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Horses being rescued from slaughter yards

A Galesburg family is giving horses a second chance at life after they were neglected and abused.

GALESBURG, Ill. — "It's heartbreaking to me, as people owned these horses and somehow they ended up like this," says Allison Aldrich from Aldrich Equine Adventures.

One of the horses, Richie, has visibly protruding bones. Allison says he weighs 500 pounds when he should weigh 1,100.

"He is five years old, he was someone's racing horse, and here he is starved and on his death bed," she said. 

Richie is one of thousands of neglected and abandoned horses across the nation, "Around 85% of horses sent to slaughter could be rideable or workable with little vet assistance," says Allison.

The Aldrich family run Aldrich Equine Adventures, they're dedicated to saving horses from starvation, neglect, abuse and slaughter.

"Slaughter is actually illegal in the United States but not in Mexico or Canada."

Thousands of horses are shipped to Mexico and Canada to be slaughtered for human consumption in Europe and Asia.

Husband, Nathaniel Aldrich says more and more horses are hitting the sale yards, "We've seen over 700 over the last couple of months, close to a 1,000."

The husband wife duo, along with their seven children, are giving these horses a second chance.

15-year-old Destini is helping them remember what its like to be loved, "They're usually a little nervous, I just have to go slow, so they know i am not going to hurt them," she says.

It's not only horses at the auctions, donkeys are up for sale too. Meet Senor Carrots, the family saved him two-weeks ago, he and six-year-old Maliki are now inseparable.

The family says all the horses will be adopted out by the end of the month, except Senor Carrots, they decided they're keeping him.

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