Priscilla Presley gave rescued horses new home - Graceland

  Priscilla Presley                                                                 (Photo/wiki)

Carol-Terese Naser and Cathy Cleaveland were interviewed by Meghan V. Malloy, Staff Writer for Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel concerning saving the lives of two horses, and hopefully more to follow.

Another person to thank, is Elvis Presley's former wife Priscilla Presley, one of whom they contacted. Presley wound up adopting the horses and giving them a new home - Graceland!

Max

Horses, Max and his brother, Merlin, were scheduled to be slaughtered -- along with four other horses in their family.

Naser, who has had horses of her own since she was a child, stepped up to bat and bought all six horses days before they were to be taken to the slaughterhouse.  This all happened from 2007 into 2008.  Priscilla Presley came on the scene early 2008 and has been active for this cause ever since.

Naser was quoted as saying,

If we hadn't done this when we did, they'd all be long gone. They would've been killed."

Naser and her friend Cathy Cleaveland found out soon enough that it wasn't easy -- or cheap -- to care for six horses. So they decided to start fundraising.  Cleaveland said,

We sent T-shirts to celebrities we knew were passionate about animals.  We requested they autograph the shirt, then send it back. We were going to auction them."

Naser commented,

Country crooner Alan Jackson, former Catwoman Julie Newmar and "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" host Ty Pennington, among others, signed and sent back the shirts for auction."

Nothing, however, prepared Naser or Cleaveland for the phone call that would change Max's and Merlin's lives.  Cleaveland added,

I answered the phone and Priscilla Presley was on the other end,I didn't believe it at first."

Presley told the women she wanted to adopt Max and Merlin to give them a permanent home at Graceland, the nearly 14-acre spread, 23-room mansion in Memphis that Elvis shared with Priscilla and their daughter, Lisa Marie, until the couple's divorce in the early 1970s.  The whole Presley family was a lover of animals.  Elvis even had some of his pets in his films.

Graceland property (Photo/SimplyMarvelous)

Presley said,

I have always had a bond with horses, Elvis gave me my very first horse. It was the horses that made Graceland home to us. [referring to these horses going to slaughter] It haunted me, I couldn't sleep because I couldn't imagine anyone wanting to do that."

Presley and Naser stayed in touch over the next several months to work out the details of the horses' arrival at the national landmark.  Presley and the women discussed a bill (to ban the practice of slaughtering horses) that was stalled at that time. They urge everyone to call their senators and U.S. representatives about this.

Naser and Cleaveland agreed that in this case, Max and Merlin are "symbols" of horses who escaped the slaughter.

Max's and Merlin's new home - Elvis Presley's stables at Graceland.