Now another case, this time in Wyoming County, is even worse. Police are looking for a man named Donnie Ellis on animal cruelty charges. Two horses are dead due to not being properly fed in the Reedy Creek area.
59News reporter Jessie Gavin tells what makes this case so appalling.
Warning, some of these images may be disturbing.
We're told Donnie Ellis was offered a deal. Instead of paying rent for his home, all he had to do was feed and take care of four horses because the owner was unable to care for them. Now officers are looking at why they say he intentionally neglected to feed two of them for quite some time.
"In this particular case I would think it's just a fact of being cruel to the animals and just being lazy. Just didn't take the time to care for the horses," said Wyoming County Humane Officer Ray Farmer.
Farmer talks through how officers became aware of what was happening.
"Two officers that answered the complaint on Monday, they found two dead horses. One of them was in the barn and there was no food or water present, the other one was at an outside facility and it too didn't have access to food or water.
"From what I understand, the gentleman that was supposed to be caring for the horses, did have access to food and water, he just wasn't providing it to the horses. The one horse appeared to be deceased for several days, possibly longer than a month. The other one had probably just died within the last week," he said.
The other two horses under Ellis' care are being taken care of and are expected to live.
"His brother came and got the horses and took them to his facility. Those two horses at this time are getting proper care and that's something that we are going to follow up on to see that they are getting taken care of properly," he said
(WVNS - Nov 30, 2012)
