The caller said simply, “Please help these horses.” He had called IDA’s Hope Animal Sanctuary (HAS) to report that there were two horses and two donkeys starving on a property near his home. There was hay in an adjacent enclosure but none where these poor animals were kept. He stated that no one had been to feed them for weeks so he took it upon himself to get hay to them. Further, he said he would take all four to his home and take responsibility for them if he could get them legally.

HAS Director Doll Stanley, accompanied by a deputy from Montgomery County, Mississippi, braving terrible weather, went to investigate and found these four animals in horrible condition with very low body weight and obviously slowly starving to death. With bones protruding from their bodies in sharp points, they came to the fence to accept attention and ultimately hay from Doll. Doll spoke with the negligent “guardian” and advised him that he must feed them properly and have a veterinarian attend to them within seven days.

Doll will continue to check on them and if the animals’ current “owner” fails to do as he has been directed, she will request a seizure order from the court.