I've always been outspoken.

No red text this time ... it's all me. This is a response to quite a long thread that was going on at the time, back in April, when sketchy details were all we really had to work with.

Grass Lake - animal cruelty, or personal rights?
Apr 10, 2007, 2:09pm

I think it is less to do with whether we "like" or "don't like" Animal Control or the rescue group in this case ... but if we believe that any government or private entity has the RIGHT to seize real estate and personal property.

Across the varied reports, there have consistently been THREE horses that most agree were in poor condition, two aged mares and a young mare who had been sick and was recovering.

While it is OPINION thus far if these horses were neglected, starving or simply unfit, and there are many varying opinions on this, I simply see NO GROUNDS for the confiscation of 66 otherwise healthy (if underweight) horses.

It is my OPINION that no government or private organization has the RIGHT to take over ownership of someone's personal property (pets and livestock being property of the individual[s] who own them) due to what their OPINION of suitable or unsuitable fencing or living conditions.

Where is the documentation that the owners had been warned that their property was in violation? Is there a legitimate violation of any LAW? There are ordinances regarding livestock fencing requirements. The types of fencing I have heard reported, seem to be within guidelines, even if far from ideal.

You open a big nasty seething can of worms that's real hard to close when you start letting the public determine what is best for individuals. Got a founder-prone horse on a dry lot with limited feed? That's cruelty, to an uninformed citizen. Got a ribby, swaybacked, aged broodmare? That's a starving horse, to an ignorant bystander.

I've said it before ... IF the truth comes out that these horses' owners were really neglecting these horses, by LAW, then they should be punished to the full extent of the law.

Would you stand by and let someone take your whole herd because one was sick? Would you watch them take your neighbors pets because your trash blew into their yard? Yeah, it borders on the ridiculous ... but just look at some of the "laws" we have these days. In some places, it is a FELONY to put your old, sick dog out of his misery. Punishable by PRISON time. Because you didn't want your dog's final memory to be a car ride and a cold table in a vet's office ... or because a bullet costs a tiny fraction of the price of a vet's needle. Whatever your reason, it is irrelevant. Someone made it law that you can't shoot your dog. If it gets loose at night, gets hit by a car, is writhing and maimed in the road, and an emergency call to a vet won't get a response for an hour or more, it is still a FELONY to shoot that poor dog. It shouldn't be.

I'm opinionated. You're all welcome to yours. I do not feel that the media is presenting a fair and realistic story.

I feel that animal control would not be involved if it were 3 horses worth a combined total of $1,000 in the exact same living conditions. But we're talking about potentially tens of thousands of dollars worth of mostly healthy horses. Several people have expressed feelings that AC is corrupt, greedy, out of bounds.

It doesn't add up.

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I'm not on the owners' side ... I don't know them ... but I am vehemently against the THEFT of personal property by a government body or private group without DUE PROCESS or just cause! Remember that these guys are innocent until PROVEN guilty ... this is America ... we don't expect the police to come into our houses and take what they want, do we?

I've seen pictures posted on this very board of horses that looked worse than the poorest of the Grass Lake horses we've seen ... people here post about not being able to afford hay, or vet care ... God knows I've been there ... people allege that so-and-so has no right to own horses, tales of horses being 'rescued' in the night ... I'm just baffled at the tales of AC turning a blind eye to true neglect and then suddenly in this case we are just supposed to believe that AC is justified.

I ain't buyin' what they're sellin'. I'm waiting to see the facts come out.

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Whose business is it of anyones if someone has 7 horses, 70 or 700? NONE. As long as they are being cared for by someone. I can't ride 3 horses at once, why do I need 3? Some people have horses that they don't or can't ride, some board at stables and hardly ever visit ... NONE of that is anyone's business but their own.

Wondering how many hay bellies are being mistaken for pregnancies ... if the owners say that 10-11 mares were bred. Where is the data to support that 30 or 39 mares are nearing parturition?

There we go. I've learned a lot more about the case since April. But I think I had it pegged pretty well even then.