CALIFORNIA -- A Simi Valley woman who was accused of not providing her horse with proper care has been convicted by a jury of animal cruelty, the Ventura County District Attorney's Office said Thursday.
An anonymous caller notified the Ventura County Humane Society on Feb. 8, 2014, of an emaciated palomino horse named Dandylion owned by Ursula Wardzinski, 44, (DOB: August 4, 1971) prosecutors said.
Wardzinski was in the process of establishing an animal rescue organization in Simi Valley.
Six days later officers with the Humane Society and a veterinarian examined the horse and found that it had not been provided adequate food or routine veterinary care, the District Attorney's Office said.
The horse was in immediate danger so it was removed from Wardzinski's custody and taken to the Humane Society in Ojai. Dandylion now weighs a healthy 765 pounds compared to the 570 pounds she weighed while found in Wardzinski's custody, prosecutors said.
Wardzinski is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 21 and could face up to one year in jail and probationary terms that would likely prohibit her from owning horses [during this probation period], the District Attorney's Office said.
(VC Star - Aug 20, 2015)
