Authorities said it was a seizure one year in the making. The animals, six horses, five goats and one donkey were thin and frail and are undergoing treatment.
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| Deputies speak to the owner, who is facing the camera |
The name of their owner is not being released and no criminal charges have been filed at this time.
The investigation continues.
"The goats were in 3 feet of muck, feces and urine and had been nailed into a stall for a year. You don't keep animals that way," said Jo-Claire Corcoran with Heartland Equine Rescue.
That's just a fraction of the poor conditions. Animal control officer Randy Lee say the animals were taken from a farm on Rushcreek Road just outside the Salem city limits.
Passersby alerted authorities to the conditions in May 2013.
"Over the course of the year, they would go back to check and the animals were doing a bit better. He had gotten some food in, and then I guess he thought, 'Well I've satisfied them now and I'll go back to doing what I was doing before.' When they'd go back, the horses would be in as bad of shape again or worse," says Corcoran.
Washington County Animal Control served the seizure warrant.
The Heartland Equine Rescue helped, loading the animals and relocating them to a facility in Henryville.
Corcoran says her group will pay to treat the animals and eventually find them homes.
"Any longer and they would have been in worse shape. The one may not have made it. He's in such bad shape. The goats, it's really hard to have emaciated goats, they eat a lot of different things. Just turn them out and they'll find things to eat," said Corcoran.
Corcoran says she's just glad they got to the animals in time.
"The best feeling is being able to get there and get them out and then to see them here where they're eating and they're happy and everything they'll need will be right here," she added.
(WBIW.com - June 16, 2014)
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