Video: 19-Year-Old Horse Spends First Christmas With Loving Family

For Immediate Release:
December 23, 2019

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

When PETA first met Dakota, the emaciated horse was being kept in a cramped, mud-filled pen and was slowly starving—he was more than 400 pounds underweight. But as a new PETA video released today reveals, after some TLC and several weeks of rehabilitation at a specialized facility, we were able to find him a new home. For the first time, this 19-year-old horse is celebrating Christmas with a devoted family—one with four granddaughters who adore him.

“I get teared up a lot watching him grow and watching him learn and experience things that I guess he hasn’t ever … you know, like the carrot, he’s never had one,” says Dakota’s guardian Pam. “All horses deserve to be loved by a little girl at least once in their lifetime. And this little guy’s hit the jackpot because he’s got four of them.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. The group works 24/7 to help animals near its Norfolk, Virginia, headquarters—including horses, dogs, and other animals.

More details about PETA’s work can be found at PETA.org.