Monday, October 27, 2014

Horse neglect case has horse owners asking questions

TEXAS -- The El Paso County Sheriff's Office said it's up to a judge to decide if horses under the care of a woman found guilty of animal cruelty will stay on her property.

El Paso County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Sgt. Greg White said the District Attorney's Office will need to ask for an injunction for the horses to be removed. If a judge grants the injunction, then EPSO will remove the horses.

White said one horse was removed already from the property because it was too thin.

A case involving horse neglect in Calhan has those who have followed the trial asking questions about the handling of the case.


 
 

 
Rachel Fleischaker was found guilty of cruelty to animals. A court document said she failed to provide adequate water to horses on her property. She will be sentenced in January.

There is another case against Fleischaker involving animal cruelty. In court documents affiliated with the case, it said the "defendant neglected 1 gray mare." The jury trial is scheduled to start in December.

As of Monday, there were more than 20 horses on Fleischaker's property. 

Karen Marchman attended the trial to hear testimony from deputies with the El Paso County Sheriff's Office who investigated this case.


 
 

"I wanted to hear testimony from sheriff's deputies about what they found and what they did about it," said Marchman.

She wants to know why there are still horses on Fleischaker's property.

"They (deputies) kept going out and finding no water or frozen water or no hay and she kept saying, I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it and they kept giving her all the chances in the world," said Marchman.

Susan Witter visited Fleischaker's property and saw the horses. She called the sheriff's office and found out they were already investigating.

"They (horses) are hidden and they can't yell out, they can't scream like people so if the owners aren't responsible, someone has to be upfront saying this is not right," said Witter.


In a different case in September, a neighbor found horses living among rotting horse carcasses in a barn in Black Forest. The sheriff's Office removed the horses from the property while their owner, Sherri Brunzell, resolves the dispute in court.

Fleischaker did not want to speak on camera. However, she said over the phone that she went through a few bad years. She said the quality of the hay for her horses went down, but prices went up.

She said people also "dumped" their horses on her property and her herd grew too much for her to manage.

 

These three photos are about the Sherri Brunzell animal cruelty case

She said she is working on selling off the horses. However, she said it is taking time because she is particular. She said she does not want to sell her horses to buyers who will kill the horses.

She said her horses have fattened up and have nice muscles. She expects to be cleared from animal cruelty charges against her in the second case.

(KRDO - Oct 22, 2014)

Earlier (Sherri Brunzell case):

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