The Medina County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals took custody of the animals, from seven acres of pasture at a home at 3835 Blake Road. The organization received an anonymous tip about the conditions.
SPCA Executive Director Stephanie Moore says they tried for years (since 2009) to work with the owner, but decided this week to remove the animals from the property.
"They're not horribly emaciated, but they are thin. Their feet are in bad shape. Some of the babies and mothers have what appears to be malnourishment," Moore said.
Moore says, over the last month, the Medina SPCA has had three cases of horses that have died because of malnourishment.
The horses taken from Blake Road on Thursday will be individually examined by a vet, and placed in the care of the SPCA.
"You educate and educate and advocate, and continue to do that sort of thing over and over. Then there just comes a time when you realize it's not working. You need to take some action for the well-being of the horses," said Moore.
The owner of the horses told WKYC she tried to care for the animals, but said she simply had too many.
"They have never, never not had hay. They've always had grain. Grain and special minerals. I've paid hundreds of dollars for special minerals. They were never, never malnourished. If they were malnourished, it is because there were several bales of hay that weren't in as good of condition as I'd like," said Tori Wilfred.
The price of hay has skyrocketed in the last year. Wilfred says, she's also faced a personal challenge at home, of caring for her ailing grandmother.
“My grandmother fell and broke her hip and I suddenly became a 24/7 caregiver and at that point, we knew no matter what, it was gonna be too much and we knew we wanted to get them sold; but it was just a matter of time,” said Wilfred.
Wilfred says she was planning to put some of her horses up for sale this spring.
"The bad thing is, people are going to watch this and say I'm a horrible person, and you let those horses be malnourished.
But it was never that situation," Wilfred said.
Moore said they also took six cats from the home that tested positive for feline leukemia.
[Funny how Tori Wilfred complains to Fox8 that "I never wanted this many", but she lists herself on the internet as a "Morgan horse breeder". Puppy mill, horse mill. It's the same thing.]
( WKYC - Apr 12, 2013)
No comments:
Post a Comment