On Sunday, October 18th, WHOAS received reports of 2 domestic horses that had been ditched out in the forestry, near the north James Road. Due to the time of day little could be done to help these animals. On Monday, the first thing we did was contact the government, Environment and Parks department, of this situation and received permission to go about trying to rescue the horses. Thanks to a couple from Sundre and WHOAS members, we were able to locate the horses which were less from 200 yards from where they had been seen before. As it turns out it was not 2, but 3 grey Percheron geldings who were left by their callous owner to die probably a terrible death. Already two of the boys had minor injuries with one limping likely from confrontations with wild horse stallions. It is a well known fact that the wild horse stallions will not accept a domestic horse, particularly geldings. Then add to this that these beautiful horses have absolutely no idea how to protect themselves from other predators, like cougars, that do prey on horses.
With absolutely no difficulty the rescuers were able to put halters on them and they were led into the back of the horse trailer. From here they were transported to the WHOAS education and handling facility.
*** Does anyone know who owned these horses and did this to them? ***
If you can provide us with any information please email us at WHOASalberta@gmail.com
All three of these boys are very gentle, quiet and so unafraid. It appears by their feet and body condition that they have not been totally neglected previous to this.
According to the Stray Animal Act, we were required by law to notify the LIS (Livestock Inspection Service) about these horses and have arranged for them to be inspected. What happens after this is out of our hands. We will just make sure that while they are under our care, they are well taken care of.
Not only was this a very cruel thing to do to these beautiful animals, it goes totally against what WHOAS believes. Over the years that we have been fighting to have the wild horses given better protection, one of the arguments always used against them is that most of them are turned loose horses. We know that this is not true, but it is incidences like this that just add ammunition to those who want them gone.
