Former Police Officer Accused of Animal Cruelty In The Hudson Valley After Animals Found Dead
A Hudson Valley woman is accused of allowing a large number of horses to starve to death.
In response to a report of suspected animal cruelty at Argus Farm in Goshen, the Hudson Valley SPCA Humane Law Enforcement team raided the property and found what officials described as a “den of horrors in its barns.”
“Four of the barn's 18 stalls contained the decomposed bodies of horses who had presumably starved to death,” the Hudson Valley SPCA said in a press release. “In one, an eight-week old foal lay collapsed beside its mother in a nursing position. In another, an emaciated stallion, still very much alive, stood over the remains of his deceased friend. With no grain, hay or water on site, and without a way out of his locked stall, the stallion had been attempting to eat a wood window sill to survive. His hooves were overgrown, split and infected from exposure to the filthy floor. The remaining fourteen stalls were found to contain no animals but were filled with a foot or more of feces.”
The skeletons of six horses were found outside the barn, officials say.
The property's owner, Jeanne Ryan, a former New York City Police Officer, was charged with failing to dispose of deceased animal’s properly, with more charges pending.
According to the Hudson Valley SPCA, Ryan is denying the allegations.
One horse was rescued and is expected to recover under veterinary care, officials say.
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