Area horse owners charged with animal cruelty

Posted 2/24/09

Despite being seized for emergency veterinary care, one of the horses was later put down due to its poor health.

Michael Francis told a sheriff's deputy that he could not afford to feed them, according to documents in the case.

The Francises …

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Area horse owners charged with animal cruelty

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Charges allege neglectA Deaver couple faces 78 charges of animal cruelty after allegedly failing to provide enough food for their horses.Charges filed Friday in Circuit Court allege that Brian Michael Francis, 24, and Stephanie Francis, 22, neglected their 25 mares and 14 studs and geldings penned in a Ralston corral.

Despite being seized for emergency veterinary care, one of the horses was later put down due to its poor health.

Michael Francis told a sheriff's deputy that he could not afford to feed them, according to documents in the case.

The Francises have since turned over the remaining 38 horses to regional law enforcement agencies.

The Park County Sheriff's Department began investigating the animals' treatment on Feb. 14 after receiving an anonymous tip.

In the affidavit of probable cause filed in the case, Sheriff's Deputy Jessica Campbell wrote that at the time, there appeared to be “absolutely no sort of feed on the ground in the (Ralston) corrals.”

“It appeared that all of the horses were eating manure and feces as their main source of food,” she wrote.

Campbell observed that a horse had apparently chewed a hole in one of the corral's wooden panels to get access to hay in an adjoining pen.

Noting that some of the horses were “barely alive,” Campbell returned to the Lane 11 site on Feb. 15 to take stock of the animals.

Using the Henneke Body Score System, 26 of the 39 horses were found to be thin or very thin, the affidavit says.

While deputies worked to measure the horses, one of the mares collapsed, and could not get back up.

When volunteers provided it with food and water, the horse drank six gallons of water and ate the hay it was provided.

Campbell contacted the Francises at their Deaver home on Feb. 16.

“(Michael) Francis said that he knew we (law enforcement officers) would be contacting him about the horses sooner or later,” Campbell wrote in the affidavit.

Francis said that his truck had been repossessed and that he did not have the transportation or money to get feed to the horses.

According to the affidavit, Francis told Campbell that every four days, he would leave two round bales of hay for the 25 mares, and one round bale of hay for the 14 gelding/studs. That, Francis said, was all he could afford at $40 a bale.

The 39 charges Michael and Stephanie Francis each face all are misdemeanors, each punishable by up to six months in jail and $750 in fines.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 3, at 11 a.m. at the Powell Annex Courtroom.

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