After an investigation by the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office, the privately run Mustang Ranch and Rescue in northern Idaho has shut down its operation in Cataldo and released its horses to a rescue in Washington and a new owner in Missouri.
Rescuing malnourished horses
After an investigation, the privately run Mustang Ranch and Rescue in northern Idaho has shut down its operation in Cataldo and released its horses to a horse rescue in Washington and a new owner in Missouri.
The Kootenai County Sheriff's Office began an investigation into the ranch nearly two weeks ago after several calls came in from neighbors about animal abuse and the ranch starving its horses.
The Black family who had been running the rescue ranch released five of the horses to Rough Start Rescue. Four others were given to an owner in Missouri, who is not named in the information available.
According to sources, the horses were released rather than being confiscated. The Black family was said to be cooperative. People from the rescue operation blamed the condition of the horses on lack of knowledge on the part of the Black family about how to feed and care for horses.
The five horses are in a Ford, Washington, facility that belongs to Rough Start Horse Rescue where an all-volunteer staff is improving their health slowly.
According to Kelly Artiero of Rough Start Horse Rescue,"They were doing this out of their own pockets, just trying to help these horses as much as they can. They just got in over their heads," Artiero said.
When Artiero went to pick up the five horses - one stud, three mares and one 3-month-old filly, she said she saw the horses had "plenty of feed."
"It wasn't that they weren't feeding the horses," she said. "They had all the right tools, just not the right knowledge on how to use those tools."