CATALDO, Idaho — The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office is investigating reports that horses are being abused at a northern Idaho ranch that bills itself as an equine rescue operation.
The Coeur d’Alene Press reported Idaho brand inspectors and the U.S. Department of Agriculture are also assisting the law enforcement agency’s scrutiny of Mustang Ranch and Rescue in Cataldo.
Kootenai County Sheriff’s Lt. Stu Miller said people complained that horses at the facility in this town along U.S. Interstate 90 east of Coeur d’Alene appeared malnourished or were dead. Miller’s agency and the others are now trying to determine whether the animals were accepted in that condition — or were neglected after arriving.
“This place is saying it is a horse rescue by taking in horses that are malnourished,” he said. “Residents don’t think it is taking care of the animals.”
Dawn Dempsey, a horse rescuer from Sandpoint, believes Mustang Ranch is mistreating its animals.
“There’s no reason those horses are still there,” she said. “They need to be saved. Somebody needs to step up to the plate. We are doing everything we can to get the word out and get these horses safe.”
Phone calls to Sean and Bonny Black, owners of the Mustang Ranch, weren’t returned.
Mustang Ranch and Rescue doesn’t have a website, but did have a Facebook page, with the ranch’s mission statement.
“Mustang Ranch and Rescue is dedicated to saving horses bound for slaughter for human consumption,” its statement read. “We also assist in cases of horse abuse, neglect and abandonment.”
Miller said the investigation started when the sheriff’s office received a notice that there were two horses that had died on the property.
Several residents say they’ve made attempts to get horses off the ranch.
Candi Beeler, a resident of Cataldo, said she was able to barter with ranch staff members last week in exchange for two 5-month-old horses and received another horse at no charge. But that animal was in such poor condition, it had to be euthanized on Monday, she said.
“She was extremely skinny and her temperature was at 90 degrees,” Beeler said. “She was extremely hypothermic.”
Amber Coberly, who paid $60 for a yearling filly horse from the ranch on Sunday night, described the scene at the ranch as dire. She said she saw a pit at the ranch with as many as six dead horses piled in. The remaining horses need help fast, she said.
“If someone doesn’t get these horses out they will be dead in a month,” Coberly said.
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Information from: Coeur d’Alene Press, http://www.cdapress.com
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