Montana: more horse neglect cases.

Animal cruelty investigator, sheriff speak out on increasingly common issue.

Cruelty investigator: Economy affects animal care [link]
Irina Cates | Aug 13, 2008

The majority of the cases Sanders County Animal Cruelty Investigator Dave Hedley deals with involve animal neglect, not abuse. He is also seeing more cases involving horses. "A horse market, as far as selling your horses at the auction is bottomed out, it's costing people money to get rid of their horses with the hay prices running anywhere from $1.50 to $2.00 a ton, people aren't either willing to pay those prices to feed their horses or are unable to field those prices for hay," Hedley said. "And what we're afraid of, of course, is with this type of economy pressure going on people dealing with the high prices of fuel, double the price in hay who can't cope with it. They can't afford it, and they can't get rid of them. So unfortunately they're going to be neglected," Sheriff Gene Arnold added.

Hedley said people who want to buy horses need to make sure they are educated enough about these animals to make sure they know what they're getting themselves into. "To be a true Montanan, they buy their horses and they're over their head because they've never had a horse before. They don't understand the requirements upkeep that horse and a horse will eat off five acres in a heartbeat and then suddenly they're faced with having to buy feed," Hedley said. Just because there is a lot of green feed, it does not mean the feed is good, according to Hedley. "When that greenery is actually nap weed or a noxious weed, which is poisonous for a horse if it's ingested in any quantity," he said. Hedley adds when winter rolls around, he expects a traumatic increase in horse neglect cases. Hedley recommends that anyone who needs help or has questions about raising animals, contact the Sanders County Sheriff's Department or a local humane society.

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