Emaciated horses removed
Ranch voluntarily surrenders animals after social media storm sparks inspection
FOUR horses from the Featherfoot Horse Ranch outside Jeffreys Bay were “voluntarily surrendered” yesterday after a Facebook post showing malnourished and dead horses caused a social media storm.
The horses were in the process of being rehabilitated and had already been rescued from the Karoo area, according to Horse Care Unit manager Megan Hope.
“They run a programme where the owners actually adopt horses from the drought-stricken Karoo and take them in for rehabilitation. The four horses we took had recently come to their farm,” she said.
After being alerted to the Facebook post, Hope went to the Featherfoot Horse Ranch yesterday.
“It is unfortunate that the horses are in this condition but you really cannot blame the [Featherfoot Horse Ranch], who are trying to save them,” she said.
The post, accompanied by 12 pictures of emaciated horses and the skeletal remains of others, was widely circulated.
It claimed the horses had been “left for dead and forgotten”, with some being too weak to stand.
A number of negative comments were directed at the owner of the Featherfoot Horse Ranch in Kabeljouws, which offers horse-riding trails as well as riding lessons.
Ranch owner Hilmary Erasmus said she and her husband, Rick, had rescued between 30 and 40 horses last year, and a few more had arrived three weeks ago.
“Some of them look really bad when they arrive but we feed them and do what we can to help them,” Erasmus said.
Some horses had to be euthanised because of the bad state they were in, she said.
“On Saturday, we had to put one down . . . we never just leave them to die.”
Erasmus labelled the social media storm as unfortunate.
“It’s easy for people to criticise [the work we do] when they do not know what it takes to work with these horses,” she said.
“We try to help. It costs a lot of money and it is difficult to get the horses into a healthy state.”
Erasmus said she and her husband worked closely with the SPCA and monthly checks were done to ensure all the horses were healthy.
At 2pm yesterday, four horses were voluntarily surrendered to the Horse Care Unit after an inspection was conducted. Hope said the owners had welcomed the inspection, during which almost all the horses were found to be in a moderate condition.
“These are horses that would have died unless someone stepped in to save them. They are in the process of getting better,” she said.
“A horse does not gain 300kg overnight. It is a long process.”
The inspection revealed all the horses had been dewormed, dipped for ticks and had access to water.
“The reason we took the four away is because we think that they are just not coping there.
“Two horses were taken to a game park to be euthanised, while the remaining two will stay in our care in the hope that they will recover.”
Two vets inspected both horses before they were put down.
Hope said follow-up inspections would be carried out at the ranch.
“This is not a case closed. We will do more random inspections to ensure the animals are in good health,” she said.
Meanwhile, Cherie Havenga, who wrote the post on Facebook, said yesterday: “I did not take the pictures myself but it did come from several reliable sources.
“I used to stay in the area and . . . already back then the horses used for trials were not in good condition,” she said.
Havenga claimed the SPCA had previously visited the ranch on numerous occasions.
“There have been numerous complaints in the past about the condition of her horses,” she said.
“The community of Jeffreys Bay has been taking water and food to the horses without trespassing until the SPCA got there.”
Police spokeswoman Captain Gerda Swart said Jeffreys Bay police were waiting for the SPCA to conduct its own probe.
“The SPCA are the experts in their field and we rely on them to give feedback to the police. At this stage, there is no criminal case opened and we are awaiting their findings,” she said.
Humansdorp SPCA inspector Benjmin Sithole confirmed that they were investigating the case.