The Hypocrisy of a French ‘Rescue’ forum in the UK …….

Posted by on Sep 22, 2011 in Association News | 17 comments

A couple of years ago, we at ERF fought a long and difficult battle with the ‘rescue’ sites in the UK, trying to explain to them that most of the French ‘rescue’ sites were merely fronts for dealers, and the ludicrous prices being paid for very sick and sorry animals, or youngstock, were simply lining the pockets of dealers who laughed all the way to the bank.

ERF has been alerted to one of the former sites trying to continue their import of supposed ‘rescues’ under new ‘management’. This particular forum name and ethos was handed over to the current webmaster by the previous webmaster under the proviso it was to be used to try and help UK horses in trouble, and that the French horses were to be left for the French sites to deal with. The previous webmaster had seen the sorry mess of ‘French Rescue’ to the UK for what it really was, transporters and dealers making a fast buck out of soft hearted people.
The site is operating behind closed doors in this particular instance, trying to secretly raise money for a meat bred foal to be imported into the UK.

What ERF cannot understand, is that despite this site having been unable to sustain permanent homes for horses previously imported via it’s forum, the members are continuing to try and import more horses. Especially considering that several of their previous ‘rescues’ have fallen on hard times and are now are placed in UK welfare organisations using up UK donations that should have gone to help UK horses in need.

Whilst that in itself is bad enough, what is really abhorrent is the group are planning to use a transporter that their current webmaster knows exports UK horses live to France for slaughter.
Whilst they pay him to collect their foal, (who incidentally will have a ridiculously long and likely illegal journey back to the UK for such a young unhandled horse) they are in effect also funding him to export horses to slaughter who may not have faced such a fate had the site’s previous abandoned animals not filled places in a rescue centre.

This particular transporter has admitted that a huge proportion of his international trade and income was based upon the ‘rescue’ horses.

He exports UK horses to meat farms/dealers, funding the trip by selling the animals to the farmers/dealers, then has many of the same animals put on a forum at way over meat price. People have their heartstrings tugged at, buy them to ship them back to the UK to ‘save’ them, he does the shipping making money on the inflated transport prices he charges.

To demonstrate how ridiculous the situation is – the costs that one foal will incur simply to be bought and arrive in the UK are this -

Purchase price of 800 euros – £615.38 approximately. (Well over meat value)

Travel costs are £600 plus vat at 20% which is £120.

Total amount to raise for both purchase price and transport is £1,335.38.

Yes, that’s right – £1,335.38.

How much hay/food/farrier visits would that buy for the shelters currently housing their already unwanted animals? How many UK native breed foals going to slaughter could that help?

The UK is overflowing with unwanted equines – why import another who will have no vet checks, no vaccinations and have a real possibility of carrying a vector bourne disease such as EIA?

We believe the horse below waiting to go to Italy for slaughter from France is a UK TB. He was there around the time that the ‘rescue’ sites were at their most busy. Perhaps he might have found a home in the UK if not for those exporting to slaughter to fill their coffers.

Please, use your energies to stop those that export live to slaughter, rather than helping fund their trips to do so.

Read THIS LINK to see how the trading operates.



If you value the work we do at ERF, please donate so we can continue to help equines in France

  • http://www.facebook.com/catharine.higginson Catharine Higginson

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  • Dontlikefrenchhorse

    be very careful about publishing lies

    • Admin

      There are no lies published on here. Some uncomfortable truths, undoubtedly. Are you involved with this at all, ‘Dontlikefrenchhorse’?

    • Touchofblue

      That sounds like a threat–why?

      When New Forest ponies from Beaulieu Road sold under minimum values, reappear at a French fattening farm/dealers, but DEFRA Export have no record of them leaving the UK, it is time questions were asked.

  • Papillonbleu 16

    Totally and utterley agree.  Well don for highlighting this again.

  • Debbiehughes5460

    forgodsake.   I used to run one of the french rescue sites and yes some lovely horses came over.  I have two and they are fantastic but we should be concentrating on our own horses.  The french sites are rehoming most of the horses.   Please lets concentrate on the uk horses or they will end up on the meat farms like I have found out some of the horses that were  on my site did.  Especially thoroughbreds, new forest and there was a shire horse aswell.  these farmers have cottened on to us english and are now putting their prices up beyond meat price

  • Samantha Hobden

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  • Dontlikefrenchhorse

    explain how to save the english horses please given meat farmers in the UK don’t exactly go about publicising their activities.

    charities do not buy them from auction, many only take in RSCPA referred welfare cases, so the simply thrown away does not have a look in.

    Debbie encouraged the importation of many many French horses but now considers they should not be saved by anyone other than the French.  Even if they are UK horses in the first place – please explain the ethics of all this debbie.

    • Admin

      Dontlikefrenchhorse – if you want to help UK horses heading to slaughter, then go to your local markets and buy them before the meat man does. The same number of horses go to slaughter in the UK as in France. I’m unsure of you’re second point, but if you say that many UK unwanted horses ‘don’t get a look in’, then surely that is more reason to take a horse from the UK rather than giving money to unscrupulous transporters and French dealers?I don’t wish to put words in Debbie’s mouth, but I do no that she finally saw the French sites for what they were. I suspect she realised that it was wrong to continue to import unseen and unvetted and often unhandled horses to uncertain futures.

  • Tabithtabby

    So how many of you uk rescuers are going to ashford sales next week to stop the welshies being sent to france?  Or the mares and foals listed?

    It’s all very well criticising other people but what ARE YOU ACTUALLY DOING FOR UK HORSES?

    You mention the UK TB in your article – so are you going round the UK sales and race yards picking them up before they go to France?  How do you think an intervention in the UK could take place – unless someone was at the sales, with money, a trailer and with a free space in their yard.  Where were YOU? 

    What is your strategy to prevent the UK thoroughbred ending up where he did?

    • Admin

      Tabithtabby, ERF are based in France, so can only monitor the French sales.

    • don’tdressupdealingasrescuing

      Maybe you could ask yourself that same question? Other than helping line the pocket of a man who is exporting UK horses and ponies to slaughter in France. 
      For every French horse you BUY and pay him to import them for you,  how many UK horses and ponies is he bringing across to France to be slaughtered for meat? 

    • Mill

      If you seriously think that you are rescuing a horse when you buy one from a dealer at a sale then you are very ignorant! Not only are you fueling a business you are creating a new problem. Unless you can afford to give the equine a permanent home for the rest of its life then it would be better to have the equine euthanized. I am saying this because many people can not afford to keep an equine and welfare charities are inundated with requests every day from equine owners who cant afford to keep their horse any longer. They also receive serious welfare reports as people try and rescue horses and cant look after them properly or dealers are letting horses suffer. There are so many people who don’t realize what is really happening out there and how over populated with equines Britain is today. Yes if you want just bring more horses in so more can suffer and the dealers can buy more and treat more horses with cruelty. If you cared anything for equine welfare you would have read the article properly and realized what is better for these horses. If you want to help equines in Britain volunteer at a welfare organization, don’t give money to the people who are causing the welfare issues in the first place.

  • Tabithtabby

    yes you are based in france, so why do you feel that ONLY YOU can rescue french horses?  you say it is wrong for anyone not based in france to do so.    why do you take this view?

    surely a life is a life.  the french are happy to rescue new forest, shetlands, and other UK cast offs
     when they turn up in France.
     
    there is a market in the UK for heavy horses – the comtois fit the bill very well.   why therefore is it wrong to pick up some of the throw away comtois?

    by the way the foal you complained about was only weaned in October and is about 13hh….so hardly a foal.  get your facts right.
     

    • Admin

      Tabithtabby, your reasoning is extremely flawed.

      From your post, it suggests that you are part of the new Equine Section website. 

      1] Buying out of the meat chain is not rescue.

      2] A foal is a foal, whenever he or she is weaned. The height has no significance on the lifestage description. An equine is a foal until he or she becomes a yearling.

      3] The one you want to import is still a foal, and should be subjected to the maximum eight hours travelling regulations on any trip. From where this foal is located, the legal journey time before arrival in the UK (including ferry times) should be a minimum of 3 days. You are putting this foal through a longer trip than he would have made to slaughter.

      4] If this foal has been vaccinated and wormed as you claim in your self justification for import him, then he was never ever going for meat, so you are simply importing another horse into an already over stocked UK. So you are not rescuing, even in your distorted view of the word.

      5] None of the animals have had health checks done, the foal could be carrying any sort of disease. You would be paying an addition 150 euros on top of what you are already paying if that were so.

      6] You at Equine Section continue to use a transporter who knowingly has
      exported UK horses to France to be shipped on to Italy for meat. From your own philosophy above of  ‘surely a life is a life’ does that not apply in this instance also? Your
      hypocrisy at supporting such actions is unbelieveable.

      7] We do welfare work in France, we do not buy out of the meat chain. That is not rescue, that is simply dealing with another name. As I said earlier, if those young heavies you import are chipped, vaccinated and wormed, they were NOT going for meat in the first place.

      8] Your point about the French ‘rescuing’ the UK breeds that have been exported to France is very interesting. How do you think they get there? The transporters that import the rescue horses are full of the unwanted horses and ponies from the UK on the way out.

      9] Why do you not go to the UK markets to buy some from the fate of being shipped to Italy, if that is the only way you believe you can ‘rescue’?

      10] Fell pony colts were going for around £20 each last week. They were bought by someone who is going to ship them abroad to slaughter. How many of those could you have bought for the money you spent buying a French horse from a dealing site?

      11] If you want to import heavy horses because you can’t afford to pay the prices for the native UK weight carrying breeds, don’t dress it up as rescue. Be honest and do it legitimately with a vetting,  health checks and proper journey logs.

      12] As regards there being a ‘market’ for the Comtois in the UK, yes you are probably right, there may well be. They are pretty animals. That however is dealing, not rescue.

  • Gullanesaddlery

    where can you rescue horses in scotland? never hear of horse sales anymmore?