Recovered 10/8/16 & 10/9/16

Recently it seems that there are more and more scams out there to take advantage of individuals trying to place their horses in a good home whether it be on a temporary or permanent basis.

There are ads everywhere with individuals giving their horses away or trying to sell them at a low cost because they no longer can take care of them for one reason or another. Unfortunately, they become prey to scam artists. 

Most recently, Stolen Horse International aka NetPosse.com helped with the recovery of 6 horses that fell into the hands of the wrong individual. There was an ad on Craigslist saying they had a sanctuary for horses. Danita Drake offered these words of advise after having lived through this herself: "The biggest thing is when these unsuspecting people follow up with these Craigslist ads they need to ask for documentation that they are a true 501(C)3 licensed sanctuary that is a nonprofit with the IRS." She went on to say that "Another big red flag would be the lack of proper transportation. In other words this guy had to borrow a trailer to come and get them 501(c)3's will have their own transportation."

The horses in this particular situation ended up at an auction. Had NetPosse™ not been able to intercept along with the assistance of many individuals that were involved, the horses would have more than likely been shipped to slaughter due to the age. However, after much negotiation, they were saved and returned back to their respectful home.

There was a recent news article written on www.taketopnews.com which talked about a racehorse, Sargon, out of Lindsay, Canada. The owner of this horse had boarded her horse on a temporary basis. She hung onto her horse's thoroughbred's documents in case the situation did not work out. The individual that owned the property where the horse was boarded, sold the horse for slaughter without the owner's permission or knowledge. The owner of the horse wonders how Sargon could be sold without the animal’s medical records or proof of ownership. 

In Canada, all horses sold for human consumption must be accompanied by an Equine Information Document (EID), which includes a description of the horse’s markings as well as records of all vaccinations and recent medications. It is important to note that while the EID sounds like an official document, it’s just a form that follows the horse to the slaughterhouse and relies heavily on the honor system.

So anyone could have taken the horse and filled out an EID stating they own the animal. They could have easily put on the EID that it has not been given any banned drugs in the last 180 days..... “This is a classic example of how these EIDs can be fraudulent and how worthless they are,” Shelley Grainger, of the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition, said. “As long as the kill buyer and the slaughterhouse get a piece of paper, they’re happy."

“You have to be very aware of the risks,” Shelley Grainger, a spokeswoman for the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition, told Postmedia Network. “The person who responds to your ad may not give your horse the quiet life in a green pasture that they promised.”

In reality, she said, family pets and retired race horses often end up on the killing floors at slaughterhouses — destined to be sold for meat.

To read the article in it's entirety, please click on this link: http://www.taketopnews.com/top-news/lindsay-woman-wants-answers-after-horse-sold-to-slaughter-house-for-meat/ 

NetPosse™ wants to stress the importance of vetting the individuals that you are considering giving a horse to, boarding the horse with or selling the horse to. Please don't just take their word for it that they are doing the right thing and the horse will always have a forever home there. Do your research and hopefull this will prevent incidences like these from happening in the future. Of course, we know that it won't prevent all incidences from occuring but stopping a few is better than not stopping any at all. We, of course, would like to stop all of them from happening!