The York County SPCA is investigating a case of severe animal neglect after they removed several starving horses from a farm in Fawn Grove, York County. One foal was found dead.
Now the horses have been placed at foster homes. Four of them are being cared for at Willow Tree Farm in Hallam.
“Right now I’m putting a lot of hay and grain into them just to get them built up,” says farm owner Dennis Mills.
The horses are hundreds of pounds underweight and some have wounds on their legs. Some were kept without access to water, and they had no body fat to help them in the frigid weather.
“For an animal that large to be that underweight, especially when they’re in their full winter coat and their ribs can still be seen, that speaks volumes as to how emaciated they were,” says Melissa Smith of the York County SPCA.
She says the owners will face charges in the next few weeks.
Some of the draft horses are at a farm in Mt. Airy, MD. Two of them were so thin their caretakers are worried about how they’ll recover– their bodies had already started burning muscle tissue.
The horses will be up for adoption in a few months. If you want to adopt, or donate to help them, you can contribute to the SPCA’s Equine Fund. This is the donation link— check off the Equine Care Fund box.