Why Are The Horses Going Hungry?

(CBS)  The rolling hills of central Kentucky appear as scenic as ever. But there's a more troubling picture developing in the bluegrass and beyond.

Horses are starving - even dying - in Kentucky, Tennessee, and at least five other Southeastern states, CBS News correspondent Daniel Sieberg reports.

"This is probably as bad as I've seen in my 30-something years in the hay and straw business," said hay supplier David Brumfield.

Since last year's drought, the price of hay has doubled - and even tripled. Cattle ranchers feel it too - another factor in the rising price of food for people.

"We're getting calls every day from people looking for hay from all over the eastern part of the United States," Brumfield said.

Last year, $50 would buy enough hay to feed a horse for three weeks. Today, that same $50 would get you less than half as much.

"This hay thing has just brought me to my knees," said horse-owner Beverly Danko.

While the major horse farms can absorb the higher costs, Danko's had to cancel her cable and is behind on her rent just to keep her six horses fed.

She says the thought of losing them tears her up. "There is no way that I could ever accept it. And I won't."

On Wednesday, 70 Tennessee walking horses were seized in a county south of Lexington. Elsewhere, horses have been simply abandoned on federal land and in city parks.

"People are giving them away," said Kathy Mitchum of the Lincoln County Humane Society. "We had a guy go with four horses to the local auction and nobody even bid on them. When he left, he tied them up to a post outside and left 'em, cause he knew he couldn't feed 'em."

"Do they ever come in looking pretty starved?" Sieberg asked.

"Yes, they do," said Lori Neagle, founder of the Kentucky Equine Humane Center.

Humane centers are over capacity with rescues. Dixie, found on the side of a busy highway in Louisville, has since been nursed back to health.

"The price of gas, the price of grain and the overall cost of living has really affected people having to give up their horses," Neagle said.

Adoptions can help, but it takes years for damaged pastureland to recover. So an end to the problem may still be a ways down the road.

[iamhorsegal]

We DO need the slaughter plants open again. There needs to be an option for people with horses they cannot deal with as well as the dangerous, untrained, old and crippled. Often, when they went to an auction they didn''t go to slaughter but to someone who could feed them better, train or cure their problems. Now, few people attend auctions for there is no floor (slaughter outlet) so it doesn''t pay to rescue them. Perhaps pet food plants are the answer.
This problem will only get bigger. Our available potential horse ownership and land availability are not up to the numbers that will ensue as it stands now. As a horse owner for the last sixty years, I assert that we need to have slaughter plants in this country. I don''t like the killing of horses any better than any other horse lover but this is comparable to not euthanising unwanted pets.

[newsjunky5]

Horses may be cattle to some people. But they don''t taste nearly as good and aren''t nearly as tender as cows/steers. I know, don''t ask how.

[shownags4me]

CBS did a real dis-service by not addressing the issue of the closeing of slaughter houses. It is where unwanted horses NEED to go, now they have to endure the torture of being hauled to MX and Canada. Horses are LIVESTOCK pure and simple and unless you are in the livestock business you really are not educated enough to say slaughtering horses is wrong. Slaughter houses have been the check and balance system for the horse population---we have not had this epidemic problem of unwanted staring horses before slaughter houses were banned. Did we???? For those of us in the horse business our stock has dramitically decreased in value since the slaughter closing but I don''t expect those of you who don''t run a horse operation to understand this concept.

[newsjunky5]

I live in horse country. Hay is one of the biggest crops here, and corn. Most years they have 2 cuttings, this past year there was only one, and it was smaller than usual, all because of the drought.
This problem is compounded by farms being converted to sprawling housing developments. Now these crappy houses aren''t selling, and we need hay for horses and corn for ethanol. Maybe Dan Ryan can step in and help.

[poniesonly-2009]

Thank you CBS for doing this story. I run Freedom Hill Horse Rescue located in MD and I get calls very frequently from people looking to find homes for their horses. I saw a comment above that stated that you should not euthanize a horse just because you cant feed it. My stance is that sending a horses to auction and subsequent slaughter is not an option. Horses go through weeks of hell as they go through the process of shipping to Mexico or Canada. People need to learn that if they cant care for their animal in a manner that is consistent with life and if they cant find another home for them and they cant afford to feed them must consider euthanasia. Lets face it ... I run a rescue and saving lives is my business BUT the economy is worse than I have ever seen in my life for the horses and people that own them. It used to be only the affluent owned horses...we might be moving full circle and that may be what we are headed for again. The lack of slaughter houses in this country has nothing to do with this issue. Horses are going slaughter this year at the same rates they were going to slaughter last year. The problem here is the very poor economy. People are loosing their homes, their pets and their lively hood. Very sad situation....

[horsenponysh]

If you don''t/can''t pay your rent so you can feed your horses you should not own horses. If you cant find a buyer for your horses and no one will take them if you give them away what do you do? Selling your horses to slaughter might help you get caught up on your bills.

When we had horse slaughter plants running in the US there was a DEMAND for horses at sales and they were worth up to $1.00 per pound - that is $1,000.00 for a thousand pound horse. Now that "horse lovers" have been successful in getting the Slaughter plants shut down, slaughter buyers pay low prices for only the fattest of the horses. They don''t need the thin/starving ones.

These fat horses now have to endure up to 1400 miles in a truck (Iowa to Mexico)instead of a 100 mile trip (IA to IL) or 800 miles (IA to TX). Thin ones can''t take the miles they die on the trucks.

Horse meat is in demand in some European and Asian countries, it a staple in their diet. It is not being turned into dog food. What would we do if some foreign country caused our supply of beef, pork, chicken or fish to become so expensive we could not afford to buy it?

Good horses should not go to slaughter, but if there is no one to outbid the Slaughter buyer let the horse go to feed some person somewhere in the world instead of starving in someones back pasture.

[grammawhamma]

pietroc1: Morgans are not draft horses.

[cfin5]

I really hate to hear this. I love a good horse. I remember riding them when I was younger and the near addicting thrill of going across fields at full gallop. There''s nothing like it! Man am I in the wrong century.

[coetta6856]

My hat is off to CBS, for doing this show. For all horse people, this should be helpful. I do not believe the slaughter has anything to do with it. For someone to say that is awful. Are you going to put down a perfectly healthy good horse, cause you can''t feed it? This is my personal opinion, when you take on the responsiblity of an animal, you should keep that responsibility. If you have any doubts, you shouldn''t get in in the first place. My husband and I rescued a couple of horses, they were just left to starve. No water, no food. They were eating the bark off the trees. That is pitiful. We are not financially able, but we have taken it on, besides our other two. What kind of people just abandons their animals to starve? How do you sleep at night!?

[duane_b]

This was a good, well balanced article which told the truth. High hay prices and slumping economy are having an effect on horse welfare. My hat is off to CBS News for taking the high road.

To those who say "the closure of the US horse slaughter plants is the problem", your comments are rubbish.

Horse slaughter has nothing to do with horse welfare. Canada has slaughter and according to the Canadian Arabian Horse Registry there was a recent seizure of 100 horses.

Think about it, according to horse slaughter apologist logic, Canada shouldn''t have any problems at all because they have slaughter.

Yet Canada does have horse welfare issues, even with the slaughter option.

To see the real story on horse slaughter, and why the pro slaughter side is wrong; read an article called "Why the organizations opposing the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act are wrong" (it can be found in Google News).

It''s based on facts, not pro-slaughter hype.