I wanted to let you know of a man who lives down the street from my MIL and had horses that were dying due to malnutrition and neglect. What's sad is my MIL had called the Prichard animal control folks at least a couple of times about these horses as did my sister-in-law. This area comes under Prichard and as long as it took these animals to starve and die, there's no way that the police or animal control folks checked on them. I saw a man once riding a horse that was so skinny that it was hard to believe the horse could even walk, much less carry a person. They showed photos of these horses lying in cold mud and unable to get out. One had to be put down on the spot, one was found dead and two found new homes but would take weeks to recover.
This same Prichard animal control facility told me they would check on a dog that was pinned up at a home across the street from my MIL...it was being starved as well. Why do these officials say they'll check on animals and then do nothing? Do they just like to drive around in their trucks and 'look' like they're doing their job? What about really rescuing animals that are being mistreated? Here's the article:


Breaking News from the Press-Register
Local news updates from Mobile and surrounding communitiesEight Mile neighbors say authorities aren't checking emaciated horses
By David Ferrara
February 04, 2010, 7:45AM
Standing by three emaciated horses that appeared to be dying, a group of neighbors in the Eight Mile community said Wednesday they could not get authorities to check on the animals.

Inside a stable along Woodruff Drive, two brown Tennessee Walkers lay in slop on their sides, kicking their legs and shaking their heads. In a field on the same fenced-in property, another Tennessee Walker lay motionless.

The older horse in the stable, roughly 5 years old, was called Blade, while the younger, about 2 years old, was called Honey, according to a neighbor who declined to give his name.

Jared and Brandy Taylor, cousins who live nearby, said they had tried to call authorities with the Prichard Police Department and the Mobile County Sheriff's Office starting at about 8 a.m., and continued throughout the day, but authorities never showed up.

Brandy Taylor said she first spotted the horse in the field, noticing the apparent neglect, and then found the two in the stable.

"We couldn't imagine there were horses back there like that," she said.

At least three other horses were walking around on the property.

A Press-Register reporter waited near the horses for more than two hours Wednesday evening without authorities arriving.

The Mobile County Commission agreed that it would assist Prichard with animal control last year, but on Wednesday Lori Myles, a sheriff's office spokeswoman, said her office had passed along a report to Prichard police, because the property was outside the sheriff's office jurisdiction.

"We cannot go unless the police jurisdiction calls us and asks us to take over," Myles said.

A dispatcher with Prichard police said the condition of the horses had been reported but she would not say when an officer would be sent to the scene.

Prichard spokeswoman Latoya Veal could not say whether police were investigating the report.

As the sky grew dark, another neighbor approached and tried to feed two of the horses as they writhed in mud and manure.

At about 7 p.m., a man who said he owned the horses but not the property, asked neighbors and the reporter to leave the area.

The man said he had left the horses and 200 pounds of feed with the owner, whom he would not identify.