Officials expect more abandoned horses [link]
ED MERRIMAN | Sep. 15, 2008
As fall approaches, Oregon officials expect more horses will be abandoned as a result of record-high hay prices, higher transportation costs, and the closure of the nation's last horse slaughtering plants.
Don Hansen, state veterinarian, said horse abandonment cases rose last year after hay prices shot up to $200 a ton.
Most such cases occur during the fall and winter, Hansen said, when pasture grasses go brown and owners have to feed hay to sustain their horses.
He said horses have been abandoned across the state, including Northeastern Oregon, where he said horses "tend to be abandoned on public lands."
Matt Shirtcliff, Baker County district attorney, warned anyone considering abandoning a horse that if they are convicted of animal neglect they could face penalties of up to a year in jail and a $6,250 fine.
"We had a couple of animal neglect cases recently," Shirtcliff said. "We are starting to get a few additional complaints."
"It's not the big ranches that are doing this. It's the people with a few horses," Shirtcliff said. "We had one lady last year who wasn't feeding her horses. She couldn't afford the feed."
Rodger Huffman, the state brand inspector with the Oregon Department of Agriculture, said he is aware of several horse abandonment cases that occurred last fall and winter across the state, including some cases in Baker County and other parts of Northeastern Oregon.
As with some other crops, Huffman said hay prices have been driven to record highs due in part to soaring costs for fuel, petroleum-based fertilizers and pesticides, equipment and labor, and other factors.
So far, most of the horse abandonment cases in Northeastern Oregon have occurred in Malheur County, Huffman said.
"It is not as much of an issue in Baker County at this point, but I anticipate that as fall turns into winter, this is going to be a growing problem," Huffman said.
"These horses just show up on public lands. Because they are not marked, we have not been able to find the owners," Huffman said.
He said ODA officials have met with BLM employees to discuss the problem, because many of the horses abandoned in Northeastern Oregon were turned out on public land BLM manages.
"Hay is even higher this year at $150 to $200 a ton, compared to $120 to $175 last year," Huffman said, adding that a combination of higher hay prices and rising unemployment are likely to prompt more people to abandon horses in 2008.
The closure of the last three horse slaughtering plants in the United States — one in Illinois and two in Texas — due to stricter state and federal laws, essentially eliminated the last markets for horse meat within the United States, Huffman said.
Since those three plants closed, horse traders who used to buy horses for slaughter in the United States have had to ship them to Mexico and Canada; however, that is only economically feasible for horses with plenty of meat on their bones, Huffman said.
"With no more slaughter of horses in the United States, that took away a market that gave horses value at an auction. That has been a big problem," Hansen said.
There's no market left anywhere in the United States, or at export markets, for young and thin or old and thin horse, Huffman said.
The thin horses have traditionally been used in the pet food industry (labeled animal parts or animal by-products) because the whole carcass can be used in pet food products.
"The problem is there's no market for real thin or real old horses because they don't carry enough flesh for human consumption, and the other parts have no value because transportation costs are more than the carcass of a skinny old horse is worth for dog food," Huffman said.
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