HOPKINS COUNTY, KY JULY 2011

Possible horse cruelty case being investigated in Madisonville

MADISONVILLE, KY (WFIE) -
Authorities in Madisonville are investigating a possible animal neglect case. Investigators say they've received several complaints that some horses are being underfed, and need medical treatment.

Resident Hazel Fell received calls from friends complaining about the condition of a group of horses on a nearby farm.

Several weeks after, Fell went to the farm to check up on the horses condition. She saw no improvement, and took several photos. Fell then filed her own complaint to the humane society.

The horses are owned by Rob and Bonnie Ryder on a private farm off Randall Drive. Fell says the problem is that they live in Canada, and all responsibility to the horses is left to a caretaker.
It's unknown how much the horses are visited, but Fell says she's most upset that nothing was done before her complaint.

Humane society officials say they have been monitoring the situation. In fact, soon after the latest complaint, they sent a veterinarian out to check on the horses and meet with the caretaker. The caretaker now has 30 days to improve the health of the horses.

Humane society officials declined to speak while the investigation is ongoing, but stress the fact that they haven't ignored any complaints, and are working with law enforcement to resolve the issue.

Hopkins County Public Works officials say last month, they picked up one horse from that property that had died, but it's unclear what the cause of death was.

Humane society officials say plenty of food and hay have been donated to the horses while the investigation continues.

Officials say after the 30 days, they'll re-evaluate the condition of the horses, and if there are no improvements, disciplinary action will be taken.

WFIE

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BATH COUNTY, KY JULY 2011

Two men accused of dragging horse appear in court

Two men appeared in court Tuesday to face charges they dragged a horse.

Bath County Sheriff's deputies cited Jeffrey White and Jason Crouch for second-degree cruelty to animals.

Crouch's public defender entered a not guilty plea on his behalf Tuesday.

White will be arraigned later. He's now being held in the Montgomery County Jail on unrelated charges.

Investigators say White and Crouch tied the horse to the back of their car after White bought the animal, to get it to White's home.

Animal control officials took the five-year-old stallion to a farm, where they have named the horse Lucky.

The horse is now recovering.

If found guilty, Crouch and White could face up to a year in jail.


WKYT

Pre trial date set for November 15th: WKYT

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HARRISON COUNTY, KY April 2011

Here we go again. After being charged in 2008 and ordered not to own any horses for two years, the Risners of Harrison County are at it again.

Officials question condition of horses

By Becky Barnes
Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 10:55 am

It’s been more than a year since court-ordered restrictions for having horses on their property expired, but more horses have been found in alleged poor condition at Dinah and Haskel Risner’s farm.

Harrison County Sheriff’s Deputy Robert Peak said when he arrived at the Oddville-Sunrise Road farm Sunday afternoon he found two horses down, including one that was lying in the road.
“It had collapsed at the fence and slid under the fence, off of an earth embankment and into the road,” Peak said.

The other horse was on its side inside a 100-foot-by-50-foot lot.

Dinah Risner attributed the horses being unable to get up to the rainy, muddy conditions.
“There was no grass, no hay, no water, even with all the rain we’ve had there wasn’t even a puddle,” Peak said.

Peak was joined at the scene by the Kentucky State Police as well as an investigator from the Kentucky Veterinary Office with the Department of Agriculture and local veterinarian Dr. James Rice.

He said the veterinarians were able to get the horses on their feet. Hay and water were brought in and the animals were eating and drinking when officials left.

Peak said there were two other horses in the lot as well, and 15 on the property.
Tpr. Chris Gaby said the horses in the lot were obviously in poor condition.

Peak said the animals had patches of hair loss and open sores. Their ribs were palpable, they had lice and little to no flesh.

Peak said that charges against the Risners are pending.

The couple was charged in February 2008 on a case that was opened in 2007.
The Risners contended they were only trying to help rescue horses that had been neglected.
They would purchase the horses, then attempt to bring them to a healthy weight, Dinah Risner defended during the previous incident.

In a telephone interview Wednesday morning, Dinah said the horses were moved to that lot Sunday morning when they were given worm medicine. She added that the horses had only been in the lot for about two hours and had not intended to be left there for an extended period.
“They got down on account of the bad weather,” she said. “This muddy weather they just get down and get back up.”

She said the horses have since been turned out into a 20-acre field.

She said the horses were purchased at Paris Stockyards on March 19. One horse was given to the Risners free of charge. Two others were purchased for $2.50 each.

Cynthiana Democrat

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LINCOLN COUNTY, KY MARCH 2011

HORSES LEFT UNATTENDED IN LINCOLN COUNTY

People who live along Spice Ridge Road in Lincoln County say nobody has been taking care of 40 to 50 horses for more than a month.

Neighbors describe the animals as malnourished and say that they wander around street. They complain nothing is being done to help. "There ain't nobody who wants to claim them, or take care of them, or feed them, or anything else, just letting them run wherever they want to," Jesse Turner said.

The Lincoln County Sheriff says the horses belong to Walter Smith, who used to own the property. Deputies say they have been in contact with Smith and are investigating the allegations.


LEX18

MERCER COUNTY, KY MARCH 2011

March 5th, 2011

Man charged with felony animal cruelty in Mercer

HARRODSBURG

The leader of a Mercer County horse rescue operation was arrested Thursday on felony animal cruelty charges involving 30 horses.

Richard M. Banks, identified as head of Central Kentucky Equine Rescue, was charged with 30 counts of first-degree animal cruelty after Mercer County Animal Control Officer David Quinn III alerted the sheriff’s office that horses on Banks’ property off of Shakertown Road were poorly cared for.

According to a sheriff’s department press release, the horses were “being malnourished and neglected” and some were living in “dangerous conditions.”

It appeared that several of the animals had not been fed for an extended period of time, the press release stated.

A visit to the property Saturday morning found about 30 horses still on the premises.

The animals were divided into three pens, each with access to a large round bale of hay.

Mercer County Animal Shelter employees had fed the horses.

One mare with a foal appeared especially emaciated. Her hip bone protruded several inches from her body and all of her ribs were visible.

Banks did not answer a knock at his residence at 1626 Shakertown Road on Saturday.

He also has a residence in Stanford, police said. He could not be reached for comment.

Banks was arrested Thursday night and was released Friday from the Boyle County Detention Center after posting a $5,000 cash bond.

First-degree animal cruelty is a Class D felony, punishable by one to five years in prison. Deputy Scott Elder is investigating. More charges and additional arrests are possible. Along with Elder, Sheriff Ernie Kelty and Deputy Sean Brown assisted at the scene.

AMNEWS.com

AMNEWS

WKYT

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MASON COUNTY, KY JANUARY 2010

N.Ky. Man Charged With 30 Counts Of Animal Cruelty

MASON CO., Ky. --

A Northern Kentucky horse owner is facing numerous charges after police say 30 neglected horses were found on his property.

Sheriff Patrick Boggs says George Jones, 63, is charged with 30 counts of cruelty to animals.

Jones is also facing six counts of failure to dispose carcasses.

Neighbors alerted sheriff deputies to Jones' farm located on Key Pike about four miles south of Maysville after seeing the carcasses from the roadway.

Mason County Sheriff Deputies were back out again on Wednesday. Neighbors called after driving by and seeing the bodies of six dead horses in the field. "Mr. Jones tells us he had somebody, a hired hand to take care of them. He says he's been in bad health himself. I don't believe economics is part of the problem here. I believe its just neglect of the animals," said Sheriff Patrick Boggs of Mason County. "There was no water out for the animals, very minimal water,” the Sheriff added. “There was hay on the farm and feed for the horses and donkeys on the farm, but was not made accessible to the animals."

The Sheriff says Jones is cooperating, allowing investigators with the Kentucky Department Of Agriculture onto his property Wednesday.

The farm also houses 150 other horses."We were out today, on the 20th, with the Department of Agriculture and Mr. Jones is taking the proper steps to remedy the situation as far as disposing of the carcasses and feeding the livestock," said Boggs.

The horses will remain on the property unless a judge orders them elsewhere.Jones is due to face a judge for the misdemeanor charges on Monday.

If convicted, he faces a fine and up to a year in jail.

WCPO

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NELSON COUNTY, KY DECEMBER 2009

Rescue team says starving horses were on public official's property

by Gene Kang
Posted on December 16, 2009 at 8:15 PM

A horse rescue team in Nelson County claims a public official had dozens of starved horses on his property for weeks.

And it all started when Harris Horse Rescue emailed WHAS11 a YouTube video of roughly 20 horses in Bloomfield Kentucky, some malnourished and looking very thin.

"They were in horrible condition and with them being that emaciated and visibly being sick it was life-threatening to every horse on this lot," said Charlene Harris, Harris Horse Rescue.

"You don't see it and don't think about it unless those videos got out and saw what was really happening. A lot more people got involved," said Lisa McCullough, who captured the YouTube video.

Problem is, Harris Horse Rescue in Nelson County says the lot at the 3200 block of Wilkerson Road belongs to their County Magistrate, Jerry Hahn.

So, when WHAS11’s Gene Kang drove out to Nelson County and showed up at the Magistrate's lot, he found that all the horses are missing, nowhere to be found.

So where are all the horses?

A shock to Harris who claims they were there just Tuesday night, she says these pictures and video links started pouring into her rescue the past weeks.

Harris tells us the magistrate never returned her phone calls trying to alert him of the dire conditions.

"These horses being as emaciated as they were, they will end up going to slaughter, slaughter-bound to Canada," said Harris.

Hahn was outspoken and exclaims he has nothing to hide.
In fact, he showed us his own horses just down the street from the lot.

Hahn says the starved horses in the YouTube video were from a stockyard and claims he was only keeping them for an associate in Hardin County where they've returned. He says he was trying to nurse the horses back to health after getting them from a sale barn and has since taken them back.

"All I was doing was trying to save the horses lives. That's all I was doing," said Hahn.
"I talked to our county judge and everything I talked to them in Frankfort. I wasn't doing anything wrong."

"It's sickening that anyone can get away with this let alone an elected official. He should've been setting an example for everyone else," said Harris.

The Harris Horse Rescue says officials in Nelson County never took legal action against Magistrate Hahn despite knowing about the situation.



WHAS11

Related You Tube videos:

Video #1

Video #2

Video #3

Magistrate Jerry Hahn is not an unfamiliar name on our blog.
Crescini (case posted previously) starved his horses across the street from the property of Jerry Hahn's. Publically Hahn admitted to taking two of Crescini's emaciated horses into his care, however neither those two nor the remaining Crescini horses were ever heard of again.
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