I am so angry I could just spit.
This poor gelding was found shuffling down the street, barely alive. Luckily, someone called the police who called the South Florida SPCA who rounded him up and brought him home to their safe facilities.
This is Champ. He was found shuffling down the street. Obviously, he hadn’t been traveling unnoticed in this condition for long. Clearly he was dumped – in this horrible condition.
How could they keep him for so long, starved, and then just kick him out? If they were going to dump him, why didn’t they let him out of his hell sooner?!
But c’mon, really? It isn’t as if this poor guy had been traveling for miles, unnoticed…
Clearly, someone opened a gate and pushed him out after they had neglected him for… for… ever, basically. They kicked him out to fend for himself when he had nothing left. Aargh. I just want to smack them.
I mean, if your only idea of getting help is to kick your horse out, why not do it when he still has a fighting chance?!! Oy.
Sheesh.
CHAMP’S STORY
I find it hopeful that one of the other horribly starved Bucket Fund horses was named, Champ. You might remember him. And, he made it. He looked as bad and he pulled through…
Let’s hope we have the same outcome for this Champ.
So far, we know that he is a gelding and they think he’s a 12 year-old QH.
When Champ came in (March 25th), his scrotum was so swollen, they thought he was a stallion. Upon closer inspection, they realized that he wasn’t a stallion but his scrotum had filled up with nasty fluid from a severe infection… Ugh.
The vets at SF SPCA immediately administered IV fluids and IV antibiotics. Champ has shunts in his scrotum which are helping drain the infection. He is on a re-feeding program of very soft, watery foods because his es0phagus was so barren that it wouldn’t let food pass.
The guy is a mess… and from what I could tell from the photos – it looks like he has front shoes on.
Front shoes? Really? Who was riding him? OMG. Please, make it stop.
When he first came, he couldn’t swallow… with IV fluids and plenty of soft food, he is eating again.
PROGNOSIS
Champ’s prognosis is guarded.
They are awaiting a chemistry panel to see how badly his internal organs have been effected.
But for right now, 8 days after he was found, Champ is eating and drinking every 2 hours. He has a voracious appetite and is much ‘perkier’, they say…
In fact, he is showing appreciation and affection.
What a sweet boy.
Could you imagine seeing this shuffling down the road? If I saw this, I’d be so, so very angry…
SOUTH FLORIDA SPCA
At first, when I heard the term ‘SPCA’ in this case, I thought Champ was in the yard of the local small animal shelter. But, I was wrong. This facility has 65 horses in their care right now and they operate just like a Rescue. They are a 501 (c) 3 non-profit.
If you go to the website, they have fundraisers, vets, horses in residence, adoptions, volunteers, donation programs… all that is needed to rescue and care for lost and neglected equines. In fact, on the same day that they rescued Champ, they brought in 7 other starved horses, a beaten dog and an emu. They have huge hearts.
AND, THEY DO REIKI! I had to add this final photo (below) to show you how much they care about each and every one of their rescues… This is Champ receiving a Reiki treatment yesterday. Just look at his face.
Please let’s help the SOUTH FLORIDA SPCA keep up the good fight!
TO WATCH THE DONATION THERMOMETER RISE, CLICK HERE!
Wonderful volunteers at SF SPCA administering love and Reiki to a very appreciative Champ yesterday… This is why we give.
HORSE AND MAN is a blog in growth… if you like this, please pass it around!
Copyright
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Thank you, I found it. I also contacted them. They raised much more than $1000. So unethical.
Can you send me a link or provide the proof. This upsets me greatly.
Hicaliber horse rescue in California pretty much used your photo on Facebook, to raise money for themselves. Over a grand. Hope they send some to you for using your photos!
there are no words to describe this kind of neglect :(
The poor, poor, horse. I truly don’t know if they’ll be able to save him, but it seems they’re doing everything exactly right to try. He was walking down a street? I would have crashed my car if I’d seen him.
Incidentally, and this obviously has little bearing on the outcome, I’m pretty sure that Champ is a TB, not a QH. That noble head and the look of his frame – which we can CERTAINLY SEE – say TB to me.
His feet were not taken care of , they were super long , we actually thought he had foudered!!! I have a picture of them, they were curling…his front feet were immediately tended to by the SFSPCA and pads added to comfort him. His back feet haven’t been done yet as he was to weak to support himself on the front!!! Keep praying, he needs weight and strength, love and healing!!! THE SFSPCA is doing all that is possible but need every dollar possible!!! SO please drop whatever you can in the bucket!!! FOR CHAMPS SAKE…:):):):) Don’t forget to smile!
Strange that his feet look so maintained when he was obviously neglected in every other way.
Such a sad situation.
We can love this guy back to life! Let’s show him some humanKINDNESS! Just think what a dollar donation from each of us & all of our FB friends could do! Let’s fight to help him like he has fought to survive! He has the will…we have the way!!
I honestly question if Champ was dumped. Something tells me he was abandoned and he had to take matters into his own han..hooves. He couldn’t have traveled far. I’m hoping there is a search underway in the vicinity where he was spotted to find the property he came from, it’s possible there are more where he came from.
I’ve seen horses in this state make it. Sending good wishes to Champ.
He is one lucky boy. It was probably the best thing that the SOB who owned him could do, was to turn him loose. He was surely not going to get help any other way. I pray he will recover nicely and will get a really good home with lots of love and care.
I am so glad there are people that help these poor animals. I just will never understand how people can do this to anything! It is maddening!
you are totally incredible amazing! What would the world do without your wonderful work!