Getting rid of horses no easy task
Carol Johnson grieved when her 28-year-old quarterhorse had to be put down.
His knees were bad. Shots from the vet weren’t working.
One night, Johnson and four friends couldn’t get Jack to his feet, so she called the vet.
What happened later was even worse than seeing Jack die.
Johnson’s husband called a local rendering company. But they were too busy.
A second company agreed to pick up the horse for $150, but only if it was left by the road.
So a neighbor with a tractor helped drag Jack to the fence line, where he lay all day.
The rendering company said the horse was too far from the road. So the next night, the neighbor dragged Jack to the roadside, where he lay, covered by sheets for another day.
“He was my friend,” said Johnson, who lives north of Omaha. “It was a sad scene. He didn’t deserve what he went through.”
A new animal cremation service opening in Gretna this month would have been the ideal solution, Johnson said.
Everyday Angels Pet Cremation Service will be more expensive than the rendering truck, but it will offer a more dignified sendoff, said Andrea Hartwig, who expects to open her business by the end of July.
Disposing of a horse is not easy or inexpensive.
Euthanizing a horse can cost from $55 to more than $150, according to Nebraska equine vets.
Rendering plants charge about $150 to pick up an animal, if they don’t have to drive far.
The cost of cremating a horse at the Gretna cremation service will average about $450, depending on the driving distance.
Burial can cost several hundred dollars.
“You’re probably talking $200 to $400 if you have to rent a backhoe,” said Gary Stauffer, University of Nebraska extension agent in Holt County.
Nebraska state law allows a person to bury a horse unless the county or city says otherwise. Lincoln does. Only animals that weigh less than 150 pounds can be buried in Lincoln, or in Douglas County, according to local animal control staff.
Horses can be burned, buried or rendered, said state veterinarian Dr. Dennis Hughes.
A horse that weighs fewer than 600 pounds can be composted, he said, but few horses are that small.
Some landfills take horses; others do not.
And some ranchers may drag a horse into a blowout and hope no one finds it, but that’s illegal, Stauffer said.
It’s also dangerous to other animals. Barbiturates used in euthanization can kill wildlife that feed on the carcass, said Dr. Mike Black of the Nebraska Equine Veterinary Clinic in Omaha.
His knees were bad. Shots from the vet weren’t working.
One night, Johnson and four friends couldn’t get Jack to his feet, so she called the vet.
What happened later was even worse than seeing Jack die.
Johnson’s husband called a local rendering company. But they were too busy.
A second company agreed to pick up the horse for $150, but only if it was left by the road.
So a neighbor with a tractor helped drag Jack to the fence line, where he lay all day.
The rendering company said the horse was too far from the road. So the next night, the neighbor dragged Jack to the roadside, where he lay, covered by sheets for another day.
“He was my friend,” said Johnson, who lives north of Omaha. “It was a sad scene. He didn’t deserve what he went through.”
A new animal cremation service opening in Gretna this month would have been the ideal solution, Johnson said.
Everyday Angels Pet Cremation Service will be more expensive than the rendering truck, but it will offer a more dignified sendoff, said Andrea Hartwig, who expects to open her business by the end of July.
Disposing of a horse is not easy or inexpensive.
Euthanizing a horse can cost from $55 to more than $150, according to Nebraska equine vets.
Rendering plants charge about $150 to pick up an animal, if they don’t have to drive far.
The cost of cremating a horse at the Gretna cremation service will average about $450, depending on the driving distance.
Burial can cost several hundred dollars.
“You’re probably talking $200 to $400 if you have to rent a backhoe,” said Gary Stauffer, University of Nebraska extension agent in Holt County.
Nebraska state law allows a person to bury a horse unless the county or city says otherwise. Lincoln does. Only animals that weigh less than 150 pounds can be buried in Lincoln, or in Douglas County, according to local animal control staff.
Horses can be burned, buried or rendered, said state veterinarian Dr. Dennis Hughes.
A horse that weighs fewer than 600 pounds can be composted, he said, but few horses are that small.
Some landfills take horses; others do not.
And some ranchers may drag a horse into a blowout and hope no one finds it, but that’s illegal, Stauffer said.
It’s also dangerous to other animals. Barbiturates used in euthanization can kill wildlife that feed on the carcass, said Dr. Mike Black of the Nebraska Equine Veterinary Clinic in Omaha.
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