Horse starved to death
Coal Fork, WV (US)

Incident Date: Thursday, Feb 3, 2011
County: Kanawha

Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Alleged

Alleged: Wayne Allen Workman

An eastern Kanawha County man is facing animal cruelty charges following the death of a horse on his property.

Wayne Workman, 49, of Campbells Creek was arrested Thursday and charged with two counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty after officials claimed the animal likely went without food and was in poor health for months but wasn't seen by a veterinarian.

Kanawha County Humane Officer Jeff Allen went to Workman's Gap View Drive home in the Campbells Creek area in late November after receiving a complaint of a very thin horse on the property. Workman, its owner, told Allen he did not know why the horse was so thin and that he fed it "all the time," according to a complaint filed in Kanawha Magistrate Court.

The officer told the man to have the horse checked by a veterinarian and that would check back. When Allen returned to the home a few weeks later in the second week of December, the horse was in the same condition and hadn't been taken to a doctor.

Allen gave Workman one more week to get the animal treated, but the owner called and said he was in the hospital with a broken foot, the complaint said.

Another week later, Allen and a second officer went back and found the horse had no food and its water had frozen in the bucket, according to the complaint. Two or three times in January, Allen checked on the horse and found it without food or water each time. It still had not been seen by a veterinarian.

Allen received a report Wednesday that the horse could not get up. He and another officer went back Thursday and found the animal on the ground. The horse died at 9:45 a.m. Thursday.

Allen could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Workman is being held at South Central Regional Jail on $5,000 bond.

References

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