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Thursday, June 29, 2006

Many Starving, Dead Horses Found

By Beth Hahn
Mountain View Telegraph
    An Estancia woman made a gruesome discovery while she was walking west of town about a month ago.
    Sandy Finley said she saw three scrawny horses in a pasture on the RRR Ranch about 12 miles west of Estancia when she was walking one morning and decided to investigate more closely.
    "I'm one of those people that likes to wander around a little bit," she explained Tuesday. "I was down on that road and saw some horses that looked poorly."
    When she got closer, Finley said she found a dead horse in the pasture as well.
    Finley decided to take hay to the undernourished horses, and when she delivered a few bales to the pasture the next day, she found three more carcasses and nine additional scrawny equines.
    After making a few phone calls to neighbors and local livestock inspectors, Finley said she was told that at least two complaints were made to the state Livestock Board about the horses in January or February.
    She also complained to the local livestock inspector in Estancia about the horses in May. However, Finley said she has not noticed anyone inspecting the pasture or the horses since she complained to the livestock inspector.
    Finley decided to walk the pasture in late May and said she counted 18 dead horses plus 20 live animals— 16 adults, three foals and one pony that she said appeared to be starving.
    Finley said she has been feeding the horses every morning for about a month.
    Daniel Manzanares, the state Livestock Board director, said his office did not receive a complaint about the RRR Ranch horses until Saturday.
    Torrance County Sheriff's Department chief deputy Susan Encinias said Wednesday she was unaware of the case.
    Encinias said it was possible that another entity such as the Livestock Board or the county's animal control department was investigating the case. But Encinias said she planned to visit the ranch to check on the situation.
    Manzanares said livestock inspectors have been walking the pasture since Saturday, photographing the horses and documenting their condition.
    Manzanares declined to comment specifically on the RRR Ranch case. But he said that with current drought conditions and the high cost of hay, livestock inspectors throughout the state are seeing more cases of starving horses.
    "Instead of people selling or giving their horses away, they're (starving)," he said Wednesday.
    Manzanares added that livestock inspectors must get a court order before the animals can be seized or taken into protective custody, or even provided with veterinary care.
    Finley said she hopes the inspectors will have enough evidence to seize the remaining horses.
    "My motivation is to get the horses taken care of," she said.