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31 horses discovered dead and rotting on Murcia farm already known to police for animal abuse
This is the second time in under a year that this farm in Murcia has been investigated for animal abuse
Warning: these images contain scenes that may be upsetting for some readers
Spanish police have made a horror discovery at a farm in Monteagudo, central Murcia after a citizen tip-off warned them that there were horses and other animals being mistreated there.
When they arrived, they found 31 dead horses lying all around the stables and farm in various states of decomposition.
The corpses were left to rot while goats and other farm animals wandered freely among them.
A veterinary technician working with police certified that some of the carcasses could have been more than a month old.
The live goats, said police, are “production animals” and they could have “entered the food chain at any time,” having become infected by their prolonged proximity to the dead horses.
The Guardia Civil’s specialist Nature Protection Service, SEPRONA, was on hand to locate the owner of the farm and charge him with crimes “relating to the protection of flora, fauna and domestic animals, for animal abuse”.
It also emerged that the farm manager didn’t even have the right type of municipal activity licence to run a facility of that type in the first place.
He told police that the dead animals had not been removed because “there was no insurance to cover the costs”.
An investigation has revealed that the horses died of a respiratory infection, and that the farm manager did not go to a vet to try and treat them.
This is the second time in less than a year that this same farm has been investigated for animal abuse and neglect. Last year, the Guardia Civil discovered 15 corpses of horses in an advanced state of decomposition on the same premises that, “apparently, had not received the minimum veterinary services to cure some alleged ailments”.
The crime of animal mistreatment in Spain can carry a penalty of 3 to 18 months’ imprisonment, or a fine of 6 to 12 months.
The man will also be sentenced to special disqualification for 1 to 3 years for the exercise of a profession or trade related to animals and for the possession of animals.
Images: Guardia Civil
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