DERBY AUCTION MAY 10th
| 
| 
DERBY AUCTION REPORT
Our main aim was to see if there was anything in the tack auction as we needed a new saddle.There were 3 puppies in a cage, no water, in temperatures that had everyone stripped down to the bare minimum!
We found the tack auction but there wasn't anything suitable for our needs in there.
We knew there was a poultry auction on as well and as we do want some laying chicken's decided to go in for a look, see if there was
a particular breed to catch eye. There were chickens in small boxes, at least a trio in a box, that close together couldn't move, they had to
shuffle over each other to even move, if they tried to stand upright they hit mesh that covered the top of the boxes, heartbreaking to see.
We decided on a quad of bluebell hens but they SOLD above our bid for decent money and the man who bought them obviously
wanted them so not for the pot!
6 POL RIR's that were in a box not much bigger than two shoe-boxes in size, went for £14 for six lives...we couldn't get back through the
crowd in time to bid and then couldn't watch anymore, none of them had water, most didn't even have any bedding in their boxes, were
scrabbling around on cardboard.
O/H was furious, he said last poultry auction he went too the RSPCA were checking people on the way out to ensure had large enough
boxes to transport but not so these. It was pay the auctioneer in the room and then allowed to leave with them....and we saw some
outside dumped in the blistering heat with no water
The horse side of it.
PASSPORTS - they were filling out forms on the spot, issued there and then. A lovely skewbald, shire X colt in poor condition, in fact he had huge sores on his head where a head collar had rubbed into his face, flies
all over him and openly bleeding, rub marks at top of his head and a condition score of 1.
By his teeth he was no more than 18 months old.
I saw no horses with any water - one had a slice of hay and a sprinkling of shavings.
I remarked to O/H that water should be mandatory in this heat regardless of how much or little time they are in auction.
Most horses and ponies were breathing and panting heavily in the heat.
A little chestnut gelding with very long but shod hooves was clearly very footsore yet still beign ridden.
We entered the auction itself. One life went for £80, a sad sight at that, skin and bone.
The skewbald mentioned early was paraded through the ring as a 3 year old GELDING - he was definitely NOT a gelding when we viewed
him in the pen, he sold for £800...we heard the seller describe him as 'ready to start at that age' ? the buyer, poor person,
would be in for a shock when they got him home.
He had signs of mites, stamping his back feet, and his feet were that overgrown he was not only on his heels but they had cracks
almost to the coronary band
A miniature shetland filly that couldn't move around without showing pain was possibly suffering laminitis evident symptoms on front feet.
She was sold as 'been running with something so might be in foal...'
To sum up it was a case of trying to spot a horse where you couldn't count the ribs or see the hips protruding.
I could count on one hand, in a mass of approximately 60 equines, how many had a standard condition score of more than 2
As for the puppies we saw at the beginning, we went back out and found two left in the cage. Still without water - both panting heavily.
The seller got them out to ?parade? them to an interested child and the smaller one of the two was wobbling on his back legs poor little soul.
There was no evidence of any other welfare organisations at this market.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
