 Neglect of 23 horses
Phoenix, AZ (US)Incident Date: Wednesday, Feb 5, 2003
County: Maricopa
Local Map: available
Disposition: Alleged
Alleged: Anthony Dale Bright
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Twenty-three horses seized by rescue workers were living in "cruel, cruel circumstances" and will not be returned to their owner, a judge ruled Thursday. Phoenix Municipal Court Judge Patricia Whitehead upheld the Feb. 5 seizure of horses from the Phoenix property of Anthony Bright, 42.
Whitehead also ordered Bright to pay $750 to help defray the cost of veterinary care, which one official estimated to be about $10,000.
Bright, who is under criminal investigation for animal cruelty, testified that he had been ill and was trying to feed the horses the morning that rescue workers and Phoenix police stopped him.
"The horses are my life," he told Whitehead before the ruling.
Dr. Bruce Kuesis, an equine veterinarian who is treating the six sickest horses, said some are more than 150 pounds underweight. Paul Fink, an Arizona Humane Society veterinarian, testified that all of the horses were underweight and their hooves were overgrown by four to six inches, making it difficult for them to walk.
Bright said he had tried to trim the hooves of a colt and a mare, but hadn't finished when rescue workers from the Arizona Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals arrived.
Randy Burns, of the ASPCA, said it would have taken more than a year of neglect for the horses' hooves to be so overgrown. Neighborhood MapFor more information about the Interactive Animal Cruelty Maps, see the map notes.
Back to Top References« AZ State Animal Cruelty Map
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