Almus Willis, 44, of 5565 Bald Cypress Trail, was arrested Thursday in the death of the horse Skylor in a rural subdivision west of Florida's Turnpike.
On Nov. 25 a sheriff's deputy who was alerted to the horse's condition by neighbors, found the animal on its side in a pasture in Fort Pierce Gardens.
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| Almus Wayne Willis |
The horse kept trying to stand up but was unable to make it to its feet, the deputy wrote in a report. "I could count every rib and his hip bones were sticking out of the horse's skin. It had sores on its body and was bleeding from the mouth."
Authorities called a veterinarian to put the horse to death.
[The body score was listed as a 2.5/9]
No charges were filed against Willis' girlfriend, part-time St. Lucie County Animal Control Division officer Rachel Nobles, officials said.
She was on duty Nov. 25 and showed up as the deputy was there. She told police she had moved the horse to the pasture and admitted she was Willis's girlfriend. The detective informed her she could no longer be involved in the investigation.
No administrative actions have been taken against her, Gill said.
The affidavits quoted Willis as saying Nobles moved the horse to the pasture — a move that Willis said was done to prevent it from being injured in a stall.
According to the reports, Willis was quoted as saying the animal was diagnosed as having equine protozoal myeloenceuphalities and medication had been ordered by a veterinarian but hadn't arrived.
But a sheriff's investigator questioned the veterinarian, Dr. Kelly Alderman, and was told she was never contacted and hadn't ordered medication.
Alderman, according to the arrest affidavit, said she would have gotten the medication in two days if she had been consulted and confirmed that the horse had EPM. According to the sheriff's reports, a veterinarian technician that Willis consulted quoted Willis as saying he couldn't afford treatment for the horse. The technician said the horse appeared to be suffering from colic, which is acute abdominal pain.
Horses contract EPM by grazing in areas where a carrier opossum has defecated. Horses cannot transmit the disease, which affects the central nervous system, to other horses.
(TCPalm - Dec 7, 2012)
