San Diego County investigating neglected horses at ranch

SAN DIEGO — Horses starved, wounded, locked in stalls, and by no means acquiring out. These are some of the experiences coming CBS 8 acquired about dozens of horses on a property in Rancho Santa Fe.

CBS 8 been given far more than a dozen email messages about the horses, and we decided to investigate. 

CBS 8’s journalists did not go onto the house but were being in a position to see the problem of the horses are in and the circumstances of the assets easily from the avenue. From the street, you can see a horse with a substantial gash on its leg, many limping, and several seemed emaciated with ribs, hips, and their backbone showing.   

Whilst investigating the claims in close proximity to the ranch, a person on the assets walked out with a gun and pointed it at our photojournalist. Both CBS 8 journalists were unharmed.

Craig Netwig and Debra Barkely are shown as homeowners of the property. San Diego Sheriff’s Deputies claimed Craig was keeping the gun.  Sheriff’s deputies explained it is not illegal to have a gun on your very own house, but it is illegal to stage it at a person.

Kristin Taylor has pushed by this assets for many years. She and others that contacted CBS 8 imagine at minimum 40 horses are on the home. 

“Look at that gash in the again still left leg. It just can’t even wander! I feel they are trying to run a non-earnings and rescue horses. This isn’t rescuing. This is finish abuse and neglect. When you possess a horse house, you take out the manure and feces. You do not allow your horses to stand in it,” Taylor claimed.

Taylor owns horses herself. She says what’s taking place in this article is terrible to see. “There’s a horse above right here that is really lame it can scarcely stroll. Its haunches are displaying. It is quite emaciated,” she mentioned. 

CBS 8 also met Audrey Reynolds on the avenue in front of the residence. Reynolds has been rescuing horses for 16 years with Preserving Horses Inc. 

Reynolds suggests she saw red flags the 1st time she drove by.  “The horses were being not ingesting that day there was not even a single speck of hay on the floor horses were feeding on manure,” Reynolds reported.

Reynolds claims the fields in which the horses stand glimpse like manure has piled up for yrs. Tonight when CBS 8 arrived, hay was lying on the levels of manure. She claimed horses must not try to eat the hay lying on their feces due to the fact It tends to make them sick. 

“Standing in this muck for a extended period of time produces awful hoof complications, and you’ve got seen these days that some of these horses are quite lame and are owning difficulties ambulating, and it is an indication that one thing is very erroneous,” Reynolds reported.

Other neighbors confirmed us videos of horses with deep wounds on their bodies. They say the owners maintain the horses in the worst condition in the barn or corrals far from the street.  

Other neighbors confirmed a photograph of a dead horse lying in a field. The County’s Division of Animal Expert services confirmed to CBS 8 that an elderly horse trapped in mud, died this 7 days. Just after several years of neighbors indicating they called to report abuse and neglect, county officers are investigating what’s occurring right here. 

A person who does not want to be recognized advised CBS 8, “We achieved out to animal solutions for months about a single of the horses who was starving to demise, been given no support, and watched it grounded and dying whilst the owner was unwilling to humanely euthanize.” 

Taylor claims she has named many regional federal government officers and companies. She’s identified as the County Board of Supervisors, Humane Society, and now the County’s Office of Animal Services. 

This 7 days, the Department of Animal Expert services was termed to the property for an unexpected emergency. In a statement to CBS 8, the department claimed,

“The San Diego County Office of Animal Expert services been given a contact yesterday about a horse in distress at 7612 Artesian Road in unincorporated San Diego close to Rancho Santa Fe.  Animal Solutions dispatched an officer to the scene and identified one particular aged horse trapped in mud. Though the horse’s owner and veterinarian have been contacted and responded immediately to provide humane euthanasia, the animal in concern had regrettably expired before euthanasia could be furnished. There are additional horses on the huge property, and currently, Animal Services’ investigation is ongoing. The ranch owner’s private veterinarian has indicated they are onsite at the house a number of days a 7 days to go to to resident animals.  Animal Solutions Officers will conduct a complete investigation to ensure the welfare of all animals on the residence. The Office of Animal Providers is ready to assist the home proprietor. San Diego County Animal Providers Officers examine each neglect or abuse contact and stand ready to aid needy animals.” 

Reynolds claims she’s assisted rescue horses from several abuse and neglect cases. And she says she doesn’t have a great deal religion in the county’s investigation system.

“They have quite couple horse experts on their investigative team. A good deal of times, if they really don’t have a horse specialist that goes out with the workforce, then that is not a excellent consequence for the horses, and a large amount of periods, the horses are still left at the arms of the individual who’s been neglecting them,” Reynolds stated.

She and many others say they will be looking at how the county handles this condition that they have been observing get regularly even worse. They say the horses are entitled to superior. 

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