Dead horse in field- RSPCA or non emrgency police?

[hellymelly]

Last week I was in a taxi driving past a farm near here, I could see what looked like a dead horse in a corner of the field, surrounded by bits of rubbish. I half-hoped it was just sleeping, it was hard to see as the car was moving and the corner is quite far from the road. The field was empty, often there are horses there. We usually avoid driving past this farm as they have dogs that look really neglected, that are often in the road (I have called the RSPCA about this in the past). Anyway a couple of days later I asked DH to drive past it so that I could check. It was too misty to see the corner clearly, but i could see the shape, and the field was full of horses. We just drove over again as it is clear and bright and I took binoculars, I think it is a horse, but it could be a cow, either there is no head, or the head can't be seen It also looks as though parts of the legs are missing. The horses weren't in with it today. The live horses did have rugs on the other day, but last year they looked horribly thin and caked in mud, the farm generally looks shambolic, although farms can look like that and be well run . Should I call the RSPCA? I would have thought it is a welfare issue to have horses in with dead ones, but they have been moved today, so they may not be in the field when the RSPCA call- if they bother. Or is it a police matter? What should I do?

I have spoken to the Community support officer, he was helpful, he is going to ask his superior what the best course of action would be and get back to me.

Last time I tried to get help from the RSPCA about a horse in a bad way they didn't bother coming despite repeated calls. Eventually in desperation I tried a different branch, further away but to their credit they did come out. Unfortunately the horse had to be put down but at least it was no longer suffering.
Perhaps worth trying a different branch just in case they are more helpful?

As a last resort why not get the local press involved. I bet rspca or police would start taking more interest if they thought they would be written up as useless in the papers.

Yes,twitter or Facebook.The RSPCA refused to even get a vet to the dying horses in Leicester,but following a huge FB campaign and people demonstrating nearby,they eventually turned up with a vet.Way to late for some of the herd of course,but it is amazing how publicity changes their minds.

Blimey, how depressing, I thought that was what the RSPCA did? Go out to animals on distress? What are they for then? I can see their point that it is perhaps no longer an animal welfare issue as the horse is dead, but the police community officer and the vet I spoke to today both agreed that having a dead horse lying about doesn't look great from an animal welfare point of view. We drove past again this afternoon on the way to pick up the dds. Its still there. I'm not going to do facebook/twitter. Don't use my twitter account anyway, but this is a very small, tight, rural community where word travels and I don't want the horse owner to know that I am the one who called the RSPCA out.

In my experience the RSPCA do jack shit except pass the buck. I wouldn't bother with them now. How about environmental health?

Contact the local paper - get them to run it as a story, including the lack of action by RSPCA. That might get things moving.
Sorry that you're having to deal with this, and sorry for the poor horses (and dogs) .

call police AND RSPCA again.

similar issues here.....
www.facebook.com/pages/Help-the-horses-of-Fosse-Park-Leicester/215018828693901

unless people kick up a fuss it gets ignored. so kick up a fuss. its amazing the turnaround of hte RSPCA in this case linked when the press got hold of it....

Hi Vicar :)

OP, definitely call the police again. They should at least be attending to assess the situation and whether it requires an RSPCA officer to attend. If I were you I would not be going for the "dead horse in a field" angle but the "sick looking herd (or whatever they are known as) of horses, looking neglected". Most officers have little knowledge of wildlife/dog/animal welfare legislation so you may have to be persistent.

and if my esteemed colleagues pass the buck have ready a quick google of the animal welfare act 2006.....

police should get rspca out....kick up a huge fuss.

oh and i would actually i think go with dead horse in field...with herd looking neglected.

herd looking neglected with illicit shrugged shoulders and mutterings of what am i meant to do....

dead horse will probably illicit a faster response if you ALSO say rest of herd looking neglected/thin/ etc. also mention the dogs too....in for a penny and all that.

No one can help the dead horse - as others have said it's the remaining live ones that are the issue.

As for burying horses... you can bury one that is a 'pet' but you must contact your local authority first. Advice here

Thanks tough for the offer, may do that if there is no response now- I called the RSPCA again this morning, the reception person said she would pass all the info onto an inspector, and that he/she would call me. No call so far today. I didn't go to pick the girls up so don't know if it is still there, am assuming so. Hopefully someone will get back to me tomorrow, or I will call them back. The other horses look ok from what I an tell whizzing past in a car. They looked worse a while back, they have some different coloured horses now, piebald, the last lot were mainly grey.

RSPCA inspector called me earlier, he had been round to the house, not seen the horse, but the owner had told him there was a horse's leg in the field where she had buried a horse last year too shallowly and it had been dug up. Um...I saw a lot more than just a leg, although I couldn't see a head. He is going back to check properly as it wasn't light enough when he was there to get a decent view of the field. Apparently there had been much spread in the field so perhaps it has now been buried, compared to when I saw it.

So update is that the inspector called back, was checking the field, and found the dead horse. . The owner had lied outright about it, so he then checked all her animals, cats, dogs, horses, the lot. All were fine at the moment, but he is going to keep an eye on things. At least there were no animals starving silently in a shed or anything, which was my big worry. What sort of person leaves a horse dead in a field with other horses? Really horrible, but anyway all sorted out now. I now feel really upset about the dead horse though, it was too badly decomposed for a PM he felt.
Thanks to everyone who posted, really helpful.

i would be dubious about his assertion that the other animals are ok....and monitoring usually means sod all.

I did chat to him for quite a while, he really didn't seem to be fobbing me off. He mentioned animals I didn't know they had, and said he'd had a look at all their other horses. I imagine they could have had kittens in a bedroom or whatever, but from what he said i do think he was thorough. He has been there several times before by the sound of it, and has asked me to let him know if the horse is still lying in the field in a week's time. I have no way of knowing if he was truthful of course, but he certainly sounded it on the 'phone.