CLARK COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18)– The Clark County Animal Shelter is dealing with one of its largest animal neglect cases to date.
Right now, they’re feeding 19 horses suffering from extreme starvation.
A single horse can eat up to a bale of hay a day and the shelter is struggling to keep up with that demand on their own.
“We’ve probably had about 120 bales donated so far but we are going through 12 to 15 bales a day so it doesn’t last very long,” said Adreanna Wills, with the Clark County Animal Shelter.
Luckily, business owners like Robert Pritchett of Bargains on Broadway are stepping up.
“This is for the horses and that’s what I’m telling everybody we need to do this for the horses, you know what can we do to get the horses back to health,” Pritchett said.
And hay goes a long way in getting them back on track, but it doesn’t stop there. The shelter is also paying for the horses’ hospital fees, supplements, and medication.
“Our goal long term is to get these animals to walk back out of our facility happy and healthy and in a better situation,” Wills said.
Unfortunately, the horses are in such bad shape, the road to recovery will be a long one. Already, four horses didn’t even make it to this point. Which brings wills to her main point, that if an animal owner is struggling to feed all of their animals, reach out for help before things go too far.
“Before it gets to this, before animals are passing away because of their condition, before there are animals starving we want them to reach out if they feel overwhelmed their are agencies that can help,” Wills said.