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Richard "Kuto" Couto, founder of the Animal Recovery Mission, triggered the shutdown of the largest illegal slaughterhouse in the U.S. in March. Police and an Organized Crime Unit shut down Coco Farm in Florida.

Largest illegal US slaughterhouse raided, closed

The nation’s largest known illegal slaughterhouse—a place where horse carcasses were fed to crocodiles as the final insult—was shut down in March in a large-scale sting operation led by Richard “Kudo” Couto of the Animal Recovery Mission (ARM). Following a five month investigation in which Couto documented severe conditions on the property where more than 9,000 animals could be found living in filth, hunger, and disease, the kingpin of illegal slaughterhouses known as Coco Farm was raided by 80 law enforcement officials, including officers from the Miami-Dade Police Department, State Attorneys office, and members of the Organized Crime Unit, Couto […]

A veteran's program has been launched by Healing Arenas in California. Thoroughbreds are central to the effort.

Horse program for vets launched in Calif.

Escalon, Calif.— “Stable Survivors,” a new project designed by Healing Arenas, Inc. to address the emotional wellbeing of the area’s underserved veterans population and their families, has been launched. An opening ceremony and demonstrations of the new program will be offered June 25 during an open house at Healing Arenas Ranch in Escalon,  Calif., beginning at 6:30 p.m. The initiative pairs EAGALA (Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association—(www.eagala.org) certified mental health professionals and equine specialists, with adoptable retired racehorses in a program to help veterans adapt to civilian life. “Horses help with transitions that humans experience throughout life. Overcoming the […]

Rock N Cozy is pictured with Carl Domino after she was claimed last week.

Horsemen: ‘That’s it; we’re getting her out’

With the words, “That’s it; we’re getting her out!” two well-known philanthropic racing professionals teamed up last week to claim back a startlingly pretty race mare from trainer David Jacobson. With swiftness and commitment to repay a kindness to race mare Rock N Cozy, New York trainer Carl J. Domino and Texas racehorse owner John Murrell united forces behind the mare, this time not to win races, but to see her through to a much-deserved retirement. “I was worried about her,” says Murrell, a Texas racehorse owner and philanthropist who has donated tens of thousands of dollars to save Thoroughbreds […]