Our organization rescued over 50 horses during the Thomas Fire. We have one horse trailer that can transport 3 horses at a time. This was not enough to handle the need during the disaster. We are kindly asking for a horse stock trailer that can transport up to five horses at a time. The fire left the mountains void of vegetation. Excessive rainfall will result in mudslides and debris flow. Unfortunately, we will be dealing with this over the next few years. Horse rescues will be necessary.
In December, 2017, The Humane Society of Ventura County (HSVC) was ground zero for the worst fire in California history. While we are ready for natural disasters on a small to medium scale, the Thomas Fire was a massive situation that required horse rescues throughout the community. At this time, the HSVC has one horse stock trailer that can transport three horses. This was not enough during the fire. When the next disaster strikes, it will be necessary to provide horse rescues once again.
A new horse stock trailer that can transport 5 horses at a time is necessary. Our existing trailer could not handle the need during the fire. We are expecting mudslides over the next five years due to the burned out vegetation on all of the surrounding mountains. There will be future large-scale horse rescue operations. A 5 horse stock trailer will help us be more effective. During the Thomas Fire, we rescued 76 horses running 24 hours a day. Adding another trailer will allow us to do much more.
With a horse trailer that can transport 5 horses at once, we will be able to rescue more animals in a shorter period of time. This will help save more animals and in addition, help mitigate risk posed to staff that will be performing the rescue. The more horses rescued at a faster pace means less time in the dangerous elements. This benefits the entire community as more people can count on our services when the next disaster strikes.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
