Only after an appeal to the ombudsman did the State Enterprise «Horse Breeding of Ukraine» recount the number of horses at its stud farms

It took two months for the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade, and Agriculture of Ukraine and its enterprise «Horse Breeding of Ukraine» to count the number of horses at the branches of the State Enterprise «Horse Breeding of Ukraine» — horse farms — to estimate the amount of feed for the winter period of 2020-2021, and also to provide a statement of deceased animals in 2020. Achieving this immediately without the intervention of the Office of the Representative of the Verkhovna Rada for Human Rights was not successful.

Certainly, «Horse Breeding of Ukraine», around which a scandal erupted in the summer regarding the appointment of an incompetent leader (read about it in our article «Workers of Ukrainian Horse Farms Protest Against the ‘Yanukovych’s Stableman»), did not intend to provide information as required by the Ukrainian law «On Access to Public Information». Alternatively, this statistical information simply did not exist in the State Enterprise «Horse Breeding of Ukraine».

In this case, the question of the competence of the acting director, Eugene Veretiuk, appointed half a year before our request, arises again. Or the Ministry, together with the State Enterprise «Horse Breeding of Ukraine», decided to conceal such information from the public because some controversial activities are taking place at the Horse Breeding branches, falling under laws regarding the cruel treatment of animals, for example.

A photo from the Zaporizhia stud farm, which was sent to the zoodefenders at the beginning of December 2020

Anyway, after a corresponding letter from the ombudsman, the directors of the horse farms went to count their horses and weigh the feed for the already passed winter…

Responses from «Horse Breeding of Ukraine»

From the responses, we learned that there is even more feed on the horse farms than required by the standards approved by the Institute of Animal Husbandry of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences. Then it is unclear why the animals in the photos sent to animal advocates in December by residents of villages where horse farms are located (branches of the State Enterprise ‘Horse Breeding of Ukraine’) appear to be so thin.

Фото з Запорізького кінного заводу, яке надіслали зоозахисникам на початку грудня 2020 року

We also learned from the response that in 2020, 20% fewer colts were born than the previous year, and in 2021, a lower birth rate of mares is also expected. The current leadership attributes the blame for this situation to the ‘predecessors.

This is explained by the fact that since 2018, the previous management of the enterprise (Voiniy O.V., Nedosviti V.O., Zinchenko K.M.) has taken all possible measures to reduce the horse population: the destruction of the domestic horse breed (Ukrainian draft horse breed, former Russian draft horse breed) by its complete elimination; prohibition of mating all available broodmares; intentional plowing of pastures and hayfields in the territories of some branches at the direction of the former management of the State Enterprise «Horse Breeding of Ukraine» failure to provide concentrated feed for feeding horses, the document states.

На запит стосовно померлих та зданих до м’ясокомбінатів тварин за 11 місяців 2020 року ДП “Конярство України” надало звіт про 27 померлих коней, але незрозуміло за який період. Співпрацю з м’ясокомбінатами керівництво заперечує.

In response to the request regarding deceased and delivered to meat processing plants animals for the 11 months of 2020, the State Enterprise ‘Horse Breeding of Ukraine’ provided a report on 27 deceased horses, but it is unclear for which period. The leadership denies collaboration with meat processing plants.

The question about the development plan of the State Enterprise ‘Horse Breeding of Ukraine’ for 2021 remains open. According to the response we received and was signed by the head of the enterprise, Veretyuk, on February 17, 2021, the leadership of the state enterprise was only in the process of developing the development plan for the enterprise and its branches for this year at the time of signing. In other words, there were only a few weeks left until sowing, taking into account the needs of each branch, and the leaders in Kyiv were only working on the relevant documents…

Of course, in the coming days, «Active Citizens» will send a new appropriate request to the State Enterprise «Horse Breeding of Ukraine» to obtain a copy of the development plan for the state enterprise at least before the harvest… To be continued.

Iryna Kovalchuk