The increase in unwanted horses can be attributed to many factors, including the downturn in America’s economy, indiscriminate breeding and the closure of all equine slaughter facilities in the U.S.

“Where I sit, I’ve seen an increase in calls from people that have to surrender their horses,” said Julia Andersen, director of the Unwanted Horse Coalition, headquartered in Washington, D.C.

The coalition is an alliance of equine organizations that work to reduce the number of unwanted horses in America through education and other efforts.

Recently, a lot of calls have come from horse owners who have lost their jobs, she added.

“It’s definitely a problem that is growing, and the question is where do we go from here,” Andersen said. “It’s on the rise. It’s hard to deny it.”

Other factors contributing to the unwanted horse problem include the cost to euthanize a horse and dispose of the carcass, overbreeding, and even the cost of hay due to drought.

Tom Lenz, DVM, chair of the Unwanted Horse Coalition, explained that the issues of unwanted horses and horses bound for slaughter can merge together.

“We wanted to change the discussion off slaughter to unwanted,” Lenz said.

Surveying the issue

Trying to gain insight into the magnitude, causes and ramifications of the unwanted horse problem, the coalition conducted a non-scientific Web-based survey.

Lenz said almost 24,000 individuals responded to the electronic straw poll. About 20,000 respondents were horse owners. Industry stakeholders such as allied businesses or trainers accounted for about 2,200 respondents. More than 400 respondents were non-horse owners. The complete results of the survey will be published this summer at www.unwanted

horsecoalition.org.

Initial findings of the survey were striking, Lenz said.

He said horse owners and industry stakeholders seem to view the closed slaughter facilities, the economy, indiscriminate breeding and the cost to euthanize a horse as the main causes of the problem.

“It costs around $400 on average to euthanize and dispose of a horse,” he said.

Rescue facilities and non-horse owners tended to view the problem differently.

“They think the problem is overbreeding and the economy,” he said.

These two groups also had differing views on who is responsible for solving the problem, Lenz said.

Horse owners said they are responsible. Non-horse owners and rescue type facilities said breed associations should be responsible, he added.

“They don’t understand that horses are livestock and not pets,” he said.

Horse owners also responded that U.S. slaughter facilities should be re-opened and education and awareness should be increased about the problem. Non-horse owners responded that increased funding to rescue facilities was the solution, Lenz said.

It costs on average $2,300 per year to house a horse at a rescue or horse sanctuary facility. A big problem with this method is that horses can be kept a lifetime at such a location, he said.

“Warehousing horses is not the solution,” Lenz said.

The Bureau of Land Management has proven this, he said, adding that the BLM has on average 30,000 horses in long-term sanctuaries.

Crossing borders

In 2007, the last U.S. horse slaughter facilities were closed. U.S. horses bound for slaughter now are transported across the borders to Mexico and Canada.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture regulates the commercial transport of equines to Mexico and Canada for slaughter.

According to the agency, more than 102,000 horses were processed for meat at U.S. slaughter facilities in 2006. In 2007, that number dropped to 58,443.

In contrast, for the years 2006, 2007 and 2008, horses shipped to Mexico and Canada for meat slaughter sharply increased. Total horses processed in Mexico for those years were 11,080, 45,609 and 56,731, respectively. In Canada, totals were 24,866, 36,859 and 49,895.

Between 2007 and 2008 almost 40,000 fewer horses were processed for meat. But more than 100,000 were still processed.

There is legislation before Congress — HR503, the Conyers-Burton Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act of 2009 — that would close U.S. borders to the export of horses intended for slaughter for human consumption.

Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., who co-sponsored the legislation, was unavailable for comment.

Lenz said the legislation would likely pass at some point.

“Eventually they’ll get it to pass, because the American public supports it. The American public has a really strong love affair with the horse even though they have never touched one,” Lenz said.

Melanie DeAeth, owner of True Blue Animal Rescue in Washington County, has spent the past 10 years rescuing, fostering and adopting out unwanted or neglected horses.

“We’re against [horse] slaughter. I know that presents a population problem,” DeAeth said.

She acknowledged that if HR503 becomes law someday, there will be an increase in America’s unwanted horse population. One solution to the problem is to stop indiscriminate breeding, she said, adding that education also is key.

“Just because it’s a horse doesn’t mean you have to have a baby,” DeAeth said.

She said over the past year calls have doubled to the facility from horse owners who can no longer care for their horses.

“What we’ve had to do and continue to do is call in more foster homes,” she said.

DeAeth said her rescue facility will work with individuals to help facilitate the fostering process. For example, if a person has a couple acres needing some improvement on existing fences before fostering, her group will assist with that.

“We need the public and we need the foster homes desperately,” DeAeth said.

E-mail Beverly Moseley at beverly.moseley@aol.com.