This beautiful horse, part of the Howard 22, is now safe. That makes 12 so far with more to follow. Awesome!

It was just a few weeks ago that the story broke about 22 starving horses found along the road in Central Oregon. Victims of a summer drought and a harsh winter. The ground was frozen solid and they were literally starving to death one day at a time.

As many of you know The Pongo Fund is Oregon’s Pet Food Bank. We focus our efforts on dogs and cats. Saving them from starving, suffering and being euthanized in overcrowded shelters when their families cannot afford to keep them fed.

Our award-winning and volunteer driven program has provided more than 4 million nutritious meals to date, saving the lives of some 50,000 animals.

But on that day in January we decided we will help these horses too. Because we cannot just stand by and let these majestic animals starve.  Not without doing all we can to help them. Because that’s what The Pongo Fund does.

As Mother Teresa said: “If you cannot feed 100, then feed just one.” Or in this case, 22.

The Pongo Fund continues building a collaborative team to work on this effort. Longtime animal advocate extraordinaire Erin Bergstrom, philanthropist Howard Hedinger, the Grandycandy Fund, Salty’s Dog & Cat Shop, Kate, Kim and the awesome folks at Sound Equine Options, Wheeler County Judge Chris Perry, Wheeler County Sheriff Chris Humphreys and many more are all involved.

And the team continues to grow as trainers, vets, farriers, fosters and more join the effort. Because it really does take a village. But all of this takes money with expenses for things including hay, boarding, transportation, vaccinations and all sorts of medications. For example, many of these horses are covered in ticks and they all need nutritional supplements.

We are proud to report that thanks to your generosity we have already received some $20,000 in donations specifically to Save the Howard 22. These funds are in an account known as the Save the Howard 22 Fund.

This situation will take many months to resolve but we’re pleased to report that progress is being made. Please keep in mind that we are not a group of professionals trained in rounding up roaming horses. Just a group of dedicated individuals called together to do what no one else was doing. That is, stepping forward to save these lives. And so far that is exactly what we are doing.

We will continue to pass along updates as we have them. But for now, please know that these horses have better days ahead.

We would be honored to have your support. Please donate. Please share this post. Please care.

Thank you.