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Four more
horses have been found dead on a farm in Whitchurch-Stouffville, Ontario where renters were charged with animal cruelty last week – resulting in a
confirmed death count of 13.
Charges
The
boarding business operated there, Speedsport Stables, was run by Victoria and David Small, and their 32-year-old Jason, all of whom are now facing
animal cruelty charges.
The charges
include allowing an animal to be in distress, failing to provide care necessary
for general welfare, and failing to provide adequate food – with equine veterinarian
Oscar Calvete pointing to signs of starvation.
During the initial investigation, he said: “You
can see all over the place that the fence has been chewed down and that they
just didn’t have any other choice, that they tried to survive on
something.”
Missing
In addition
to the confirmed losses, Speedsport Stables client Marie-France Anagnostopoulos
says that one of her horses died in the Smalls’ care and that another went
missing.
Anagnostopoulos
was reportedly told that her deceased horse, Constantina, became ill and was put
down as per veterinary advice and that another, Go Gin, had simply disappeared.
Both were classified by Anagnostopoulos as broodmares, horses kept for the purpose of breeding.
‘Disgusted’
She said: “I
feel stupid and I’m disgusted.”
“I’m
an animal lover, you know, a horse gets hurt and I feel upside down, inside
out, so I can’t even reconcile the fact that they would bury horses or that
they would have contributed to so many deaths.”
