Plymouth, Massachusetts

Yes, we are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. We are happy to send you our paperwork.

When we don't have a local animal that needs us and we have space, we go to either auctions or kill pens because otherwise they will be shipped to slaughter.

Horse Auctions vs Kill Pens, explained by Diana

There are Horse Auctions and Kill Pens. I want to explain the difference because it can be a bit confusing if your just now learning about them.

Horse Auctions offer a platform for all sorts of people to sale animals thru a bigger audience. Typically you will see horses, donkeys, goats, cows and occasionally zebra. To bid on animals you must obtain a bidder number prior to the sale. Some auction are online and you can place online bids. Sellers arrive early before the sale starts and animals are tagged to identify and organize mores easily. Sellers can be from any walk of life; ranchers, brokers, dealers, kill buyers and families. My opinion is, that most sellers are there to make a quick buck. However, there are situations that are beyond one’s control like death of the owner, death of a family member, medical expenses, loss of a job or loss of their home. Financial hardships can be tough and when they are lacking in funds to properly care for their animals they take them to the Sale Barn. Sometimes animals are dropped off at the sale and owners will take whatever the winning bid is and other scenario is the owner stays and watches their animal(s) go thru. If the highest bid isn’t acceptable to the owner they can PO (Pull out of sale). We have attended the Bowie Auction Horses sales but we currently do online bidding at the Elkhart Auction located in Elkhart Texas. This auction is run by a lady and her family and she will bid on horses and donkeys if no one is bidding and then the following day she offers them for sale on her Facebook page to get them into homes.

Kill Pens usually buy horses at Horse Auctions and unless you know who they are you could be bidding against them. There is much controversy over Kill Buyers and shipping contracts and whether they actually ship to Mexico or Canada to slaughter plants. The meat is considered a delicacy in Europe and Donkeys hides, bones and meat are in big demand in China. There are National Databases that can actually be researched to verify which Kill Buyers hold contracts to ship to the slaughter plants. There are many Kill buyer pages on Facebook and they post horses to the public to save before a stated slaughter ship dates. Some do not have verified contracts to ship. They post horses as an offer to save before ship date is another means to market equine and usually at a higher price than meat prices per pound. Some have even posted videos loading horses onto the slaughter truck announcing they are shipping to Slaughter. Many Kill Buyers will bid up good riding horses with the intent to market on their social media platforms to flip the horse for profit. Some have ship contracts and some don’t and just run them thru other horse auctions. Usually all the horses bought at the sale are all loaded together on one trailer and fighting and injuries can and do happen. There are specific USDA guidelines for them transporting to slaughter such as no blind horses, no babies and no horses laying down in the trailer.

This definitely isn’t every detail of the industry, it’s just my short summary to clarify the differences in the two.

We are not open to the public. We do occasionally have open houses. We will announce those on our Facebook page. We are Rescue, so it's very difficult to be open to the public but we do work with people who are in need of being with the animals, for instance, someone who has just lost someone. We always welcome people who can come and volunteer.

No

We have been saving animals for over 12 years. Kendra has always had a special connection with animals since she was child. When she was younger, she met this wonderful woman, Hope Ingersoll, who bred Welch Cob and Mountain Ponies. Kendra helped with raising the babies, foaling, showing and breeding. When she found out that they were slaughtering pregnant horses, she decided to save pregnant miniature horses because she had so little land. Then she saved a donkey and fell in love with donkeys and started to save them too. We may be small, but we help a lot of Donkeys and animals get to their forever homes - mostly through social media. We also help local people keep and maintain their animals when they have challenges.

Before the animals go to a new home we do a barn check, talk with their veterinarian, farrier and get references. We also do an internet background check and review their social media. They are required to come and visit and connect with these animals before they take them. We have a very strict contract and a 6-week trial. We ask for pictures at least every three months. If we find evidence of any kind of neglect or abuse, we take them back and find a new home for them.

In the wild world a Jenny can get away from her son when he is ready to breed . When they get older, they are going to start wanting to mount her and they are going to be very rough with their mom, especially as they get bigger. Because you are confining them into an area, she can't get away from his antics.

When William was a baby, he reared up on his mom so much that he actually ripped a piece of hide off of her withers. Luckily, he had been with Ben and Ben's mother and he was very, very, very ready to be weaned but I definitely had to wean him because of this, otherwise there was no way I could keep it from getting infected.

Jacks are very bad until you get them gelded. They are hormone driven. Many times their testicles don't come down until they're over a year old. So it is possible that they could actually breed their mother. So we have to be careful with those things. Also, you can't geld them when there are flies around or while the ground is frozen. There are a lot of things to consider. Usually placing a jack with a sweet Jenny is only going to make her life quite miserable. In some circumstances it is ok… it all has to do with their personalities too.

There are a number of reasons that our donkeys are not on grass. Ben and William are our teachers and they teach those who come in that they are safe and loved. Ben gets fat on air so he should never be on grass and William has an allergy where if he gets fresh greens he snorts and sniffs, so the two of them can never be out on green grass.

Another reason is that when the emaciated donkeys come here, they need to be monitored nutritionally. We can't do that if they're out in the field eating green grass. So therefore, it's better when they first come here and while they're here for us to be able to know exactly what's going on with them.

Also, Donkeys live in deserts. They don't just eat the grass, they eat the roots and they kill the grass. So if we did have an an acre of grass and we had four or five donkeys on that land they would most likely eat it down to nothing.

Another reason is that if you don't have a lot of wind ,you can also do pasture management but that means you cut your pasture where they run in half.