The investigation started after the Cleveland Animal Protective League received a report that one of the horses being kept in Double D Stables starved to death earlier this month, according to a search warrant affidavit.
The Double D owner referred questions to the owner of the seized horses. The owner of the horses could not be reached. Cleveland.com is not naming the owner because he has not been charged with a crime.
Double D Stables is among four groups that lease horse stables inside a fairgrounds barn from the Cuyahoga County Agricultural Society, said Timothy Fowler, president of the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds Board of Directors.
Those groups then lease individual stalls to horse owners, Fowler said. The barn is not open to the general public, Fowler said.
An anonymous caller told the APL on Jan. 5 that they saw the horse owner walking a brown and white horse in the pasture on Jan. 1. The caller described the horse as "lethargic, emaciated and bloated," according to court records.
Two days later, the caller reported seeing the horse's dead body being removed from the stables, records say.
Investigators spoke to two additional informants who said they had seen at least three horses belonging to the same owner that looked considerably underweight and ill, according to court records.
APL investigators on Tuesday obtained a warrant to search the stables, and seized two horses -- a palomino horse named "Helena" and a chestnut horse named "Sassy," according to records.
APL is keeping the horses in an unused barn at the fairgrounds until the APL can find a new owner, Fowler said.
Fowler said the board of directors was first contacted by APL investigators on Monday and the board has cooperated with the investigation. The board also is reviewing Double D Stables' lease in light of the accusations, Fowler said.
UPDATE TO STORY:
The Cleveland Animal Protective League on Thursday released photographs of two horses seized this week as part of an animal-cruelty investigation.
Investigators seized the horses, named Helena and Sassy, from stables at the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds on Tuesday.
Cleveland APL investigators received a report that horses being kept in stables rented by Double D Stables were underweight and skinny, and that one horse had died earlier this month from starvation, according to court records.
No charges have been filed. APL President and CEO Sharon Harvey declined to comment, citing the open investigation.
The Double D owner referred questions to the owner of the seized horses. The owner of the horses could not be reached. Cleveland.com is not naming the owner because he has not been charged with a crime.
(Cleveland.com - Jan 13, 2016)
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