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Emaciated horses rescued
Parker, CO (US)

Incident Date: Friday, Apr 15, 2011
County: Elbert

Disposition: Alleged
Case Images: 3 files available

Alleged: Deborah Krausman

Starving and scared, four horses are beginning the long road back to health -- and perhaps a new home -- after they were rescued from a Parker property over the weekend.

Their journey started when deputies from the Elbert County Sheriff's Office responded to a report of animal cruelty late the night of April 15 at a property on Elizabeth Drive, said sheriff's spokeswoman Lt. Michelle Nail.

When deputies arrived, they found two horses dead and four severely malnourished. Nail said the two horses appeared to have been dead for months.

The owner of the property, Deborah Krausman, 42, was arrested on suspicion of aggravated misdemeanor animal cruelty. She posted bail and gave up ownership of the animals to the Elbert County Sheriff's Office.

The four horses, two males and two females, are being cared for at the nonprofit Rocky Mountain Horse Rescue in Arvada.

Rescue president Bini Abbott said the horses are emaciated but that she thinks they will pull through.

"I think we can bring them all back to full health as long as there are no underlying problems that we don't know about," Abbott said.

The horses are being fed five small meals a day to slowly nurse them back to health. Abbott said this is one of the most severe of 40 such cases she has seen.

A body-condition scale, ranging from 1 to 9, is used to measure the health of horses, with 1 being starving to the point of death, 5 being perfect weight and 9 overweight. Abbott estimates these horses to be somewhere between 1 and 2 on the scale.

Abbott said one of the females is tame but that the other three horses are very wild and frightened. She said they do not appear to have had human interaction in a long time.

The two females were to be moved into an enclosure away from the stallions. One of the females was tranquilized so rescuers could get her ready for the move, and when she was inspected, the extent of the malnourishment was worse than they had first estimated.

"You could feel every single one of her ribs," Abbott said. "They have a winter coat on that adds an inch or two, so it doesn't appear as bad when you look at them."

The center will rehabilitate the horses - now called Georgie, Hope, Tomboy and Tiger - so they can be adopted by new owners.

"I'm sure we'll be able to bring them back," Abbott said. "It doesn't always work out that way, but usually we can help them."

References

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