UPDATE (July 10, 2006) - Check the Triangle website at www.userltriangle.org for an update on some of the quarantined horses that came in last week. A group of USERL volunteers, most of them attendees from the Spring Foster Training course, worked with 4 of the horses. They cleaned, sprayed, brushed and taught the horses basic handling (halter, leadline, picking up hooves, etc).

Recovering horses eating together

Triangle Voluneers donate their time to caring for the horses

(June 30, 2006) - The United States Equine Rescue League, Inc. was called in to assist in an investigation of a herd of approximately 40 horses in the Vanceboro area on the evening of June 29. Our investigators arrived first thing Thursday morning with the Craven County Sheriffs Department. By the end of the day, USERL investigators and a veterinarian had examined all horses on the property. The owner was cooperative with the authorities and agreed to surrender 12 of the worst horses to USERL, where they could receive the care and attention they needed to regain their health. It was a long, hard day for everyone involved. One horse, an older stallion, was removed that day into the care of a veterinarian. Arrangements were quickly made to remove the 11 other horses surrendered on Saturday July 1.

The volunteers and investigators of USERL would like to sincerely thank everyone who has expressed concern over this case and these horses. As many people know, USERL is a volunteer non-profit organization, and we cannot rescue horses such as these without the support of the public. All 12 horses that were voluntarily surrendered by the owner are being carefully monitored and have now been seen by a veterinarian. All are doing as well as can be expected, but they have a long road ahead of them, as do the wonderful foster homes who have opened their heart and their homes to them.

There are many questions still circulating about this case, in particular why charges have not been brought as of yet. As much as we would like to be able to explain everything, this is considered an open investigation, and to discuss the specifics of the case would put not only the case itself in jeopardy but the very horses we are trying to help. We at USERL ask that you please be patient with both our investigators and the officials from Craven County as well. We are all working very hard to ensure the long term well being off all the horses involved with this case, not just the 12 surrendered last week. We thank you for your consideration and will update the website as more information becomes available.

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