 |
[RC] Melinsung Ranch, Malaysia - Jay RandleHi Tom, Angie and RCThe situation with the abuse of horses in Sabah, Malaysia, has been going on for some years. These horses were originally purchased as endurance and polo horses by a regional Mayor, as a type of 'status symbol' of his position. This person, Datuk Ghani, was the Mayor for a period of 4 years, however has not been Mayor for the past year or so. In the period 2000-2003, Datuk Ghani's property, Melinsung Ranch, was the location for several endurance rides, and the horses from Melinsung competed in other endurance rides throughout Malaysia. Most of the horses sold to Melinsung Ranch during this period were originally sourced from Australia. Some of these horses were seasoned endurance horses, some were novice endurance horses, and some were 'culls' from Arabian studs in Australia, sold as potential endurance horses to a man who could then sell them on to other endurance riders and social riders within Malaysia. In total, this ranch stocked between 60-70 horses at any one time. On several documented occasions shiploads of between 12 - 24 horses were taken from Australia to Melinsung Ranch, accompanied by employees of the horse dealer who organised the shipments. On some of these occasions the horse dealer also shipped container-loads of feed and supplements along with the horses, presumably because such feed items were not available in Malaysia. I have spoken to 4 of the people who accompanied the various shipments of horses, and in each case they have recalled quite disgusting conditions at the Ranch, and significant abuse of the horses that were housed there. The Australian horse dealer was made aware of these conditions, however continued to supply horses to this Ranch. For the past 3 years (basically since this Ranch has not been involved in endurance to such an extent as previously) Datuk Ghani has had a contract to supply horses to a tourist resort by the name of Nexus Hotel. At this resort, horses are supplied to tourists so that they can ride on the beach. In June of this year an English tourist (and doctor) by the name of Chris Jones visited Nexus Hotel and was appalled by the condition of the horses available to ride. He complained to the management and then managed to visit the supplier of the horses - Melinsung Ranch. While there, Chris took photos of the conditions that the horses were stabled in, and some pitiful-looking horses. Once he returned home, he posted these photos on a blogsite: www.visitmalaysiatourism.blogspot.com Since then, Chris has waged a campaign of awareness-raising by contacting several endurance associations around the world, as well as various media outlets. We here in Australia became aware of the current situation at Melinsung Ranch through his efforts, and also through local Malaysian outrage as documented on the Malaysian Endurance Forum at: www.equestrian.com.my/forum You will note that very shortly after this news broke on the Malaysian forum, RideCamp member Dr Nik came out in support of Datuk Ghani, and since then has had nothing more to say on the matter publicly. However Dr Nik is of the opinion that we should butt out and not take any notice of these reports, telling Tom Sites to "go fly a kite" in a recent post. Hmmmm.... is Dr Nik a crony of Datuk Ghani and the Australian horse dealer? I think so....... There is verifiable documentation of all of these events, and a list of some of the horses' names has been posted to one of our Australian endurance chatlists. If you are interested to read some of the debate that has been raging over here, check out yahoogroups.com, and search for AussieEndurance or Aussie_Endurance. Very interesting reading, indeed. Please rest assured that there are many very concerned Malaysian endurance riders who are trying their hardest to sort out this problem. The King of Malaysia has offered to take all the horses from Melinsung and try to rehabilitate them, but has been rebuffed by Datuk Ghani. At this stage the DVS (Dept of Veterinary Services) is feeding and taking care of the horses at the Ranch, but no charges have been laid against the owner. The SPCA is powerless to do anything about the situation, as the DVS has told them to back off. Corruption (especially at this level of government) in Malaysia is rife, with "little Caesars" wielding a great deal of power. My contacts in Malaysia who are very close to this situation are literally scared for their futures, having blown the whistle on what is going on there. Similarly, here in Australia the people who wield the power in this sport are also attempting to hush the issue. The average grass-roots endurance rider/trainer/owner here in Australia is outraged at the treatment of these easily-identifiable Australian horses that have been sold on through a horse dealer here into a life of horror. Of course, once you have sold a horse you forfeit any right to control its future. However in this case, the future of horses sold from Australia to Melinsung Ranch was known by the horse dealer involved, and yet horses continued to be sold into this situation by the boatload. Yes, the original owners reaped the financial rewards of the sale. Yes, if they didn't want their horse going to "certain death" then they shouldn't have sold them. But unfortunately many people here were bamboozled by this horse dealer, and weren't made aware of the conditions into which the horses were sold. That's what I'm angry about. Oh, there's heaps more info and lots of photos available...... email me if you want to be sickened further...... Best regards Jay Randle SPLENDACREST ENDURANCE TRAINING www.freewebs.com/splendacrest Q41392 _________________________________________________________________ Advertisement: It's simple! Sell your car for just $30 at CarPoint.com.au http://a.ninemsn.com.au/b.aspx?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fsecure%2Dau%2Eimrworldwide%2Ecom%2Fcgi%2Dbin%2Fa%2Fci%5F450304%2Fet%5F2%2Fcg%5F801459%2Fpi%5F1004813%2Fai%5F859641&_t=762955845&_r=tig_AUG07&_m=EXT =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
|