February 11, 2012

Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society Assists Atascosa County Sheriff's Department in Seizure of Emaciated Horses

On Saturday, February 11, 2012, volunteers and staff from Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society accompanied Atascosa County Sheriff's Deputies to a property near Poteet, Texas to remove neglected and emaciated horses. Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society (BEHS) became involved in this case in January when the organization learned of a complaint involving a large number of horses. A volunteer accompanied the sheriff's department to the property to examine the horses. She discovered emaciated horses as well as a significant number of deceased horses. When a follow-up visit on February 10th confirmed reports that another horse had died and that the surviving horses' condition had not improved, the decision was made to remove the remaining horses immediately for their own safety.

Volunteers and staff from Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society accompanied deputies to the Atascosa County property. After the sheriff's deputies served the owners with a warrant to remove all horses from the property, volunteers and staff loaded the twelve remaining horses into waiting horse trailers and moved them to an undisclosed holding facility. At the facility, the horses were examined by a veterinarian and a BEHS staff member. Horses received necessary medical care to start them on their road to recovery. They were also started on a re-feeding program to help them gain weight.

The case will be presented in court on Friday, February 17th. At that time, evidence describing the horses' condition will be presented, and the owners will have a chance to present their own evidence. The Justice of the Peace who presides over the case will then determine whether or not the horses were neglected. If he agrees that they were neglected, he can then award them to BEHS to be rehabilitated and eventually re-homed.

This is the third case that BEHS has assisted Atascosa County with since December 24th, 2011 and the organization's resources are stretched thin. Atascosa County is also not the only county BEHS works with either, and the organization continues to receive reports of neglect and abandonment and requests from law enforcement agencies for assistance.

Dr. Jennifer Williams, President and Executive Director of the organization says, "Hay is scarce and the cost of grain continues to rise. This means it is more expensive for us to rehabilitate starving horses. To make matters worse, fewer people can now afford to adopt or foster. So the rescue is operating with fewer resources but requests for assistance have tripled. We try hard to help whenever a law enforcement agency needs us, but we need community support in the form of adoptions of our current horses, foster homes for incoming horses, monetary donations, donations of hay and grain and volunteers. We also need to raise awareness to help this dire situation."

Rehabilitation of the horses seized on Saturday and the horses seized in the previous cases will take several months and cost the organizations thousands of dollars. If you would like to make a contribution to assist with the horses' rehabilitation, would like to become a foster care-giver for these or other neglected horses or would like to adopt a rehabilitated horse, please contact Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society.

Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society - http://www.bluebonnetequine.org, info@bluebonnetequine.org or (888) 542 5163.

Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society is a 501(c)(3) with a mission to improve the lives of equines by educating and helping owners, assisting law enforcement agencies, rehabilitating abused and neglected equines, and placing them into safe, permanent homes. http://www.bluebonnetequine.org/index.htm

Make a donation to help the Atascosa County neglect case horses.

August 11, 2011

Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society Leader Dr. Jennifer Williams Calls for Help for Horses Across Texas

Citing the poor economy and exceptional drought in Texas, Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society President and Executive Director Dr. Jennifer Williams says that the conditions are dire for horses across the state of Texas. �I�ve been involved in rescue since 1998 and have faced many challenges, but 2011 is the most challenging year I�ve faced. The economy has affected so many of our members: people have had to return their beloved adopted horses and stop fostering. Donations are down, adoptions are down and the number of people fostering is down. The drought has made grass non-existent and hay is nearly impossible to find. But the need for help continues to grow by leaps and bounds. We�re receiving more neglect reports than usual, we�re turning away people who want to donate horses they cannot afford to keep, and we�re unable to help starving, abused and abandoned horses when sheriff�s departments call. We won�t agree to take in horses from cases when we don�t have the homes or funds to care for them. And this means we�re turning away many needy horses.�

Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society is a nonprofit rescue organization that works across the state of Texas to get help for starving, abused, neglected and abandoned horses. The group primarily works with law enforcement agencies to investigate reports of neglect, educate the owners when possible and remove, rehabilitate and rehome the horses when necessary. The organization currently has approximately 125 horses, donkeys, mules, ponies and miniature horses in foster care.

The drought means that there's no grass available for grazing and little hay has been grown in Texas this year. The cost of hay has more than doubled in most areas, and Williams says this is why fewer people are fostering and adopting than she�s seen in years. However there are more horses in need today than ever before, and Williams believes this will only continue to get worse.

Bluebonnet is looking for adopters to give permanent homes to their horses, and they�re waiving the adoption fees on over twenty-five horses in an attempt to help them find new homes. Foster homes help house and care for the horses until adopters are found, and Bluebonnet needs more foster homes to sign up. Volunteers also help with nearly every aspect of the rescue: checking out potential homes, checking out neglect cases, fundraising and more.

Williams says, "I have never been this worried about the future of the horses in Texas or so scared about our ability to help them. Please help me and help Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society continue to help needy horses."

For more information about adopting, fostering, donating or volunteering, please contact Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society at http://www.bluebonnetequine.org, info@bluebonnetequine.org or (888) 542 5163.