Animal Recovery Mission dedicated to fighting illegal horse slaughter

It's not a job that most people would want, but Richard "Kudo" Couto organized Animal Recovery Mission to stop illegal horse slaughter and shut down all illegal slaughter farms in South Florida. For years well-organized individuals have been selling horse meat and meat from other animals on the black market for prices up  to $40.00 a pound. Some of the meat is entering Miami restaurants where restaurant owners exchange leftovers and scraps, and in return the farmers sell the restaurants cheap meat. In areas of Miami, horses are worth more dead than alive; their meat is a delicacy, thought to enhance male prowess, cure-all for AIDS, and containing  other mystical healing powers.

Locations of the illegal slaughter farms

The illegal slaughter farms have been in business over 40 years in an area close to South Beach. The Southwest area, known as C-9 Basin which is mainly wetlands, and until recently a section of Miami  local police even felt unsafe to enter, "Kudo" organized a state and county raid. It took months to combine the Miami-Dade Police, Animal Services, Building Department, Zoning Compliance Department, South Florida Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals,and Department of Agriculture, but days before the raid some of the agencies backed out citing " fear and safety," and " too political." This was in October, 2009, but Kudo never gave up.

Justice for the animals

Kudo took his story to every agency, and in January, the task force operation named Miss Piggy and Mr. Ed with  more than 100 officers and 15 county, state and federal agencies descended upon some of the worst farms citing animal cruelty, slaughtering without a license, operating a business without a license, food safety, sanitary nuisance, environmental codes, zoning codes, building codes, neighborhood compliance codes, land squatting, feeding garbage to animals and stealing electric. Twenty-two farms have been shut down.

"The Miami-Dade State Attorney's office takes cases of animal abuse very seriously," states spokesperson Ed Griffith. Katherine Fernandez Rundle and Michael Van Zamft , and the Animal Legal Defense Fund uses the law to advance the interests of animals.

Animals living in filth and misery

Animals live in the most egregious conditions on these farms. They have no shelter and no water. Horses are butchered alive, abused and neglected. Other animals have it no better; goats, chickens, cows, sheep, ducks, rabbits and pigs are also slaughtered with no government regulations. In January, Senate candidate Marco Rubio posted on his Twitter page, a photo of a pig being slaughtered for a family celebration. Animal rights activists claimed the slaughter of the pig was  done at one of Miami's illegal slaughterhouses. Rubio's spokesperson has denied the allegation.

Shortly before Christmas, Couto  discovered two former racehorses in horrible condition at the farm of Manuel Coto who denies that he slaughters horses. The horses were recognized by Calder Race Course trainers Laurie Goedecke and Karla Wolfson, who on Christmas Day, hitched up their horse trailer and demanded  the horses from Manuel Coto . " Both looked like they hadn't been fed in weeks," Goedecke stated. Dance Hall Graeme, the 4 year old gelding suffered from massive internal bleeding and had to be humanely euthanized at Goedecke's farm. The filly, now named Faith has since recovered and is up for adoption.

Freedom's Flight

Ironically, the same farm owned by Manuel Coto was where Richard "Kudo" Couto spotted Freedom's Flight , a Thoroughbred, a direct descendant of Secretariat. The horse was tied to a palm tree.Freedom's Flight  had rain rot, bites, wounds, abscesses, a broken right canon bone, and strangles. Seized by the SPCA, Kudo adopted Freedom's Flight and states he has spent more than $30,000 rehabilitating the horse. Today, Freedom's Flight is the picture of health.

Jorge Ortega, known as "pony boy" at Calder Race Course has been one of Manuel Coto's main supplier of Thoroughbreds. When asked how many horses Ortega has given to Coto, the farmer responded the number was too many to count for the last 15 years. Ortega has had numerous complaints lodged against him  with the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulations for horse abuse, including criminal convictions of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Ortega is the contact who brought Freedom's Flight  to the slaughter farm.

" Ortega shouldn't be working at any race track with a criminal conviction," stated  "Kudo." Until recently Ortega was still employed. Calder Race Course has a zero tolerance slaughter policy and vow to restrict violators from racing, stabling or participating.

Horses slaughtered in the area

In 2009, only 20% of the horses missing were reported. In the Southwest section, horse carcasses are dumped on the side of the streets, and farm owners are only charged with illegally disposing of garbage. The remains of the horses are taken to the dumps. Horse owners from lower middle income and farms where horses are stolen have very little cooperation with authorities to trace their lost and stolen horses.

Farms have reported 10 to 12 horses missing from their paddocks. Organized thieves have used a "bait horse" to bring in horses grazing in fields.Horse owners all over South Florida are taking more precautions to ensure the safety of their horses. " I can't even imagine one of my horses being stolen and ending up on one of those slaughter farms," states Wendy Cunningham of Jupiter Farms. " Besides lots of lights, I have a few really protective Great Danes who would give any thief a run for his money."

Forgotten Animals

"Kudo" estimates there are more than 2000 animals on some of these farms that have no where to go and with little cooperation from authorities their futures look dim. The animals have no water. Rescue organizations from California to Vermont have stepped up and volunteered, but red tape has hindered rescue efforts. "Kudo" has refused to quit until the animals are safe.

For more information and how you can help. please click here.