
Top 20 Reasons to Support Second Wind:
1. There are more neglect cases in the top welfare states,
WV is one of those states, the states average income,
educational level is also lower, unemployment rates are
higher than the national average plus higher rates of
disability, all of these factors increase the factors of
animal neglect.
2. Because WV is still less expensive than most states, we
can still save and help more animals than nearly anywhere
else in the US.
3. SWAP helps horses, cats and dogs, all companion animals
that have the highest rates of death by euthanasia and
slaughter. We do everything in our power to train every
animal so they will be successful in their home, and we do
all we can to make sure each animal is current with all
health care and basic care (shots, farrier, deworming,
castrations, spay neuter) is always done when they are of
age.
4. SWAP screens all adopters, to include insuring the
adopter has appropriate facilities, training and
employment/steady income, many rescues don't even ask if the
adopter has a job.
5. SWAP tracks all their animals for life with a strong
agreement that protects the animal forever.
6. SWAP has taken adopters to court that have breeched their
agreement and hurt our animals, the agreement has been
upheld in the courts in 5 states.
7. SWAP is 98% volunteer, we only pay employees for the
heaviest work on the farm.
8. SWAP has its own farm and does not depend on fosters who
have varies degrees of experience, formal training and time.
The SWAP directors and volunteers and part time employees
have a total of over 90 years of professional experience and
training. SWAP also pays $250. a month to have the farm and
the operation protect from liabilities and disaster.
9. SWAP also does everything in its power to protect horses,
volunteers, employees, interns, visitors, adopters by using
strong safety practices and we're pleased to say the only
person that has ever been hurt here is our President who
tends to take the brunt of the risks on the farm. There has
never been any accident on the farm where any horse had to
be put down because of the accident... only minor typical
injuries of horses.
10. SWAP has over 16 years experience doing nothing but
adoption, rescue and training adopters and their horses. We
don't do anything else, no breeding, no boarding, no other
farm animals to take time/money from rescue.
11. SWAP accepts animals from all over the US and Canada and
we have animals in homes in 47 states and Canada. SWAP has
been involved in neglect cases in many states, influenced
local, regional and national welfare laws.
12. Many rescues sell their horses outright, they do not
screen adopters and do not track their animals, some don't
even call adopters to follow up even once. Many do not have
any written agreement and many do not track for life, they
release ownership after 2 years or immediately, which would
be fine if horses only lived 2 years but many live well into
their 30's and 40's. So with those programs they can be
saved only to go right back into the cycle of neglect and
being passed around.
13. Statistics show that 80% of horse owners only keep their
horse for 5 years, which means that most horses will be in
at least 6 homes over the course of their life. It only
takes one bad or uneducated home to end a horses life.
14. Many rescues use emotional hijacking to get people's
money by showing dying animals and telling supporters they
will go to slaughter on saturday or monday. Most times this
is not true at all, the horse is held until its sold.
15. Most neglect cases are never prosecuted and many do not
even take the animal out of the neglectful home, but our
strong agreements allow us to remove horses from neglectful
homes without the authorities.
16. In all 50 states animal welfare laws are weak and do not
govern or protect the animal for optimum health... they only
are written for the absolute minimum care and many animals
will still die with minimum care.
17. SWAP has always been completely open about issues,
problems, about when we are struggling or even when we have
to put a sick horse or dog down. Most programs keep those
things secret for fear they will lose financial support. Our
website is set up so that you can completely track every
horse that comes to us, see it as available, as adopted and
then see reports from adopters as happy endings. Many
programs do not even keep their website up to date, much
less allow you to track each and every animal that comes to
them.
18. SWAP is a full service welfare organization. We've gone
in with the authorities in several states, we've filed
criminal complaints against adopters and other horse owners
for neglect, we've testified in several neglect cases. Our
president has completed 12 equine cases as an expert
witness. We've not approved applications because of
dishonesty or poor facilities. We've done all we can to
either teach adopters to protect them, including not
approving an application for horses that were well over
their experience level, we've sued adopters for neglect,
removed horses from adopters for neglect and for breech of
agreement, we've fired volunteers and employees who we found
were either hurting adoption animals or were stealing from
them or we found to be dishonest. We've helped put
neglectful people into jail by reporting and testifying.
This certainly has not made us any friends and that is why
you see us smeared all over forums but rescue and adoption
is about working for the horse.
19. For many years and even today when some rescues have one
to 3 animals in their rescue, we are saving between 30 to 60
animals at one time. Do you help one animal or do you help
60? We believe you help 60.
20. SWAP posts all receipts for feed, farrier, vet,
deworming, spay/neuter, shots, training, special care for
all animals and those are available to all donors at
anytime.
This is not to say that we are the only good rescue, that is
not true at all, there are many but we urge each of you to
research where your dollars are going, to look at the
agreements, practices and investments of programs and see
how many animals they are helping, their experience and
practices before investing your time and support.
Celebrating 16 years of helping horses, dogs and cats and
their owners.