ILLINOIS -- Rescuers are calling it one of the most shocking cases they've seen to date. Two horses were found dead on a property in Galesburg. Officials say they've been dead for months, possibly even a year. Another two were found living in horrible conditions.
The Knox County Sheriff's Department arrested 52-year old Sara Feighner (aka Sara J. Feighner) on one count of aggravated cruelty to animals and two counts of cruelty to animals. Authorities say it happened in the 100 block of Moshier Hill Road in rural Galesburg.
Rescuers from the Hooved Animal Humane Society based in Woodstock, Illinois found two horses dead in a barn late last week; the other two roaming the lands with no food still on the property as of Wednesday night.
"That horse right there, it's not right," Neighbor Sam Rogers says, "That's not right at all; no animal should have to go through that."
Rogers' property looks out onto a startling sight of starving horses that haven't seen food for months.
"Their manes, that's what keeps the flies off them," he says, "They're full of bugs and stuff, and they're just getting worse and worse and worse."
Sheriff's reports state the owner claims one of the horses got its hoof caught in the fence so she left it there until it died. The report also says the dead carcasses were found in a barn on the property hidden from view.
"I was mowing the lawn here a couple years ago and it was just rotten, you could tell something was dead," Rogers says.
Neighbors say they've called authorities about the problem, but nothing really came of it until someone thought to contact the Hooved Animal Humane Society which specializes in these types of rescues, but wasn't prepared for this.
"We had no idea that when we stepped onto the property we would find two decomposing animals," Executive Director Tracy McGonigle of the Hooved Animal Humane Society says, "One was completely decomposed; one was a skeleton of a horse, completely picked clean."
Representatives from the Hooved Animal Humane Society say the woman was reported by drivers passing down the road. They say it's just another reminder to be on the lookout for animal mistreatment and report it when you see it.
"If you see something wrong, if you see an animal in poor condition, if you see wounds, if you see animals in a field and you don't see any food source or water source," McGonigle says, "A lot of it is common sense."
The Hooved Animal Humane Society tells us the horses have been transferred to their care, and they are scrambling to make arrangements to transport them to Woodstock, IL as soon as possible. Calls by KWQC to the Knox County Sheriff's Department asking for comment on the owner's previous offenses were not returned.
(KWQC - March 29, 2012)
