One of the horses was so weak he couldn’t even stand and ended up having to be euthanized.
“When I took [Nigel] in, he weighed 528 pounds. That is half of his body weight. I mean he, he had nothing,” said Natalee Cross, owner of Blaze’s Tribute Equine Rescue in Jones. “It was pretty evident by the looks of the wounds all over his body and the bed sores that he had been getting down and having difficulties getting back up.”
Cross is now caring for the other four horses and said one of them is also showing signs of weight loss.
“You can see my fingers and how much far his spine is sticking up. His spine should not be protruding like that,” Cross said.
OWNER DENIES NEGLECTING HORSE
Mary Ellen Blevins (and Cody Blevins) owns the horses and said Nigel, the one who died, was very special to her.
“My dad’s gone. I lost him in '03, and he’s the last one of the horses that I raised with my father,” Blevins said.
Blevins said Nigel was very old and had been having issues for several months.
“He had a knee that was poor. His bad was poor, you know, he had multiple health issues all going on,” she said.
Blevins said she was in the process of "trying to find euthanasia services" for Nigel.
“It’s very difficult to find that end of the line option for horses in the state of Oklahoma,” Blevins said. “I would literally do anything before I would ever hurt an animal.”
Um, no it isn't.
Besides that, Nigel isn't the only horse she neglected. She was starving the other four horses as well. That's why they were seized.
Blevins said she will fight any criminal charges.
“I have never done anything wrong with an animal. I would never do anything wrong. And, I would fight these to my last breath,” Blevins said.
(KFOR - Nov 30, 2016)
Earlier:
