From A Concerned Follower - Please do not feed livestock along rooadside! Many times what they feed is rotten or unacceptable for them to eat, like slimy, moldy carrots or bread...bread is HORRIBLE for horses and can make them very sick. Most horses and ponies are on specially approved diets for a reason. Adding treats to their diet may seem harmless but can actually cause very real damage. They can also be poisoned by things that are toxic to them but safe for us. Or they can choke on things you would not expect, like a piece of apple of carrot. If they get sick and we dont know what they have been fed, they can die from not getting proper treatment. Ponies are especially sensitive to diet changes and can get founder which in many cases can be fatal or at least cause lifetime disability and pain. Animals have died from people feeding them through a fence. And I can assure you, not one of those people who fed them ever compensated the owners for their loss, their vet bills or their pain of losing them. Feeding or petting livestock by the roadside also encourages them to push on fences. That poses very serious risk of fencing failure and escape. Escaped animals can be hit by cars, injured in unfamiliar terrain or become lost and frightened making recapture difficult and sometimes impossible. While we like our privacy just as much as the next person, most farm families are 100% more tolerant of someone coming to ask to see or feed the animal than we are of people just coming up and feeding them. That said, please understand that we will sometimes say no. That is our right. And that does not give people the right to feed them or pet them anyways. It is not anymore acceptable than it would be for me to come over to your house and feed your dog or pet it through the fence. Doing so on my land is as much trespassing as it is on your lawn. Please remind your readers to respect their country neighbors and their livestock.
Posted on: Wed, 02 Jul 2014 03:10:46 +0000
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