{"id":14723,"date":"2012-10-01T09:54:35","date_gmt":"2012-10-01T16:54:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lewiscountysirens.com\/?p=14723"},"modified":"2012-10-01T11:28:43","modified_gmt":"2012-10-01T18:28:43","slug":"authorities-impound-nine-malnourished-horse-from-morton-couple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/?p=14723","title":{"rendered":"Authorities impound nine malnourished horses from Morton couple"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"2012.1001.horses.morton_2\"<\/a>

Courtesy photo by Lewis County Sheriff’s Office<\/p><\/div>\n

By Sharyn\u00a0 L. Decker<\/strong>
\n Lewis County Sirens news reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office seized nine horses near Morton following an investigation into animal neglect.<\/p>\n

The horses on property at the 800 block of state Route 7 were severely malnourished and dehydrated; one in such poor condition it had to be put down, according to the sheriff’s office.<\/p>\n

The seizure on Friday came after attempts by county animal enforcement to encourage the owners bring the horses back to a healthy condition, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office.<\/p>\n

Five private groups and the Lewis County Animal Shelter assisted in the removal and now foster care of the horses, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said this morning.<\/p>\n

The sheriff’s office is asking the prosecutor to charge the owners with first-degree animal cruelty. They belong to Terry Simmons, 58, and Joanne Simmons, 65, according Brown.<\/p>\n

Brown said authorities had asked the owners before Friday to seek the services of a veterinarian, but they failed to follow through.<\/p>\n

The couple didn’t really have an explanation for the poor condition of the horses, according to Brown.<\/p>\n

“I don’t know that they really understood how bad of condition they were in,” Brown said.<\/p>\n

The owners were however cooperative and in agreement on Friday the animals needed care, according to Brown.<\/p>\n

The horses ranged in age from as old as 15 to just a foal, according to the sheriff’s office.<\/p>\n

Brown said donations of feed and grain are needed, and can be made to the animal shelter.<\/p>\n

\"2012.1001.horse.morton.hooves_2\"<\/a>

Courtesy photo by Lewis County Sheriff’s Office<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Sharyn\u00a0 L. Decker Lewis County Sirens news reporter The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office seized nine horses near Morton following an investigation into animal neglect. The horses on property at the 800 block of state Route 7 were severely malnourished and dehydrated; one in such poor condition it had to be put down, according to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10],"class_list":["post-14723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-top-story","tag-by-sharyn-l-decker","tag-news-reporter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14723"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14726,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14723\/revisions\/14726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}