An Arizona man from New River has been arrested on suspicion of animal cruelty after sheriff's deputies said they found three malnourished and mistreated horses at his property last week. He was booked on three counts of animal cruelty and two counts of failure to provide medical treatment.
A malnourished horse
An Arizona horse owner has been booked on three counts of animal cruelty and two counts of failure to provide medical treatment after investigators found three starving horses on his property.
One of the horses was "severely emaciated to the point where all of the horse's ribs and hip bones were visibly showing," an investigator reported after surveying Krantz's house.
Reports show one of the horses had a difficult time standing upright, and there was no food in sight for the animals.
Krantz told investigators he got one of the horses from a race track two weeks prior to his arrest because the horse's previous owner was going to put her down. He said the horse's previous owner told him the horse had already been seen by a vet, according to court records.
Krantz told sheriff's deputies he could not afford to care for the horses saying, "I would arrest me too," before surrendering the horses, records show.
Reports from a veterinarian show the horse that was in the worst condition, a 10-year-old thoroughbred mare, was at least 110 pounds underweight. The horse was humanely euthanized on June 14 after she was unable to stand up from the severity of her starvation, reports show.
The other two horses had medical conditions that went untreated, and they are currently under close veterinary supervision, investigators said.
Krantz's next court appearance is scheduled for June 22, and his bond is set at $2,500.