CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. — Weeks after more than a dozen horses were seized in an alleged neglect case in Jefferson County, more horses have been rescued in another incident.
Jefferson County Sheriff Tom Hansen said the seizure happened on April 18.
“We received complaints regarding the condition of six horses on Charles Town Road,” Hansen told MetroNews affiliate WEPM’s “Panhandle Live” in Martinsburg. “We now have an on-call veterinarian who has volunteered his time whenever we have cases like this. He came out, looked at them and gave us the evaluation on the horses.”
Hansen said the horses were being kept in stalls, but “there was no maintenance, no cleaning, minimum water, and no grain was present.”
Deputies, along with Animal Control officers executed a search warrant and the six horses were relocated to the Days End Farm and Rescue in neighboring Maryland.
Hansen said the most recent case involved horses related to the horse racing industry. He said he believed the person who had been responsible for the animals wasn’t able to maintain them, “and because of that we had to seize them.”
The incident comes after a dozen other horses were seized in early March.