San Diego selling Mounted Unit horses
 

Former police horses to be auctioned
Mounted unit was disbanded last year

By Debbi Baker, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Monday, February 1, 2010 at 12:04 a.m.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2...d-for-sale-at/

Seven prized and highly trained horses that San Diego police officers used in mounted patrol will go up for auction today. The mounted enforcement unit, founded in 1983, patrolled Balboa Park and also was deployed in special details across the county such as major conventions and at Qualcomm Stadium.

The city disbanded the unit in December to help close a $179 million budget gap. Selling the horses is expected to save the city $243,000 annually in upkeep for the animals and their equipment, San Diego police Assistant Chief Bob Kanaski said.

The horses, ranging in age from 9 to 12 years old, as well as their tack and other equipment will be offered for sale online through Feb. 10, Kanaski said. Starting bids for the horses are expected to be $500 to $1,500, he said.

One wonders if they treat their human retirees the same way . Selling the horses to another law enforcement agency is one thing but an auction to the public seems like mismanagement.

Why the city owns the horses? Mexico is just down the road 500.00 bucks is real close to the kill value right? Dont horses sell for .30 a lb?

So head out there and buy them all.

They are well-trained bombproof horses, they will get good homes.

Any horse that can handle being a police horse is a nice and well broke animal. I imagine that they shouldn't have too tough a time being placed. Heck, after getting spooked into oblivion by my horse last week, I'd like to make a trade!

Scavs should buy one to use at AP this summer

Did Hank make this request?

He would if he could

These cop horses are probably the only ones I could control.

just hold on and they'll do the rest?:rolleyes:

They would make great lead ponies

Doesn't $243,000 sound high for 7 horses?

Selling the horses is expected to save the city $243,000 annually in upkeep for the animals and their equipment,

I'm a bit surprised that the officers didn't make arrangements for their own horses, or that there are not other active mounted PD units that would appreciate expensively trained horses. Sounds funky.

I know they eliminated the mounted police unit in Philadelphia about, oh, eight years ago and brought them all back maybe, five years later. For large events, they are incredibly valuable.

The officers did ask if they could keep their horses (or buy them), but the City preferred to do the auction thing -- probably figuring they would get more money that way.

I assume the officers are free to bid on them along with everybody else.

Don't know if any other mounted PD units made offers or not.

This sounds much better than what used to happen in PA to the police horses when their careers were over. At the time, there were no exceptions to the rule that police equipment could not be distributed to the public. So, on more than one occasion, veteran police horses would be paraded at the Farm Show, taking a last loop around to the cheers of the kids while it was announced they were retiring from the force... and then they'd be taken off premises and shot.

(Fortunately, they've since realized a horse is not really the same kind of equipment as, say, a handgun, and now they really do retire the horses.)