One Summoned in Atchison County Horse Cruelty Case
02/27/2013
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One of the horses found at the property.
The barren lot in which the three surviving horses were found.
A water tank at the property discovered frozen.
Underneath this pool tarp lies the horse that had fell through the tarp and drowned.

(KAIR) -- A rural Atchison woman is issued a summons today on four counts of animal cruelty involving the alleged mistreatment of horses.

Atchison County Sheriff Jack Laurie says this stems from an incident where they found one stray horse dead in a neighboring rural Atchison resident’s pool.

Laurie says they found the other three horses in very poor health.

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Laurie says the property’s tenant, Lynn Westmoreland, has been cited in the case.

She was ordered to make an appearance in court on March 15th.

Doctor Steve Walz, with Westside Veterinary Hospital in Atchison says while his clinic hasn’t treated neglected horses recently, the problem first sprung up with the recession in 2008, with the cost to care for horses becoming very expensive, leading to neglect or abandonment of the horses.