An animal's welfare

April 07, 2008 08:47 am

— By Samantha Swindler / Managing Editor
The welfare of a young mare kept tied to a tree along Fourth Street in Corbin is causing neighbors to seek the help of law enforcement — and causing city leaders to rethink Corbin’s current animal ordinances.
The horse — soaked after Friday’s rains and with its ribs clearly visible — drew a visit from Corbin police Thursday night after neighbors reported it had fallen down and was partially lying in the roadway.
One neighbor, who asked that her name not be used in this story, has contacted police before about the horse’s treatment.
Thursday night, she was one of a small group of people who came to aid and right the horse after it was found laying on its side, in a very shallow ditch, partially hanging into the roadway.
“My daughter left the house and she told me the horse was down,” she said. “She thought it was dead. The police officer was there and a couple of neighbors. The horse was lying there with part of its legs out in the road. I told everybody that we’re going to get her up or she’s going to die.”
After standing the horse up, the neighbors walked her around a bit, and the horse was brought some hay. The owner — listed as Shawn Smallwood on the Corbin police log — did not appear to be home Thursday when police arrived. A second visit by police Friday afternoon also found no one at the home.
“There’s got to be something that can be done,” the neighbor said. “I have to look out my window every day and look at this poor creature, and there’s not a thing I can do to help it.”
But Corbin Police Chief Carson Mullins said Friday that even though the department has received “three or four” calls about the horse, they didn’t see any abuse.
“We’ve had a few complaints prior to last (Thursday) night,” Mullins said. “Officers have checked it out and there were no obvious signs of abuse... Without a city ordinance our hands are tied, because we have no signs of abuse.”
But Knox-Whitley Animal Shelter manager Amy Young, who was first contacted about the Fourth Street horse about a month ago, said the Kentucky Horse Council has a nine-point scale rating the health of horse.
“Anything below a four is a citable offense,” she said. Because of its visible rib count, she said the Fourth Street horse would be rated “a high two or low three.”
“That horse needs out of that situation,” said Young, a horse owner herself. “What is its quality of life on a rope?”
The animal shelter doesn’t have facilities for a horse, but Young has offered to temporarily house the horse at her own barn if it was removed from its current owners.
Young took earlier photos of the horse from the road, when it was tied in the unfenced backyard. She said the horse could not fully raise its head because its rope had become tangled on tree roots. This week, according to neighbors, it was moved to the front yard.
“We’ve been working on this well over a month,” Young said. “That horse did not come to them in that shape.”
She said the horse had no fat on its neck or shoulders, no fat deposits on its hips or hindquarters, and nearly all of its ribs were visible. A healthy, active horse ridden often will have its last two ribs visible, Young said, but a pet horse that is not ridden should not have any visible.
Mullins said he would be contacting Whitley County Animal Control Officer Wayne Wilson, who was out of the office Friday. Young said Wilson has talked with the owners before but the situation has not changed much.
Part of the problem, Young said, is that anyone can own a horse, without proper training or understanding of a horse’s needs. A horse should not be tied up continuously, it should not be kept on concrete, and a carport (which on Friday the horse couldn’t reach anyway) does not provide adequate shelter, she said.
“I think some stronger, more enforced animal cruelty laws would be critical,” Young said.
State-wide, Kentucky has some of the most lax animal cruelty laws. In 2006, The Animal Legal Defense Fund ranked Kentucky as one of the five “best states for animal abusers” based on the laws that protect animals. Among the reasons given for the ranking were an “inadequate range of prohibitions and definitions/standards of basic care,” cruelty only became a felony if four-legged animals were fighting for profit, and no restrictions were placed on a person’s future ownership of animals following a cruelty conviction.
Some of those issues may be soon addressed. A proposed Senate bill nicknamed “Romeo’s law” will make torturing dogs and cats a Class D felony in Kentucky, punishable by one to five years. It was named for a dog whose abuse by his owner was caught on tape in neighboring Pulaski County.
But in this particular horse’s case, the issue is of basic care. Young said, “The main thing is there needs to be a city ordinance about livestock in the city limits.”
And currently, Corbin has none.
City Commissioner Joe Shelton said he received several complaints about the horse’s care and condition over the last month.
“Really and truly we need to look at this situation,” Shelton said. “In the past we’ve been a very rural community and people have had all kinds of farm animals, but as the city has grown, it might be time to look at an ordinance that at least limits large livestock from the city of Corbin.”
Corbin City Commissioner Phil Gregory wasn’t aware of the Fourth Street horse, but when told about the conditions, said “I don’t see how you can have a horse tied up and not have it be abuse. An animal like that needs room.”
Other commissioners couldn’t be reached Friday.
Surrounding neighbors on Fourth Street are talking about appearing at the next Corbin City Commission meeting April 14 to speak in favor of creating a livestock ordinance.
“I always assumed there was an ordinance against having livestock (in the city) and I think there’s a lot of people that assume that,” the neighbor said.
In fact, the first time she saw the horse — around Christmas 2007 — she called the police because she thought someone’s horse had gotten out and wandered into the city.
That was when she learned the horse belonged to a neighbor, and there was no city ordinance barring it.
Even if the horse was healthy, the neighbor said the lack of a city ordinance raises other concerns.
“The first concern is the welfare of the horse,” the neighbor said, “but you’ve got city taxpayers that aren’t going to be able to enjoy their yards in the summer. There will be flies, the smell — that’s just the facts of having a horse.”

Staff Writer Sean Bailey contributed to this story.

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