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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New Jersey: malnourished horse case.

Retired thoroughbreds are allegedly neglected.

Farm owners face cruelty charges [link]
Stephanie Prokop | Aug 13, 2008

Two North Jersey men are facing charges of animal cruelty in Jobstown after allegedly maintaining poor conditions for horses on their farm on Arney’s Mount Road. Dennis Cameron, of Piscataway, and Patrick Nelson, of Lake Hiawatha, are each facing 24 counts of failure to provide a living creature with proper food, said Springfield Township Municipal Court Administrator Ruth Ann Bice on Tuesday. The two men were scheduled to appear Judge Richard Andronici in Municipal Court Tuesday, but Ms. Bice said the hearing was delayed so that the defendant could obtain a lawyer. The new hearing date has not been set.

Retired thoroughbreds are boarded at the property, DMS Farm, said neighbor Maggie Payne. According to Ms. Payne, the horses appear to be very skinny and have noticeable blisters and open wounds on them. This has been a source of outrage for the neighbors, said Ms. Payne, who said she had approached the farm’s owners about a dilapidated fence. Ms. Payne said that because the fence was broken, the horses would escape out onto Arney’s Mount Road and she was fearful that they would get hit by a car at night. “We just didn’t want to see any of these horses getting killed out on the road,” she said.

According to the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals spokesperson Matt Stanton, charges were originally filed in February. The ASPCA would normally allow only a 24 or, at most, a 48-hour window before they would write a ticket, but the state Department of Agriculture granted a three-month grace period to let the owners take care of the horses’ conditions. “We were back there in May, and in June, and wrote a total of eight tickets,” said Stanton. He said that the horses remain at the farm while the legal process continues. Stanton said that during the NJSPCA’s last visit in June, the horses’ hips, shoulders, and ribs were still visible. In the meantime, Ms. Payne said that she has made consistent effort to bring the inhumane treatment that the animals are receiving to light. “We’re just trying to do the right thing, and see these horses being treated fairly,” she added.

Another article on this case:

Judge gives defendants in animal abuse case time to hire lawyer [link]
MARK ZIMMARO | Aug 13, 2008

A court hearing for two North Jersey men facing animal cruelty charges at a township horse farm was postponed yesterday to give the defendants time to obtain a lawyer. Patrick Nelson, 60, of Lake Hiawatha and Dennis Cameron, 48, of Piscataway were granted three weeks by Municipal Court Judge Richard Andronici to hire a lawyer after originally indicating they would defend themselves. The New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals filed 24 charges against the two men in May alleging the thoroughbreds kept at the DMS Farm on Arney's Mount Road were not being properly fed. A new trial date has not been announced. “It's disappointing because we were ready to go,” SPCA officer Theresa Cooper said after the hearing. “Everything was prepared and we wanted to get started. But the judge granted them extra time and that's the law.”

Nelson, who owns more than 20 horses at the farm in Springfield as well as a dozen others at another farm in the county, denied the animals were being underfed. “These people don't know anything about thoroughbreds,” Cameron said outside the court. “We raise these horses to make money off them. Why would we want to hurt them? These horses are fed three times what the government recommends.” Neighbors who live near the DMS Farm have complained about how skinny and sick the horses appear to be. Cameron, who helps manage the horses, blames their appearance on an outbreak of salmonella at the farm. “If a horse isn't treated after getting salmonella, it can lose over 300 pounds in three days,” Cameron said. “We feed these horses plenty. When the (state) Department of Agriculture came out to see a horse that died at DMS, they split (the horse) open right in the middle of the farm. The other horses probably got sick from the salmonella spreading.” Cooper said Nelson and Cameron didn't do enough to keep the horses healthy. “You can feed them all you want but they need to find the underlying problem,” she said. “For some reason, these breeders don't think they have to meet the standards and they need to be held responsible.”

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Texas: malnourished horse cases on the rise.

Texas news stories: neglected horses a problem with no easy solution.

Emaciated Horses in the Panhandle [link]
Aug 13, 2008

Horses that look like they haven't eaten in weeks... It's a continuing problem in the Panhandle. It falls under animal cruelty in the law books... Not properly feeding your horses and making sure they are taken care of. A viewer sent in pictures of horses she saw on I-40 in Gray County. The American Quarter Horse Association gets calls about horses like this all the time. Tom Persechino says " the AQHA isn't a shelter, so we have to rely on local law enforcement. Hopefully law enforcement can help the horses and or the owner." We called the Gray County Sheriff this morning about the horses the viewer snapped photos of. Lt. Hoard says a crew went out there to take some more pictures earlier today and, thanks to our phone call, they are now conducting an investigation. The only other option besides getting law enforcement involved is to send the horse to a humane shelter, but Persechino says those are hard to come by. "We did a study and only 3 out of the top 100 major cities have shelters that are equipped to take care of horses and taking horses in."

MORE

Neglected Horses: A Continuing Problem [link]
Aug 13, 2008

Sick and neglected horses are becoming a problem in the Panhandle. A few weeks ago we told you about horses that are being neglected and left to their own devices by owners who just didn't want them anymore or couldn't afford them. Today we're looking at the challenges owners face if they choose to keep their horses. One of the main challenges... Keeping the horses well fed. As the economy continues to worsen, it's getting more and more expensive to make sure the horses eat. Tom Persechino at the American Quarter Horse Association says "the increasing price of corn, the increasing fuel prices... They all affect the horses. We used to see one call every few years about malnourished horses. Now there's not a week or a day that goes by without us getting a phone call about it." Another reason why so many horses are malnourished.... The owners don't know what else to do with them. There are only a handful of humane societies around the nation that are equipped to handle horses... And none in our area.

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New Mexico: abandoned, emaciated horse.

Heartbreaking, disturbing video screencaps ahead.

Hiker discovers starving horse [link]
KOB.com | Aug 13, 2008

Jacob Romero was hiking on a road from Los Lunas to the Manzano Mountains Tuesday when he came upon something that broke his heart: A horse so emaciated that each of its ribs could be counted. Romero stayed with the horse for a couple of hours giving it water and then tried to get it some assistance.

"We called the state police, we called a livestock inspector, we called the sheriff – nobody showed," said Romero. Eyewitness News 4 notified Animal Protection of New Mexico which, in turn, contacted the livestock board. A representative of the board is supposed to look at the horse Wednesday.

Brace yourselves... I've seen a lot of graphic photos in recent weeks, but I can't believe this mare can even blink, much less stand and walk.





Update on abandoned mare.

Emaciated horse rescued in Valencia Co. [link]
Valerie Castro, Joshua Panas | Aug 13, 2008

With help from the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department's helicopter, a starving horse can now rest easy in the care of professionals. The emaciated horse was spotted late Tuesday wandering east of Valencia County High School. And when rescue teams were organized to pick up the animal Wednesday morning, it was nowhere to be found. After driving the dirt roads and asking if anyone had seen the horse, the animal was finally spotted, covered in flies.

April Riggs of the New Mexico Livestock Board says there's no telling where the mare came from, but she says chances are she belonged to somebody. "She's in bad shape, so I don't think she's been out here that long. I think she might have been dumped off or just let out of the backyard," Riggs said. The horse is currently being treated in Valencia County. Animal Protection of New Mexico is offering up to a $5,000 reward to anyone with information about where the animal came from or how it ended up in such bad shape.

I don't think I've ever seen a horse in worse condition—alive. Generally when horses at this stage are rescued, there is so much internal damage that euthanasia is the only kind thing to do.



What a horrendous fate—being turned loose to die. At least someone could have given her the gift of a bullet a long time ago... this is incredibly sad.

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New York: new animal cruelty case emerging.

See stills from news video at end of first article.

SPCA raid at local animal farm [link]
Al Vaughters | Aug 12, 2008

The SPCA raid at a local animal farm has the owner coming to his own defense Tuesday night. The SPCA hauled away 12 horses and five sheep, and charged the animals' owner with animal cruelty. Michael Armatys, SPCA Chief Investigator, said, "The nature of the complaint was emaciated and malnourished horses that were alleged by the complainants." Officials only seized animals owned by Peter Sparks. The Trading Post is a riding and boarding stable, but officials said the other animals seemed to be in better shape than Sparks'. Peter Sparks said he has saved horses and brought them back to his stables, and he will clear his name. "I have a lot of people that have been riding here, families upon families for a lot of years. I am just a good hard-working man. I don't know what else to say!" Sparks now faces 17 counts of animal cruelty. He is due in Grand Island Town Court in two weeks.

first screencap

second screencap

My first thought was, the horses in this video don't look TOO bad. Underweight, some more than moderately thin, but nothing that isn't fixable. The next article was found the following day, this time with still photos.

Five sheep, 12 horses seized at Grand Island trading post [link]
Janice L. Habuda | Aug 13, 2008

Owner charged with animal cruelty

A Grand Island stable owner was charged Tuesday with 17 counts of animal cruelty when authorities seized a dozen horses and five sheep said to be in poor physical condition. Peter L. Sparks, 56, owner of Sparks Trading Post on Bedell Road, is scheduled to appear Aug. 27 in Grand Island Town Court. "That was wrongfully done," Sparks said, when asked to comment about the seizures. "There's no reason for it." The misdemeanor charges stem from complaints made to the Erie County SPCA by nearby residents and a former stable employee. "I know what called their attention to this... wasn't so much the condition of the facility as the condition of the animals." A veterinarian was present Tuesday to evaluate the animals on site. "Some horses have horrible teeth," Browning said, which resulted in their condition being rated a "2" on a scale of 1 to 8. Malnourishment, dehydration and lack of hoof maintenance also were among the problems. Sparks Trading Post has been on the radar of animal welfare authorities for some time. "We had been out there sporadically over the past decade or so... just checking on the conditions of the animals every so often," Browning said. "It doesn't look like they had any signs of equine disease," Browning said of the horses seized Tuesday. "Malnourishment is the biggest issue at this point." An employee came to his defense in the late 1990s, saying Sparks had bought sick, starving and mistreated animals at auctions in order to give them another chance at life.

thin horse

thin and very thin horses

So, it remains to be seen... are these horses in this condition due to the owner's care (or lack of it) or in spite of it?

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Wisconsin: bones from malnourished horses uncovered.

New charges could be in store for pair already linked to neglect case.

Bones found on Trexler land could mean new charges [link]
Dan Tordjman | Aug 13, 2008

Forensic scientist Melinda Merck examined the fresh bones found at the site and says what she found what officials had already feared... "All of the ones we were able to recover showed very low fat content in the bone marrow, which directly says these animals died of starvation," Graham said. The new findings could mean new felony charges against the Trexlers. The family is already accused of starving and neglecting dozens of their own horses. Investigators continue to examine the horse remains—looking for more evidence of animal cruelty. For now, 70-year-old Hazel Trexler faces seven felony and 21 misdemeanor counts... expected in court Friday for a hearing on misdemeanor charges.

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Michigan: three horses starved to death.

Charges in a case that dates back to May.

Man pleads no contest in starving death of horse [link]
Heather Lynn Peters | Aug 13, 2008

A Muskegon County man who police say starved three of his horses to death pleaded no contest to a felony charge Tuesday. Christopher Strait, 27, was charged in May with killing or torturing an animal stemming from the starvation deaths of three horses he owned in Dalton Township. He entered the no contest plea on Tuesday before 14th Circuit Judge James M. Graves Jr., and is scheduled for sentencing Sept. 22.

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Illinois: update on winter case.

Case dates back to January.

Woman Pleads Guilty To Starving Horses [link]
NBC5.com | Aug 13, 2008

Woman Claims She Told Someone To Feed Animals

A woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to letting four horses starve last winter on a Manhattan farm. Will County Judge Richard Schoenstedt scheduled Sonia Herrera's sentencing hearing for Oct. 28. Her punishment could range from 30 months of probation to three years in prison. Herrera, 32, of West Old Kerry Road in Channahon, was arrested in January and has been charged with four counts of aggravated cruelty to animals, cruel treatment of an animal and failing to properly dispose of animal remains. At that time, Herrera and her husband owned a farm on Sweedler Road in Manhattan. The couple were divorcing, and Herrera moved away.

Earlier that month, a Will County detective went to the farm and found three dead horses in a small fenced area. Five thin horses were housed in a barn with a muddy floor and without bedding. One other horse found on the property was owned by someone else. That horse was well-fed. Authorities then gave Herrera several days to feed and take care of her animals, but she didn't do anything, Will County Assistant State's Attorney Nicole Moore said. Although Herrera asked someone to take care of her horses, she never gave that person any food to feed them, Moore said. Before he allowed Herrera to plead guilty, the judge made sure that she understood the proceedings. Although the state agreed to dismiss the charges of cruel treatment of an animal and failing to properly dispose of animal remains, Herrera made a "blind plea"—meaning that the state won't recommend any particular punishment to the judge.

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Oregon: neglect update.

More on the Oregon case reported yesterday, where three of seven horses were seized due to malnourishment, neglect:

Three charged with animal neglect [link]
KVAL | Aug 11, 2008
Three people faces charges of animal neglect after the Linn County Sheriff responded to a report of a malnourished horses on a property in Scio, Ore. Four of the horses were found to be healthy but the remaining three were malnourished and in poor condition. Those three were examined by a local veterinarian. The two geldings and a mare were seized for malnourishment and neglect. The three owners of the horses were arrested for misdemeanor Animal Neglect II.

More coverage.

Horses found malnourished in Linn County, 3 arrested [link]
The Oregonian | Aug 11, 2008
The Linn County sheriff's office has seized two geldings and a mare and arrested three from Scio for animal neglect. The horses were sent to local animal foster care facilities. A vet determined that four horses were healthy but three were malnourished and in poor condition.

Another article.

Scio trio charged with animal neglect [link]
Justin Much | Aug 12, 2008
An investigation found seven horses in a pasture smaller than two acres, and three of those horses were in poor condition from malnourishment... Police also seized two geldings and a mare. Local volunteers assisted with transporting the horses to approved local foster care facilities.

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North Carolina: rescues full.

More neglected horses than rescues have room for.

Economic woes leave malnourished horses [link]
Beau Minnick | Aug 12, 2008
Animal control officers said they are seeing more cases of malnourished horses as animal owners deal with the struggling economy. With some owners unable to afford to take care of their horses, some rescue farms that take in the animals are running out of space. Jennifer Malpass has 10 rescue horses on her field in Franklin County. The horses are skinny and look malnourished. “It’s just heartbreaking to see so many of these horses coming in in this condition,” Malpass said. Some horses rehabilitating in Johnston County are emaciated. Horse owners are facing rising costs, a sluggish economy and a lack of grass due to the recent drought. North Carolina is on pace to have more horses sent to rescues this year than in 2007, Davis said. Horse prices are down, in some cases less than $100 per horse. There are also few farms available that can take those horses and get them back to health.

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