Washington County Sheriff Richard Stringer said Charles Lathan and Karen Lathan allowed a horse to die of starvation in Tibbie.
"We have pictures of the horse, before and after, and we could see it progressively deteriorating," Stringer said. "At the end, it was laying on ground, spinning around and around, just suffering. It dug a hole 3 feet in diameter."
Karen Lathan was arrested Sunday and released Monday from Washington County Jail on $1,500 bond, according to a jail official.
The Press-Register could not reach the Lathans on Monday for comment.
Earlier this year the city of Mobile sued to force them to get rid of seven pet goats.
Several of the Lathans' neighbors came to a City Council meeting in September 2008 complaining about the noise and smell from their 7-acre property in Cypress Shores. Neighbors said the Lathans were deliberately trying to hurt home values by letting the goats and chickens out when people were having open houses.
Neighbors had filed more than 100 complaints.
The Lathans said they loved and cared for their animals like pets.
The city sued in January, contending that the Lathans violated Mobile's zoning ordinance, which does not allow farm animals in an R-1 single-family zone.
In May, Mobile County Circuit Judge John Lockett ruled that the goats had to go, but that the Lathans could keep their chickens in their backyard.
Stringer said they moved the goats and a horse to the property in Tibbie. Stringer said the couple only came up to check on the animals once or twice a week. He said their phone number was not listed so he couldn't call them about the horse's condition.
Cruelty to animals is a Class B misdemeanor.
(AL.com - December 8, 2009)
