Loose Horses

Horses may become highway hazards

Worried about hitting a deer with your vehicle?

In the future, you may have to expand that fear to include horses.

Throughout Illinois, including La Salle County, equines left to run at large or abandoned are increasing as owners find them too costly to care for.

One day, that is going to result in a collision with a vehicle, says Dr. Colleen O'Keefe, the Illinois Department of Agriculture's division manager of Food Safety and Animal Protection. "It's bad enough when you hit a dog or a deer, but hitting a horse, that's the fear I think everybody is holding their breath hoping wont happen," she said. Read More

We continue to hear more stories of abandoned horses from across the country. As is mentioned in the article, most areas won’t have animal shelters that can handle the larger animals, so how will they handle it? If this situation isn’t addressed sooner, it will be the taxpayers that will be footing the bill for these horses that need to be cared for or put down.