Texas: Rescue group finds dead, starved horses, live, emaciated dogs

TEXAS -- El Paso County Sheriff's Office Deputies are investigating a possible animal cruelty case after a rescue group found horse carcasses and malnourished dogs at a property in Clint, Texas.

Brenda Rangel says she found the animals after her friend, who lives in front of the property, told her he noticed his neighbor's horses were groaning in pain.

Rangel says she found malnourished horses and dogs and had been going out to the property everyday for 14 days to feed the animals.

"Live horses, dead horses, a dog's head and lots of dogs, they were in really bad condition," says Rangel.

EPCSO arrived to the property on Tuesday to investigate. A spokesperson for EPCSO says they found six live stray dogs and five horses.

 

Deputies could not contact the owner of the property.

" We are working on getting in contact with the owner," says a spokesperson for EPCSO. "At one point in time it was believed to have been occupied and our records show that linked to this location there may have been a possible fire, which may have affected the resident at the time."

Animal Control was also on the scene, however they were unable to remove the animals until they obtained a warrant to enter the property.

According Texas law  that went into effect in 2001, if the Sheriff's Department does find these animals have been abused and neglected, the owner of the property could be facing felony charges and possibly 2-years in prison.

Investigators are waiting on that search warrant to confirm if there was any animal cruelty.

(El Paso Proud - Sept 27, 2016)