Update March 1, 2024:

3 horses now have permanent homes – 3 remain in foster homes –  Ban Horse Slaughter team members had to dig into personal finances to pull this off.  AND we still need help with hay, vet care and hoof care.

Any and all help is GREATLY appreciated.

Sometimes we have opportunities to buy horses on death’s doorstep.  YOUNG, healthy horses who are about to be slaughtered.

This is one of those times.

We’ve negotiated the ability to buy 6 young horses sitting in a kill pen in western Canada –  to save them from slaughter – but we need to raise $4,000 to secure them and get them out of harm’s way NOW.

MANY people were shocked by how inexpensive horses were at an auction in Dawson Creek this past weekend and how many of them were snapped up by kill buyers.

Scroll down for our take on why we are okay with buying horses from kill buyers when some rescues and organizations are not.

We’ll need additional funds to quarantine and vet check them, BUT we have 3 secure, safe, locations to house them until permanent homes can be found and the immediate need is to get them out of the kill pen.

We have some hay secured but will need more – this first ask is simply to secure and transport 6 horses.  But again the good news is that we have 3 locations lined up to provide foster care.

We need your help now to pull this off.

We are completely volunteer-driven and we make every single penny count.

In the same way, many hands make light work, even small donations can add up and make a HUGE difference!

THANK YOU for your consideration.

Okay, so we are fully aware that purchasing horses from kill buyers or directly from First Nations bands is controversial.  Some rescues, organizations and individuals are NOT in favour of doing so.

The common objection from those opposed is that when you buy horses from kill buyers - horses that are earmarked to be slaughtered for their meat - you are helping the kill buyer profit.

Our take is this...

Kill buyers are going to profit whether we buy a horse or horses from them, or not.

Kill buyers will sell the horses to the slaughter plant - either Bouvry in Alberta or Richelieu in Quebec - and kill buyers will profit from those sales.

The horses they sell for slaughter are going to go through the torture of being crammed in leg-breaking trucks, often in extreme temperatures and being transported to a slaughter plant -- and if they survive the trip -- they'll be slaughtered for their meat.

If we buy horses, they are spared that torture - and live.

Either way the kill buyer profits - that's why we negotiate the lowest prices we can and buy as many horses as we can.

We are often criticized as are those who have fostered horses with/for us.

Right now we have 6 generous individuals, each with the space on their properties -  and in their hearts -  to take in a few horses each.

Adding a few more horses to a herd of any size, especially when hay prices in western Canada are at an all-time high - and winter will be here before we know it -  is a huge undertaking.

Add in the fact that as mentioned above, critics of buying horses from kill buyers can be brutal with their social media comments and we fully understand why potential foster providers are hesitant and why some choose to remain anonymous.

THANK YOU to all who have stepped forward to help.

Interested in fostering? Please reach out - let's have a discussion to see if fostering would be a good fit for you or not.