Residents Outraged Over Animal Cruelty Allegations In LaGrange County
LAGRANGE COUNTY — Residents are outraged after animal cruelty allegations on a farm in LaGrange County.
“That animal has been out there for two days without no food or no water, standing in that one spot,” concerned LaGrange resident Allen Yoder said.
Yoder says a friend told him about a horse that had blood all over its nose and one of its legs along State Road 9 just north of LaGrange. When he went and checked it out, he could not believe what he saw.
“There was blood on the ground where the horse was standing. That is how you know it was standing there for a while,” Yoder said.
16 News Now reporter Ibrahim Samra visited the farm on Monday and spoke to farmer Bob Swan, who says they get the horses that way.
“They go through the kill pen, and if nobody wants them, we take them. We rehabilitate them, then they’re gone,” Swan says.
Yoder says he used work on a farm growing up. When asked if he believed that the farm rehabilitates the animals, Yoder shook his head.
“I don’t believe a word he is saying. What he does is these animals are in bad shape. When he gets them, he does not rehabilitate them. He slaughters them,” Yoder said.
Yoder also shared pictures with 16 News Now of a horse he saw on the very same farm two years ago that lost a lot of weight and had an injured leg similar to the one he saw two days ago.
For his part, Swan said he does not agree.
“We don’t do that. There is about only one skinny horse out here, and it’s put weight back on,” he said.
But has the horse put weight back on? The Indiana State Board of Animal Health says they’re investigating.
“We are aware of the situation. We have gotten calls and emails and Facebook messages about it. We are working on getting somebody dispatched out to the site,” Communication Director Denise Derrer says.
Yoder says the farm’s inability to see the damage they are doing to the animals is exactly why he wants to see it shut down.
“He should not make an animal suffer,” Yoder says.
In a response to the criticism, Swan did not hold back either.
“Until they know the facts and know what we are doing, they can keep their mouths shut,” Swan said.
Derrer says the Indiana State Board of Animal Health will be sending a state veterinarian to investigate the farm this week.
Source: WNDU