Severe neglect - Eight draft horses seized
Waterloo, IN (US)Incident Date: Friday, Dec 17, 2004
County: De Kalb
Disposition: Not Charged
Case Images: 1 files available
Abuser names unreleased
Eight Belgian draft horses were removed from a Waterloo farm Friday after one horse died and another was left to die beneath a tarp. No charges have been filed against the owners, DeKalb County Prosecutor Monte Brown said, although the investigation is ongoing.
Officials at the DeKalb County Humane Shelter believe the large, chestnut-brown horses are suffering from malnutrition. And they say they've been investigating the owners for three years.
When officials arrived at the farm Thursday evening, they said, the horses had no food, and the only water was frozen solid. Their ribs showed through their thick, shiny coats.
"It was nothing but hip bones and ribs," humane shelter Director Gale Wetzel said.
On Friday, officials arrived with DeKalb County sheriff's deputies and volunteers in tow to load the horses onto trailers and transport them to a pasture outside Auburn. Officials are now searching for volunteers to take the horses full time.
"Right now our main interest is to save these animals," Detective Lee Stoy said.
Two of the animals could not be saved.
One horse died this week or last, said Gin Cousino, kennel manager for the humane shelter. Another was put to sleep Friday morning.
The mare was found lying behind a barn, covered in a tarp, she said. A veterinarian ruled that the horse had suffered from malnutrition and would not recover.
Autopsy results for both horses are pending, as are evaluations of the remaining horses.
On Friday afternoon, after being cajoled in and out of large horse trailers, the animals clung together in the pasture, munching mechanically at the grass and gulping water out of an old bathtub-turned-trough.
One mare lay on the ground, stumbling when she tried to get up. A colt – who officials believe is the offspring of the dead mare – repeatedly fell to the ground.
All are moderately thin, a 4 on a scale of 1 to 9, with 9 being a healthy horse, Cousino said. Their hooves are split, and all are inbred.
The horses cannot remain in the pasture, though, Wetzel said, because the home has no barn.
She hopes people will volunteer to house the animals, pay for food and veterinarian care and remove the dead horses.
The horses each eat about a bale of hay a day, at $2 for each bale.
"It's going to be a really salty bill," Wetzel said. "They're not like dogs and cats you can house. This could go on for months."
The couple who own the horses have been under investigation for years, she said. But nothing warranted removing the horses.
Brown said he is contemplating charging the owners with neglect of a vertebrate animal, a misdemeanor.
Anyone who can help take care of the animals is asked to call the humane shelter at 260-868-2409. References
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