Oklahoma: 23 horses seized (Pauls Valley, Wynnewood, Garvin County)
There seems to be no shortage of stories on the topic of horses being removed from their owners.
Charge comes from starving horses [link]
Barry Porterfield, Pauls Valley Daily Democrat | March 19, 2009A group of horses reported to be malnourished and starving now has a Wynnewood man facing a formal allegation of cruelty to animals.
The felony count against Alan Dale Gore, 44, was filed earlier this week in Garvin County District Court.
A filed affidavit submitted by county authorities shows Gore is accused of failing to feed and care for a total of 23 horses, ponies and donkeys.
According to those officials, the situation had gotten to the point where three of the horses couldn’t be saved and had to be euthanized.
The first indication of problems came three weeks ago when a landowner in the Wynnewood area contacted county deputies about the poor condition of the animals.
They were informed the horses, all ranging between 2 and 3 years old, belonged to Gore and were located on a 50-acre area being leased to him.
Meeting in that very pasture on Feb. 26, deputies and officers with the Oklahoma State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners came together to check out the report.
What they saw was appalling, according to the affidavit.
“After examining all of the animals they all appeared to have received poor nutrition and were infested with parasites,” Deputy Bud Ramming stated in the filed document.
The worst cases, the deputy reported, involved a black and white mare with a broken right leg, a pony with a deformed pelvis and another too weak to stand.
The report shows Gore, who wanted to cooperate with the investigation, met with the officials the next day at the pasture where the horses were located. There he is reported to have claimed to be buying round bales of grass in Elmore City and alfalfa in Pauls Valley for the horses.
“He then stated that he knew he wasn’t feeding them enough,” Ramming stated.
After Gore agreed to surrender the animals to the sheriff’s department all 23 were taken to a veterinary clinic in Wynnewood.
The three horses in the worst condition were euthanized, while the other 20 were taken to an animal rescue facility in Jones.
What’s next for these horses? Another home that means well but may within weeks or months find itself unable to care for them? There is no shortage of articles on rescues that can’t afford their residents… changing these animals’ ownership is not necessarily solving the greater problems.
Another good reason to euthanize your “hard keeper” rather than take the chance that authorities might seize the animal and send it to an unknown fate.
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