UPDATE from July meeting:
MEWA members paid their annual dues and voted in temporary subcommittee chairs. These
chairpersons will meet soon with their subcommittee members and start planning their own agendas. Members will have the ability to keep these temporary chairs or nominate someone else.
Please welcome these new leaders (subcommittee name in parentheses):
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Melinda Langmeyer (Education & Public Awareness)
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Michelle Melaragno (Hay Bank)
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Jim & Jan Marconi (Temporary Foster & Rescue Home)
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Janelle Tirrelle (Veterinary and Farrier Assistance)
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Melissa Libby (Legal & Political Action)
The Maine Equine Welfare Coalition is now the Maine Equine Welfare Alliance!
That subtle name change was one of many elements fine-tuned at Wednesday’s meeting at the Maine Farm Bureau offices in Augusta.
Most significantly,
Michelle Melaragno was nominated and voted in as its first chair. Melaragno is well-known in the Maine horse community. She is Director of Operations for
HEART equine ambulance, is a founding member of the Androscoggin County Animal Response Team, and an assistant instructor for
Technical Large Animal Emergency Rescue.
NickerNews will post minutes soon, but for more immediate information, check out MEWA on our
links page.
MEWA is on facebook!
Click here for link and help spread the word.
I know there are a lot of naysayers and handsitters out there, ready to predict MEWA’s demise before it has even left the barn. To them, I say: Stop being negative, y’all.
On the flip side, there are LOTS of folks ready for change:
Change within the horse community.
Change at Animal Welfare.
Change to help struggling horse owners.
Change to help suffering horses.
If you’d like to make change happen, get involved.
If you don’t want to get involved, quit your bitchin’ when yet another horse falls through the cracks.
Or as my mother would say, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.
Can’t attend the meeting?
There are a limited number of spots available for teleconferencing the meeting.
Donna Coffin, an educator with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension office in Dover-Foxcroft, has arranged for the teleconference. If you would like more information on the meeting OR the
teleconference, please contact Katie Lisnik at
klisnik@humanesociety.org or 756-2570.
Down the road, video conferencing may become a reality. How cool would that be here in the sticks of Maine!
Read below for meeting information. Hope to see you there!
Based on recommendations from the Legislative Task Force on Equine Welfare (Resolve from LD 458) horse enthusiasts from across Maine are invited to join the Maine Equine Welfare Coalition (MEWC).
This alliance will be an ad hoc group of concerned horse people from throughout Maine dedicated to helping horse owners struggling to provide for their animals, and saving as many horses as possible from abuse, abandonment and neglect.
The group aims to be comprised of individuals from rescue organizations, equine professionals/business owners, breed groups, veterinarians, state officials, law enforcement agencies, equine media, and concerned citizens.
Though diverse in perspectives and background, we will all shed our differences and unite on a regular basis to address the problems confronting the equine community in our state.
MEWA will be divided into several teams dedicated to identifying different aspects of the problem, including hay and feed assistance, temporary foster home network, veterinary assistance, emergency response and education.
Participants will be able to focus on areas that are of particular interest to them- and the team format will help us all share the load.
We invite anyone with ideas and energy to come to the inaugural meeting and participate in our efforts. Please spread the word to your horse loving colleagues, friends and family and join us on Wednesday, March 31st at 6pm at the Farm Bureau Office. The Farm Bureau is located on Gabriel Drive in Augusta, as you head away from Augusta on Civic Center Drive.
In order to determine adequate room space, please RSVP to Katie Lisnik at klisnik@humanesociety.org or 207-756-2570 and/or Don Marean at lindonfarm@sacoriver.net
The Maine Equine Welfare Alliance is aiming to follow the
Oregon Horse Welfare Coalition Model:
Check out their efforts online!
Mission: The Oregon Horse Welfare Council is formed to help people needing assistance to provide for their equines, and to save as many equines as possible through direct assistance, foster care, emergency assistance, and public education.
We do not engage in controversial dialogue over issues that divide us. Divisiveness, blame, and pointless conflict are discouraged. Rather, we remain focused on ideas and solutions.