Saved and recovering
The task of nursing more than a hundred rescued horses, ponies and donkeys back to health got under way yesterday. Many of the animals recovered from a farm in Buckinghamshire on Wednesday were emaciated, with overgrown hooves and matted coats. Most were terrified of humans. In one of its largest operations to date, the RSPCA found the animals, along with 31 others that had died, crammed into dirty pens and fields on the farm. Three horses had to be put down immediately and it was feared others might follow.Jamie Gray, the 44-year-old horse trader alleged to have run Spindles Farm in Hyde Heath, near Amersham, has been charged with criminal damage and assault on a police officer. He is due to appear before Aylesbury magistrates on Monday.
The RSPCA found two more dead horses at another location in the county yesterday, which they believe may belong to Gray.
The surviving animals were taken to four sanctuaries, where staff were trying to feed them up, clip their hooves, rid them of ringworm and clean their coats.According to Nicola Markwell, of Redwings Horse Sanctuary in Norfolk, which took eight of the donkeys, five ponies and eight miniature Shetland ponies, they were badly traumatised. “Some of them just won’t let anyone near them at all,” she said. “We have to put those through a gradual handling programme and let them recover before we release them into a herd.”Members of the public flooded Redwings with calls overnight, donating more than £15,000 and offering rugs or equipment.
Of the animals recovered, the youngest was thought to be a two-month-old donkey foal, which was making good progress at Redwings along with its mother. Welfare officers said it was “incredible” that the donkey, which they have named Esther, had survived. “Esther is a little nervous - but she seems OK,” said Miss Markwell. “She is staying close to her mother and is obviously bewildered.
“But she is quite playful, which is a good sign. She is feeding well, like all the other donkeys.”
Source: The Telegraph UK