Redwings Horse Sanctuary and five other welfare charities in Great Britain are welcoming plans by the Welsh Government to introduce legislation to outlaw fly grazing of horses and ponies in Wales and are urgently asking the UK Government to follow suit in England to help stem the horse crisis escalating across the country.
Protecting horses from abandonment and neglect
Horse rescue groups in Great Britain are calling on legislators to ban “fly grazing,“ the practice where horse owners abandon horses on private land to the detriment of the horses and land owners.
As 7,000 horses are at risk of needing rescue in England and Wales, Redwings, the RSPCA, World Horse Welfare, The British Horse Society, Blue Cross and Horse World have released a series of devastating case studies to illustrate how current laws permit horses to suffer needlessly
The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) has received more than 200 calls in the last year from exasperated land owners who have found neglected horses abandoned on their land. The animals are often in a poor condition and can be wild and dangerous to handle.
Unscrupulous owners are also putting horses out to graze on private land as prices of hay and grassland increases, then refusing to remove the animals. This practice is known as "fly grazing."
This past week, Redwings Horse Sanctuary working with RSPCA, rescued 17 horses in England, many of which had been living on rotten, discarded bread and infested with maggots in addition to living in filthy conditions with no evidence of support by owners or caretakers.
The week before they carried out a day-long joint operation to remove a group of 46 horses from a field in Alton, Hampshire, where they were at risk of suffering from starvation and lack of veterinary care. Both charities had received notices from concerned citizens about the welfare of the animals and, after attempting to contact the horses’ owner and improve the conditions in the field, had to take the decision to remove them as they were beginning to suffer from various conditions.
In addition, on October 1, 2013, they rescued an emaciated foal found in a field near Diss, Norfolk, with a horrendous maggot-infested wound on his leg and just days from death.
The dark grey foal was severely underweight, and had an horrific injury down the back of his hind leg that had been left untreated, which was completely covered in flies and maggots.
Under these circumstances, the call for legislation to ban fly grazing and penalize horse owners who neglect and abandon horses is an important step in helping solve the current crisis. In addition, Redwings Horse Sanctuary, the UK's largest horse sanctuary, caring for over 1,300 horses, ponies, donkeys and mules every day is in need of donations to help care for the horses they rescue.