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What do your kind donations
help pay for at Happy Trails?
by Annette Fisher, Executive Director
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Here’s just a few examples of how we
receive the abused, abandoned and neglected animals, and how they are
helped: |
• Betsy the Standardbred mare came into
the Happy Trails Amish Horse Retirement Program. Her health was
evaluated at the Equine Specialty Hospital. Betsy’s check-up, lameness
evaluation and Coggins test cost $150.
• Baby Natasha the goat was found on the side of the road at only a day
and a half old, and was brought to Happy Trails by a local humane
society. After several weeks of round-the-clock care, she bloated.
Though she has fully recovered, her emergency vet cost was $175. This
does not include her regular exams, check-ups or powdered milk-replacer.
• Louie Louie, a handsome pot belly pig, was recently found abandoned on
a road with no owner to claim him. He needs neutered, vaccinated,
wormed, his hooves and tusks trimmed, and an overall health check. His
vet bill will cost the usual $280 for a complete medical update on a pot
belly pig. Happy Trails currently has 16 pot belly pigs in our care that
will be due for their yearly vet visit this fall.
• Three sheep, 27 chickens and seven ducks were removed from an
abandonment situation where their owner was incarcerated on drug
trafficking charges. Unfortunately they were housed next to the owner’s
pit bulls that were trained for fighting, and sadly, often farm animals
are used as bait to train fighting dogs. The sheep’s medical costs
amounted to $385, including hoof trimming, shearing, medications,
vaccinations, worming, and care of the new baby sheep that Mama Sheep
had shortly after her arrival at Happy Trails.
• Cornelius the goat was abandoned at a local vet’s office and brought
to Happy Trails. Cornelius’s initial vet visit and medical update
amounted to $125. After a brief stay at the sanctuary, Cornelius
experienced a neurological disease and ended up at the Ohio State
Veterinary Teaching Hospital in Columbus. Sadly we lost Cornelius.
Between his field service vet’s emergency visit and the OSU invoice,
Cornelius earned a bill of $475.
• An eight month old Hereford cow was discovered on the turnpike one
cold rainy night. His vet bill came to $135 for vaccinations, a health
evaluation and examination, and worming. The gas to move him to his new
home in Virginia cost $275.
• Happy Trails was called in to pick up a horrifically neglected
Saddlebred mare (see story page 16). Though we sadly had to immediately
euthanize her, the cost for the lengthy trip, vet costs and burial
service amounted to $355.
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Here’s a few examples of projects we
hope to accomplish in the near future: |
• The horse stalls need dirt added to
bring them up to the proper level in the barn. About five loads of bank
run is needed at approximately $145 per load.
• Rolls of insulation needs to be installed in the roof of each of the
pot belly pig and farm pig shelters before winter. Approximately 15
rolls of insulation is needed at $40 per roll.
• A cement floor needs to be poured in order to finish our office. A
commercial company will charge about $850.
• We are creating large holding pens for roosters or other feathered
creatures that need isolated. One unit will house nine 3’x3’ pens. Our
goal is to make five of these units. Materials for one unit costs $145.
• Several loads of sand are needed to finish the gravel driveway that
leads back to the horse pasture and farm pig areas — the current gravel
is hard on the hooves of some of the horses and is difficult for
volunteers to walk on. One load of sand is approximately $165.
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Here’s a few examples of items we hope to
purchase: |
• We are hoping to secure fire
extinguishers for each animal shelter and barn. We would need nine fire
extinguishers total, allowing for two in the 80’ long horse barn.
• Various sized tarps for emergencies, from smaller to larger waterproof
tarps. Projected expense for a total of five: $268.
• Two large canopy tents to be used for our fundraisers, approximate
size of 20’x40’. $550 each.
• Fenders to fix our two-horse trailer. Two fenders installed will total
$168.
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Make a tax deductable contribution |
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