For over two years, Maine Friends of Animals has made horses its focus issue. Horses have come to the forefront of public attention with several recent serious cases of equine abuse in Maine. MFOA decided to research the subject of homeless horses further and produced what is the first report regarding unwanted horses in Maine. Click here to read the full report.

The issue of horses has also received the attention of the legislature. A bill introduced in the last session created a task force that resulted in the formation of a group of representatives from within the Maine horse community.  This newly-formed group is already beginning to address many of the concerns cited in the report.

We do not contend that this report is the last word, but simply a good starting point to understand what needs to be done to reduce the number of individual animals in Maine being subjected to abuse, neglect and inhumane treatment.

In researching this issue, we could not overlook the role that Maine plays in horses being shipped to slaughter in Quebec, sold for human consumption in Europe and Asia.  Each year, a business in Maine ships 1,000-1,500 horses to slaughter in Canada.  Others are shipping horses through Maine for slaughter.