EPN News
www.equineprotectionnetwork.com
May 30, 2006

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Kona - Anti Horse Slaughter Ambassador Needs Your Help!

Kona has made an impact on all the people who meet her, none of whom
can believe this beautiful mare was moments from being someone's
dinner...

Picures: http://www.equineprotectionnetwork.com/

Pictures & Complete Story in Paula's Own Words:
http://www.equineprotectionnetwork.com/kona.htm

We need your help! If everyone on this list sends $10.00 we will
have raised over half the money to pay for Kona's medical bills.
Thank you on behalf of Paula and all those who love Kona & Lucy.
Kona's presence and story has made more of a positive impact on
horse owners and equine vets on the issue of ending horse slaughter
than 1000 words on the issue...

Donations are Tax Deductible

A fund has been created by the Equine Protection Network to help
offset the medical costs for Kona pictured on our website with her
one month old filly, "Lucy". Kona and Lucy are alive today due to
the dedication of horse lovers across the country who made Kona's
rescue from a feedlot at the eleventh hour possible and her
incredible journey across the United States to her new home in the
Midwest a reality. Kona has touched the lives of all those whom she
has come in contact with at her new home. Earlier this year Kona
gave her admirers another unexpected gift - a beautiful filly called
Lucy! The entire barn fell under the little filly's charms and she
was christened, "Everybody Loves Lucy"

Kona had been sold to the "killers" last year because she was
believed to be barren and not capable of producing any more foals!

Since foaling Kona has had several bouts of mild colic. Earlier this
week she was rushed to the hospital due to another bout of colic.
Upon consultation with the attending veterinarians it was determined
that the only reason not to treat Kona would be a lack of funds to
cover the cost of her care. A wait and see approach was taken and
Kona was improving until she developed a bacterial infection. Kona's
veterinarians describe her as a "fighter and a very stoic mare". As
for Lucy, well, Everybody Loves Lucy!

Kona's medical bills have exceeded $5000.00 and are still mounting.
Upon learning of the situation the EPN created Kona's Medical Fund
to help her owner and admirers offset the mounting medical bills.

Please understand at this time during this emotional and fluid
situation we are unable to answer everyone's questions regarding
Kona's condition. We will provide more information when the
situation settles down and Paula has time to grieve the loss of her
beloved mare and has provided for orphaned Lucy.

Please send your tax deductible donation to help defray Kona's
medical costs via PayPalDonation Button:

http://www.equineprotectionnetwork.com/kona.htm

or mail your check to:
Equine Protection Network, Inc., Kona's Fund, P. O. Box 232,
Friedensburg, PA, 17933
Please indicate your check is for "Kona's Fund"

Kona's Story in Paula's own words....

I have a story to share. This incredible story must start at the
beginning . . .


Early last summer I fell in love with a thoroughbred mare that had
been sold to a horse slaughter dealer hundreds of miles from my
home. Her photo was posted on the Chronicle of the Horse (COTH)
bulletin board. I had an immediate connection with this mare named
Kona. I dreamed from afar that she were mine.

She had been sold to the dealer because she was aged and had no
longer been producing. Her faded tattoo was not readable.

I and several other people on the COTH bulletin board pooled our
money and bought her from the dealer the morning the double decker
truck loaded. We put her in a foster situation where she joined
several others rescued from that final double decker ride to
slaughter, including several other aged thoroughbred broodmares.

I thought for sure she would find a forever home immediately, but
instead she waited and waited while the others found their way to
new homes. It took me awhile to figure out why she waited.

Fate had decided she was waiting for me!

Three months later she was on her way across the country to me. She
arrived in September just in time for my birthday.

While I am usually a very logical person, I really had to scratch my
head on this one. Here I was adopting an aged horse I had never
even met, touched or watch move, and I was hauling her across the
United States so I could spend money boarding her at a boarding barn!

But you see, there was this magic connection between Kona and me,
and this connection was not to be denied.

She was oh so skinny when she arrived. She had not fared well at
the lot or in foster. Despite her deplorable physical condition,
she was bright, sweet, gentle and SOUND.

Kona and I enjoyed a brilliant fall. She was eager, willing and
thrilling to ride! For the first time in my adult life I was riding
a horse who fit my long legs. We had the best of times through
Christmas, and I began to make plans to show her in 2006. She was
getting fit and muscling up and seemed to really enjoy learning new
things. I worried a bit that she remained lean, but figured the
weight would come in time.

A thoroughbred email buddy encouraged me to try to decipher the old
faded tattoo. After many a night "flipping her lip", looking at it
from all angles, with and without flashlights, blacklights and
through digital photographs, one by one the numbers became clearer.
It took a couple tries, but with the help of a very sympathetic
employee at Jockey Club, we got what appeared to be a match. I
tracked down her former owner and that owner confirmed what I had
already found out from Jockey Club. She was a stakes winning mare
and she had produced several foals, one of which was still running
and winning. She had not produced however for several years,
despite attempts to get her pregnant.
How and why she got from that owner to that dealer is another story,
a story I will share at another time. Know though that Kona worked
her magic, and I am in touch regularly with her former owner.

In January, I noticed she was finally starting to fill out.
However, it wasn't long before I was asking the barn owner, who is a
horse breeder, if she thought Kona could be pregnant. No, she did
not think so. It was just the way she was putting weight on and it
would shift in time. BUT, then that belly started going sideways,
and the girth was sliding forward to her elbows, and my once agile
mare was galumping around the arena like a walrus.

It became obvious that which should not have happened, had indeed
happened.

Yes, Kona was indeed pregnant! The aged barren mare who had not
produced in several years and was sold to a slaughter dealer for
being barren had one more surprise for all of us.

Last month early one morning, Kona produced a gorgeous healthy
thoroughbred filly. . . a fairy tale foal out of a fairy tale mare.

The vet calls Kona's foal a miracle baby. She said for Kona to have
gotten pregnant in the first place after several years of being
barren, and then not lost that baby through the stress of the
dealer's lot, then the foster situation, and then while being
shipped across country in a debilitated condition is indeed a
miracle.

We named her filly Lucy because she was born at first light, and
because she's been blessed with that Lucille Ball personality you
can't help but love.

Kona and Lucy continue to warm the hearts of all those who meet them
or hear their story. They are the living example of the thousands
of unlucky horses who don't get off that double decker ride to
slaughter. People are amazed to learn that but for the merry band
of a few COTH readers and the caring people who posted her photo
from the dealer's lot, Kona would have been shipped to slaughter and
the precious foal she carried would never have blessed our days.

Everyone says Kona and Lucy are so lucky. But I think we are the
lucky ones to be so fortunate to have Kona and Lucy in our lives.

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Update Memorial Day

It is with a heavy heart that we must inform Kona & Lucy's admirers
that it has been determined that Kona has a life threatening liver
condition brought on by the mild bouts of colic caused by a
displaced colon. She only has a few months, if that to live. Paula
has been told to take Kona home to be with Lucy. Paula is devastated
by this news as we all are.

Update Tuesday Morning

Kona has taken a turn for the worse and instead of a few months,
Paula and Lucy may only have Kona for a few more hours....

Please help us raise the money to help defray the medical costs and
enable Paula to bring Kona's ashes home with her.

Please understand at this time during this emotional and fluid
situation we are unable to answer everyone's questions regarding
Kona's condition. We will provide more information when the
situation settles down and Paula has time to grieve the loss of her
beloved mare and has provided for orphaned Lucy.


Please send your tax deductible donation to help defray Kona's
medical costs via PayPal. The donation button for donating to Kona's
Medical Fund:

http://www.equineprotectionnetwork.com/kona.htm

or mail your check to:
Equine Protection Network, Inc., Kona's Fund, P. O. Box 232,
Friedensburg, PA, 17933
Please indicate your check is for "Kona's Fund"

All donors will receive donation receipts from the EPN.

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Kona Memorial Fund

Plans are in the works to create The Kona Memorial Fund in memory of
Kona in an effort to assist owners of beloved pet horses faced with
having to euthanize their beloved horse simply because they do not
have the funds to pay for medical care. Paula stated to the
EPN, "More than raising the money to pay my bill I want fund
available so other people do not have to go through what I am going
through."

The EPN in cooperation with veterinarians will work to establish a
fund for horse owners facing medical costs beyond their financial
means. Owners will have to meet certain criteria to qualify for
funding and a horse's condition will also be evaluated for a
successful recovery. "Our goal is to help people who have made the
lifetime committment to their horse, pay for lifesaving medical
treatment that they could not otherwise afford. To choose between
life and death because you do not have the financial resources is
heartbreaking."

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