Horses Rescued from Slaughter Find New Homes in Tennessee

Thirty-one wild horses scheduled to be slaughtered are now in safe hands. Five of those horses were rescued by a Hawkins County animal sanctuary.

These horses are from Nevada and once roamed freely in the west, but they were captured and scheduled to be auctioned. That's when the T.E.A.R.S. (Treadway Equine Animal Rescue) worked with several agencies to make sure all of the horses ended up in safe places.

Melissa Hull and her daughter Mollie Bird have been rescuing horses for about a decade now.

When they saw a message on Facebook, warning of the horses prepared to be slaughtered, Hull said they volunteered to take all of the horses immediately.

"These guys could've gone right to an auction, been taken out of the country to Mexico or Canada to a slaughterhouse, and then been shipped to Europe or other countries for food," Hull said.

Several other agencies joined in, and they were able to split the horses between sanctuaries in Nevada, Colorado, Hawkins County, Tennessee.

Donors also pitched in, raising more than $15,000 to transport all of the horses to homes where they'll be cared for.

"They'll always know what it's like just to be them, not to be under anyone's thumb other than being loved, cared for, having everything they need," Hull said.

The five horses T.E.A.R.S. adopted range in names from Wildfire to Bashful, just the first step to being trained. The training is old-fashioned and doesn't even use ropes. They'll be trained so they're comfortable around people.

"We just get to where they'll come up to us. We don't push ourselves onto them. It usually starts finding something they like," Bird said.

She said once they're trained, you'll barely be able to know they once roamed wild.

"They'll walk where you walk, follow you, and if you've got something in your pocket, they'll try to pickpocket you," Bird added.

The ladies at T.E.A.R.S. said that's a bond no one can break.

"They're the most amazing animals on earth. Anybody who's ever truly loved a horse and interacted with it knows they're some of the most majestic creatures God ever created," Hull said.

Although they rescued five horses, four of the females are pregnant. Some of those horses are expecting as early as February.

Originally Posted By WCYB