In
the south central region of Ontario lies the quaint village
of St. Jacobs. It's best known as a tourist town, with people
visiting from all parts of the region to wander the town's
streets and shop at its country stores and markets. Mennonites
and Amish live there, and are frequently seen dressed in
their traditional garb, riding in their black buggies, pulled
by faithful, hard working horses.
St. Jacobs' biggest attraction is their big country market,
where vendors sell tasty pies and jams, as well as quality
meats and cheeses and other fine foods. The market is located
adjacent to Ontario's largest farm animals auction, the Ontario
Livestock Exchange, or OLEX.
Every week on Tuesdays and Thursdays, hundreds of dairy
cows, beef cattle and veal calves are sold through the OLEX
auction.
Horses are also sold every Tuesday at OLEX. Some people
are aware that horses are auctioned there, and have heard
that they can be picked up for a good price. What most people
are not aware of, is that nearly all the horses that are
brought to OLEX are bought by horse dealers, or kill buyers,
who purchase them for slaughter.
This is where Charlie's story almost ended on Tuesday, August
12th. On that day, a local woman named Karen had an appointment
cancel, leaving her with the rest of the day somewhat open.
She decided on a whim to drop in at the OLEX auction, not
far from her home. She'd heard the reports that people come
away from the auction, upset with what they see there.
When she arrived, she observed the usual busy atmosphere,
of moaning cattle and neighing of frightened horses, amongst
the men who work there, who see the animals as just another
number on just another day. These men, most of them Mennonites,
are not seen to have a lot of compassion for the many animals
that move through the auction. To them it is a job and the
animals simply a product of that industry.
Karen knew that in the ring, the horses go through quickly,
and sadly, they are sold by the pound. These horses are nameless
now - their luck has run out. The kill buyers take their
turns buying up the horses, to fill their quotas for the
slaughterhouses in Quebec and Saskatchewan. They are pushed
quickly from one pen to another, then get penned up in tight
quarters with many other horses that they will travel with
for their last journey together. The horses are scared and
resist their claustrophobic surroundings. As they jostle
for space, they often bite and kick at each other, trying
to avoid and escape their inevitable outcome.
The auction was underway when she arrived. She squeezed
her way onto the crowded bleachers of the auction ring. She
watched as the horses were ushered in and encouraged to move
around in the small ring in front of the auctioneer. The
volume of the auctioneer's microphone was very loud. She
thought, if the unfamiliar and intimidating environment didn't
spook or frighten horses, the booming commentary certainly
would. It was difficult to understand the auctioneer and
hard to determine who was bidding and who got the high bid
on the horses. She was thinking of leaving, but stopped when
they led in the next horse.
Most horses run quickly into the ring, prodded in with whips
or shouts, and walk or prance around the small area, persuaded
by the handler. But this time the door opened and a small
chestnut pony was slowly handed over by his halter to the
ring man. A hush settled amongst the crowd before whispers
were exchanged. The auctioneer then bellowed "blind
pony (ha!) a short-sighted pony here, short-sighted pony".
Karen thought, who would bring this pony to such a place?
An auction is frightening and chaotic enough for any horse,
but a blind one? What chance would this pony have? Sadly
she knew, he would be sold for meat, but then what? A long,
arduous journey on a crowded truck to the slaughterhouse
hundreds of miles away - in darkness, not knowing where he
was or what was happening. She watched as a few Standardbreds
went through the ring, but it didn't really register much,
as she could only think of the sad chestnut pony. She left
the auction area and went out to the catwalks that overlook
where the cattle and horses are penned. She spotted the pony
and kept an eye on him. He was standing alone and still in
a corner of a long narrow pen.
Before long they opened the gate and put another pony in
the pen. The new pony was very aggressive and immediately
went after the blind one. He jumped up on the helpless pony's
back and began biting him hard on the neck. Karen watched
helplessly as the blind pony didn't know what to do or where
to run. Everywhere he tried to get away, he either ran into
his attacker, or a fence, or the wall. She saw no workers
were interceding, so she started running around, asking who
was employed there. She finally found someone and asked him
to take the pony out of the blind pony's pen. The young man
removed the aggressive pony from the pen. An older worker
growled that they would've been all right, and Karen didn't
want to make waves by saying that blind or lame horses should
be segregated. She was just relieved to see they complied
and separated the ponies. She stayed for two hours, observing
and chatting with people, but mostly keeping an eye on the
blind pony. She watched as they overfilled two pens with
horses purchased by one kill buyer. She shouted over the
railing to the handlers to make more room for horses, after
the number in the long narrow pen reached 16. The horses
were extremely reluctant to be forced in because there were
so many - but the whips and shouts forced them in. They eventually
packed 28 horses into that 10' x 50' pen - an area approximately
the size of four box stalls that would normally accommodate
one horse each. The horses were so tightly packed that they
were being bitten by horses in adjacent pens and could not
move away. When the time came to herd these unfortunate creatures
out of this pen, most became frightened and backed up further
into the pen, crushing against all the horses behind. Karen
was horrified to watch.
Feeling sad and powerless for what fate awaited these horses,
she left feeling dejected. She worried especially about the
blind pony and what would happen when it came time for him
to load onto the horse dealer's truck and his probable last
ride to the slaughterhouse. Karen could not erase the image
of the frightened pony standing alone and blind there and
knew she had try to save him. She made a call to her friend
Elsa Harper at Second
Chance Farm in nearby Wellesley, and
soon a plan was made to save the pony.
After several phone calls between Elsa, Karen and Shelley
Grainger from the Canadian Horse Defense Coalition (CHDC),
it was agreed that they would try to save this pony, so Elsa
and Karen returned to OLEX. To their dismay, the pony was
gone. They managed to determine that he had been purchased
by a local horse dealer. After speaking with another dealer,
they became alarmed since it was confirmed that the man was
a kill buyer, and that the pony would very likely be going
to slaughter soon.
After some investigation, Karen contacted the dealer that
evening and asked to buy the pony. He reluctantly agreed,
but made the deal for $50 over invoice. He had paid $21.
So a deal was made, and Karen realized this little guy deserved
a name, so he became "Charlie". Preparations were
made. That Friday morning, on August 15th, Karen and her
friend Peter made their way to Dundalk by truck and trailer,
to bring home little Charlie. It was a long wait between
Tuesday and Friday, hoping and praying that Charlie would
still be there, and that the dealer would not back out of
the deal.
She found out more about him, and to her dismay, she was
told that Charlie had been at the auction for a whole week!
Whoever brought him was too late for the previous Tuesday's
auction. For reasons only that person can explain, and will
live with for the rest of their life, Charlie was left to
whatever demise would befall him. For a whole week, in his
blind, confused state, he stood alone and abandoned in that
scary place.
When they arrived at the farm to pick up Charlie, they saw
many horses that the horse dealer had picked up. They were
told the horses typically spend two days holdover at the
farm, then they are loaded onto a truck for the long, arduous
journey to Saskatchewan, to Natural Valley Farms horse slaughter
plant. Only a lucky few would not go to slaughter - the ones
he determined he could resell for good money, but most -
their fate was sealed.
Rather than make small talk with the kill buyer, they quickly
loaded Charlie up into the trailer, and with a great sigh
of relief were on their way! After a couple of hours driving
to Wellesley, many people were there at Second
Chance Farm waiting anxiously for Charlie's arrival.
What Elsa and the others saw, when the trailer was opened,
was a beautiful chestnut gelding pony, with a flaxen mane
and tail, and a bright white blaze on his concerned face.
He was led out, walking slowly and carefully down the ramp.
He had no choice - he had to trust the hands that led him
and the voices that reassured him, "It's alright Charlie,
you're home and safe now." He held his head up high,
taking in the sounds around him, perhaps seeing shadows of
his new surroundings.
It wasn't long before they realized that Charlie was once
probably a well looked after pony - perhaps a child's beloved
mount. His coat was good, and his feet strong and just a
little long, but the look on his face was one of fear. How
could he not be in fear? Charlie is totally blind. One eye
is deformed and calcified - the other a white milky colour.
For over a week now, everything and everyone was strange
to him. He'd been driven from his home to a large, noisy,
cavernous auction, with nothing but rough hands and voices,
and strange sounds surrounding him. For days that was his
world - a prison of sorts.
With those experiences behind him now, Charlie walked carefully
away from the trailer with high deliberate steps - the way
blind horses will walk when they are unfamiliar with their
surroundings. His fate was now in the hands of people who
he would have to learn to trust. But Charlie is a trusting
pony. Anyone who knows horses know that they are trusting
by nature. If their spirit has not been broken by cruel handling,
even sightless horses like Charlie who have been through
so much, want to trust the humans who tend to them. So sadly,
even horses that go to slaughter look for compassion and
refuge from the humans who ultimately put them to their death.
To protect the other horses from possible infectious disease,
Charlie has been quarantined since his arrival. He does get
lots of sunshine, fresh air and some grass, as the children
at Second Chance Farm all want to take their turns tending
to him.
He's been vet checked, and was on a 5-day deworming schedule,
as tests proved he was very wormy. His blood work shows him
to be slightly anemic. The plan is to augment his diet with
a supplement to improve his red blood cells. There is no
evidence of previous founder, but his diet will be monitored
to help minimize the risk of founder. He will be kept off
rich pasture. The vet estimates his age to be about 15 year
old.
His eyesight is virtually gone, but his appearance is otherwise
good. He's been a tough little guy, holding up very well
under the circumstances. After his deworming he'll be vaccinated,
his feet will be trimmed and his teeth checked.
When the CHDC found out about Charlie, we knew we had to
help. This blind pony's story exemplifies the plight of the
thousands of horses that die in Canadian slaughterhouses
every week. The horses are not all blind, but their fate
is just as helpless as little Charlie's was. So many are
beautiful young horses whose luck ran out the day they were
purchased by a kill buyer at an auction. In 2008, it is estimated
that over 100,000 horses' lives will end in Canada to satisfy
consumers of horsemeat in Europe and Asia. These horses will
die due to a foreign consumer market - not because these
horses are unwanted. There are many examples of kill buyers
outbidding people at auctions who want to give a horse a
new home - a new chance at life.
If you find it in your heart, please help horses like Charlie
who will never be a riding pony again, but can be a pasture
mate. Help the beautiful young horses that never got the
training they needed, but just need patience and time to
become a faithful riding horse. When your old or sick horses
cannot be looked after any longer due to poor health, call
your vet and have your horse humanely euthanized. Sending
your horse to slaughter is not humane. You need only to read
the CHDC June 2008 report on Natural Valley Farms to understand
the horrors of horse slaughter.
If you would like to contribute towards Charlie's care,
please contact the CHDC here or Second Chance Farm here.
And if you haven't done so already, take a look at Charlie's
video.
There are so many horses with stories like Charlie's. Please
do your part to support our horse rescues. To find a list
of Canadian horse rescues, please visit the CHDC website.
If you run a horse rescue or would like to become involved
with helping save horses from slaughter, the CHDC would like
to hear from you.
Thank you for caring to read about Charlie. He is just one
of so many horses that deserve a safe and happy life.
Shelley Grainger
Director, Eastern Region