Investigators attended the monthly horse auction in Middleburg, PA. There were approx 150 horses present in the pen area. The “slaughter prospects” were kept in groups of 4 – 6 horses per pen in the darkest area of the barn. Several of them were thin, one mule had a swollen hind leg and one chestnut mare had several open sores on her body. The sale started at 11:48am. The usual kill buyers Rotz and Moore were present and buying many of the horses under $500.00. An unknown buyer with the buyer number 500 was purchasing several horses the kill buyers didn’t want for as low as $10. Brian Moore was there with his large tractor/trailer and so was Bruce Rotz.
While the investigators were checking the parking lot, they noticed that the truck from Diamond K Ranch (kill buyer Arlow Kiehl) was also present. There were already several horses inside the trailer, including a not segregated stallion. Additionally, for the first time a Canadian truck from Capron Trucking in Ontario was observed. The truck was parked in front of Brian Moore’s truck and ready to load horses. Animals’ Angels will continue to monitor this auction.
