Burleigh County Sheriff`s Department Seizes Horses

Retha Colclasure | 1/29/2013

Burleigh County Sheriff`s Deputies have gotten involved in a case involving mistreated horses. Sgt. Roy Bailey says deputies seized 38 horses, mules and a donkey yesterday afternoon. They learned that a landowner who had horses seized from his property in Morton County also owned property southeast of Bismarck.

Deputies had been called to the pasture several times regarding the condition of the animals, most recently on January 12. Bailey says there had been 41 animals in the pasture, but three had died.

The rest were seized and are being cared for by a local farmer.

Morton County Sheriff Dave Shipman says family members of a man who had 96 dead horses on his property are with him to make sure the remaining horses are properly cared for.

Shipman says the man, in his early 60s, has a love of horses and had been collecting them for about one or two years.

He says the man admitted to buying horses at slaughter sales because he didn`t want to see them slaughtered, but took in way too many and couldn`t care for them.

Shipman says deputies had been called to the pasture several times, and had performed a welfare check on the animals in mid-December.

At that point, none of the 190 to 200 horses on the property had died.

Shipman says most of the horses were in barns and behind tree rows, and weren`t immediately visible.

25 of the living horses in the worst condition are being cared for by another landowner.

Shipman says the man had been feeding square bales to the horses, but just hadn`t been providing them with enough food.

The Morton County State`s Attorney`s office is reviewing the case for possible animal neglect charges.

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