Janis Krassin couldn’t stand the thought of a horse being crammed in an unventilated truck, hauled to Canada, and slaughtered for overseas meals.
“Hippophagy” is the act or practice of eating horsemeat. Some Europeans covet a nice stallion stew, and in Japan, horsemeat is eaten as sashimi.
Not a rich woman by any means, Krassin, 49, scraped together $775 and bought a pregnant mare from a feedlot in Yakima. The rescued mama and colt are now living happily in Monroe.
In mid-August, the Cascade High School graduate couldn’t settle down to sleep after checking an Internet site a friend had recommended about rescuing horses bound for slaughter in Canada. The site included a list of doomed steeds.
She sprang into action.
“I immediately e-mailed that night,” Krassin said. “First thing the next morning, I received an e-mail back stating I had better move if I was interested, because the truck was coming the next day and the pregnant mare would be on her way to slaughter.”
In just hours, she filled out an application form with Columbia Basin Equine Rescue, references were checked and the money was sent via PayPal.
“The money is the amount the feedlot owner would get if the horse would have been weighed and sold for meat,” Krassin said. “By the evening of Aug. 17, she was off the feedlot, at the volunteer’s home, safe and sound.”
Krassin hurried to Yakima to meet the mother and colt, which was born just a few days after the rescue. She named them Hope and McGregor. In a week, Krassin brought the pair to the Monroe pasture where she keeps Eagle, her other horse.
Hope, who had a mysterious scar on her back leg, would have nothing to do with humans. Unfortunately, no history came with the rescued mare, so Krassin was on her own for treatment. After a month of kindness, she was able to give Hope a kiss.
Krassin said tears came to her eyes when she rubbed Hope’s ears for the first time.
“She would have been put in a truck with 31 other animals,” Krassin said. “The baby would have been trampled.”
There are multiple online sources about the Canadian meat business. Granted, I know nothing about butchering cows, pigs and chickens, but I nearly lost my lunch reading about how horses suffer in packing plants.
Krassin, a dog groomer, understands that horses have to die someday, but an animal that has been a pet deserves to be humanely euthanized by a veterinarian, she said. She speculated that some people resist the $100 veterinary charge and $100 carcass removal charge in favor of selling unwanted horses to a feedlot.
It’s possible that sellers believe the animal will be adopted, but they’re wearing blinders.
If someone wants to buy Hope or McGregor, Krassin said she will use the money to save another horse. For more information about rescuing, visit www. columbiabasinequinerescue .org.
Samantha Milbredt, president of the rescue group, used to monitor trucks being loaded with horses headed to Canada.
“It was our goal that their last time on earth was as good as it could be,” Milbredt said. “We would stay around, make sure the trucks were filled humanely, but it became such an emotional drain.”
Volunteers would cry at the loading dock. The owner said he didn’t want to see their tears, she said, so they would try to hide around corners. They approached him with their purchase plan, which would save shipping charges, and the rescue organization gained approval to buy doomed animals.
The group has bought more than 1,200 horses since 2004.
“People dump them off,” she said. “The whole thing is, we teach horses to trust us, then just get rid of them.”
Krassin is kind to other animals, too. At her Happy Dog Groom Shop, Krassin specializes in making old and abused dogs beautiful. She said she moves gently and works on only one dog at a time to make the grooming experience as pleasant as possible.
As we visited in the paddock, she cooed to Hope, “That’s my pumpkin.”
Baby McGregor used the pasture like a racetrack, all but stumbling on still-spindly legs. It seemed like a perfect life.
“They’ve taken us into battle and delivered our mail,” Krassin said. “They become our friends. I eat meat. I’m not opposed to some being killed, but they need to be put down humanely.”
Horseburger, anyone?
Columnist Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451 or oharran@heraldnet.com.
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