VAN BUREN — Humane Society officials were called Tuesday to Crawford County after a resident reported that up to 20 animals were abandoned on a neighbor’s property and that some neglected dogs had been eating a live horse.
Rebekah Trotter of the Sebastian County Humane Society said workers removed 11 cats, one dog and five puppies Tuesday and Wednesdayfrom property north of Rudy in rural Crawford County.
Trotter said the animals’ owner, whom she could not identify, turned another four or five adult dogs over to the Humane Society in Fort Smith.
Crawford County deputy prosecutor Graham Jones said Wednesday that no arrests had been made as officials tried to determine who owns the property and who was responsible for the animals’ care. He said he expects charges to be filed in the case.
The animals had been without care since at least Dec. 18, when a mobile home on the property was damaged by fire, Trotter said. The resi-dents moved, leaving the animals behind, she said.
Trotter said the animals were underfed and had health problems because of neglect. They were being housed and treated Wednesday in an isolation section of the humane society’s Fort Smith facility, she said. Some of the animals may have to be euthanized because of their condition, she said.
Several dogs remained on the property Wednesday because they evaded capture or were aggressive. Those animals may not be appropriate for adoption because they have not been socialized for people contact, she said.
A neighbor reported the animals to the Humane Society after the animals’ owner asked the neighbor’s brother to shoot an emaciated horse. Dogs on the property were eating the horse as it lay weak and helpless on the ground. The neighbor’s brother shot the horse Monday, Trotter said.
Trotter said when she arrived at the site Tuesday, accompanied by a sheriff ’s deputy, some food had been placed inside the wreckageof the mobile home, which was heavily littered with animal feces, and a bucket of tainted water was the only water source.
Some of the animals were too small to climb into the burned mobile home to get to the food, she said, while others could not fit through the small opening.
There were no dog houses on the property, and it appeared most of the animals were living underneath the damaged mobile home, she said.
Off icials in Crawford County obtained a search warrant Tuesday that allowed the Humane Society to take possession of the animals, Jones said.
The Sebastian County Humane Society was called because Crawford County doesn’t have an animal control office or a humane society chapter, Jones said.
Even though the society’s animal shelter is full, Trotter said, the society normally keeps space open in the isolation section for emergencies. It usually costs $20 a day to house, feed and treat each dog and $15 a day for each cat, she said. The society chapter is sustained mostly by private donations, she said.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 12/31/2009