Starved, dead horses found on Fort Valley farm

GEORGIA -- A Fort Valley Man faces 16 counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty after investigators found starving horses on his farm and a dozen more dead on and near the property.

That's according to Peach County Sheriff Terry Deese, who says reports of dead horses on Vernon Crouch's Brock Road property came in last week.

Vernon Leon Couch

The sheriff's office called in the Georgia Department of Agriculture's Equine Division, which discovered the conditions.

Deese says the property was temporarily quarantined while contagious diseases were ruled out.
Authorities then got a court order Friday to seize the horses and a donkey still living there.

Deese told 13WMAZ that Crouch, 59, is a private breeder, who says he just acquired too many animals to care for and got overwhelmed.

More charges could be coming when the case goes before a grand jury, Deese said.

(WMAZ - March 2, 2014)