Poll:
Should the government step in to help supply hay for starving livestock?
ARGYLE - Bob Williams sweeps his hand around an open sore on the side of a docile horse, named Shelby.
"This wound was this big," he said, circling a shape about the size of a dinner plate. "You could put your arm in there."
A Collin County road crew found the suffering horse with five others, apparently abandoned by their owner. Ranch Hand Rescue in Argyle took them in.
It has a reputation for taking the tough cases. Most famously, Midnight, a miniature horse that received a prosthetic leg.
But Ranch Hand, like so many rescue operations in Texas, is running short on hay.
"Across the state, you're seeing rescues that can't take any more animals," Williams said.
He says there's lots of hay in other states. But at $4 per mile and $150 per round bale, the issue is money.
He believes the problem is so large that only state government is big enough to fix it.
"Let's use state resources or the National Guard to go get hay and bring it back," he said.
The idea is getting traction.
"The reality is, we started a petition on Change.org to ask Governor Perry to use state resources to bring more hay in," Williams said. "That's really the bottom line."
Williams said more than 2,000 supporters have joined his on-line petition drive, and that's with little publicity.
Right now, Ranch Hand Rescue has enough hay to get to January. But Williams says he shares with other rescues, people who foster horses and even some county shelters.
Shelters report a growing number of neglected horses as the economy falters and hay crops fail in the drought. But Williams says that's no excuse to fail the animals.
A hay drive is scheduled for Nov. 18 during a rodeo at Cowtown Coliseum in Fort Worth. Doris Roberts of the show "Everybody Loves Raymond" is expected to attend.
E-mail jdouglas@wfaa.com
