California: Eddie Green adopted two neglected horses in 2015 after their owner, who was under investigation for animal cruelty, surrendered them. Police say he starved one horse nearly to death and cannot get Green to tell him what he did to the other horse

CALIFORNIA -- Two horses given up to a Riverside County shelter last year were rehabilitated and adopted out to a new owner – only to find themselves in a potentially worse situation in Kern County.

After California City police responded to a property there in July, they found one horse, 7-year-old Maggie, severely emaciated and living in terrible conditions. The other horse, Coco, was nowhere to be found.

The horses’ owner, Jurupa Valley resident Eddie Green, was charged Friday, Sept. 30, with misdemeanor animal cruelty, Kern County court records show.

Officer Joellen Downs, who oversees the California City Animal Shelter, said the farm Maggie was seized from July 28 was littered with dead animals – though Coco was not among them – and had no running water, she said.

“The animals were all in horrible condition,” Downs said. “There was no running water on the property. There was a pen of goats that had some water, but it was green. There was a dead goat in the pen.”

Efforts to reach Green for comment were unsuccessful Tuesday.

By the Henneke horse body condition scoring system, Maggie was a 1 out of 10 – in “poor condition” (aka skeletal) – when she was brought to the shelter, Downs said.

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After weeks of rehabilitation, Maggie has been brought back up to a healthy weight, Downs said. The horse will remain in the custody of the California City Animal Shelter until Green’s case is adjudicated.

Maggie and Coco’s previous owner relinquished them to Riverside County Animal Services to avoid animal cruelty charges after the horses’ condition came under investigation, department spokesman John Welsh said.

The horses were cared for until they gained weight and recovered from being starved by their first owner. They were then put up for adoption.

Green adopted them Aug. 14, 2015, Welsh said. It’s unclear when they were moved to California City, a high desert city north of Lancaster and west of Barstow.

The screening process to adopt a horse is similar to that of adopting a cat or dog, Welsh said. The adopter must live in an area zoned for horses – a condition Green’s Jurupa Valley residence met – and must agree to take good care of them, Welsh said.

“People adopt dogs and cats from us all the time,” Welsh said. “What happens to the animal afterward is a matter of the person being a good, responsible pet owner or not.”

(Press Enterprise - Oct 4, 2016)