Florida: Juan Rodriguez, 37, charged with animal cruelty after horse found emaciated

FLORIDA -- A 37-year-old man was arrested Tuesday after investigators found his horse emaciated and in such poor condition that a veterinarian determined it needed to be euthanized, an affidavit said.

Juan Pablo Rodriguez, of the 2400 block of Southeast Addison Street in Port St. Lucie, was arrested on a misdemeanor charge related to tormenting, depriving, mutilating or killing an animal, according to an affidavit and a jail official.

A St. Lucie County Sheriff's deputy about 1 p.m. Tuesday went to the 3800 block of St. Lucie Boulevard to help animal control with a horse down in a pasture.

The investigator reported the horse was "very emaciated," with sores on its legs and head. It was "very weak" and tried to get up but "would just thrash on the ground and bang his head on the ground."

The deputy saw no water or buckets for feed in the area.

A veterinarian determined the horse was in such poor shape it needed to be euthanized. The veterinarian gave it a drug "to end its suffering," an affidavit said.

Investigators determined Rodriguez owned the horse. He said he'd had it for about six months and put it in the pasture about three months earlier. He said he last saw the horse about a month earlier.

Asked if he took hay or feed to the horse during the three months, Rodriguez said he brought "some nutrients" but didn't know what kind. He said he never brought hay to the horse.

Rodriguez was released Tuesday from the St. Lucie County Jail on $750 bail, a jail official said.

(TCPalm - Nov 26, 2015)