Fort Edmonton Park horses were destined for slaughterhouse, new owner says

The City of Edmonton is under scrutiny after sending two horses to auction without regard for their fate.

The two work horses were used in summer demonstrations at Fort Edmonton Park such asploughing fields.

The park is cutting back on those programs as it undergoes renovations over the next two years, so the horses weren't going to be used, said Carl Damour, vice president of park operations.

"They were horses that were kept in pasture land that were not necessarily going to come back to the park and do any sort of work."

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City policy is to find a new home or "relocate them somehow," he said.

The parklooks at where else in the city the animals can be used.

"If there's no interest, then basically it goes and follows the process of going to auction."

On Friday, the work horses, believe to be Clydesdales, were sent to auction in Tofield, Alta.,where "different types of bidders can bid on them," Damour said.

Cindy Thomas, who lives in Parkland County, was atthe auction and bought the gelding and mare.

She believes she saved the pairfrom going to slaughter.

"I was bidding against someone who was going to take them to the slaughter plant," she said. "We kept [them]from going for meat."

While Damour said the horses were healthy and still capable of working,Thomas told CBC News they were not in good shape when she bought them.

The gelding,called Major, died overnight.

"If their vet said this was healthy, what the hell does he call unhealthy? I would be terrified to see," she said.

"Everybody that was at the saleknew that these horses were not in the best of shape.He didn't even make it through the night. What else was going on?"

Thomas has many horses on her ranch. She started going to auctions when one of her Clydesdales was taken from her propertylast year.

The horse was mysteriously returned but she continues to go to auctions after she realized companies were buying them to slaughter for meat, to sell to Japan.

She's hoping to getthe mare healthy so she couldbe adopted to a family who will keep the horse as a riding companion.

"These are old retired ranch horses, they're fantastic to teach little kids."

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KarinNelson, board director with the Voice for Animals Society, said horses auctioned off are often bought by slaughterhouses.

"For the city to claim ignorance of thisis, I think, irresponsible," she said Monday.

"You just don't throw away animals that you're done dealing with or have no use by sending them to an uncertain fate."

Damour expects the city will revisit its current policies around relocating animals no longer needed at facilities.

@natashariebe