affiliated with one of the largest known shippers in the US.) Even those that do not have a contract with a slaughter house push the horses through auctions, and the auction pipeline exposes horses to injury and disease, as well as abuse and neglect. Until the equestrian world can make a shift and realize the auctions are the issue, we stand behind preventing unnecessary illness, catastrophic injury, and yes, the INHUMANE slaughter of horses, via processes and techniques that were never designed for horses, and industries ripe with abuse.

In 2002 - 2004, our founder Val worked hard and tirelessly on the effort to end slaughter in the United States. As active as she was in this successful endeavor, to sit back and ignore the ongoing issues, would be out of character. Slaughter is not a humane euthanasia. Slaughter is not a viable choice for the old, the crippled, the infirm. The horses are hauled to the borders, crammed into the trailer with no food or water for several hours. Once there, they are hauled even longer. Horses go down. Horses are trampled. Legs are broken. Deaths occur. All the while they are high-stress and terrified. It's worse for those crippled, infirm, or old. And of this is done to benefit foreign entities as there is no market for horse meat in the United States.

Enough soapbox.

Because of the passion involved on this topic, this fund is separate from our rescue fund. Your donations go to the following:

• Identifying race horses in kill pen environments.
• Adoption screening and rescue networking.
• Whenever possible, and as space allows, bringing these horses to Twin Oaks.
• Contributions to fundraising efforts for bail, transport, quarantine, or any combination thereof.
• Contributions to emergency medical situations once placed in an approved home/facility.

Once our tax-exempt status is completed, your contributions will also be tax-deductible.