Horse Lover Rescues Candidates for the Slaughterhouse

Linda Moss is praying for $500 to feed her ever-growing horse habit.

No, Moss is not a heroin addict. She buys Southland horses who are one stop away from a slaughterhouse in Texas and trucks them to a Newhall ranch, where they can peacefully spend the rest of their lives.

Moss and her band of volunteers--united under the banner of the Equus Horse Rescue and Sanctuary--are a San Fernando Valley-based organization that buys horses from area holding pens before they are trucked to Fort Worth. There they are slaughtered and the meat sent to Europe, where it is considered a delicacy, according to Moss.

She says the horses are killed by first stunning them with a blow to the head. The animal is then strung up by a leg while its throat is slit.

“Ever since I found out about all this, I’ve been determined to save as many of these animals as I could,” Moss says. She has found support and volunteers in the local valleys.

“The horse slaughter is a dirty little secret in the horse world that no one likes to talk about,” she says.

“These are horses that were pets or animals used at rental ranches or who were champion runners that you may have bet on. They haven’t done anything wrong except to get older. So their owners send them to auctions, where they have no idea that the animals may be on some European dinner table soon.”

A horsewoman all her life, Moss says she found out about the slaughter by accident. At a horse auction in Pomona, she says she asked who the person was buying up all the older horses. She was told the buyer was acting for a European concern that runs a slaughterhouse in Texas.

Moss adds that when she says the animals are older, she doesn’t mean they are anywhere near death. “Horses can live to the age of 46 or more,” she says, adding that “often when they reach 18 they are considered old and no longer useful. We have a 46-year-old horse at our Newhall sanctuary now.”

The organization has operated out of several sites during its four-year existence.

“We now have 250 horses on our Newhall rental property and are looking for a larger space,” Moss says, sighing. “Someday soon we hope to have property of our own where we can keep all the animals we have the money to save.”

Moss adds that she has had offers for rental space from horse property owners at several sites, including one in Canyon Country and another in Lancaster. She hopes one of the offers pans out.

The nonprofit organization depends on volunteer help to staff what she calls the “refugee camp for horses” and on donations from groups and individuals to meet monthly food, rent and veterinarian bills.

Sometimes, she says, there’s enough to pay for everything, but often the volunteers reach into their own pockets to pay the bills. Almost all the money above and beyond expenses is used, according to Moss, to bring more horses to the facility.

Moss, who creates special effects on movies such as “Dances With Wolves,” often reaches into her own pocket. “I’m not married, have no children, so this is what I choose to spend my money on,” she says.

There is no money now to buy a horse in a San Bernardino holding pen, which is why she’s hoping that additional funds turn up in the next few days.

“This little guy has injuries to his feet and legs that look as if they were inflicted by a human,” says Moss, who thinks the organization’s vet could help the animal.

“He’s a sweet little guy with big, sad eyes, who follows me around whenever I go out there,” Moss says, again sighing.

Although she has talked to the pen manager about delaying shipment of the little horse, she doesn’t know how much longer the manager will wait. It breaks her heart.

“He’s a symbol of all the horses we have rescued, who’s spent his entire life, to date, doing the bidding of humans. It would be a crime to have him cruelly slaughtered. We owe all these horses better than that.”

Gilberto Castro Cha Chas Up to Receive Food Service Honor

Sous-chef Gilberto Castro of Cha Cha Cha in Encino looked at restaurant owner Lee Laine and said, “You’re kidding.”

“Gilberto didn’t know I had put him up for an award, so when I told him he was one of the winners, he was shocked,” Laine says.

“When I received an entry blank from the Hispanic Employees of Restaurants organization requesting any nominees I might know of for one of the outstanding service awards, I immediately thought of Gilberto. But I didn’t tell him I had entered his name in case he might not get the award and be embarrassed by that,” Laine says.

But win Castro did. He was one of 22 honorees in 12 categories, including dining room and kitchen employees.

All 22 were feted at a banquet at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. Castro attended with his bride of one year, as well as Lee Laine and his wife, Norma, and others from the Cha Cha Cha staff.

Castro came to Cha Cha Cha three years ago as a dishwasher. He quickly worked his way up through the bread-making department, food preparation, the pantry and, then, to line cook before being named sous-chef, the right-hand man to the executive chef.

“He demonstrated the capacity to oversee other employees, to develop new dishes, and is excellent at estimating cost and product availability,” wrote Laine in making Castro’s nomination.

“He started with no real knowledge of the kitchen and has developed into a very essential member of our team. He handles everything with great aplomb and elegance, from the most basic tasks to planning a dinner for 50 people,” Laine continued.

The restaurant owner says he takes a special interest in Castro’s progress because the restaurant is where the 34-year-old chef met his wife, the former Maria Magdeleno.

“Maria came to work in the kitchen about a year and a half ago, and she and Gilberto fell in love and married. Now, they are expecting their first child in a month or so,” Laine says.

Overheard:

“Well, I guess all the rain makes some people in the movie industry happy. When they make ‘Sleepless in Seattle II,’ they can shoot it in L.A.”

One woman to another in line at a Northridge theater.