(Madera Tribune) Madera County Animal Services seized 12 starving horses from a remote 9 acre property in O'Neals, off of Road 200. Old decayed skeletons of five more horses were found in back paddocks on the rocky and steep mountain property, including one that had died within the last week and been partially buried.
Officers said they obtained a search warrant to seize and remove the horses on Thursday before their condition deteriorated any further.
Senior animal control officer Amy Toler said they had been monitoring the horses because of previous concerns but it had become clear the owners were no longer willing or able to care for the many horses properly.
Toler said the owner of the horses has been charged with animal neglect and cruelty. The owner's name is not being released because of the pending investigation, she said.
"We had removed horses from an owner of this property in 2001. She was convicted of neglect, and was prohibited from owning horses. Now the daughter is also apparently collecting them. This had been a follow up case. These horses were collected over time. They stated these were unwanted horses and they were rescuing them. There were also remains of other dead animals, and remains of dogs and cats on the property. There were also live cats and dogs in bad condition," Toler said.
Toler said the horses were kept in large, empty dirt paddocks with debris and in unsafe conditions.
"We checked the horses (we could see) in July and they were thin and declining then. We try to educate and work with horse owners... they said were feeding what we told them to feed, but yet their weight was still dropping. These horses would not have survived the winter months," she said.
"I am sure there are more dead horses, out in the rocks and crevasses. We concentrated on removing the live ones and weren't able to search the entire property Thursday," Toler said.
Toler also asked the public to report thin animals or horses in bad conditions promptly to the animal shelter whenever they see them.
Donations can be sent to:
Madera County Animal Shelter
P.O. Box 932
Madera, CA 93639
TXT 24
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