"Evening Tahlia" Laura said as she hoped out of Brock's truck, they had rendezvous at a motel near where the auction was being held to go over their plan for tonight
"Hi, well you certainly weren't lying about bringing some extra hands for security" Tahlia said surprised to see the extra hands step out from the car, all there to help
"Got you 14 trained Navy seals, 3 active duty hair missiles, 1 retired hair missile, this is Lisa, she's a whiz if you need anything looked up, Stella is a literature grad student, she's volunteered to help you get emails out and Mattie will help us get supplies where we need them" Laura said giving her a run down of the added support she'd brought with her
"I'm doing my first big deployment soon, so its good training" Mattie said, she was Bravo's new logistical and supply specialist, her first mission with Bravo was their deployment in Syria so she was eager to test her skills and impress her new team
"Glad for the help" Tahlia said
"Right so how do you want us to do this" Eric asked, when Jason came to him and explained the situation and what their plan was Eric was only to happy to volunteer to come out and supervise the operators
"Maybe some introductions first" Laura said prompting Tahlia who was feeling a little overwhelmed by the added support the new vet had brought with her
"Right so I'm Tahlia, I'm the owner of the rescue, this is Lewis, he's my husband and director of auction rescues, Paige is our secretary, Thea, Bianca, Evan and Tyler are all trainers and Nelly is the head of animal welfare" Tahlia said running down her crew
"Right so we have Brock, Jason, Sonny, Trent, Clay, Eric, Scott" Laura said introducing the seals, Tahlia knew a few from 2 days ago but some of the volunteers hadn't met the seals yet
"Call me Metal, everyone else does" Metal said, it wouldn't feel right them calling him Scott
"Derek, Beau, Chris, Tanner, Kyle, Simon and Fergus, then this is Cerbs, Pepper, Journee and Dewey, who aren't afraid to get their teeth stuck into some bad guys" Laura said introducing the rest of the group and the 2 extra hair missiles they had
"Yeah I forgot to feed Dewey before I left" Fergus the alpha team dog handler said with a small laugh
"Yes well hopefully we won't need you to go that far, who's bidding tonight for us" Tahlia said with a grin
"We are" Clay, Stella, Laura, Brock, Sonny and Derek said raising their hands
"Good so what we'll do is we need to register when we get there, go through and make a count of how many horses we have, don't be surprised if you find donkeys, goats, cattle, I want everything counted, I know there is going to be at least 9 kill buyers there tonight" Tahlia said feeling more relaxed knowing that she had extra support, it wasn't going to be her rescue against the kill buyers
"Plenty of ways to hide the bodies" Metal laughed
"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that, the best thing we can do is send them away empty handed, Paige has checked out the current slaughter prices, its based on per pound of animal, once an animals price is above slaughter price we consider it safe, as there's no profit in them for the kill buyers, and they will particularly go for anything that has extra meat on it" Lewis said appreciating the sense of humour
"If someone approaches you to purchase a animal of you at the end of the auction, refuse and let us know. Sometimes you will find ex racers in here, and if people find out that they've got into the slaughter pipeline it would cause a lot of negative publicity, us pulling them out allows their stories to be told, some owners can get quite upset if they find out that the horse they're trying to dispose of quietly is going to a rescue" Tahlia said
"So how do you know if its an ex racer" Derek asked curious
"They're tattooed, if we come across any we really need to know their numbers and if we can rescue them pull them out tonight and get to the shelter" Tahlia said, she knew that some people would go to extreme lengths to hide their sins
"Is there a maximum number you can take" Eric asked
"I can personally take 100, but I do have adoption partners who can help as well" Tahlia said
"Remember though that's not including those who need the final act of kindness" Laura said, those that needed it, she would do tomorrow
"Laura is right, and we can't make that call until we get them back to the shelter and she can do the X-rays she needs, so we take whoever we can get" Tahlia said
"What if someone approaches with an offer to buy" Sonny asked
"Take it if you have the funds, even if the animal looks in bad shape, if you don't have the funds, check to see if the others do" Tahlia said
"Direct them to Brock and I, we've been given access to an emergency fund for use in that situation" Laura said
"Sounds like you want your low vis comms system for after the auction" Mattie said
"Good idea, you think you can get us some of those fancy security cameras as well, we can get them set up in the pens, make sure no one touches a horse we've brought" Eric said
"Already got a box with me, and I asked around and have located 4 extra trailers we can burrow, we just need to tow them ourselves, I've checked out our cars and we have the capacity to pull them out with who's here if you can hook them up for us" Mattie said looking at Tahlia and Lincoln
"That's not a problem" Lincoln said with a smile
"Trent, can you and Tanner help Nelly and I with a quick medical assessment of any potential injuries once we get there, I know you two are used to human patients, but you can handle a syringe" Laura asked the 2 medics
"Sure" Trent said as Tanner nodded his head eager to help
"Right let's go save some babies" Tahlia said confident that the plan would go ahead without problems
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"Mummy" Zalie said slowly opening her eyes after the surgery, she was back in her room
"I'm here Zah, so's your daddy and Nonna and Boompa" Jess said letting Zalie know she had people there to keep her safe
"It hurts bad" Zalie said starting to sob in pain
"I know it does, but we had to have it done" Luca said moving in closer to comfort her, the cast must have been so uncomfortable for Zalie, all she could do was move her arms and head, everything else was impossible
"I know, is Cerbs helping aunty Laura" Zalie said comforted by the fact she had both her parents there
"He is, he'll be here tomorrow night to see you with Pepper, but we thought you might like to sleep with this tonight instead" Jay said producing a large stuffed toy dog that looked like Cerbs
"Its as big as Cerbs, and soft like him to" Zalie said stroking the toy
"He even has a battery, we turn him on and watch" Alie said
"Its just like Cerbs was sitting here in the bed with me" Zalie said excitedly
"I take it you like it" Jay asked his granddaughter
"Ah ha" Zalie said as she lay there stroking the dog and falling back asleep
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"You okay Stella" Tahlia asked concerned, she'd followed her outside
"Yeah, this place is just heartbreaking, there's a horse in their crying, how is this allowed to happen in this world, we're a first world country for god sakes" Stella said frustrated
"Unfortunately if theirs a way to make money, people will do it, no matter how despicable it is" Tahlia said
"Is that truck" Stella asked looking up and seeing a huge truck pull in and unload some horses
"A slaughter truck, there are times the horses are to skinny, so they're removed and sold here to make way for fatter horses" Tahlia said realising that there was going to be some slaughter pipeline cast aways here tonight, they are usually in extremely bad condition
"And what happens then" Stella asked
"They usually end up in a feed lot, fattened up and placed back on the trucks" Tahlia said softly
"Unless you can get them out" Stella said looking atthe rescuer
"Yeah" Tahlia said softly
"That poor horse that's crying" Stella asked looking at her
"If we can get her, we'll give her the final act of kindness tomorrow if there's nothing Laura can do to relieve her pain, she'll give her pain relief tonight and do everything she can to keep her relaxed and calm until we can make a final decision" Tahlia said explaining that the horse wouldn't be left to suffer in pain
"So you don't just shoot them" Stella asked
"Laura will give them the appropriate medication and injections, they won't feel a thing" Tahlia said stroking the grad students arm
"What is your problem, taking all those horses, nothing but greed" one of the kill buyers said approaching Tahlia at the end of the night, he hadn't won a single horse, neither had the other kill buyers
"No different to what you lot do, least they're not going to Mexico, their journey in the slaughter pipeline ends tonight" Tahlia said proud about the achievement
"You can't save everything Tahlia, this horse is worthless, he can't be adopted out" the user said pointing to a horse in pretty bad condition
"Maybe not, but you're still not getting him, we'll do what his owners should have done instead of leaving him here to end up with the likes of you" Tahlia said, she could already tell the horse would have to be euthanized tomorrow, but she was not going to allow the horse to be handded over to the kill buyer standing there
"You know your parents should have taught you some manners, argh" the buyer said aggressively as he pulled a knife out head concealed under his top and went and tried to move against Tahlia, but before he could take 1 step he was pinned to the ground by 4 hair missiles who had sunk their teeth into his flesh
"Maybe your parents should have taught you how to treat animals properly, release" Brock said calling the dogs of the guy
"Are you out of your mind bringing 4 attack dogs to this event" the buyer said frustrated and in pain from his bites
"Attack dogs huh, wonder what the cops would say about you threatening an unarmed woman while carrying a concealed weapon, got this on video Davis" Sonny asked
"Sure have" Lisa said putting away her phone
"Walk away Kenneth, you and you're buddies aren't picking up anything tonight" Tahlia said to the kill buyer, she had won this round and the kill buyer knew it
"You know we will next auction" the kill buyer snarled
"Perhaps, but all I know is you aren't getting these 107 soles" Tahlia said proudly
"107, you only brought 53" the kill buyer said confused
"The other 54 have been purchased and donated" Lincoln said proudly
"Actually we picked up a few extra, someone brought a trailer load in, we purchased directly from the owner, you've ended up with 123 soles saved Tahlia" Eric said letting her know the final tally
"And Sonny reckons that a few may be pregnant" Jason said
"Miss Laura will obviously need to confirm my suspicion" Sonny said to the vet
"Be happy to when we get them back tomorrow" Laura said with a smile
"You can't protect them all night" the kill buyer said glaring at her
"No but we can" Metal said
"Give it up Kenneth, you didn't win anything, you have no need to be here, now go away before I call the auctioneer" Tahlia said, realising he had backed himself into a corner the kill buyer quickly made his way to the truck and left
"Was that guy serious" Beau asked looking at Tahlia
"He's the one who pulled the knife on Paige last auction, thank god this is only once a month" Tahlia said, she was a little frightened from the whole experience
"Yeah well you make sure to let Laura know when you're coming to one of these events again, we'll send you some backup" Derek said
"Be greatly appreciated, I can't believe we actually are seeing the kill buyers go away empty handed tonight" Tahlia said surprised
"Yeah well it happened" Ray said with a smile
"Right, lets go check out our precious souls we saved tonight, Laura there's one horse we already know is critical, get you to check her over first, get some pain relief and whatever she needs, then set up a priority list for tomorrow, we'll get those ones out of here and back to see you first" Tahlia said letting Laura know what was happening next
"1621, that mare who's got the bad leg and crying" Laura asked wanting to make sure they were talking about the right horse
"You've seen her" Stella asked relieved that Laura was already aware of the horse
"Briefly, I haven't had a decent look yet, as I check them I will tag, red is critical, orange is high alert, yellow is be aware/potential pregnancy, white tag is no problem suspected beyond minor work, we'll need to separate any stallions as well, if they're healthy I'll geld them tomorrow, if they're not we'll do a separate quarantine and see how they go, I'll do them the week after" Laura said taking control of the situation now
"Right you heard her, lets get to work" Eric said as they all split up to help get the horses sorted
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"Just spoke to Brock, slaughter trucks got sent away empty tonight, they ended up with 123 horses saved, but some are pretty bad" Luca said entering Zalie's room after going to get something to eat, Zalie was still fast asleep and didn't stir
"Thats still great news, the trucks going away empty" Alie said proudly
"That's not great news, its fantastic" Jess said with a smile
"Yeah, looks like the rest of the team went and Metal roped in some from Alpha and Charlie as well, Sonny thinks a few could be pregnant as well" Luca said filling the group in on the good news
"Sounds like they're in for a busy day tomorrow" Jess said with a smile