A HORRIFIC SIGHT
Rescuer reveals her shock at pitiful condition of two Shetland ponies shipped to her in UK from Kerry shelter
IT WAS a scene that still haunts the owner of a small animal sanctuary, an animal lover used to steeling herself against the horror of witnessing sickness and neglect.
Two horses emerged from a dirty transporter, the white Shetland pony, Snowy, so unable to move that he rolled down the ramp. The second pony, Mrs Bucket, was in similar straits.
‘It was the most horrific sight,’ said the rescuer, who does not want to be named. She added that never in her life had she ‘seen anything as appalling or pitiful’.
She had agreed to take the animals from the charity AHAR (Animal Heaven Animal Rescue), run by Kerry woman Suzanne Gibbons, 51, who contacted her to see if she would rehome the Shetland ponies. The rescuer was assured they were healthy enough to travel and that any subsequent veterinary bills would be covered.
Within days, however, Snowy was dead. Mrs Bucket, ill and apparently affected by the loss of her companion, followed just weeks later. The conditions of both ponies were so poor that the humane course of action was to put them to sleep.
The rescuer had agreed to provide a loving retirement for the two ponies following their time at AHAR. The charity, which was first investigated by the Irish Mail on Sunday last March, was the subject of a Prime Time Investigates this week. Since the RTÉ programme aired, a number of people have come forward to document their experience with AHAR.
The woman who witnessed the decline of Snowy and Mrs Bucket operates a selffunded rescue in the UK.
‘Suzanne asked me would I take in these two Shetland ponies, so I said I would. She told me they had suffered from laminitis [a painful inflammatory condition] but that it had resolved itself. She also said she would cover any vet’s bills. So I said, “Yes, I’ll take them,”’ the rescuer said.
Snowy featured on Prime Time on Monday, which showed a number of horses being led into the sanctuary in Cragg, Co. Kerry. The white Shetland was pictured being taken into the centre, while Mrs Bucket has featured on the AHAR page since early 2016.
A major feature of AHAR’s fundraising efforts are called ‘code reds’, where urgent posts appear on its Facebook page to raise money for animals in need.
Snowy and Mrs Bucket appeared on the AHAR page last year. The Facebook page, which is run by a number of administrators, stated that the horses had ‘been treated and were ready to find new homes.
But a text message sent by Ms Gibbons indicated she was aware Snowy was in very poor condition – stating in the message that the ‘poor boy could barely walk’.
That message is at odds with what the rescuer says she was told before agreeing to take the ponies in. She said she was assured they could endure the trip to the UK.
A few days later, a transporter arrived – and the rescuer was astonished. She said: ‘Snowy was really struggling to move. Then he just rolled off the ramp. I thought, “Oh my God!”’ The ponies were loaded off and they were placed warm and safely from the night. AHAR had also sent a mule and donkey. The following day, the rescuer could see that Snowy was ‘in severe pain’. In the days that followed, Snowy and Mrs Bucket
‘Snowy was struggling to move. He just rolled off the ramp’
were seen by a vet and farrier. ‘Three days later, the vet came out again. ‘Neither [Snowy nor Mrs Bucket] could walk, they had weird shoes on them. I don’t know what they were. So they had to come off. When we looked at the bottoms of Snowy’s feet the bones had come through. It was like a bomb had gone off under the foot. I’ve never seen anything like it.’ Five days after his arrival, Snowy still couldn’t walk and was in considerable pain. The vet came to examine Snowy and told the rescuer that he was ‘in pain, he is elderly, and his heart is having implications on his breathing’. The rescuer decided to have Snowy put to sleep. Messages from the rescuer to Ms Gibbons and AHAR went unanswered. Mrs Bucket was ‘heartbroken’. Although she was seen regularly by a vet, within a few weeks she was judged to be ‘too far gone’, and was put down. On the day that Mrs Bucket was to be put down, the rescuer contacted Ms Gibbons by text to let her know. Ms Gibbons replied, saying, ‘No, don’t – your vet should be able to take her bone away.’ The rescuer said: ‘I told her, I have to let Mrs Bucket go. I did not hear from her again.’ The rescuer ran up sizable vet’s bills trying to save the ponies. Despite Ms Gibbons’s promise to help with vet’s bills, calls and messages went unanswered. The MoS contacted Ms Gibbons of AHAR this week. She refused to comment.
The pony was ‘too far gone’ and put down humanely