Meet Tag #9811

In January of 2023 we were contacted by mustang advocates around the country about an influx of over 30 un handled mustangs showing up in kill lots across Texas and Oklahoma. Mustang is the term for a wild or feral horse/burro in the United States. Mustangs are federally protected by the 1971 act, and we had never seen such a huge amount of untouched horses and burros fresh off the range in these kill pens.

We joined forces with mustang advocates and sanctuaries around the US, fundraised, and are proud to say helped 15 go to a re wilding program in Northern California, while another 15 joined our herd and program at our South location, and 2 burros joined our North herd. One of those burros is tag #9811. He came to the kill lot with a female burro, formerly known as tag #9810, but lovingly named Shadowfax by a gracious donor who sponsored her rescue. They are the best of friends, and we couldn't stand the thought of separating the two. They had already been through so much. We reached out to our friends at Cresco Labs and to our delight they wanted to help us save tag #9811 and give him a new name!

Pictured below is tag #9811 (the darker burro) with his best friend Shadowfax, freshly rescued from the kill lot and enjoying hay and a clean living space while they wait in quarantine to come home.

After 30 long days in quarantine these two best friends received a clean bill of health from an Oklahoma veterinarian and began their freedom ride to our sanctuary in Holliston, Massachusetts. We do not know much about their history except they are both in their mid teens and completely un handled by people, they still have their free spirit. We know they used to live wild in the Bullfrog Herd Management Area (HMA) of Nevada, and that tag #9811 lost his freedom there during the gather on September 29th, 2019. Sadly, we could not prevent him from seeing the inside of a kill pen, but thanks to Cresco Labs and our other generous donors we were able to stop both of them from ever seeing the inside of a kill lot in Mexico.

Here he is, with his best friend, after their freedom ride stretching his legs and rolling with joy in the safety of our farm. All thats left is to get this sweet boy a name, and we cannot wait to hear what Cresco Labs comes up with!