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MY HORSE HAS BEEN STOLEN! WHAT SHOULD I DO?
Act fast. After 48 hours go by, your chances of
recovering your horse are much diminished. If your
horse has been stolen, do the following (and do
it on day one):
- Contact your local law enforcement agency and
report the theft. You will report it to your city
police, or to the sheriff’s department of your
county, depending on where you live. GET A CASE
NUMBER, and write this number down. You will need
it. WARNING: Most city police departments have
little time for investigating what they will consider
a fairly minor crime (of course it’s not minor
to you) and they have little expertise when it
comes to livestock. But you still must report
the theft to the law enforcement agency that has
jurisdiction in your area.
- Contact the TSCRA Field Inspector in your region.
(The TSCRA, or Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers
Association, is the most effective law enforcement
agency that investigates agricultural thefts.
Call them even if you are not a member.)
- For Harris, Liberty, Chambers,
Jefferson, Hardin, Tyler, Orange, Jasper, Newton
San Jacinto, Polk & Sabine Counties, contact TSCRA
Field Inspector Jimmy Belt at 936-587-4120.
- For Montgomery, Trinity, Walker, Grimes, Madison,
Leon, and Waller Counties, contact TSCRA Field
Inspector Brent Mast at 936-851-0122.
- For Galveston, Brazoria, Fort Bend, Austin,
Washington, Colorado, Wharton & Matagorda Counties,
contact TSCRA Field Inspector Tommy Charbula at
361-782-5209.
- Or you may call the Law Enforcement Department
at the TSCRA’s Fort Worth headquarters: 1-817-332-7064.
They maintain a web site at
http://www.texascattleraisers.org .
- Get coverage on local television stations if
you can.
- Contact Tom or Kathy Flemming atCrimestoppers.
Don’t call the Crimestoppers phone number
you see all over town—that will only cause delay.
Call Tom & Kathy directly at 1-888-932-7263
(that’s 1-888-WE BRAND) They can help
you with posters (You do have pictures of your
horse, don’t you?) and advice. Post flyers at
feed stores, stables, veterinarians’ offices,
tack shops—everyplace you can think of where horse
people gather. Also contact Net Posse
at
http://www.NetPosse.com Net Posse is
a growing force in the fight against horse theft.
They can put your horse's photo on their web site
and help in many other ways.
a group that helps search for stolen horses nationally,
and
http://www.lostpony.com ) a group
that helps report and search for stolen Texas
horses. The Lost Pony web site has a list of Texas
sale barns.
- Contact the slaughterhouses: Beltex Corp., (817)
624-1136 and Dallas Crown Packing Co., (972) 932-3436.
As of spring, 2004, these are the only two slaughterhouses
left in the United States that process horses
for human consumption.
2007 update: These plants are closed.
Horse processing for human consumption has moved
across the border to Mexico and Canada.
Realistically, if a thief makes it across the
border with a stolen horse, there is not much
that can be done about it.
- Keep detailed records of you search.
- Keep receipts for expenses. You may be able
to recover your expenses if the thief is caught
and convicted—but only if you’ve kept adequate
records (and, of course, only if the judge sees
fit to require it).
Article contributed by Pauline Singleton, 2004
GHHC President
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My Horse Has Been Stolen!
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