YAZOO CITY — The Yazoo County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the discovery of several dead and malnourished horses near Bentonia.
WLBT TV reports several horses died in a pasture and 16 others were found starving Thursday.
The county is working to seize the animals and give them to someone to nurse them back to health. However, sheriff’s investigators say a judge has yet to sign a seizure order because Yazoo County has no facility to care for them.
Area residents have been bringing the horses hay; but one resident fears the horses won’t survive. “They have bones poking out, they have no muscle structure at all,” said Cannon Williams. “With it supposed to be raining today and the temperatures dropping, these horses will not make it.”
Debra Boswell of the Mississippi Animal Rescue League says she has been in contact with the owner and is working out a plan to place the animals with other people. The owner told her he was caring for the animals for someone else and got “overwhelmed.”
Thursday afternoon some of the horses were moved from the pasture, but it was unclear where they were taken.
Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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