the law is an ass
ok so may not seem important to most of you but the Amersham horse rescue case was plastered all over the news a little while back ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7179105.stm ) - horses found dead on the property, 90 odd removed by animal protection agencies, some in appalling conditions destined to starve to death on his property or shipped abroad for meat, some possibly stolen, no passports (legal requirement of horse ownership in this country - not supposed to be able to buy, sell or transport a horse anywhere in the UK without one), reportedly he also liked to run them over as a bit of fun if they weren't fat enough to make him any meat money.
there was massive outcry over this, and loads of people complained the RSPCA was useless for not intervening sooner... yet the stupid judge has made a mockery of animal welfare laws in this country and ordered several of the shetlands and donkeys are to go back to the family as pets (can't prosecute travellers can you even when they set up horse dealerships?), and the other 80 or so are to be sold at public auction (?!). horses from rescue cases never go to public auction in this country like they do in the states, usually they are awarded to the protection agencies like the RSPCA who rehome them under loan agreements to make sure they are ok. apart from anything else the charities have spent lots of money (much donated by the public in light of the media coverage in this case) looking after these horses and getting them healthy again only to have them ordered to be taken away. despite the media coverage of the removal of the horses, there has been little yet outside the specialist horse press about the decision in this case.
i know it's not starving children or human rights abuses but it really really annoys me. the horse world is also pretty much shocked as nothing like this decision has happened before. and the problem is not because these horses were going for meat - that's a different issue which disgusts me because of massive overbreeding, stolen horses and irresponsible horse ownership rather then the actual eating of horse meat.
there was massive outcry over this, and loads of people complained the RSPCA was useless for not intervening sooner... yet the stupid judge has made a mockery of animal welfare laws in this country and ordered several of the shetlands and donkeys are to go back to the family as pets (can't prosecute travellers can you even when they set up horse dealerships?), and the other 80 or so are to be sold at public auction (?!). horses from rescue cases never go to public auction in this country like they do in the states, usually they are awarded to the protection agencies like the RSPCA who rehome them under loan agreements to make sure they are ok. apart from anything else the charities have spent lots of money (much donated by the public in light of the media coverage in this case) looking after these horses and getting them healthy again only to have them ordered to be taken away. despite the media coverage of the removal of the horses, there has been little yet outside the specialist horse press about the decision in this case.
i know it's not starving children or human rights abuses but it really really annoys me. the horse world is also pretty much shocked as nothing like this decision has happened before. and the problem is not because these horses were going for meat - that's a different issue which disgusts me because of massive overbreeding, stolen horses and irresponsible horse ownership rather then the actual eating of horse meat.