Horses recover from abuse

STEELES TAVERN – Leading up to the seizure of more than two-dozen emaciated horses from a Staunton farm, Augusta County authorities checked the animals monthly and found they’d been fed, a county official said Tuesday.

Some of the horses were more than 200 pounds underweight, said Scott Reiners, a veterinary surgeon at Mountain View Equine Hospital in Steeles Tavern, where the animals are recuperating. They were seized last week from convicted animal abuser Terry Lynn Sullivan, 61. One of the animals was found dead.

“They look like somebody coming out of a concentration camp,” Reiners said.

Examinations of the seized animals found that almost two thirds of them suffered from parasites and malnourishment, officials said. Some of the horses are pregnant.

Brigette Berbes, of Staunton, said she called the Augusta County Administrator’s Office last month after driving by the farm and noticing the horses picking at tree bark. The Administrator’s Office oversees animal control officers.

“Their main question seemed to be who’s going to be financially responsible for these animals,” Berbes said.

County Assistant Administrator John McGehee said animal control officers made routine visits to Sullivan’s farm.

“All I know is they said the last time they were there, the horses had hay,” McGehee said. “I think they checked basically on a monthly basis. Sure, in hindsight we’d like to check every other day, but you just can’t do that.”

Mountain View Equine Hospital agreed to rehabilitate and care for the horses after the seizure, just one sign of the community’s willingness to pull together to help financially, Berbes said.

Nineteen of the 30 seized horses scored between a 1 and 2 on a scale of 1 to 10. The low scores, based on an American Humane Association scale, indicate poor body condition, said Debbie Caywood, director of the Augusta County Regional Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

“They’re like skeletons with hides stretched across themselves right now,” Caywood said. “If these horses make it through the next week to 10 days, they’ll have a shot at survival.”

Sullivan, who has not been charged, could not be reached for comment.

The former president of the Fern Leigh Equine Foundation, Sullivan was convicted of animal cruelty in 1996 and 2008.

Reiners said the seized horses have been placed on a high-protein diet. He expects the least healthy horses to be ready for adoption within five months.

Last week’s seizure marked the second time in less than a year that authorities have hauled more than two dozen horses from a local farm.

In March, Waynesboro Animal Control seized 34 horses from Tory Allen Garrett, of Afton. Authorities charged Garrett with animal cruelty.