Wharfies hold horses

Press, 12 April 1980, Page 9

Wharfies hold horses

NZPA Sydney A shipment of 40 horses destined for Japanese rdaughternouses is now in Jie care of the New South Wales branch of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, having been unloaded at Port Botjny after the Waterside Workers’ Union refused to »et them leave the country oecause of their poor health. Many were in such a pitiful condition they could only limp slowly.

One was so weak it turn-, bled from the truck and [crashed head-first into the (ground. i Some had large chunks of I flesh stripped away, and others had deep gashes : under their legs and on their I flanks. ! Almost all the horses had 'badly swollen legs, and some had severe eye wounds. i An R.S.P.C.A. spokes(woman, Miss Marie McCaskell, said .the horses I might have to stay at Syd-

,ney’s Yagoona animal centre for up to six weeks before they would be strong enough to make the voyage to the Japanese meatworks. If the horses remain the full six weeks the R.S.P.C.A. will have to find more than $28,000 for upkeep. If enough donations were nbt made the organisation might have to sell some of its property, she said. “We are already $lBO,OOO in the red, but we will just have to find the money because we are morally bound to look after them,” Miss McCaskell said. The horses were taken to Yagoona in three semi-trail-ers and unloaded into an enclosure normally used for dog obedience classes.