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Is it animal cruelty, or just a sign of the times? That’s a question Bay County Sheriff’s deputies are asking about the scene of a Southport home where horses had to be removed from the property. The animals were in neglected condition behind the house. Bay County Animal Control headed up the operation.
“They are not being kept up to proper standards of care,” said animal control officer Jim Crosby, “The stalls were not being cleaned out, the waste was not being removed in a timely manner, and our biggest concern is that they are seriously underweight.”
He was one of many on scene taking charge of the 19 malnourished horses.
“I am surprised that they actually had that many because the property doesn’t seem that big,” said a neighbor, Dani Streichert.
It’s the second time animal control has been called to the home. The first time was back in April.
“It’s very disappointing. You educate someone, you try to bring them along the right path and then they fall off the wagon for whatever reason,” said Crosby, “We did some education with the people, we explained that the horses were underweight, we explained that they needed to take care of the situation then.”
After more than a month of monitoring, the horses showed significant signs of improvement, but now they’re in worse condition than before. A healthy horse weighs 1 thousand to 14 hundred pounds, but 4 of the horses were half that weight.
“We’ve tried to handle it informally the first time, that didn’t work,” said Crosby, “Now it’s time to ensure there isn’t a third time. I don’t want to see these horses victimized again.”
The four horses in the worst condition were taken to get immediate veterinary attention, including a 7-month old colt. Crosby says animal control is willing to assist anyone who is having trouble taking care of their pets for any reason.
“We understand that it’s tough financial times for everybody, but if you’ve got more than you can handle you need to pair down what you’ve got to bring it to a level that you can take care of,” said Crosby.
So far no charges have been filed against the horse-owners, but animal control is working with the Bay County Sheriff’s Office and the Department of Agriculture to investigate the case. There is a possibility the owners could face charges of animal cruelty or neglect.
“A sign of the times” is no excuse for not shoveling out the manure! That’s just plain neglect. It would *almost* be understandable if the people couldn’t afford food for all of the horses, but at the VERY least, shovel out the manure! I certainly hope charges are filed.. I saw way too much of this sort of thing at the Tyndall stables back when I had my horse there, but animal control wouldn’t investigate; they said they had no authority on federal property. Bah.
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I take my hat off to Mr. Crosby and the Sheriff’s Department of Bay County. We had a similar situation in Marion County Florida, Ocala—-“The Horse Capital of the World”, 4 or 5 (not sure of the count) horses DIED of starvation. Animal Control knew of the situation, that started March 4, 2009, with a call of a mare and foal “very thin and staggering”, “foal couldn’t get up on his own, mare had no milk”, six more calls followed until April 28, 2009, when AC was again called out to a different location, same horses, same owner, same caregivers, plus 2 caregivers. The call was because a mare was foaling and the foal was stillborn, the mare, a registered Thoroughbred, was humanely euthanized on the spot, because her body condition on the scale was a 1. She and all the other horses were extremely emaciated, but AC gave those people 3 more weeks to “remedy the situation”. The remedy for these horses, was death by starvation. We have requested prosecution…NOTHING. Kudos, Mr. Crosby