Updated Animal Control Seizure Policy for Heart of Phoenix
December 2022
The current economic crisis we are experiencing in America requires that Heart of Phoenix implement a new policy for seizures moving forward as of 12/1/2022.
For 13 years, Heart of Phoenix has aided counties across 3 states by offering expertise, training, equipment, man power at no cost to these counties. We have also covered all seizure costs for the rehab and retraining of all horses accepted for counties during this time. We have never asked a county to reimburse for care out of a county budget.
We are extremely proud of these amazing service that we were able to extend, especially as a grass roots, donation funded 501©3 organization. Because of all we offered, counties not only become empowered with knowledge and resources, but the lives of horses in these cases were changed for the better.
However, due to:
· The number of horses that owners are requesting we accept daily exceeding our capacity
· The costs of care nearly doubling that of 2019
· The legal side of seizure cases in our local region has become much more hostile
· The extremely long time periods for case hold (some going over 2 years)
We must now require:
· A horse be surrendered to the county in lieu of prosecution or already turned over to the county after a case is settled to accept a equine(s)
· OR Require a county to cover actual fuel and care costs if the aid, equipment and rehabilitation services of the equine(s) involved in a seizure case. We will not charge a fee for our time or equipment use; we will require care and fuel costs only.
While this financial burden was always that of the county seizing equines, we were glad to be able to bear it for so many years.
We will continue to provide free training and in person aid, if requested. We will also continue to offer no-cost rehabilitation guides and information, as well as help network horses to other organizations out of state that may extend care at no cost, when possible.
If a county would like to request the aid of Heart of Phoenix in a legal seizure, please visit this link.
If a county would like to request Heart of Phoenix give advice regarding case or to accept horses surrendered already to a county, the process remains unchanged. Please just reach out to as at 304-962-7761 or email Equinerescue@live.com