Florida: abandoned horses pulled from ditch.

How does anyone leave a horse in a ditch?!









Check out the news video ... amazing.

Abandoned Horses Looking For Homes [link]
Joan Murray | Aug 23, 2008

South Florida's animal shelters are seeing an overflowing number of pets being brought in after their owners have flat-out abandoned them. But it's not just dogs and cats facing homelessness; now, even horses are looking for somebody to love and cherish them.

Two horses starving and left to die in Miami now have a second chance at life. The horses were found stuck in a four foot ditch on Friday at SW 168th Street and 199 Avenue. Miami-Dade's large animal rescue unit helped bring the stranded horses to safety. They were given temporary shelter in the Redland before being brought to the SPCA in Northwest Miami-Dade Saturday afternoon.

"I haven't seen horses in this bad of a condition ever. And I've been around horses 40 years." said volunteer Vicki Castellano, "It's a reflection of the economy. People can't afford to feed their pets anymore and they're letting them loose." The gray mare is being called "Miracle." That's because volunteers caring for her say it will be one if she lives.

Besides Miracle and a gelding named "Trooper," Laurie Waggoner, who runs the SPCA ranch, is taking care of a third horse, found discarded on a foreclosed property. "At one time I'm sure they were used as riding horses," she said. "One still has shoes on. I don't believe they walked away... the animals were dumped out there."

Waggoner's job now is to get the animals on the road to recovery. "They're alert, hungry and on antibiotics," says Waggoner. It isn't cheap. In the last year, the price of feeding a horse has doubled. It goes back to gas. Everything is harder to come by," she explains. It's partially a reason some people are abandoning their pets.

The cost to feed a horse is at least 40 dollars a week and that doesn't include vet bills. The SPCA is now caring for 45 horses and many were in the same shape as the two horses brought in Saturday before being brought back from the brink.

The SPCA in Northwest Miami-Dade relies completely on donations, and they're running out of money. But there's no other choice; leaving the creatures by the road is just not an option. Now, volunteers are looking for somebody to give the animals a new home.

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