Two emaciated horses seized
Buckeye, AZ (US)

Incident Date: Wednesday, Sep 28, 2011
County: Maricopa

Disposition: Alleged

Alleged: Cory Romanoff

Sheriff deputies seized two horses in Buckeye on Wednesday after an investigator said the owner was not feeding them.

Sheriff investigators said one of the horses would probably not have survived much longer had deputies not rescued it.

Cory Romanoff was arrested and faces misdemeanor animal cruelty charges.

"My horse, I admit, was underweight," said Romanoff. "It wasn't anywhere near dying."

According to a sheriff's report, deputies have been out to Romanoff's Buckeye home, near 300th Avenue and Van Buren, five times in the past five months.

In three of those visits, there was no horse food on the property.

According to the MCSO report: "Dr. Hendrix responded to the scene and examined the two horses. For the sorrel horse named 'Havana' she gave a Body Condition Score of 1 out of 9, with 1 being severely emaciated and 9 being obese. Dr. Hendrix said this horse is on its last reserves and would probably not survive much longer.

For the horse named "Katie" she had a Body Condition Score of 1.5 out of 9. This horse was also severely emaciated."

"It just seemed to be that the opportune moments whenever it was time for us to go get hay or whatever need be, people do run out of hay, the sheriff's office would show up at that opportune moment or the Department of Agriculture and it's one of those things where they never show up when I have food here," said Romanoff.

Romanoff claims one of his horses got sick and lost weight and, with the summer heat, has had a hard time putting the weight back on.

He said the other horse was a rescue who was already underweight when given to him recently.

"No matter what I never, never, never would abuse any animal," said Romanoff. "I love animals."

Romanoff told ABC15 he does not plan on trying to get his horses back.

"I feel at this time for the love of the animal and everything that's going on I myself have been [looked] at as not getting my horses up to the grade of health they need to be so for the right of the animals I am going to donate the animals to either MCSO MASH, whatever need be to make sure they get the proper care," said Romanoff.

References

• « AZ State Animal Cruelty Map
  « More cases in Maricopa County, AZ

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