Starving Horses Found In SW Miami-Dade County

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY (CBSMiami) – The South Florida Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals impounded nearly a dozen horses in Southwest Miami-Dade County Monday after the horses were found starving.

"You can see all their bones, you can see their ribcages, their whole skeletal structure on some of them," said the ASPCA's Laurie Waggoner.

The SFSCPA removed the horses from a piece of property in the 17000 block of SW 184th Street in Miami-Dade County.

"These are in terrible shape, they probably should gain about 200 pounds, at least, they haven't been fed probably haven't seen a vet in awhile, the shoes on their feet are in terrible shape," said ASPCA volunteer Silvio Gonzalez.

Waggoner said they received a call about the horses Sunday night and showed up early Monday to take them away.

"There's no food on the property for the horses and apparently they've been hungry for quite awhile to be in the condition they're in," said Waggoner.

The owner of the horses, who watched them being taken away, said they were given to him but he couldn't afford to feed them.

"It costs $40 to $50 dollars a week to feed one horse, times that by 11 and there's not that many people out there who can afford to feed that number of horses and obviously none of these horses were being fed," said Waggoner.

"It's a sad condition, sad condition, all it takes is drop a couple bales of hay out there every once in awhile, probably haven't seen much hay in awhile," said Gonzalez.

The horses were taken to a place where they will be fed regularly and receive medical care.