HAMILTON, Texas — The horse trade can be a dirty business as many helpless animals are sent to slaughter across the border, but one Central Texas woman has become the last line of defense.
Jamison Parker is the founder of Southern Twang Second Chance Ranch, a 501(c)3 nonprofit based out of Hamilton, Texas. She rescued her first horse 10 years ago and still has her today. She wanted to help even more horses and knew she would need the community's help to have a bigger impact on the dire situation.
"I know that probably over 20,000 to 30,000 horses are shipped to slaughter every single year," Parker said.
It's a number she is working to lower and an issue she is wanting to spread awareness about.
"It's a very big crooked industry," Parker explained. "Horse slaughter is illegal in the United States, but it's legal at the border, and other countries like Mexico and Canada. We have people that are here that have a contract with those slaughterhouses to take a certain amount of horses down there."
She's stepping in to gives horses the life they deserve and taking them away from the dangerous situations they might be in. Parker takes in horses that could be from anywhere in the country. They could come from auctions, kill pens or even be owner surrenders.
Parker is also working on getting a petition started to get rescues involved in the auction process earlier. She would like auction houses to allow rescues to step in and offer an incentive so horses in bad shape wouldn't have to go through an auction process.
"Unfortunately, people are allowed to drop their horses off at auction in any condition," Parker said. "A lot of people just take them to the kill pen because they don't want to pay to put them down."
Despite their background, she works to rescue, rehabilitate and rehome the horses.
"It is their second chance because I don't know what they've been through and if it wasn't for us stepping in, most of these guys would have been at the border and they're not killed humanely at the border either," Parker added. "They get a second chance to be a horse."
She started her nonprofit less than a year ago and has already rescued 118 horses in that time frame.
The nonprofit is always in need of anything usable like buckets, lead ropes, halters and feed. Parker also accepts monetary donations to continue to help more horses have a second chance. If you are interesting in donating to Southern Twang Second Chance Ranch, click here. That is also where you can apply to adopt a horse.