"I just got back from there," Animal Control Director Darryl Scott said Friday. "They are here at the compound."
After a citizen alerted Highlands Today and animal control last week, an officer began feeding the horses hay and food supplements, Scott said. "These horses have been severely neglected."
"The owners came up today from Miami," Scott said. He and deputy Fred Tagtmier questioned the owners about why the horses were severely malnourished. Their rib and hip bones were clearly showing.
Sheriff's office spokeswoman Nell Hays said arrests have not been made at this time, but Tagtmier is conducting "an active criminal investigation."
"The lack of food has been causing them to lose muscle," Scott said. "They're starving. They're in pretty rough shape; not the worst I've seen, but near it. And their feet are in pretty poor condition."
Horse hooves must be trimmed every few months. If not, they strike the ground and chip away, sometimes into the quick.
"We're going to get the farrier out here and get their feet taken care of and worm them next week, so they'll be on the mend," Scott said.
"I'm going to be real careful how I say this: the owners didn't speak really good English, and it was hard to understand them," Scott said.
"They live in two places, and I think in their minds they were doing the best they could. They had a person who was living on the property that left them, and I don't think they realized how bad things had gotten. They had receipts where they had bought hay, and of course we've come out a hard winter, no rain, and they're living on a top of a sand hill. There were four horses and a cow, and that was too much for that little piece of property."
[Stop making excuses for them! You are not their defense attorney. Exactly how does he know they were 'doing the best they could', if they do not 'speak really good English' and it was hard to 'understand them?']
Confusingly though, Scott said the man spoke as if he had a lot of experience with animals. "So how could you let these horses get like this? It didn't make much sense, to tell you the truth. In the end, the lady said, 'I want what's best for my horses,' and they signed them over to us."
(Highland Today - May 27, 2012)
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