Horse News

Pro-Horse Billboard Campaign Gains Ground Against Horse-Eaters

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By Allison Ross, of the Palm Beach Post

Horse Slaughter Sign Enlightens and Shocks Unknowing Public

Angel Acres Horse Haven Rescue is working with local nonprofit Stop Shipping Horses for Slaughter and has put up a billboard in Jupiter to educate people about horse slaughter. The billboard can be seen from Florida’s Turnpike going south ~ Photo courtesy of Palm Beach Post

A provocative billboard along Florida’s Turnpike is getting attention from drivers going through Palm Beach County‘s northern horse country.

The sign, which went up last week about a mile south of Indiantown Road, shows two horses nuzzling each other next to the words “Stop Slaughtering Us!” in red and white slash-style letters.

The billboardĀ  and Feather Flags – which costs about $3,000 per month – has two goals, said Renee Paxton of Juno Beach, founder of the nonprofit Stop Shipping Horses to Slaughter.

One is to raise awareness that horse slaughter still exists. The other is to persuade people to help “pull horses out of the slaughter pipeline,” Paxton said.

The billboard’s appearance comes a month after Congress lifted a de facto ban on horse slaughter that has been in place since 2006.

That year, Congress banned the U.S. Department of Agriculture from using federal money to inspect meat plants that slaughter horses. Without USDA approval, the plants could not ship the meat across state lines.

Although there is no market for horse meat in the United States, where horses are bred as companion animals and not for food, the end of the ban potentially allows plants to process and ship meat to Europe and Asia, where some call it a delicacy. Some advocates also say it will help reduce the number of neglected and abandoned horses.

There have been no horse slaughterhouses in the United States since 2007, but Paxton said horses are still shipped to countries such as Canada and Mexico for slaughter.

Paxton formed her nonprofit in January. When she heard that another nonprofit, Angel Acres Horse Haven Rescue in Glenville, Pa., was working on an anti-slaughter billboard campaign, she contacted it about placing a sign in Palm Beach County.

Angel Acres worked with Paxton to choose a site and raised donations to pay the $3,000 cost of having the sign up for a month.

“This area is a well-traveled road in between areas with horse people and non-horse people,” Jo Deibel, founder and president of Angel Acres, said of the Jupiter location.

She said her organization has two other billboards in Florida, both in Jacksonville, as well as billboards in 21 other states.

Paxton hopes Angel Acres will be able to raise enough money to keep the Jupiter billboard up for a second month.

Since the billboard campaign began a year ago, hits to the Angel Acres website, www.stopslaughteringus.com, has increased to 14,000 hits per week from about 80, Deibel said.

“This isn’t really for donations for our rescue,” Deibel said. “This is about spreading the word.”

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57 replies »

  1. Wow !!!! There should be one of these on every highway across the entire US, talk about awareness and a communication this is the way, I would love to have one here in Ohio, I would put up $400.00 any advocates here from Ohio lets get together make the proper contacts Lets get together and make this happen………… in Ohio, lets stop spinning our wheels and make some real progress,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,for our horses,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Contact me arleneorlando@aol.com

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  2. I am with you Arlene! I don’t have 400.00, but I am going to spy around and see where a great place to one here in upstate NY is! Right near the famous Saratoga Race Track on the Adirondack Northway! Wish me luck…. šŸ™‚

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    • Dear Deb, A Billboard is a great way to get the message across, expensive but what better way for all to see????? We must become creative not to many people have $3000.00 but combined we would be able to do this………………. I am tired of talkin about it getting nothing done action is the only way !!!! A Billboard is a super way ti take action…………………..

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      • I have been emailing with Angel Acres and am going to drive up and look for the perfect high visibility spot. Right near the track. We will have to fundraise for it, but we will get it done!

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      • Dear Deb, I have also emailed the same , Got a email ask for my phone number , they are going to call me…So I am now waiting for them to call,Maybe they wont get back to me until Monday now……….

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    • Dear Deb ,Just the will to get this done is sufficient along with inquiries on how to do this , lets find out what it takes,,..

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  3. I am with you too, Arlene . and I shared an put those very words on my fb page. every town ought to have this on their highways! I havent read what you said to read yet, RT. but will. and thank you.

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  4. Does Wyoming allow billboards? Some locales don’t.

    Wouldn’t it be great to put one up around the capitol (Cheyenne) or Recluse?

    But they probably don’t read in Recluse….;)

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  5. Dear Denise , We all need to do some checking to find out all details of how to accomplish this, but again, I am tired of not getting anything accomplished, their must be a way to get funds to do this ! Ohio is not a huge horse town but their is thousands of people who own horses here and love them, and know nothing of their plight, what a great way to communicate to them all !!!!!

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    • Go to those equine charities websites. They can help.

      I would ask how much of the donation actually goes to the billboard, but that is not a dis. Everyone working for equines, especially handling money has to be honest, transparent and disclose.

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      • Hi Denise,

        ALL funds raised for the billboard goes towards the billboard – NONE of us take a salary. Fran volunteers all of her time to do the behind the scenes work on the billboards. So 100% goes towards getting the boards up with ZERO administrative costs on our end.

        Jo Deibel

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  6. I am sure that there is someone to contact who knows how to go about doing this, I again am willing to put up $400.00 to start it off here in Ohio , Maybe through Animal Angels or ASPCA they can advise me on how to go about making the rest of the funds to initiate getting this done on a Highway called I-480 or 77 north leads right into Downtown Cleveland the traffic on both these highways is substantial, thousands of people will see it !!! Heading in to Downtown , Then Maybe the News here also will see it and comment on the News…………….

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    • To those asking this billboard campaign had been going on for a while. It is a VERY WORTHY cause for our horses both domestic & the Wild Mustangs & Burro’s!! Angel Acres has worked long & hard on this campaign & deserves all the support they can get. It’s one thing to talk the injustice of what’s being done to our equine, it’s totally another to do something constructive to stop it. These folks have busted their tails to “get er done”! We pass their message & plea for support for the billboards on our rescue page frequently & wish them God’s blessings in their continuing campaign to stop the predatory slaughter industry!! Standing ovation folks………..www.stopslaughteringus.com

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      • Hi Beverly,

        Thank you for your very kind words!! We appreciate them! I was able to reach Arlene yesterday by phone and she will be out scouting locations (well she has the locations but needs board owner name and stuff for Fran to work with) tomorrow and will get that to me on Monday.

        So, we are moving forward with OHIO! YEA!! We also have a rescue that is on board for Ohio as well!!!

        Thank you again!

        Jo

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      • Dear Jo Deibel I am so excited finally something VISUALLY OUT IN THE OPEN, for all to see and understand and to help our precious horses ……………..I will be scouting all areas here ……………… God Bless You Jo Deibel and our Equines and Angel Acres for having the in sight to do this AWESOME thing !!!!!!!! I can see every State and every City with these Billboards, We now will have the Visual Ability , for the masses……………………to know the Plight of our horses ….

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  8. I have already spoken to the people behind this campaign. I honestly feel that this is one of the best attempts at raising awareness I have seen. I plan to donate and donate big! Bravo to them!!

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  9. There are 3 ways to find a billboard or other outdoor media for lease on OutdoorBillboard.com.

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    Billboards and other Outdoor Advertising Media For Rent or Lease: You can click into each listing below to obtain additional information. Many of these outdoor advertising companies have additional billboard inventory so even if what you see listed is not exactly what you are looking for, it may be helpful to contact the advertisers for additional inventory or future openings.

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    • Arlene:
      Can you help with something in the Chicago area around Ohare Airport? Also
      cost related. I think this could be a perfect because we have so many domestic and foreign travelers to our city.

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      • Dear Gail, Just get in touch with Angel Acres they can help you , go to their website , help will be on the way in 24 hours ( Jo Deibel) is their contact

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    • Well, HCHS affects ALL US Equines, but excellent point Louie. The wild horses and burros need boards heading off the “roundup” pass from the get go….then slaughter wouldn’t be an issue.

      BTW, found this on Horseback:

      http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=1537

      Read it. Click on the links at the bottom of the article. This IS IMPORTANT stuff that documents the insane science of BLM and how false their entire program is. I hope Ms Leigh and her attorney have this information for their work.

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      • Hi,

        Thank you for wanting to use the billboard for wild horses; however we are keeping the message uniform throughout the nation for horses – both wild and domesticated equine.

        The artwork is copyrighted and cannot be changed other than the top quote (we did not design it – our graphic design team worked with us to create it).

        We did A LOT (over a years worth) of test marketing to determine which design was the most effective in grabbing the attention of viewers and getting the message across. We designed it to be powerful enough to motivate folks to act (call to action is to get folks to visit the website to learn more and to learn how they can help) without being overly graphic.

        This campaign was created 3 years ago and took us over 2 years to get the first boards in the air…so this is a well thought out process and has increased the http://www.stopslaughteringus.com website hits from about 100 or less per week to our most recent count – 16,000 hits last week.

        I’d be happy to refer the graphic design team to you if you’d like to inquire about having a billboard designed for you.

        Just let me know!

        Have a super happy evening,

        Jo :o)

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      • OK..how about a report of monies received and billboards bought? Not a bang, just a question. Put it out there….with a link.

        Helping wild equines wouldn’t be hard to do. Right? Another campaign? You can do it? Right?

        Thank you for your work.

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      • Hey Denise,

        There was no button to reply back to the post you asked about the wild horse issue so am posting to this note (I am a bit new to this forum).

        While I wish we had the time to do a separate campaign, we will not be doing a second campaign at this time. We are working hard to get at least one board up in each state that allows them with this awareness campaign.

        We do have a list of boards that are currently in the air (a few are no longer up) – it is on the website. As for total cost and funds received for it, that won’t be done until sometime in March – it will be separated out on our 990 Schedule B. Since this is the first year (our first board went up one year ago on January 1, 2010) for the campaign our CPA will include it in our reviewed and compiled report. We have our latest 990 and schedules up on http://www.guidestar.org (just search Angel Acres)

        I also run a horse rescue http://www.angelacres.net and rescue horses from kill pens and accept owner surrenders & animal control seizures from MD and PA – we then rehab, retrain and rehome into well matched, loving homes. We also help horses & their families in need via Mattie’s Legacy Fund.

        So, I am already a more than full time volunteer and cannot take on another project – Fran does the majority of the work on the billboard campaign and has done a fantastic job on it – but I think she would faint if I asked her to start a second one! lol…

        Have a really great night and thank you for asking!!

        Jo :o)

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  12. I hear there’s one going up in Massachusetts ! Yay!!!!! Just beat the drum loudly and stand your ground! Occupy “We the people….!”

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  16. Just wanted to throw a few ideas out to you folks that are interested in the boards. I am Fran who books them. Here are a few fundraising ideas- Avon parties, Pampered Chef parties, silent auction, raffles, have a dinner party of horse lovers and ask everyone to chip in some money for a board and talk about how you can spread the word. Consignment stores – clean out that closet and take those old clothes to a consignment store. Funds raised can go towards the board.. Just some thoughts. .. Bake sales are good also, yard sales… Thanks for the positive feedback. Remember Education is power!

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  19. I am ever so Proud to say I spoke with Jo Last nite the awesome Lady at Angel Acres, I am so happy, we are now looking for the best location to have the Billboard right here in Ohio…….(Cleveland , Ohio area) If ever I thought one single thing will definitely help our horses this is going to be a HUGE HELP…………………I am so excited at the mere thought of having a Billboard right here in Ohio WOW !!!!!!!!! And to know that it will be a reality is Blowing my mind, Thank You Angel Acres , Thank You Jo Deibel,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,There are 25 Billboards already set in place across the US…………………………………We can multiply this many times………….

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      • Dear KA Schaaf, I am so excited the proposed billboards were submitted today, now we wait for Angel Acres to work their magic in seeing which well thought out Billboard they think will be best !!!!! All submitted were excellent and studied for the most traffic !!!! Fingers are crossed waiting for selection…………I can hardly wait , finally something to help our Equines , I feel so good about this, I know its going to make a difference,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, I can see these all over the all States and cities…..

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  20. I have what I believe to be a fantastic loction for one of the billboards. I live in the Denver Colorado area. I have posted ways I believe will help our wild horses in the past and have never gotten an answer so I assume there is no one in the Denver area on this site. I do not do facebook and although I am willing to help with the billboards, I do not have the money to pay for them alone so do not want to start something I cannot finish by myself. Hear in Colorado Interstate 70 between Youngfield and Kipling in the city of Wheatridge is about 6 to 7 miles long. I-70 is a major highway going East to West, it has a lot of billboards on that stretch. It is the one way that people go and come from the mountains on weekends, It is the main route that gamblers take when they go gambling(buses run every hour) the main route that skiers take to go sking. Just off the interstate on Youngfield we have large Keiser Permanente, a large RV repair center were RVers form all aound the country come and go from, a large antique mall were shopers form around the country come to. It has the large liquor store Applejacks were ski buses stop so skiers can buy liquor before going to the mountains. Cabellas even has purchased land their to build a super store(so have to know the traffic is good). During rush hour traffic it is always backed up in that area so people would read the billboard. There is a super Walmart and major truck stop(I have seen cattle trucks parked their). I-70 east goes straight to Denver Internationl Airport. And there are lots of hotels and motels in that area that will be full of stock trailers starting January 7 thru the 22 for the National Western Stock show, which is also right off I-70, and a bonus for our Wild horses and burroes is the Colorado division of the BLM is also right of I-70 and Youngfield. So if you are wanting to look at putting one in that area please let me know~~~ on this site and I will see what I can do to help form here.

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  21. Outstanding!!! Although all of our Illinois Legislators are on board for the slaughter issue, we still need to stop the roundups and protect our wild ones.
    I think a bill board going into downtown Chicago would be great or one located near Ohare airport. I going to check it out. Our any close to the disgusting auction places? I bought a magnet for my car years ago, still have. I going to see how much they would cost too. If I can get some, I will post on blog.

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