Speaking For Zora When The “Officials” Wont..
Last night I got the call I had been waiting for over two months to get – but sadly what I was told was not what I was hoping to hear. I was told that the case had been closed and that since they couldn’t prove 100% that Zora was neglect on purpose or if it was due to a lack of education that there would be no charges laid, and no horses removed from the property at this time. So basically a slap on the wrist to say “silly people don’t starve your animals” and get off free, without any consequences even though a horse died a highly preventable death. So I wrote this letter to the SPCA Official that was working on Zora’s case:
I just wanted to start off this letter concerning the results of the investigation on Zora’s former owners with this quote – I don’t think anyone could say it better then James Herriot: “I hope to make people realize how totally helpless animals are, how dependent on us, trusting as a child must, that we will be kind and take care of their needs. They are an obligation put on us, a responsibility we have no right to neglect, nor to violate by cruelty.”
Neglect, which can easily be defined as:
1. The act or an instance of neglecting something.
2. The state of being neglected.
3. Habitual lack of care.
It shouldn’t matter the reason of neglect, if it was purposeful, or due to stupidity (sorry lack of education as you put it). Neglect is neglect is neglect. End of story. The condition that Zora was in didn’t happen overnight, it was going on for months, the condition that Zora was in was also brought to the owners attention on multiples of instances when the owner posted photos on her Facebook account. People commented outraged and concerned for the fillys condition, and what does the owner do? First she argues with the people saying the filly is fine, then she deletes the albums of Zora to hide her.
An uneducated person wouldn’t have done that; a guilty person who had something to hide would do that. If she was so uneducated and didn’t see anything wrong with Zora’s condition then she would have kept the pictures up proudly, no instead she takes them down. Then as the shit (pardon the language) hits the fan more albums suddenly start disappearing off her Facebook, either deleted or hidden. And album that showed the horrible conditions in which her horses were forced to live in – stalls with no bedding, just manure, horses who were in poor condition and ribby, pictures of the barn falling down around horses heads, pictures of her and friends chasing the horses around the field on dirt bikes, pictures of the owner riding a miniature horse (and the owner would be far over the weight allowed to ride the horse without injuring its back) and so many other pictures that made people look twice.
The fact that they are only going to get a little slap on the wrist is appalling, you are the voice for those animals, the rest of the ones on that farm. Sure they are starting to look better, they would be stupid to not start feeding them better to try and hide their ribs. Oh course they are going to make sure the horses have hay and water in front of them, because again they aren’t stupid, they know what needs to be there to look good.
What more proof do you need that a horse suffered needlessly at the hands of the former owners? When I had first contacted the owner she told me everything I would want to hear, that the filly was on the best of the best grain and that her only issue was her back legs. Which later on she tried to defend herself saying that it was a birth defect – oddly enough this “defect” was not present at birth but didn’t appear until months later as the fillys condition began to drop so did her fetlocks and hocks – why? Not due to a defect but do to the fact that her body was too weak to hold her legs up any longer. In the end she had no real muscles to keep her legs in the proper position – why because she was emaciated – likely due to starvation.
Even an uneducated person could walk into that barn and see the fillys condition and know that being a rack of bones was not “normal” nor “healthy”. The owners knew the condition that the filly was in was dire, and either choose to do nothing or not enough. In this day and age you can’t use “lack of education” as an excuse, there are 100’s of 1000’s of resources available out there to us. Be it the local Library, Book Stores, the Internet, Advice from a Veterinary Professional, etc. It is their own fault and lack of caring or desire to help if they choose to stand by and do nothing, to not look into the many resources out there.
And what will happen now? They have already had the whistle blown on them at least twice, and it resulted in a horses death – with the medical proof stating cause of death likely due to starvation. They are allowed to keep their remaining horses (odd how the numbers went from 19 to 16 when I was there picking up Zora – did you find the whereabouts of the other 3 horses in question). They also have a foal on the way, and they are just going to be allowed to keep carrying on like they have been for years – that doesn’t seem right.
You were supposed to be the voice for those horses but you have failed them. If another horse dies in their care that blood will be on the SPCA’s hands, if they cant be the voice of those animals I guess I will be and along with many others. We will go to the Press and TV and I will tell my side of the story how you are supposed to be the voice for the animals and look what happens. The SPCA is not the voice of the animals if you are turning a blind eye to these people when it was not the first time and just slapping them in the wrist. I would be ashamed to say I work for the SPCA if I did. But you stand by and blindly ignore the FACTS. What will happen now for you to take any further steps? Two horses die? Maybe three? Or will it have to be all sixteen?
(Source: horsesftw)
