Sugarcreek Horse Auction, OH 1/21/11

Date: 
Sunday, January 23, 2011 - 07:45
Investigation Category: 

On arrival there were approximately 60 horses in the pens and an additional 70 horses arrived throughout the morning. In the parking lot investigators found 2 dead horses, one with a slaughter tag still attached.  As investigators checked pens, they noticed that a few horses were thin and several had assorted leg and hoof problems.   Some horses at the sale were young, one of the yearling was partially blind in one eye and had a fever.  One pony had a severe eye infection. In another pen was a dairy cow who was laying down and investigators noticed that she has a ruptured vulva. The calves were very young and several still had umbilical cords attached. One aged Amish Belgian was covered in terrible sores from being hooked to a harness and being whipped.  He was sold to Baker for $200. During the moving to the auction ring, one sorrel fell and was trampled by the other horses that were trapped in the aisle with him.  Investigators noticed that when he got up, he had sustained a leg injury in the mayhem and was severely limping.