GLENVILLE, PA – The mom and pop horse rescue groups received a big shot in the arm recently when Texas oilman and rancher T. Boone Pickens lent his muscle to the battle to convince Congress to enact the Horse Slaughter Prevention Act.

Pickens, founder of BP Capital and Mesa Petroleum, was emotionally driven to act upon learning that  more than 100,000 horses are slaughtered in the U.S. every year to be eaten as a “delicacy” by diners in France, Belgium, and Japan.  The oilman was persuaded to enter the fray by his wife, Madeleine, who raises thoroughbred horses.

 “I was thrilled and deeply touched that someone as powerful and influential as T. Boone Pickens feels so strongly about our cause,” says Jo Deibel, President of the Angel Acres Horse Haven Rescue, Inc. http://www.saveahorsenow.org/. “I, too, share Mr. Pickens’ feelings of horror about the horrible treatment given thoroughbreds auctioned off to kill buyers and processed as horseflesh to be eaten.”

Angel Acres’s prime mission is to encourage the adoption by responsible owners of these beautiful horses whose only shortcoming is that they can no longer race at full speed. Deibel feeds, shelters and provides veterinary care for rescued horses until they are adopted.

Because of this shocking treatment of American race horses, Deibel quit her job in Maryland to move to Pennsylvania where she founded Angel Acres Horse Haven Rescue. Most horse rescue havens in the U.S. are operated by concerned individuals like Deibel who depend upon public support to continue.

Persons may go to http://www.saveahorsenow.org/ to learn how to adopt a horse or how to sponsor a horse by paying for its upkeep until it can be adopted. 

Angel Acres Horse Rescue is a 501(c)3 non-profit rescue dedicated to saving horses bound for slaughter for human consumption. Angel Acres also assists in cases of neglect and abuse. Thoroughbreds are rescued from kill pens and adopted into loving forever homes.

Horse Rescue founder Jo Deibel quits job to rescue horses

Jo had learned from an acquaintance about a horse that had been saved from the slaughterhouse by a horse rescue group. Intrigued, she asked questions and began a personal investigation into a world of abuse few Americans know about. Life would never be the same again for Jo Deibel and family.

Jo Deibel organized Angel Acres Horse Haven Rescue, Inc. as a 501(c) 3 non-profit group and recruited the help of family and friends. She became active in the Humane Society and American Humane Association, and plunged fulltime into the horse rescue business, spending nearly every waking minute doing work involving horse rescues. 

Angel Acres Horse Haven Rescue is dedicated to saving horses bound for slaughter for human consumption. The haven also assists in cases of neglect and abuse but it exists to rescue thoroughbreds and sometimes other breeds. 

“We feel our cause is important because we rescue sane, young and healthy horses from the killer pens…we do this every single week,” explains Jo. “These are horses that are no longer fast enough to earn their keep, they are little Suzy’s pony she doesn’t want anymore because she has found boys, they are the Amish Draft who has been worked to the bone and now is being thrown away so the farmer can buy a younger model and do it all again.”

Deibel now spends her time traveling to a horse auction 60 miles away in Lancaster County, PA, which auctions horses from several racing tracks across the nation. She identifies horses purchased for the slaughterhouse and buys them from the killer buyer. The horses are then taken to Angel Acres to be quarantined, inspected and made healthy, and then placed for adoption. Jo Deibel has rescued and/or helped place nearly 100 horses in two years.

Among the horses she has rescued are: Cviano, the half brother to the Belmont Stakes winner; Trigger Happy Jill, taken by a “friend” and sent to the killer auction; and ISITEVER, a horse on the Triple Crown trail that ended up in a killer pen.

Besides dealing with families and individuals wanting to adopt a horse, Deibel seeks financial support in the form of grants and donations used to add new buildings for shelter, stalls, storage and good horse safe fencing.

Deibel works constantly to educate the public about the horrors of horse slaughter. She encourages breeders and owners to be responsible with their horses once their racing careers are over. She rescues healthy, young thoroughbreds that could have a second career if given the chance. She keeps working until the horses rescued are adopted into loving forever homes.  For more information visit: http://www.saveahorsenow.org/  .

What you would rather not know about horse slaughter…

1. Each year some 86,000 horses are slaughtered in the U.S. and processed to be eaten in Europe and Asia. Thousands of live horses also are transported across the border to Canada for slaughter and then shipped to Europe and Asia to be eaten. It is man's ultimate betrayal to the horse.
2. A handful of killer buyers, three foreign-owned slaughter plants and the foreign horsemeat industry are the only ones who benefit from the sale of horses to be eaten. Horsemeat constitutes only .001% of the total red meat, pork and poultry business nationally. 
3.  Horse meat is not eaten in the United States but is exported to France, Belgium, Holland, Japan, and Italy. All horse slaughter plants in the United States are foreign-owned.
4. Most horses destined for slaughter are sold at livestock auctions or sales. The cruelty of horse slaughter is not limited to the act of killing the animals. Horses bound for slaughter are shipped, frequently for long distances, without being fed, watered or rested during travel.
5. Often, terrified horses and ponies are crammed together and transported to slaughter in double-deck trucks designed for cattle and pigs. The truck ceilings are so low that the horses are not able to hold their heads in a normal, balanced position. Inappropriate floor surfaces lead to slips and falls, and sometimes even trampling.
6. Under federal law, horses are required to be rendered unconscious prior to slaughter, usually with a device called a captive bolt gun, which shoots a metal rod into the horse's brain. Some horses, however, are improperly stunned and are conscious when they are hoisted by a rear leg to have their throats cut. 
7. Horses of virtually all ages and breeds are slaughtered. Horses commonly slaughtered include unsuccessful race horses, lame or ill horses, surplus riding school and camp horses, mares whose foals are not economically valuable, and foals who are "byproducts" of the Pregnant Mare Urine (PMU) industry, which produces the estrogen-replacement drug Premarin®. 
8. There are hundreds of horse auctions each year in virtually every state, with the largest number of horses being auctioned in Texas, California, Kansas, and New Mexico. 
9.  Most horses sold at auctions were purchased by "killer buyers" who represent federally licensed horse slaughterhouses in the U.S. Because killer buyers are paid by the pound for the horses they deliver, they look for healthy horses in good body condition.
10. Every horse owner needs to plan for the entire life of the horse. Anyone who can afford to breed horses, race horses, or show horses can afford to humanely euthanize them. Animals that have been euthanized by lethal injection cannot be used for human consumption.
11. Horses are pleasure animals used primarily for recreation and sport. Americans do not eat horses or raise them for food. Because this is true, horse slaughter is virtually a secret industry. 
12. Horse slaughter subsidizes over-breeding, theft, and the unlawful extermination of our wild mustangs. Horses are not feeding the starving masses, but rather are a $15-$25 a pound delicacy for foreign gourmands. 
13. Horsemeat eating is discouraged by Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist & Hindu religions.  According to a national poll, 93% of Americans want horse slaughter stopped.

What others say about horse slaughter…

"As with many people, I've avoided awareness...who among us does not believe that the horse is deserving of the same sympathetic treatment as our beloved dogs and cats? Just to stand in front of a horse is to be overwhelmed...their power, and myth, and the majesty they have exemplified since the beginning of history, not to mention the fact that what little girl, including me, hasn't grown up without falling in love with "Black Beauty"...it has forced me to offer my heartfelt support to this cause."

-- Diane Keaton

"I think people would be horrified to realize that though we Americans don't eat horses in this country, we do slaughter and export horses to other counties for consumption.”

-- (the late)Linda McCartney

"...disturbing, appalling and a true tragedy for the American horse."

--Pierce Brosnan

"A shameful and sadistic legacy inflicted upon a species of animal that we owe our modern civilization to. Young as well as old suffer needlessly at the hands of greedy people."

-- Keely Shaye Smith

"It is our duty to take care of these noble beasts who carried our descendants into war, carried Americans to work, a neighbor's house or to a doctor when there was no car. It was these noble beasts who were the childhood friends of many, such as myself. Without the horse in America, where would George Washington have been? We can not allow this inhumane slaughter to continue in this country. It's barbaric and not American. 

-- GiGi Gaston,  writer, director

"I bought Nirvana for $600, her meat price, and she took me all the way to the Olympics. I won a medal for my country on a slaughter horse. I wouldn't take a million dollars for her today. What can I do to help?"

-- Jill Henneberg, ‘96 Olympic Silver Medallist

"We need to keep shocking people...until they see what's happening to one of our best friends, the horse."

-- Susy Hutchison, Veteran Show Jumper

"...the horse today in our society, is primarily kept for recreational purposes...as a practicing veterinarian, the bonding and companionship role between horses and their owners has been very evident to me, and is unquestionable as strong as that which occurs between humans and their pet dogs and cats."

-- Robert M. Miller, D.V.M.

"I am sick to death of horse slaughter. These horses deserve a swift, painless death."

-- Joe Harper, President and General Manager, Del Mar Racetrack