By Jack Carone | Board Member
We’ve been keeping you up-to-date on the progress of the Gila herd, from their rescue from danger, their preparation for their move to California, and how they arrived and reunited with their precious families.
If you just joined our Gila story, at this time last year Return to Freedom was working with colleagues and volunteers against all odds to find solutions for 907 hungry wild horses standing without shelter in below-freezing, blizzard conditions in South Dakota. The horses had been impounded by the state and scheduled for a public auction where most would have been sold to be slaughtered. Because of the generosity of people like you, and the determined work of our team and fellow animal-welfare groups, all those horses are now safe. RTF then took responsibility for the 120-strong Gila herd, presently living on beautiful leased Northern California pastures with their foals, as we work to ensure a future for that historic herd.
A favorite Gila youngster is Lumpy. He got his nick-name due to a growth on his face we saw when we first met him. Born in a winter storm, knee-deep in snow, he was transported to Nevada with his mother and the rest of the herd to be stabilized and brought to good health. Along with five other colts under 11/2 years of age, he came to RTF in May. We have removed the lump, but his nick name has stuck! Lumpy is now making great progress with our trainer, who is getting him ready for a great adoption. Lumpy is setting a good example for his other young Gila friends, also learning to trust humans in preparation for their adoptive homes.
When we asked his trainer to describe him, her observations made us smile—
“He is SO cute and very friendly but just a tiny bit baby sassy wiggly—we are starting to take him for walks around the ranch and he is still a little worried about new places …
He is a funny horse—He seems to think he should be a human, not a horse. He likes to be out playing with us and doesn't even mind leaving his friends behind—he prefers you take him out when you are trying to take his friends! He is goofy silly baby, happy and playful, not scared at all, just tricky…he thinks he can outsmart you, and he probably can!
He is cocky…he learns everything and then is looking for what’s next, kind of like a child genius! He is the smartest and he knows it…”
We’re excited that these rescued horses are doing so well, and we’ll make sure that Lumpy and all these Gila youngsters are adopted to great homes.
Every day brings new challenges. We recently learned that the current pasture property in Northern California has been sold, and that we will have to find a new location by September, 2018. We’ll need your help to secure another great one for the resident Gilas once we’ve found it, so we hope you will continue to follow our progress as the herd marches proudly into the future.
In addition to the young weanling colts, we also brought 17 gelded colts 1-5 years of age to our Lompoc facility for socialization and preparation for adoption to qualified and safe homes!
RTF is committed to the entire Gila herd, and, with your help, will do what it takes to make sure their important bloodlines are conserved and that they all have a safe permanent home in the near future. We hope you will continue to be a part of this historic rescue and to help us write this inspiring story.
Thank you!
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
