On the heels of about a dozen recent rescues of BLM horses from the local Fallon, Nevada feedlot, we have learned of another heartbreaking situation.

  31 weanling and younger foals and 8 nursing mares  with their foals are waiting a tragic fate - they are unknowingly spending their last days on earth in a crowded Nevada feedlot corral where in just over a week they will be loaded onto a semi-truck transport and headed straight to a Canadian slaughter plant.  They will be brutally butchered and processed into a meat product destined for overseas markets.

  It happens every day - over 100,000 American horses are shipped to either Mexico or Canada for the purpose of slaughter every year.  It's not illegal, its not humane.  It's painful, frightning and a torturous death.

  Mares, geldings, foals.  Young, old, healthy and not.  Fat, skinny, wild and gentle.  No horse is turned away from the slaughter house.

  We can't save them all.  I'm not even sure we can save these.

  Lifesavers is caring for about 600 horses at this time.  I had to ask myself, how could we possibly take on even one more mouth to feed, let alone 31 orphan foals and 8 mares and their foals.

  Just look at these photos.  Look at the faces.  Look at the love shared between the mares and the babies.  See the sorrow in their eyes as if they sense their time is near.

  I took these pictures.  I felt their desperation, their confusion, their hope that tomorrow would find them in a better place.  A place with bountiful hay to eat and fresh water - and room to romp and play like baby horses do.

  I had to come up with a plan - at least a possibility - for saving their lives.  I had to imagine a way of affording their feed and care on top of the 600 horses we already feed every single day.

  This is what I have devised... but I'm going to need help from everyone who can pitch in even a little toward the goal of rescuing all the foals and the mares...

  If we can raise $1000, we can rescue and care for one foal for a year.  The money will pay for their purchase away from the killer feedlot, processing with vaccinations & microchipping, and feed for up to 12 months or until adopters or other safe placement can be found.

  If we can raise $10,000 we can save 10 orphan foals and care for them.  If we can raise $31,000 we can save all the orphan babies and feed them without having to tap into the funds we need to feed our current population.  And just a little more than that we can also save the mares and nursing foals.

  That is the only way we can go out on this limb to save these precious lives....we just can't take a chance...we have to be sure we not just rescue the orphans (and the nursing mares if we can) but that we can afford the long term care because that is the most costly part of horse rescue.

  I will also offer to other bona fide, verifiably in good standing, nonprofit horse rescues to take some of these foals and the dowry that we raise for their feed minus the purchase and processing costs.  This way other horse rescue groups can help with this urgent lifesaving rescue and have a safety net for feeding the foals/mares until adoption placement can be secured.

  $1000 is a lot of money for one little life...or is it?  How do we put a monetary value on something so precious, so innocent, so pure?

  If you, as a valued Lifesavers' supporter agree with my plan, if you think that it is sound enough to invest in, please make a generous donation right now.  Time is short and we have a large goal to reach.

  Summer is the absolute worst time to try to fund raise for any charity.  People are on vacation, they are doing family things, they are spending their hard earned money on well deserved fun and happy things.  It's twice as hard to make ends meet right now, and ten times as hard to raise additional funds.

  But I will leave it up to you - a caring friend of Lifesavers and our rescue program.  I will let your heart decide if we can save these lives or not.

  If we only raise $1000, then we will save 1 foal.  For every additional $1000 we raise we will save another foal.  And, we will be able to feed and care for them over the course of a year without straining our already stretched budget.

  Please share this letter with everyone who might be interested, and they will share it with others.

  We, you and I together, have faced bigger challenges than this one.  Remember when we rescued 169 horses from the slaughter house auction?  That was just last July.  Remember when we rescued another 66 horses from the same auction?  That was last September.  Then again we shared the reward of saving 150 Paiute mares and foals last December.

  With your blessing and support we can also save these sweet little souls.

  Please use the button on the left to make a PayPal donation as soon as you possibly can.  If you wish to mail a donation or fax your credit card info, please see the information at the bottom of this page.

  Thank you in advance for helping these foals and nursing mares with whatever you can give.  Any amount will make a difference!

Many blessings,

Jill Starr, President, Lifesavers Inc.