Goal: to end a cycle of neglect

there is an update to the story about the 80 horses rescued in Tennessee.
All of the horses already have been signed over to the HSUS, and this rescue just happened a couple of days ago! Upon Vet approval, the horses will be adopted by responsible horse owners. I do not know the status of arrests, charges, all of that. But I do so hope that whatever else happens, these irresponsible horse owners are not allowed to own animals for a long long time if ever again. And that they will not be allowed to breed animals either. That, to me, is the final step. Ending the cycle of neglect for that group of horses, for that location, for those neglectful owners, forever. Without that, the mission is not completed. I realize that every situation is different. But this should be the goal every time. The unified goal. The goal of the Sheriff, the States Attorney, the State Vet. office, the neighbors, the community, and any animal welfare groups involved. And actually, this should be the goal of the Horse Industry as a whole too. What good can these irresponsible horse owners possibly do for the industry?

For me, the arrests, charges, convictions, sentences, fines, all of that can vary. And personally I do not care about all of that as much as I care about what will happen to the horses and making sure that these people do not repeat their crime of inhumane treatment to animals. And then they do need to be held accountable. They need to somehow come up with some money to help with the rescue and emergency care expenses.  Their names have already been made public. So now they can live with this embarrassment, shame, and disgrace too. And try to pull themselves up out of it. If they have children, their children will have to deal with this publicity too. And that is sad. But if we want to move toward fixing this social problem, and that is exactly what it is, these are the things that must happen. This accomplishes several things. It sends a message out to other irresponsible horse owners. That they need to clean up their act or the same thing will happen to them. People are not so afraid to report these cases anymore. And they will get reported, eventually. It also helps to decrease, not increase, the numbers of horses born through irresponsible breeding practices which leads to more neglected and more unwanted horses. What it really does is this: It makes things better, not worse. It is a step toward progress, compassion, kindness, education, responsibility. Instead of a step backwards toward further cruelty, stupidity, failure, and crime. Let them get away with it, the situation will get worse and our Counties will find themselves having to deal with it more and more and more. instead of less and less and less. Deal with it now, without hesitation, without last-second sympathy for the offender, deal with it now as though it were a crime of significance. Because it is. Inhumane treatment to animals is directly and almost always related to violence against humans. Inhumane treatment to animals should be reason enough to act. But add in the relationship to violence against humans, and it becomes even more serious. Or it should anyway.  Ending a cycle of inhumane treatment to animals is progress no matter how many animals are involved, one or one hundred. Ending a cycle of inhumane treatment to animals is huge! It will make the next one easier. And the one after that even easier. And on and on. And soon we will see the number of cases decreasing instead of increasing. I really believe this to be true. The laws are in place. And if we can work toward that unified goal of Ending a cycle of neglect, we will start to see a difference. We will start to see things get better, not worse.

I realize that as we go along, Society sometimes decides that certain things really aren't so bad anymore Society thinks these things should be more acceptable and "less illegal." Sometimes that's because so many people are doing it anyway, or because it's just the easiest way to deal with it. Make it legal so we don't have to deal with all the arrests. But starving an animal. Fencing it in with no food, no water, no shelter, must never become acceptable. Think of what acceptances would soon follow.
I just keep going back to the question: would we like to make things better or worse? And to make things better, we have to make certain things unacceptable. And inhumane treatment to animals is one of those things that should remain unacceptable. Or we will all lose the emotions, the compassion, the respect for ourselves and for the earth that we live on, we will lose all of the things that make us human and hold us together. 
If you have comments or questions, please email Shelter Manager Darci at doublehphorses@alliancecom.net