In a remote corner of the Antelope Valley, more than 300 horses gambol on a 40-acre desert ranch. But if it weren't for Linda Moss and her army of volunteers, the horses would have met an entirely different fate--in the slaughterhouse.
"We have a little miracle going up there," said Moss, who runs a Glendale-based group called Equus Sanctuary. "We feed 3 tons of hay a day."
Indeed, the Antelope Valley ranch--whose location is a carefully guarded secret--costs more than $30,000 a month to maintain and may be the largest preserve of its kind in the country.
It had its beginnings 10 years ago, when Moss attended an auction of Arabian horses in Pomona. Moss, who loves the breed, was shocked to see meat buyers snap up 38 of the 112 animals.
At that time, the market for horses was glutted. Before federal tax reform in 1986, horse breeding offered a myriad of tax advantages to investors. Others were drawn by skyrocketing prices for top horses.
But the breeding business took a cold shower after tax reform. While many legitimate breeders welcomed the change, others suddenly found themselves with a glut of horses, unable to find buyers. The meat dealers stepped in, gobbling up horses at auctions, at dispersal sales and from backyards, promising good homes but often turning a quick $50 profit per horse by acting as middlemen for slaughterhouses.
"It was largely very wealthy people who dumped their horses all at once," said Moss, who gave up her career as a motion picture sound editor to form Equus Sanctuary. "It was just a blood bath."
Almost 3 million horses--2,944,004, to be exact--died from a 4-inch bolt to the head at a handful of U.S. slaughterhouses over the last 15 years, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Countless others met similar fates, jammed aboard double-decker cattle trucks bound for Canada and Mexico.
Contrary to popular belief, horses sent to the "glue factory" are not just the old, the blind and the crippled. California law, in fact, prohibits shipping any horse not sound enough to stand on all four feet. Rather, slaughter horses run the gamut from foals, prized for their veal-like tender meat, to former show horses and racing champions.
That sends a shudder through horse lovers seeking a new home for an equine friend.
Slaughter of Horses Banned
Growing concerns about horse butchery led to an initiative measure, which was approved by California voters last fall, banning the sale of horses for slaughter.
