14 horses rescued in Detroit in the last 5 weeks

By Maurielle Lue
Fox 2 News Reporter

DETROIT (WJBK) -- In the last five week, 14 horses have been rescued in the City of Detroit.  That includes two horses, one that was visibly underweight, that were hauled away from a yard on Friday.

"The horses are being confiscated as contraband," said Mark Ramos from Detroit Animal Control.  "The owner is pretty upset that we're taking his horses."

"We have a cruelty hotline here and when people see things that they're concerned about they call us, and they've called about all these animals in need," said Deborah McDonald, an animal cruelty inspector with the Michigan Humane Society.

Last month, two horses were taken from a small residential backyard.  Then this week, the Michigan Humane Society got a tip that ten horses were stashed in an old warehouse on the city's west side, most of them dangerously sick.

Rescuing all these horses is a big financial undertaking.  Most of them have to be nursed back to health, which costs a lot of money.  Picture feeding 14 hungry teenage boys.  Now multiply that by about a thousand.

"We've never been in a situation like this before.  Not our norm," McDonald said.  "At this point, we need donations.  These horses are very expensive to feed and we have 14 of them.  Because they're underweight, they are going to eat more than they would normally.  They have a lot of catching up to do."

And in case you didn't know, Ramos said, "Any livestock, farm animals are illegal in the City of Detroit -- horses, cattle, goats, anything like that is illegal and can be removed right on the spot."

If you would like to donate to the Michigan Humane Society, call 1-866-MHUMANE or visit www.michiganhumane.org.