A stock van for pigs or cows loaded with 59 Belgian draft horses was in a vehicle accid- Who owned the horses?
August 24th, 2009 | by drafthorse |
Mary E D asked:
The accident occurred in N.illinois on saturday. The horses were all 1-2 years old traveling from Indiana to Minn. Acc. took 5 hours to rescue the horses, 7 were put down and the rest sent to a farm to recover. Why were they in a Stock trailer and where were they going? Slaughter is supposed to be stopped in US? Anyone know more details. Article in Monday 10/29 Chicago Tribune.
percheron draft horses
The accident occurred in N.illinois on saturday. The horses were all 1-2 years old traveling from Indiana to Minn. Acc. took 5 hours to rescue the horses, 7 were put down and the rest sent to a farm to recover. Why were they in a Stock trailer and where were they going? Slaughter is supposed to be stopped in US? Anyone know more details. Article in Monday 10/29 Chicago Tribune.
percheron draft horses
9 Responses to “A stock van for pigs or cows loaded with 59 Belgian draft horses was in a vehicle accid- Who owned the horses?”
By dressage.rider on Aug 27, 2009 | Reply
How awful. I did not hear about it.
By AmandaL on Aug 27, 2009 | Reply
My God. I live right near there - only 20 minutes away. I swear, if I knew what had happened, I’d gone up to help out.
59 horses in an illegal double decker - headed to a kill auction in MN, no doubt. That article made me sick. I hope the other horses that weren’t euthanized get some help and go to rescue. Unreal. What a disgusting thing hto have happen.
I hope the driver gets some serious jail time. Hauling horses in a double decker is illegal, 59 of them is way way way way too overloaded, and in the middle of the night - of course trying to sneak around illegally to get to a kill auction. Probably the horses weren’t owned - maybe Amish horses they didn’t want anymore - lots of Amish in rural areas between IL & IN, or maybe they were stolen.
Unreal.
People disgust me.
By animegirl10000 on Aug 30, 2009 | Reply
I have no clue but I feel absoloutly horrible about it. Thoses poor horses! I wish I could do something!
By frozenloc2 on Aug 31, 2009 | Reply
From what I have read they were “no saled” at an auction and were headed for a draft auction in Minnesota. It is still very possible that they would/will end up heading for slaughter just because there are so many of them and other horses at auctions right now. Apparently they came from a PMU ranch. I did read that there were a total of 4 of these trucks, but I don’t know whether that is true or not. Given the situation, I’m not surprised that the driver hightailed it out of there on the first flight home.
There may be no slaughter houses open in the US but they are still being sold for slaughter. They are being transported to mexico and Canada.
By Starlight 1 on Sep 3, 2009 | Reply
My guess would be that these poor unfortunate animals were probably being transported to a slaughterhouse north of the border in Canada. Slaughter of horses is perfectly legal in Canada and Mexico, and the closing of the houses here hasn’t stopped the shipments of horses to these places. One of the other writers mentioned that the animals had been ‘no saled” somewhere, and that doesn’t surprise me at all, given the severe problems we already have with overpopulation of horses and a hay shortage this winter. No, I think the animals were headed to slaughter- the owner or owners just don’t want to admit to what they were doing to the press.
By Fancy Pywakkit on Sep 5, 2009 | Reply
Nothing is being done to stop horse slaughter. There are still 3 huge opperations in the U.S.A. Two of them are in Texas. It is still very much alive, and it doesnt appear that anyone is trying to stop it. Someone in the higher-ups of the political arena needs to do something.
By Carol on Sep 7, 2009 | Reply
Here are some links:
And this are kinda graphic pics…
I live less than 10 minutes from this intersection but I just heard about the accident today.
More like 14 were actually put down and according to the story they were coming from Shipshewana IN and going to a sale in MN.
Apparently they were not going to slaughter.. they are PMU foals going to a sale.
Whether that is true or not is not really known.
By 1crossmare on Sep 8, 2009 | Reply
ooooohhhh some people really **** me off.!
First off, If these horses were legitimately going to a draft auction, they would not have been in an illegal stock semi.
Slaughter may have been banned in the US but it is alive and kicking in Mexico (hideous slaughter procedures are used in Mexico) and Canada.
My congratulations to those who helped out roadside.
My condolences go to the animals who are the victims of ignorance and greed.
I hope the individuals behind this outrage get to personally experience the joys of a captive bolt gun.
By Dressage all the way! on Sep 9, 2009 | Reply
I don’t think they still have found the owners. I read an article at and the Tribune and said 13 were put down, they were in a double decker trainer. They were being transferred from Indiana to Minnesota for auction. Horse slaughter is stopped in the U.S. but I believe horses can still be shipped to Cananda or Mexico for slaughter. You can sign a petition to stop the exportation of horses at this site has great links and contacts such as congressmen and so on to write letters to. The link where I read the story was . They have a lot of great horse news.