Horse’s owner says vandals led horse off property
An emaciated horse that appears to have escaped from a Boutte residence with the help of vandals has been seized from owner Yolanda Breaux by the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Police officials say they responded to a report of a loose horse in the area of Sharon Avenue in Boutte last week. In addition to seizing the horse they also took possession of a miniature Shetland pony that later died.
The horse was placed with the St. Charles Parish Humane Society and is currently being kept in an outdoor pen at the old St. Charles Parish Animal Shelter under the Hale Boggs Bridge.
The St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office said the animals had to be removed because the area was not fit for keeping them.
“It looks like this particular person had two horses,” Sgt. Dwayne LaGrange, spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office, said. “One of them actually died. One of the horses was emaciated and in pretty bad shape and had some severe medical problems.”
Breaux claims the pony, Lil’ Bit, was not experiencing health problems and that she had been feeding the horse, Biscuit, regularly, but he had problems keeping on weight.
“The only thing they seen on him (Lil’ Bit) was his hoofs needed to be cut. Biscuit, they said he was malnourished. I would buy this stuff, it’s a weight gain, and I would give it to him and his weight would come back,” Breaux said. “He’s always been like that, up and down with his weight, and mostly in the summer he loses his weight.”
Breaux said she was keeping horses in a corral on an extended lot in the back of her property and that vandals broke down part of her fence and led Biscuit out.
Breaux’s neighbor, Wayne Weber, said slats had been removed from Breaux’s fence adjoining his property and eight ducks he had been keeping in cages also went missing. Weber said he did not report the theft to the Sheriff’s Office.
“It wouldn’t do no good. They wouldn’t be able to do nothing,” Weber said.
In addition to keeping the horses, Breaux has two pigs, a goat, a pit bull and even once kept a bull on the property. Both Weber and Breaux said they are able to keep farm animals on their properties due to petitions they circulate in the neighborhood every five years that are later voted on by the St. Charles Parish Council.
Angela Robert, the parish’s Animal Control Director, said that officials did not know about the poor shape the horse was in because of a high fence that blocked their view. She said her department has had to keep horses four or five times in the past, but never in this extreme of a situation. She said the future of the horse is uncertain.
“If he becomes our property then he’ll be up for adoption,” Robert said. “If not, then the judge can release him back to the owner. It could end up being the judge’s decision what happens with this horse. Whether he lets us have it or puts it up for auction or returns it to the owner that’s his option.
“We are hoping to get him and then put him up for adoption.”
Breaux said she has been offered the opportunity to retrieve Biscuit for a fee of $750, but she likely will not be able to raise the funds to do so.
Breaux is being charged with two counts of animal cruelty, a pit bull enclosure violation, not having a breeder registration and not having a rabies vaccination for her pit bull.
Be the first to comment