FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Begin Again Horse Rescue (BAHR), of Lima New York, is pleased to announce that it has received a generous grant from the Kenneth A Scott Charitable Trust. This grant will allow the organization to run a pilot project to microchip all the equine in its program during 2021. In its 11 years dedicated to local equine rescue, BAHR has placed more than 270 of them and helped hundreds more to find safe haven in permanent homes. If the project proves successful, the rescue hopes to expand the program to include local community equine next year.
For the first year of the pilot project, BAHR has obtained 200 microchips and two chip readers from Pet Link Inc. Included in the grant is a twenty-dollar honorarium for each equine earmarked to pay for veterinary implantation. It is hoped that all adopters and fostered care-givers will agree to take part in the new program during spring vaccine veterinary visits, so there should be no additional charges to the adopters for this service. “I am so thankful to the Kenneth A Scott Charitable Trust”, said Harriett Rubins, BAHR’s Executive Director. “It makes possible one more level of safety-net to safeguard these equine that have had such bad experiences. We never want them to suffer again.”
Additionally, Begin Again Horse Rescue is working to educate its surrounding equine communities to the benefits of microchipping. Microchipping affords an animal a permanent identification that cannot be separated or altered. The chips, painlessly embedded beneath the skin on the left side of the neck, are the size of a grain of rice and take seconds to implant. The chip numbers are registered with Pet Link online data base. They help prevent theft, aid identification and recovery during disasters, provide a mobile link to online health certificates and medical records, and they provide correct identification of equine at competitions to prevent fraud. Other benefits include traceability in disease outbreak scenarios or they allow for rapid and efficient management of investigations into diseases or to missing animals. Most veterinarians have the chip readers. Begin Again Horse Rescue now has two, which we will use to help others identify their horses.
It is through the generosity of volunteers, donations and grants that BAHR can support regional equine in need. For more information about microchipping or to donate to support Begin Again Horse Rescue’s on-going work, please visit the website at: www.beginagainrescue.org or follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Begin Again Horse Rescue.
