Horse neglect Trinity, AL (US) Incident Date: Saturday, Jun 4, 2005 County: Morgan Local Map: available Disposition: Not Charged Persons of Interest: » Sherry Odell » Mike Treadway - Alleged » Garland Edward Treadway Case Updates: 1 update(s) available

Case ID: 8365 Classification: Neglect / Abandonment Animal: horse View more cases in AL (US) Login to Watch this Case

Their rib cages are visible, yet the three horses in a Caddo pasture continue to ignore the plentiful yellow plants growing around them. Instinctively, they know the colorful bitterweeds can cause vomiting, diarrhea, weakness and death in rare cases. Toxic or not, horses, cattle and sheep will eat the weeds if they are starving.

Keith Russell hopes the horses never get to that point, but he is not confident that their owners will begin feeding them properly. As a retired inspector/investigator for the American Kennel Club, Russell's investigative days are over. Unofficially, he is on the job again, because he finds it difficult to ignore the injustice that he said is horse ownership without the means to feed and care for them. "They don't know any better, and they don't care," Russell said, of the horses' owners. "I told them it's better to sell them or give them away."

Sherry Odell, who owns the three horses with her husband, Mike Treadway, said the horses get plenty of love, care and food. "We feed them every day," Odell said. "If the kids don't feed them, I do it myself. My daughter wants to be a (veterinarian). She spends a lot of time with them."

Odell said Russell is making trouble for the family because they refuse to give him their horses. "He doesn't want to buy them," Odell said. Russell disagrees. "I wanted to do that (buy them) at one time so I could find them homes," he said. "I just don't want to see any more horses starved out there."

Russell estimates that it costs $150 a month to feed sweet mix to five horses. That's what Sheila Odell said she feeds her three and two more that family members own and keep in a neighbor's pasture. At this time of year, when the grass is sparse, Lawrence County Animal Control officer Carolyn Atchison said the horses need an additional food source, such as hay, grain or a pasture of grass. Atchison estimated that the pasture is 1� to 2 acres, not nearly enough to sustain three horses, especially on sparse grass.

Atchison and Lawrence County deputy Mark Wakefield told Odell on Tuesday that she would have to fatten their three horses. Authorities periodically will return to ensure that the family complies with the directive. "We're not going to starve ourselves," Odell said to Wakefield and Atchison. "If it comes down to feeding the horses or your children, the horses have to go," Wakefield told her.

The horses are probably not benefiting from what they consume, Atchison said.
"They might be feeding them; however, parasites are consuming what little food they are feeding the horses," she said.

Atchison said she instructed Odell on how to treat the horses for parasites, which she did on one of two previous visits. During one of those visits, Atchison said, she saw a horse that was in much worse condition than any presently on the two pastures. Odell told Atchison on Tuesday that the horse later died. Atchison hopes to prevent that from happening again. She said Wakefield will give Garland Treadway the option of turning over the starving horse to her, or face animal abuse charges. She said she hopes that he chooses to relinquish the animal, instead of facing arrest.

"I went out there last year, and the horses were in terrible condition," Atchison said. "They were so badly starved that the one he (Garland Treadway) told me was a baby was (actually) 1 or 2 years old. I told the man that he would have to do something."

Atchison said the Treadways relinquished two of the horses to her. She boarded them at the Animal House Zoological Park and nursed them back to health.

Case Updates

Neighborhood Map

For more information about the Interactive Animal Cruelty Maps, see the map notes.

Back to Top

Add this case to:

Del.icio.us

|

Digg

|

Furl

|

References

The Decatur Daily - May 4, 2006

« AL State Animal Cruelty Map

Not sure what these icons mean? Click here.

Note: Classifications and other fields should not be used to determine what specific charges the suspect is facing or was convicted of - they are for research and statistical purposes only. The case report and subsequent updates outline the specific charges. Charges referenced in the original case report may be modified throughout the course of the investigation or trial, so case updates, when available, should always be considered the most accurate reflection of charges.

For more information regarding classifications and usage of this database, please visit the database notes and disclaimer.