Dozens of dead and neglected horses found on farm *

By Aislinn Simpson
Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 09/01/2008

UK - Eighty-four emaciated horses, ponies and donkeys were rescued from
a field, where they were discovered alongside 31 dead animals, in one of
the biggest operations of its kind.

The animals were seized by the RSPCA from a farm in Hyde Heath near
Amersham in Buckinghamshire but the charity's vets had to have a three
horses put down.

They had been badly neglected and their bodies left where they had fallen.

The rescued animals have been taken to sanctuaries by the RSPCA,
Redwings Horse Sanctuary and the International League for the Protection
of Horses.

As the team arrived, a scuffle broke out with a 44-year-old man at the
farm - said by neighbours to be a horse dealer from a family of travellers.

He was arrested for assaulting a police officer and criminal damage and
the horses were loaded onto horse boxes.

Rob Skinner, the RSPCA's Chief Inspector for Oxfordshire and
Buckinghamshire, said: "I am always horrified," he said.

"As long as I am in this job, it never makes any difference and you can
never see any sense in it."

According to Nicola Markwell of the equine charity Redwings Horse
Sanctuary, which provided horse boxes and 30 staff from the charity's
base in Norfolk, the horses were showing all the classic signs of
neglect: matted coats, emaciation, parasites, sores and lameness from
overgrown hooves.

"I was absolutely appalled," she said.

"Our expert team have travelled to rescues on many occasions but rarely
sees cruelty so far advanced that equines are seemingly forgotten and
literally left to die."

She said she did not know why he owned 132 horses, or why he had let
them get into such a condition.

"We just had to get them out of there. This was an appalling case of
neglect and I think it shows anyone that feels their situation is
getting out of hand should seek advice immediately before it gets too
bad. They should never let it get to this stage."

RSPCA spokesman Sophie Wilkinson said the farm outbuildings and fields
where the horses were kept appeared to be used by horse dealers, and
that the charity would seek a prosecution of the horses' owner.

Neighbours named the arrested man as Jamie Grey, a meat trader who was
believed to have been related to a family of travellers.

One villager said: "He is a former gypsy who I have been complaining
about to the RSPCA for three years. I don't know why it has taken them
so long to act. I know I am not alone in complaining.

"I first had a run-in with him when he was shooting horses dead in the
field, at close range. I went to investigate further and he chased me
off his farm in a tractor.

"From what I can see his horses are dirty, malnourished and poorly
treated. This move by the RSPCA will be welcomed by all around here."

Another neighbour, Wendy Ward, 32, said she saw a Jack Russell terrier
at the farm in a vet's carry case, with its legs severed.

She added: "The farm has a bad reputation, everyone knows about it. It
could have been anyone in this village who called the RSPCA. It is
sickening."

Chief Inspector Skinner said some of the horses had been dead for some
time and others may have to be put down over the next few days.

He defended the RSPCA against neighbours' claims that alerted the
charity to the case three years before, saying the case only became
critical this weekend.

"We have had previous calls about this address and we have had concerns
about it for some time," he said.

"We had information this weekend that things were going badly wrong on
this farm. In this day and age things like this should not happen but
when they do, at least we have the organisation and the back up to be
able to stop it quickly."