WE HAVE MOVED

JUST TO LET YOU KNOW WE HAVE MOVED THIS BLOG TO ITS OWN WEBSITE AT WWW.SELANGORSPCAEQUINE.ORG

Hope to see you all there and thank you for your continued support for Selangor SPCA Equine. 

Hurrah for DVS Sabah

Heard last night that DVS Sabah will be obtaining a court order against the owner of Ranch A to seize all his horses and ponies and will be housing them temporarily in their quarantine areas until it can be determined what to do with all the animals. The DVS felt that the owners had not done enough in the pass two weeks to improve the situation and were of the opinon that they were likely not do more. There were 37 horses on the premises and of that 9 were deemed to be acceptable which sounds about right as they were probably the racing horses. Of the 28 horses in DVS Sabah control they estimate between 6 - 10 horses will need to be put down because of their condition. The Shetlands are still alive yipee! We have already offered help in anyway we can and will be flying down at some point to offer assistance.

Post CNY Thoughts

Hours of debaunched drinking, days of gluttony and am back in reality so out the pensive comes again. People have a filing system but I have a blog to track what I am doing and keep tabs on myself. Lol. Well some order is better than no order I guess. In fact am toying with the idea of moving the blog to a site that is easier to handle cuz am such a spaz when it comes to techie stuff.

Ranch in Malacca - Have written up a draft letter outlining what I think is wrong with the place and am going to put in a recommended feeding program for them to follow. Will follow up this case in a month's time.
Ranch A in Sabah - Two weeks' time is UP. Am trying to get hold of the DVS to see how they are going to move on from here. So far no phone pick up but its only morning and after a long holiday. We have heard a rumour that they are going to put down all the horses but so far have been unable to ascertain whether its true or not. If they do or if they salvage some we are still going to push for prosecution so watch this stop for further news! Still trying to locate where the other possible farm could be in Sabah!
Riding School in Frasers' Hill - We have yet to go there but did receive a report from an indy source that two of the four horses were in healthy condition although they were unable to see the other two horses. At some point we will need to verify everything but at present the situation does not seem urgent.

Malacca Ranch Quick Update

Called UPM and apparently the routine blood test is for teaching purposes so that the students can learn how to take blood etc. All the results were negative. They are firming up in a couple of weeks the transferance of the foals and mothers to UPM under a teaching program. I really hope that this happens as the foals can't be living in the stables with their mothers. At least in UPM they can run about and play and generally just be a horse.

Port Dickson Follow up in Malacca

The owner of the Ranch in Malacca very kindly invited us over to his place so we went along with today. Its a small place situated right in the middle of a kampung which caught us a little by surprise. First we were driving along and suddenly it was oh look horses. There were 25 horses and ponies comprising mainly of arabs and Indonesian type ponies. There were also 6 foals all fathered by the same stallion. The two youngest were 1 week old and the other foals looked to be about 5/6 months old. The land size is only about an acre at best. Looked more like half. On it housed the stables for all the animals, feed room, tack room and groom quarters. There was no grazing or paddocks. The stables however were of an acceptable size that being 9 by 12 feet. The impression that we go from the owner was that he was very keen to learn more on horse care and wants to learn how to keep his horses in better condition. The overall condition of his horses were passable but they were just not fed enough food. Some of them were much too skinny and the mares had little to supplements or enough food. We suggested sending the mares and their babies to a spelling station but the owner said that UPM were going to allow them to graze and run at their place. Will be calling on Monday to verify this and also why UPM came in and blood tested his entire collection of horses. Wondering if there is something sinister but it could be as simple as if the mares and babies are going they need to be blood tested. Am not too sure. At the same time, was thinking that the vet should come in and implement a proper feeding program for the horses for the grooms to follow. I don't get the feeling that its willful neglect just lack of knowledge. The grooms were taking care of the horse but they fed them the kind of food that indigenous ponies survive on which is not enough for other horses. Also operationally as the owner lives in Klang a lot of things may not be done as well as they should e.g. feeding patterns. According to the owner, all the horses have their feet done one and month and are dewormed every three months. 3 of the horses that looked really bad apparently came from Johore and he is the process of rehabilitating them. The worrying thing to me in this situation is that the stallion foals are remaining in tact and he has already bred six foals. Present site is way too small and if more babies come where is he going to put them all and another thing can he afford them all? A thought is crossing my mind though as I write this - whether his pleading ignorance to proper care and his earnest manner to learn is just an act cuz his competition stallion is in good condition so he must know enough to keep that one in good order?? Or am I just too cynical?

Ranch A Given Two Weeks to Clean up

No hoof care. Standing on cement in own urine and droppings.

We wanted to purchase to save this shetland too.

and this but they wanted RM 15K for each

Skin was just hanging off him

The little flecks are not mud. They are actually sores



The left and middle was one that we wanted to buy to start immediate treatment but the owner wanted RM 10K for him

another one we wanted to purchase to save

Bag of bones field. Dropping were everywhere no sign of field maintenance

This fellow was weaving endlessly in the stable. I have having trouble uploadin the video of him but will keep trying

Proud flesh wound. Stable covered in shit and urine

On Monday 28 Jan. 2008, a vet and I flew across to Sabah to assess the situation in Sabah. The meeting with the DVS HQ and Sabah was a closed meeting so we were unable to attend however we were told on an unofficial basis (they are still to firm it up in a letter outlining their action plan and proposed time line) Ranch A has two weeks to turn the situation around if not the DVS are going to get a police order to seize the horses and ponies and close the place down if needs be. It is unfortunate but the situation in Malaysia is that the only authority with the power of seizure is the Dept. of Vet Services. SPCA unlike in the UK does not have the power of seizure and we can only generally encourage lobby and offer assistance. We would also like to lobby for licensing of owners / riding establishments but that is another issue that can be dealt with another time. On our visit to Ranch A on that same day, we noted as outstanding:

• None of the horses and ponies had any bedding. Those that were not wondering around freely and without control were standing in stables in their own urine and droppings on cement flooring. The Shetland ponies looked miserable and at least two we noted (of the five) had long hooves and very likely fungal infections and thrush as they could barely walk. One in particular had skin hanging off him and the grey one with the maggot wound which we received pictures of last week is presumed dead (though apparently the owner of Ranch A does have a farm somewhere where it is likely he could have taken the worse horses and ponies to. We have been unable to locate the farm.
• Many of the them were under fed as can be noted from the photos.
• The yard itself was in a bad condition with sacks and sacks of droppings. The dead chestnut horse in the earlier picture was left on the yard apparently for days before being removed and there was a horse tethered near it that was eating grass next to it.
• The horses and ponies are being fed cattle feed that is primarily made up of palm kernels. This is of course better than just grass but it is still not great due to the high urea content which will eventually affect the liver.
• There were only 2 staff to run the entire yard of 30 horses.

The DVS report is going to demand, amongst others,

• proper bedding for every stable,
• more staff,
• clean up of the yard and
• more feed for the horses.

We did try to purchase the worse 4/5 horses from the owners so that we could immediately treat them but were told that they wanted RM 8 - 15K per horse / pony which is ludicrous. This must have been a first. A group of people making enquries at a yard to purchase the worst horses!! We were hesitant to treat the horses and ponies then and there as should they and it was likely die we may be unwittingly be caught up in harm of private property law suit from the owners whom I haven't met but are rumoured to be vindictive. I hope the DVS stick to their word and after two weeks WILL act appropriately. We have spoken with the DVS and should they need assistance in two weeks time we are more than happy to help them in anyway possible. I am presuming time starts to run from the day I got the phone call and not when the official report is out!! That cld take forever!

Horses at Port Dickson

DVS Checking out the Pony

Nursing a bloody hangover I limped my way to Port Dickson to verify a cruelty report. Did I really have to drink that last vodka neat? We were met by DVS Negeri Sembilan and the Chairperson of the Negri Sembilan SPCA. When we first saw the animals they were standing under the shade waiting for customers (hum not sure that turn of phrase sounds right. Makes them sound like sex workers). There were one horse and two ponies. The horse was a TB poss. ex race and the ponies were indigenous Malaysian ponies. All were on the thin side but not in such horrific condition as to warrant seizure. On questioning it was found that min. care was being administered i.e. they were fed twice a day with some evidence of grooming although their feet condition was not great. The horse had cracked hooves and one of the ponies had possible signs of founders. The DVS gave the handlers a warning to feed the horse and ponies with more food, have water always near them and to get their feet checked.  It seems they bring them in from Malacca for pony rides then bring them back to Malacca when the weekend is over. This explains why the horses kept disappearing! It was decided that we might as well check the Ranch anyway just to make sure that all the horses were okay and these weren't the better conditioned ones at the Ranch. The handlers were not very forthcoming when we tried to find out more about the Ranch. Maybe we should have bribed them:) What we did manage to get was the owner's name and the area where the Ranch is but not the exact address. We are going to locate the ranch and the owners and work at it from that angle. 

Yay! Breakthrough with Ranch A

It seems all the whining to FEI worked. I just heard that EAM called up DVS HQ and apparently on instruction from the FEI to find out what is happening at Ranch A. They want a full report and action plan. The meeting is scheduled for Monday at 2:30 and am hoping to be able to sit in on this as flight hopefully without any delays gets in at noon. After month of badgering this is the best news I have heard. Finally things seem to be moving along. 

Am a little nervous to be honest flying down to Sabah. This is my first cruelty case and I am bit scared about how DVS is going to threat me. I hope they not hostile. Plus its likely that I will see the owner and bit scared about that too. If he shouts at me I may cry as am a bit wet at the end of the day. But I think I will be angry enough to shout back. Actually I am! I just don't want it to be like that. Want to be cool calm and rationale so that we can sort this mess out. 

Buying time in Sabah

Just heard the news that Ranch A owners are selling off their horses from RM 500 to RM 10 000 which is disgraceful as they are half dead. In any case, it is likely that SPCA will be going down on Monday to try to verify the truth and will try to buy as many as our budget will allow and do whatever is necessary be it putting them down or to rehabilitate them. The situation is not ideal and we do loathe to put money in their hands but we are really not sure how else to get the horses out. Sometimes it is sickening to see animal abusers go scot free but in such extreme cases the animals' welfare is more important and outweighs other considerations. They should not have to suffer unduly any longer. Ideally it would be prefect if there were some kind of criminal proceedings against them or if there is some boycott that they are not to own horses for x number of years or forever. But currently as it stands its rather sad in that we have no guarantee once we buy them that the money will not be used to purchase other horses and we won't find ourselves in the same situation 5 years down the road. Exactly what we were trying to avoid in the first place. Of course all this can be remedied by the DVS acting responsibly by pursuing this as a cruelty case but as they not and we have given them their requested 3 months we might as well treat as many as we can financially support and rehome the suitable ones. The owners clearly deserves to be prosecuted.

Starting Up

Decided last night to set up a blog so that I can keep track and remember everything that goes down.

On Saturday we are off for an inspection at Port Dickson – what we have termed the case of the disappearing horses. It’s almost like they have an internal body clock. SPCA coming! Hide the horses! Why can't that damn pony fit in the feed bin? Honey get the chain saw will ya?

I do hope this time we do find them as the first time we saw them they looked a little thin and the handlers did promise to start feeding them hay as opposed to only grass as the handler said he did not know that grass had no nutritional value. If anything at least we can have a leisurely lunch at Pork Dickson watching the unpolluted waves lick the pristine beach. Who knows by Saturday afternoon they could be the first residents of the Centre or they could be glue depending on their condition. Or they could be fine. Who knows? We could always go back and glue the owners to their stable doors with that said same glue as a karmic punishment.

So what is next that I need to write down and sort out in my brain? There is Ranch A in Sabah but I think I might leave that sieving for a moment. I feel a little like Dumbledore and his pensive.

Lets start with the situation at a Country Club

Country Club A in KL

We received a report via email about two horses in very sorry condition. The owner agreed to put down one horse and promised to increase the level of care for the other horse. Management promised to keep tabs on how the horse is doing and from time to time report back to the SPCA on this. The latest news (Jan 2008) is that the horse is being fed by the club pending legal action by the club for unpaid bills. Once the judgement is given in April 2008 they will have control of the horse in which case Selangor SPCA will take over the welfare of the horse.

Ranch A

Okay I suppose now its time to move onto that never-ending saga that is Ranch A. It is common knowledge that the horses there are in very distressing condition in stables that are below standard.

We first received a report on 22 June 2007. SPCA immediately contacted the Department of Veterinary Services (" DVS") in Sabah who made a trip to investigate, on June 26th who which subsequent to our report received a report of a horse carcass decaying on the beach.

We underlined that the willful neglect is tantamount to cruelty and urged the DVS to take immediate action to save the horses and charge the owner for cruelty. After the 26th June 2007 inspection carried out by DVS it was reported to the SPCA that one horse had died and four have collapsed. That the situation is dire was confirmed by DVS, Sabah and that the main problem at the Ranch is starvation.

On 26 June DVS Sabah began feeding the horses with hay. SPCA offerred to assist in providing immediate medical attention then but a vet, who visited the Ranch last year, had feedback from the owner that they are not willing to accept any assistance-thereby limiting our info and contact with this case. It certainly looks like the horses are left to die in horrendous and pitiful conditions.

Since the June report was received the Selangor SPCA has actively called for stronger action against the owner via phone calls and media including a letter to the current chief minister for prosecution and seizure so that the animals can be put down and/or rehabilitated. Unfortunately, response to this has been minimal. All public (which includes the Selangor SPCA) is barred from entry to this place, with the DVS promising to check on this place at 3 months intervals. This was a less than satisfactory situation however the plus side is that the DVS is monitoring the situation.

We therefore left the situation alone especially when it was alluded that further meddling could result with Malaysia losing its rights to hold the World Endurance Games which we found a little unfair. One act of cruelty does not amount to an entire nation’s apathy towards animals and whether this threat was a real possibility is not something we know.

On the 18th Jan 2008 we received updated photos from the Ranch and it was awful. The lack of follow up and substantive action by DVS Sabah is abysmal. We have constantly reiterated that Selangor SPCA will support the DVS Sabah with food, vet and medical bills however the horses must no longer be in the owner's control for us to be able to do anything. It makes no sense for the owner to retain control of the horses while we are feeding the horses FOC.

Johore

At least this last report has a nice story. We received a report from Johore SPCA about two horses in near collapse condition. On inspection by the Johore SPCA it was found that there was only one horse. In that situation, Noah’s Arc very kindly took in the horse at no cost to Selangor SPCA and is currently rehabilitating this horse and the horse is happily wondering around Noah's Arc.

Riding School Z in Report Frasers Hill

We received a report early this year about horses in Frasers Hill in bad condition. Apparently their ribs and bones were showing drastically, and their legs were under - weight. We have as yet been unable to verify but a kindly vet has promised to go there himself and take a look.

So although slow we have been moving along and although not as effective as we would like to be we are making baby steps and hopefully this year will prove to be a productive year for the SubComittee.