Residents concerned over care of horses

For several years there have been concerns for the welfare of a group of horses in the Trout Creek area. These concerns have been raised by numerous community members to the Sanders County Sheriff’s Office, and to other organizations in the area, like the Thompson River Animal Care Shelter (TRACS). Members from the community held a meeting at TRACS in February. Around 12 people showed up and were joined by Deputy Tim Kelly of the Sanders County Sheriff’s Office.

During the meeting, the group discussed a particular property in which the owner is housing anywhere from 50 to 70 horses in an area the size of a gymnasium. According to Cary Andrews, a farrier who has been to the property and has seen the horses, “I have been doing this 40 years, and this is the worst situation I’ve seen horses in.” According to Andrews, the property in question has horses that have been neglected for years, with their hooves growing well beyond acceptable healthy limits. Andrews said that some hooves he witnessed measured nearly a foot and a half in growth. The farrier says the horses have not been groomed and have been kept in small enclosures where the hoof material cannot be worn off with any normal amount of use. According to Andrews, this amount of growth is only possible after many years of inattention.

Andrews added that the horses have not been handled, and so would be very difficult to shoe or to trim. He offered to do so after working to procure the use of a shoeing table and many community volunteers. Andrews set a date with the owner where he would come out and shoe the horses at no charge, which he said would take nearly two days. The owner canceled. Andrews tried a second time later, and again the owner withdrew at the last minute. According to Andrews, some of the horses may or may not be salvageable and may have permanent damage.

Andrews explained that when he went to the property in November, he saw the animals in enclosures with feces piled nearly belly high in places and even higher in others. “He does feed the horses, but animal abuse isn’t just food and water,” said Andrews. The farrier said that no one wants to see the owner go to jail, they just want to see the horses cared for. Andrews believes that without more pressure from the sheriff’s office, the owner has fallen back on making efforts to resolve the situation.

According to Andrews, every effort has been made by the community. “It’s all on the sheriff,” said Andrews, “we’ve called every authority short of the attorney general.” Andrews said that nobody has jurisdiction until the sheriff’s office writes the reports or files charges, but according to him, the sheriff’s office does not seem to want to get involved. According to Wanda Thorpe, operations manager for TRACS, she has made several attempts to reach out to the sheriff’s office, however, no communication has been returned.

Thorpe says that since last summer there have been nearly 15 calls to TRACS reporting the animal abuse at the Trout Creek property. Thorpe said TRACS periodically gets calls reporting abuse, however, many times they are regarding animals left behind and TRACS can usually do something about them. With these calls there is nothing the animal shelter can do, Thorpe noted, as the reported abuse is occurring on private property. She added that this situation is serious and requires the help of law enforcement. Thorpe said that several of the horses were originally quite valuable, however, have lost their value after years of neglect.

According to Thorpe, at the meeting Deputy Kelly said that he would keep her informed so that she could disseminate the information to the community, however, the sheriff’s office has not done so. Thorpe said that Kelly told them at the meeting of an auction in Missoula to happen March 9. According to Thorpe, he also said that the owner of the horses would be asked to remove many of the horses and would be required to get down to five or fewer animals, and that if he had not done so by April 30 then the sheriff’s office could charge the owner with felony cruelty. Calls to the sheriff’s office by The Ledger regarding the matter were not returned.

Thorpe said that many community members have reached out to offer help in getting the horses to the auction, but as far as she knows no one has received a call back. According to Andrews at The Ledger deadline on Tuesday, the owner did bring at least nine horses to the Missoula auction, and was reported to be bringing another nine later in the day.