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Case #6868 Rating: 3.3 out of 5
36 emaciated horses removed from farm
Reading, PA (US)Incident Date: Tuesday, May 31, 2005
County: Berks
Disposition: Convicted
Defendants/Suspects:
» Marlin C Bortner
» Georganna M Bortner - Civil Case
Case Updates: 3 update(s) available
At least nine of 36 horses at a Reading Township property were seized this morning for alleged animal cruelty. "There's not enough food and water, and not enough consistency (in care)," said Lisa Conklin, president of the Adams County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. "There's not adequate shelter and no recent vet records."
The 36 horses on the property are probably Arabians or Arabian-crosses, said SPCA volunteer veterinarian Wade Wisner. "Some of them are significantly underweight," he said. SPCA humane officer Betty Peake estimated the horses should be fed three times the amount they have been.
According to a search warrant served on the property alleging cruelty to animals, the owners of the property are Marlin and Georganna Bortner of York County. Peake said the owners are unaware of the seizure and posted the warrant on the property at 150 Rife Road. They could not be reached for comment today at press time.
Peake said she first received a complaint about the animals in June 2005 when they were brought to the property. Since then, she has visited the property four times, in June, August, December and January 2006, after receiving multiple complaints.
"We tried working with them. They appeared to care but took no action," she said.
Although Conklin was concerned about the conditions all 36 horses are living in, she said only the horses a veterinarian has determined to show signs of hardship will be seized.
"If you take horses that aren't qualified, it could jeopardize the whole case," she said.
That determination was ongoing this morning, but Conklin identified at least nine to be loaded into trailers.
The horses will be taken to an undisclosed secure location in Littlestown, where owners of a farm have volunteered to care for them until April 1.
By then, Conklin hopes to find foster homes for them to live at until the conclusion of the case.
She said she hoped the horses could be adopted permanently.
"We are asking people to please donate to the SPCA to help care for the animals," Conklin said.
This might be the largest horse seizure by the Adams County SPCA in recent history, Peake said. Although the agency is a private nonprofit, it is empowered to act in alleged animal cruelty cases.
Last year, four horses were seized. Three years ago, the SPCA seized 26 horses from a different property in the East Berlin area, she said.
Fifteen volunteers with four trailers came to the property this morning to seize the horses.
When Peake first got there about 7 a.m., she pointed to a horse, saying the winter coats on the horses covered some evidence of the under-feeding, but that there should not be any bones showing. Some of the horses' ribs were clearly visible under the skin.
There are three stallions in the group, Conklin said, and many of the horses are very young. They are also wild, she said as volunteers struggled to corral horses into the trailers.
"We'll stay here all day and into the night, if necessary," Conklin said.
Case UpdatesA York County couple previously found guilty of 27 counts of cruelty to animals won an appeal Tuesday.
In January, the SPCA took 33 horses from a property on Rife Road in Reading Township, Adams County. Marlin and Georgine Bortner, of West Manchester Township, each were cited with 33 counts of cruelty to animals.
Adams County SPCA President Lisa Conklin said the horses had not been given enough food or water and did not have adequate shelter or recent veterinary records.
In February, District Justice John Zepp III found the Bortners guilty of 27 of 33 charges of animal cruelty in February. He ordered both of them to pay $1,000 in fines and split payment of $10,000 to the SPCA. Zepp also decided that 11 horses would be returned to the Bortners.
The Bortners appealed Zepp's ruling. Tuesday, they appeared in Adams County court again, where Georgine Bortner said she had waived all interest in the horses. All charges against her were dropped.
Her husband pleaded guilty to only four charges of animal cruelty. The other 23 charges against him were dropped.
He still has to pay a $1,000 fine, and he is solely responsible for paying $10,000 restitution to the SPCA. He will also serve 360 days of unsupervised probation, under an agreement.
The agreement reiterates Zepp's order that 11 horses will be returned to Marlin Bortner. One of the other 22 horses died. Some belonged to other people and will be returned. Others will remain in the care of the SPCA.
He must take his horses to a veterinarian within 15 days, have some wormed and take some to a farrier to have their hooves examined and shod.
Bortner is not allowed to have more than 15 horses on the Rife Road property, and any horses on the property must be seen by a veterinarian and a farrier on a monthly basis.
He must also give the SPCA access to his property so they can inspect it and the horses.
Conklin said the SPCA received a check Tuesday for the $10,000 restitution Marlin Bortner owed. | Source: Daily Record/Sunday News - April 20, 2006
Update posted on Apr 27, 2006 - 1:18AM |
Eleven out of 33 horses seized by the Adams County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals will be returned to Georgine Bortner, 58 and Marlin Bortner, 64, both of Hanover Road in York.
At the Feb 22 trial before Magisterial District Judge John Zepp III, the Bortners were convicted of animal cruelty for depriving 27 of the horses of food, water, shelter or veterinary care or shelter.
They were fined $1,000 each and ordered to split a $10,000 restitution payment to the SPCA, which will cover the costs of caring for the horses after they were seized.
But there was no immediate decision on which horses, if any, would be returned to the Bortners.
Zepp handed down a ruling Friday that ordered all six of the horses the Bortners were found not guilty of mistreating, and five others, can be returned to the approximate 13-acre Reading Township property from where they were seized.
Zepp's order does not explain why he chose those horses, but he said during the summary trial that he would consider how many horses the Bortners will be able to support on their property.
The other 22 horses will remain with the SPCA, unless others who own full or one-half interests in any of the horses come forward. In that case, the owners will have to appeal to Zepp within 15 days with proof of ownership. The SPCA has been caring for all 33 animals since humane officer Betty Peake seized them Jan. 6 and 7.
Lisa Conklin, president of the SPCA in Adams, said she is not happy about all the returns.
"As the Adams County SPCA, of course our principal concern is the animals," Conklin said. "We are disappointed that the judge decided to return five animals he held had been cruelly treated."
The Bortners' lawyer, Michael Ferguson, did not return a call seeking comment Friday afternoon.
Five veterinarians testified on the conditions of each horse during the 10-hour trial.
"We greatly appreciated the judge's attention and his willingness to spend so much time on this case," Conklin said. "We would like to express our sincere thanks to Assistant District Attorney Shane Crosby for a job well done."
The SPCA had veterinarians examine each horse. For each horse, a veterinarian gave body-condition scores used to evaluate whether a horse is at the proper weight.
The scores ranged from one to five on a scale of 10, with one being the thinnest and 10 being most overweight. Many of the horses were described as malnourished, while others were in better condition.
Zepp used the scores to throw out six of the charges after the veterinarians testified those horses had a normal score of four or five.
Most of the horses, according to testimony, either showed signs of being underweight or had common skin problems, such as a fungal infection known as rain rot.
Peake said some of the halters on the horses' heads were too tight, holding up two that had pulled off skin and hair when the SPCA volunteers removed them. One horse, Jim Dandy, had a large abscess that required surgery, veterinarian Gary Kubala testified. Jim Dandy later died in the SPCA's care from a colon infection likely caused by antibiotics.
Several horses also needed their hooves trimmed or cared for, veterinarians said.
The 22 horses the SPCA is caring for will remain in foster care at least until the 30-day appeal period given to the Bortners expires. If Zepp's ruling is upheld or no appeal is filed, the horses will be put up for adoption, Conklin said.
Ownership of at least one horse might be contested, Conklin said.
"We are going make our best effort to find out who the owners are and contact them," she said. "If they don't know what's going on, they need to know, in all fairness." | Source: Evening Sun - Feb 24, 2006
Update posted on Feb 25, 2006 - 9:16AM |
Calls have been coming in to the Adams County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals ever since volunteers removed 33 horses from a Reading Township pasture.
Some of the callers want to adopt the horses, whose owners have been charged with abuse. Others want to offer foster homes, said Lisa Conklin, president of the society.
People also have made about $2,500 in donations to the society, Conklin said, "although we could certainly use more."
A conservative estimate of the cost of feeding and caring for a horse is $125 a month, she said. Seven of the seized horses already are in foster care on the recommendation of veterinarians, Conklin said. The remaining 26 are at a farm in Littlestown that is offering temporary shelter.
The SPCA doesn't want to return the horses, Conklin said. But, the owners, Georgine and Marlin Bortner of West Manchester Township, could try to win them back. Efforts to reach the Bortners were unsuccessful. They are scheduled to appear at a preliminary hearing Feb. 1.
Citations against the Bortners were filed at the office of Magisterial District Judge John Zepp III by Betty Peake, the SPCA's humane officer.
The documents say the Bortners deprived the horses of food, water and adequate shelter. The SPCA took the horses Jan. 6 after trying to work with the Bortners, Conklin said. Although the agency is a private nonprofit, it is empowered to act in alleged animal cruelty cases.
Horse-abuse cases pop up from time to time, said Walter Jeffers, president of the Pennsylvania Equine Council and an insurance agent in Springettsbury Township specializing in the horse business. Most cases involve one or two horses.
"It's kind of unusual when it gets to be that size," he said of the situation in Reading Township.
Jeffers said it can be tough to find a permanent home for horses if they are taken from their original owners.
Conklin was confident that, if necessary, the society would be able to find homes for the seized horses. The ideal candidates for adoption are people who have adequate pasture, at least some experience with horses and have other animals to keep the horses company.
"They're herd animals and most horses want to be with another herd animal, preferably another horse," said Conklin, who has been SPCA president since Dec. 12. The society's annual budget is about $300,000.
"This is an expensive process, a lot of horses. But, I have a lot of faith," Conklin said." | Source: Evening Sun - Jan 23, 2006
Update posted on Jan 24, 2006 - 1:05AM |
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