Questions surround Rusty the horse discovered in an abandoned stable in the Bronx and drawing the attention of neighbors, politicians, and the general public with many seeking to come to the horse's rescue.
"Stop horsin' around - Save Rusty!"
The horse in a condemned stable is a mystery to even those who want only to save it.
That effort reached a peak on this past Thursday when a state legislator and more than three dozen residents and animal lovers rallied in front of the run-down stable on Pelham Parkway South. As the news cameras rolled, they waved signs emblazoned with slogans like “Stop Horsin’ Around, Save Rusty.”
But from inside the stable, where the horse remained, there came not so much as a neigh for its own cause.
Four police officers stood guard during the rally to deter anyone from approaching the stable to peek inside.
Rusty is a mystery to even those who want nothing more than to save it. The residents and animal activists at the rally did not know its age, whether it was male or female, or how it came to be living in the stable, which has no posted name but was once known as Bronxbuster.
Even the horse’s name is a question mark — Rusty is a nickname bestowed by neighborhood children because the animal has a reddish-brown coat and “lives in a rusty stall,” said State Senator Jeffrey D. Klein, who has emerged as one of the horse’s most vocal advocates.
Mr. Klein, a Democrat, lives three blocks from the stable and said he had driven by for years and witnessed as it deteriorated from a popular riding spot to an eyesore in a middle-class enclave that seemed more suburb than city. More than two decades ago, he recalled, there were many more horses that could be rented to ride on a trail that ran alongside the busy parkway. A worn sign on the side of the stable still advertises rides.
According to city records, the property has been owned by M.O.L. Realty Inc. since 1982, and annual property taxes — $7,719 this year — have not been paid on it since at least July 2007. The city has sold several liens on the property to a third party, which is seeking to collect the back taxes, according to a spokesman for the city’s Finance Department.
The city’s Buildings Department ordered that the stable be vacated last year because of cracks in the exterior walls, after issuing previous violations for failing to maintain the property since 2006. Under the current order, the building can no longer be inhabited.
But Mr. Klein said the order did not apply to animals, leaving Rusty in harm’s way.
“It’s not fit for humans, but it’s fit for animals,” said Mr. Klein, who has introduced legislation to protect other animals from a similar fate. “We’re just waiting for this building to collapse on this poor animal.”
Humane Society Director Brad Shapiro said this should not be allowed to happen. “Here we are in The Bronx standing in front of what is an actual house of horrors–more fit for Halloween than a horse stable.”
The stable is next door to a proposed development for a residential high-rise and possible Metro-North station, Papa reported.