Ag Official Charged With Starving Horses

[devilgrrl]

Ag Official Charged With Starving Horses
By SEANNA ADCOX (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
February 29, 2008 10:45 AM EST

COLUMBIA, S.C. - A top South Carolina agriculture official and two of his relatives are accused of mistreating dozens of horses here and in Georgia, where authorities described some of the animals as looking like someone "draped a hide over bones."

James Trexler, one of South Carolina's three assistant agriculture commissioners, was charged this week with five counts of ill treatment of animals. Authorities said five horses on his Hopkins property were found without food in stalls filled with manure and mud.

Trexler, who was suspended without pay from the job he's held since 2003, was released from jail Thursday on bond. His mother, Hazelene Trexler, and brother Terry Trexler remained behind bars because they are considered fugitives in Georgia. Both were charged there with 30 counts of animal cruelty, authorities said.

In October, investigators found about 70 Arabian horses, including one already dead, on about 75 acres in Jefferson County, Ga., sheriff's deputy Jimmy Kitchens said.

"They looked like you just draped a hide over bones," Kitchens said. "I used to raise and train quarter horses, and I've never seen anything like this before. If paperwork could've been done quicker, there'd be more charges."

more: http://enews.earthlink.net/article/nat?guid=20080229/47c79150_3ca6_1552620080229-1936058613

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[sazemisery]

1. Teir punishment should match the crime IMHO. n/t

[tularetom]

2. I agree - keep 'em in a cell filled with manure and mud and no fuckin food

[enlightenment]

3. I agree.

Disgusting specimens of humanity.

[knitter4democracy]

4. Oh my God!! That is horrifying!

Lock them up. Lock them up for a long time. All of the humans who knew about this and took part in it.

What the hell?! Too good to pick up a fork and muck a stall? Too busy to run to town and get some grain? Too hard to grab some hay and feed them?! Grrrrrr!!!!!!

[TheMadMonk]

5. Too intent on taking their own cut, I'll bet.

A major cause of business failures is the owners budgeting their own take first, and then attempt to run the business out of whatever is left over. This is a guaranteed model for failure.