Lechuza Caracas owned by Venezuelan multimillionaire (21 polo horses poisoned)

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Palm Beach Post

Lechuza Caracas owned by Venezuelan multimillionaire
By SONJA ISGER
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

By SONJA ISGER

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Monday, April 20, 2009

The 21 horses that died this weekend were about to play in the 105th U.S. Open Polo Championship, a tournament which caps South Florida's winter polo season.

They were members of the Lechuza Caracas team which has been playing in the event annually since 1999

The team is owned by Victor Vargas, a Venezuelan multimillionaire who started playing polo when he was 24 years old, according to the North American Polo League.

According to the league website, Vargas has various banking and oil holding in the United sates, Venezuela, Panama and the Dominican Republic. The site reports that the man is also president of the Venezuelan Bank Association and director of the Latin American Banks Federation.

Vargas, who also plays on the team, was reported in tears as he held the dying horses Sunday afternoon.



Read more: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2009/04/20/0420lechuzateam.html

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http://www.diariolacalle.net.nyud.net:8090/imagenes_noticias/victor%20vargas%20irausquin.jpg

Victor Vargas



Victor's Palm Beach house

$70 Millones pagó Víctor Vargas por mansión en Palm Beach
http://www.noticias24.com/gente/noticia/3107/la-nueva-mansion-de-victor-vargas-en-palm-beach/

[Kittycat]

1. Is there something we're supposed to hate this guy for?

He's wealthy sure - but from the article, it sounds like he's traumatized from the loss of the horses. I would be too - sounds like despite all his other accumulated wealth - Polo, the team - the horses was his real passion in life.

Maybe I just don't know enough about it.

[BeHereNow]

2. Sounds like a hate crime to me... Hugo Chavez related.

The horses were all owned by a Venezuelan.
I hope they catch the bastard who decided to take his
hate for Chavez out on innocent horses.

BHN

[ShareTheWoods]

3. Could be a Chavez supporter

The horses were all owned by a Venezuelan that is rich unlike all of Chavez followers.
I hope they catch the bastard who decided to take his
hate for non-supporters of Chavez out on innocent horses.

[infidel dog]

7. In any event, it would give me tremendous pleasure to get my hands on the monster(s) responsible.

Fucking savages. A disgrace to humanity, if such a thing is possible.

[RaleighNCDUer]

8. Or it could as easily be that the team was feeding the horses on

imported Chinese horse feed. You don't know shit, and it is a calumny to blame this on Chavez.

[ShareTheWoods]

11. Well if you knew shit you would see it in the post (#2) that I responded to.

NFT

[EFerrari]

9. LOL. That's quite a tele novela you have going there.

[Patsy Stone]

13. Wow

Puff, puff, give, dude.

[ShareTheWoods]

23. it was a parody of the referenced posting

I gave at the office.

[PatrynXX]

21. Such people deserve torture

Only one sort of rotten piece of shit deserves something worse than dead. Torture then death. Especially a case like this. 21 horses? What country is this?

[Codeine]

4. Big Pharma did it, in the Red Lobster, with vaccines. nt

[Duer 157099]

5. It's like a Godfather scene, on steroids

Can't help thinking that

Y'know, horse heads in bed are so passe

[Idealism]

6. I just heard this on the local news, very odd story

I feel sorry for the guy, he seemed really broken up about the loss.

[tomm2thumbs]

10. sometimes people do bad things to people who owe them lots of money - could this be the same?

someone's Godfather comment may be right on the money - sadly

[LuckyLib]

12. It could just as easily be a worker angry at being let go. Let's wait for the investigation

(and with this kind of $$$$ there will be a huge investigation) to take place.

[merwin]

14. Where does it say they were poisoned?

Someone last night in the original thread brought up an insect that if not vaccinated against can cause quick death like this.

Could have been unintentional. All we know is that a crapload of horses dropped dead. People who jump to conclusions like "it was a chavez hater/supporter" are way out of line, at least until there is even a shred of evidence.

[mrs_p]

15. i agree to wait for the investigation

but don't know what arthropod-borne organism could kill like this so quickly and at the same time. granted, i have only been investigating animal diseases for a couple of years, but nothing common would do this...

[merwin]

17. According to this post, VEE (Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3839231#3839450

[mrs_p]

19. thanks!

i would be surprised if it turned out to be VEE, as then we would be seeing other equids with similar signs/symptoms in the area. it could easily be something in the feed (like a fungal contamination or even something natural). i'll be interested in what they find...

[riderinthestorm]

16. I'd be very curious to know what insect can kill an entire trailer load of horses that quickly

I've never heard of that and as a professional in the horse biz for the past 25 years, competing internationally, I'd be very interested in that theory.

Most importantly however, horses travelling internationally must have a passport that documents their medical history. They aren't allowed into the US without it. ALL vaccinations that the USDA requires must be in there or the horse is denied entry. Florida especially has an agriculture check that mandates a stop to ensure your travelling papers are in order coming into and out of the state. They check your horses to ensure they are all the right ones and gawd forbid that you blow past the ag check - the troopers WILL hunt you down into Georgia or for as far as you go into Florida. It's very stringent.

In this case however, by all accounts the horses were healthy when loaded and rapidly deteriorated within an hour or so of being given some kind of injection.

Sounds like a bad batch of a drug, poison, or purposeful sabotage.

One thing's for certain however, we don't have nearly enough facts to say with any certainty what happened.

[merwin]

18. See post #17 by me regarding VEE (Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis).

I know absolutely nothing about it, but it was put forward by someone here as a possibility.

[doodadem]

24. It's not VEE

If it was, the entire place would be quarantined--all horses.

Like I was saying yesterday when it came out that they suspected the horses were injected with cleaning fluid, it sounds like a dose of hyaluronic acid, gone bad. HA's veterinary trade name is Adequan. It's given for joint problems, such as arthritis. But Adequan is quite expensive, about $100 a shot last time I checked, so poor horseowners like me go to online veterinary supply houses and order the generic for about half the price. Because of regulatory or patent concerns, they can't publicize it as hyaluronic acid, so they tag it as cleaning fluid.

I've also fed it as a supplement, that comes in combination with glucossamine and chondroitin.

OR--it could just be some asshole with a grudge that doped them on purpose.

[merwin]

27. But the guy who owned them is filthy rich and addicted to horses.

I don't peg that as being the type to skimp on the care. I am leaning towards poisoning by someone with a grudge. Not a conspiracy, just a single nut who hates that guy for one reason or another. It could also be someone who lost a huge bet on his team or something.

[bklyncowgirl]

29. There's a rich guy named Ernie Paragallo who's up on charges for starving his 170 horses.

Rich people can be cheap. This guy Paragallow is a millionaire several times over but the ASPCA had to seize his farm and all the animals on it because the guy did not provide care for them.

I'm not saying that this guy's an Ernie Paragallo--that character's in a class of his own. These were well cared for, highly trained, valuable polo ponies but keeping a polo team is an expensive proposition. I wouldn't be shocked if they cut a few corners here and there.

Using generic drugs (some off market) to control costs is not unusual even in the highest class stables.

[RedCloud]

20. Let's see. Who likes to play horses? Oh yeah

organized crime figures. Seems like a few of their operatives have left their poison not just in the horses but in the hate Chávez because my wing nut associate does crowd.

[gabby garcia]

22. insurance?

just curious.

[Joanne98]

25. I'm waiting for the spoiled brat to blame it on Chavez!

[Nihil]

30. That'll be post #3 then!

:shrug:

[Judi Lynn]

26. Argentina considers doping tests on polo horses after deaths

Argentina considers doping tests on polo horses after deaths
Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:35:53 GMT
Author : DPA

Buenos Aires - The deaths in the United States of 21 polo horses belonging to the Venezuelan team La Lechuza Caracas caused a stir Tuesday in Argentina, the country of origin for most of the animals. Argentina said it was considering testing the horses for doping.

An official investigation has been opened into the mysterious deaths of the animals, the United States Polo Association said Monday. The horses died just hours before a quarter-final match Sunday at the 105th US Open Polo Championship in Wellington, Florida. The tournament concludes South Florida's winter polo season.

"This can undoubtedly lead to the implementation of anti-doping testing in polo. It is expensive and hard to do it, but yes, it is a concrete possibility and it is being evaluated," said Francisco Dorignac, president of the Argentine Polo Association, in comments published Tuesday by daily La Nacion.

Argentina is the world's foremost polo-playing country, with some of the best players and best polo horses. The Venezuelan team that lost the horses includes three Argentines: Juan Martin Nero, Guillermo Caset and Martin Espain.

Dorignac was shocked by the events in Wellington. "This is terrible," he said. "We are on alert. We are awaiting the reports to take the relevant measures and precautions."

Experts, breeders and veterinarians in Argentina said the multiple deaths surprised them since the vitamin supplements usually given to polo horses do not have harmful effects.

"The strange thing is that, be they vitamins or whatever, they were given to them before the game, when the normal thing would be to do that afterwards, for recovery," said former polo star Horacio Heguy.

More:
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/265289,argentina-considers-doping-tests-on-polo-horses-after-deaths.html

[bklyncowgirl]

28. Horses are extremely succeptable to poisoning.

Horses, with thier digestive systems designed to process grass eaten on the move, are more susceptable than other animals to poisoning. For one thing, they are unable to vomit.

I have heard stories of entire stables wiped out in hours due to contaminated feed. Way back in the 70s I worked at a riding academy where every unexpected equine death was followed by a necropsy at considerable expense in order to eliminate the possibility of contamination--especially if we'd recently received a shipment of hay or grain. The fear of losing more horses was unfortunately quite real.

Since this was limited to this team's horses only, whatever killed them had to be limited to something that they were exposed to. It could be an accident or it could be malicious. Right now it's just a great deal of forensic testing going on and they will find out what killed these animals.

[dgibby]

31. Pharmacy mistake

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/04/23/polo.pony.deaths/index.html

[RedCloud]

32. And where are the Anti-Chavez "geniuses"?

Where are their apologies for spewing right wing nonsense?

[Pachamama]

33. There couldn't be a link to this....could there?

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/04/22/missing.virus.sample/index.html