Economy takes a toll on farm animals
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The Riverside Press-Enterprise is reporting that Inland Empire farm animals are the latest casualty of a tightening economy. Apparently hay and feed prices have more than doubled over the last year.
Owners of horses, pigs and chickens are deciding to sell, give away or even abandon their animals as the cost of feeding and keeping them shoot through the roof, say feed store operators and others who take care of animals. ‘It’s really bad,’ said Cathey Burtt, owner of Moon Shadow Farms, a horse-boarding facility in Norco. Recently, she said, she saw a horse running down the street outside her home, apparently abandoned by its owner. She said animal control officers took the horse, but had to put it up for adoption after no one claimed it for a month. ‘People are really desperate,’ Burtt said. ‘Having a horse is a luxury and people have other priorities, like paying the mortgage.’