Many animal rescues all over the country are doing outstanding work in rescuing horses and other equines. Among them is the Arizona Equine Rescue Organization in Maricopa County. Known as AERO, the rescue was founded for the purposes of equine rescue, rehabiltation, community outreach and education.
In Arizona, hundreds of horses each year become sick or injured and are abandoned by their owners, or worse, abused and neglected by owners or horse traders. These horses come to the attention of county and state authorities or concerned neighbors. In the past, the leading solution has been euthanasia or sending the animal to slaughter.
Not only does AERO provide a productive life for unwanted horses, it also provides a community resource for youth who find solace in spending time with the horses.
The need for rescue and rehab is evident. The Maricopa County Sheriff's office and the AZ Livestock Board see thousands of abuse cases each year but state laws do not allow easy seizure. And only through collaborative partnerships with law enforcement, equine health care providers, and community awareness, is AERO able to make a difference one horse and child at a time!
According to their web site, their volunteer activities include:
Workshop Equine volunteer - we usually need at least 1 volunteer per horse when we are conducting our workshops. This role requires you to be very observant of the students activities to ensure they are being safe, and the horse is not showing harmful behavior. You will need to be comfortable around handling horses.
Workshop Student volunteer -- If you wish to volunteer for the Workshop programs, but are not comfortable handling horses, we still need help with the set-up and organization of our workshops. This would also include facilitating activities that do not have direct involvement with a horse.
Facility volunteer -- if you are interested in working directly with the facility, we can always use a helping hand to exercise the horses, groom and bathe, feed and clean.
We are located in New River which is north of Phoenix and directly west of Cave Creek. We do not have a lower age limit for children at AERO but kids under 14yo need to have a parent present.
AERO has grown and needs people to commit to taking on specific roles below to help with the programs....please let info@azequinerescue.org know if you are interested in a particular role listed below:
Need Good Homes Coordinator (NGH) – This must be a knowledgable horse person who can assess a horse and help find matches on our good homes distribution or refer if a horse needs medical care…involves driving, phone, and email time but AERO can train on referrals.
Maricopa County Animal Resource Team Coordinator – This person will help train AERO volunteers for working thru resources lists in a disaster and need a group of volunteers ready to help with evacuation and coordination services if a county disaster or emergency were to occur. We will provide training and a CERT trained person would be ideal (CERT training can also be arranged).
Large Animal Rescue Training Coordinator – This person will handle tracking registration, coordinating food within budget, and collecting registration fees for October training (usually this person can participate in the training for free as long as our registration is high enough).
Special Event Coordinators- We need people who are good at coordinating lots of moving parts to help us with special events like the National Rescue Ride and Trail Trial Clinics, etc. You can sign up to work one event or several.
AERO relies on volunteers to make AERO programs available and successful! Know that you are a valuable part of the organization's success!
Sponsor-a-Horse Program
AERO is seeking your support! The Sponsor-a-Horse program allows you to sponsor a horse that we rescued and that is either currently undergoing rehabilitation, or is a rescue that is now part of our children's program. Your contribution will greatly help to rehabilitate the horse and eventually lead to it going to a great home! If it's one or our permanent rescues, your sponsorship will help to provide ongoing care so the horse can remain a viable part of our children's program. Here's how you can help:
$50 /month - pays for the horse's exercise program
$100 /month - pays for special needs / medical care for a rescue
$250 /month - pays for the horse's feed
$500 /month - pays for the horse's complete care (feed, post-operative medical expenses, exercise program, ongoing rehabilitation/special needs)