NINO

NINO is a small and piebald pony

On 17^TH June 2003 we got a call from the “Environmental Police” reporting they had found a pony in poor conditions. Ever since then we have “worked” with Toni and Joaquim plenty of times.

Whenever they find, in the course of their patrol rounds, animals leading a seemingly unhealthy life (that is, lacking food or room enough to roam freely)

they start investigating and seize the animals as soon as they confirm the owner’s mistreatment. Then, it is our turn; they are taken to the Shelter and given to foster owners after following a protocol to verify their aptitude to take care of them.Let us be realistic: some people are thought to love their animals. They do, however, love them their very own way: not having them vaccinated or kept from parasites, having them tied, not properly fed, etc.

There are times when the way some people treat their animals and the different way people in the world of animal protection -like us- believe they should be treated, results in a conflict. They don’t understand the reasons why we seize their horses, even though they might be malnourished or in ill conditions. There are even cases when the animal is well-fed, but kept close to a motorway they can reach if they break loose. They have been known to cause accidents leading to even drivers getting killed after colliding with them. That is why ponies are often found wandering at large in dense and populated areas like the ones patrolled by Toni and Joaquim. They escape and present a messy look and, when you start investigating, you realize they have not been vaccinated and do not even have a vaccination book.

NINO’S case was special, as he was found in an abandoned house garden, tangled up in the rope that kept him tied to a pole. He had been like that for at least a couple of days when he was found and brought to the Shelter.

The first person to adopt him, did not live up to the expectations: he had NINO in a garden full of junk and rubbish likely to harm his legs and even worst if the animal fell on it, and he spent far too much time away from home as to properly take care of the animal. Therefore we took him back to the Shelter a few months later. He eventually got adopted again. You can see him well groomed and with space to roam free on these pictures.

We hope he is happy now.