AKRON, Mich. — Kristen DeGroat just wanted to sell her horse to another animal lover, but her ad ended up under “Good Things to Eat” in the classified sections of two newspapers.
About a third of the 60 or so calls she received were from people interested in buying horse meat.
“It’s been enough to turn your stomach,” said DeGroat, who eventually sold her 3-year-old mare, Foxy, to a man who wanted a horse for his grandchildren.
DeGroat’s ad, offering the registered pinto for $200 or the best offer, was intended to run Sunday and Monday under the classified ad heading for horses and stables in The Saginaw News and The Bay City Times.
However, human error landed the ad under the food heading in the classified sections of both newspapers. The papers, which have a jointly run classified ad department, corrected the mistake.
“I was pretty outraged,” DeGroat told The Saginaw News. “I’ve owned horses since I was a child. The worst part of all of it, if it had been any other section, it would have just been a mistake.”
DeGroat, 25, who lives about 85 miles northwest of Detroit, said she had received dozens of calls from unhappy animal lovers.
“I had a lady call whose friend was just in tears over this thing,” DeGroat told the Saginaw paper.
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