LOUISIANA -- A Bernice resident has been booked into the Union Parish Detention Center by sheriff’s deputies accused of animal cruelty involving a Tennessee Walking horse.
Ducote Keon Smith, 26, has been released on a bond of $1,750.
Sheriff Dusty Gates said OPSO received its first complaint about the underweight horse Oct. 20 and Smith was told at that time the 3-year-old stud horse needed Coggins tested and additional shots.
The investigating deputy got another call about the horse Dec. 15 and found him even more underweight and with no available water. The deputy reported that the horse’s hooves were in need of trimming. Smith was then asked to either surrender the horse or it would be seized.
A veterinarian, at the request of the sheriff’s office, seized the horse Dec. 17 and is nursing him back to health, Gates said.
The sheriff said Smith surrendered at the sheriff’s office Dec. 10 and was booked into the detention center for cruelty to an animal.
(MyArkMiss - Jan 13, 2017)
