NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — They help provide some of the most regal and royal images of carnival. They are the Mardi Gras parade horses, and not all of them are from here.
“Every year, about a dozen or more are bought from a horse broker,” Jeff Dorson of the Humane Society of Louisiana tells WGNO News.
The horses are rented by carnival krewes for their members, like Rex lieutenants, to ride in their parades. But after the last parades for the season roll, the company that provides the horses sends them back to the brokers. This year, 15 horses were brought in for the season and could have faced uncertain futures if they’d returned to the horse market.
“The kill buyers could scoop them up, and they could go on their way to Mexico or Canada for slaughter,” Dorson said. He adds that while it is illegal to slaughter horses in the United States, there is a market for the meat in Europe so other countries allow it.
So seven years ago, Dorson helped lead a program to find people here to adopt the horses. It’s a job that seemingly never ends because new horses are brought in each year for the parades. But so far, more than 100 have been adopted.
There is an adoption fee that can be anywhere from a few hundred dollars to more than a thousand. Also, all applications are vetted before anyone is allowed to adopt.
This year, just days after the final parade, Dorson said the program has once again delivered every horse in need to a forever home.
“We have about 30 applications on the last two. I think it’s going to be fair to say all of them are finding great homes.”
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