Investigators arrived at 10:10 am and observed approximately 150 horses, all inside barn tied individually or put in standing stalls with no room to turn or lay down. Some of the stalls were very dark. The horses were mostly Amish harness horses as this area has a large Amish community. Many of the horses had no access to water or food. Handling was acceptable; horses were led into ring individually.
Slaughter horses were kept in an outside pen, away from the public. Several were thin; no obvious injuries were observed. One horse was thin and sick-looking. Kill Buyer Fred Bauer of LaRue, Ohio was observed looking at the kill pen horses. The white semi & single deck trailer of Ron Andio was observed parked next to Bauer’s truck. The slaughter horses were sold after the riding and buggy horses.
