Is slaughter the solution to horse overpopulation?

June 25, 2012|by Jim Grawe | KWCH 12 Eyewitness News

(VALLEY CENTER, Kan.) — Hope in the Valley Equine Rescue has all kinds of horses--and too many of them. It's holding an open house this weekend in hopes of finding homes for them.

"If we can get most of these animals adopted out on Adoption Day, that makes room for us to be able to take more," founder Ande Miller says.

Miller says there are many more horses that need to be rescued from poor living conditions and rehabbed. That's because the horse population continues to grow while the number of good homes for them is shrinking.

"There's a huge overabundance of horses right now," Miller says. "With the economy being a factor right now, people can't afford to buy grain and hay and take care of them."

Miller says big supply and small demand has plunged the horse market into an all-time low.

"You may be able to buy a perfectly good horse for 25 dollars at an auction that, normally in years past, would have cost you maybe three, four, five thousand dollars."

Miller says things may turn around with the return of domestic horse slaughtering. Slaughtering ended in the United States in 2007 when the federal government eliminated funding for inspections of horse slaughter operations. But funding to the program has been restored. The first new horse slaughtering operation may ramp up in Southwest Missouri this fall. Some horse lovers like it, because it means fewer suffering, unwanted horses. Other's can't stand the idea.

Miller isn't taking a stand on that. Right now, her focus is saving the horses she can and matching them up with people who can and will take good care of them.

Click here to find out more about Hope in the Valley and it's horses available for adoption.

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