Investigators say they got an anonymous call about possible neglect, and they found six of Gibson’s horses in a pasture on Rushville Road in Greenwood County. According to an incident report, some of the animals were in bad shape.
Sgt. Mickey Boland with the Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office says, “There was no water on the property, at that time the water bucket was empty, no shelter whatsoever, and the pasture had no trees in it, except for maybe four or five small saplings.”
The incident report also says detectives found two more of Gibson's horses on property on Kneece Road, also in Greenwood County. The incident report says one of the horses was in “bad health,” and the other horse was “borderline.”
Boland says the horses have been moved to several different locations throughout the county, and they are being cared for by other people.
Boland says the total number of animal complaint calls in Greenwood County has jumped in recent years from 2000 calls in 2010 to 2160 calls in 2011. So far, in 2012, there have 1804 animal complaint calls.
Boland says a lot of the neglect cases stem from people not being able to afford to care for their animals. He says, “What happens is they just continuously try to take care of the problem, and they don't, and so who suffers, but the animals themselves.”
Boland says many people take on more animals than they can handle and aren't aware of the help that's available.
In Gibson's case, Boland says this wasn't the first time investigators had looked at the horses.
He says back in August, investigators also found problems with the animals.
(WSPA - Oct 23, 2012)
