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Officials seeking owners of stray horses found in Anderson
Courtesy of the Palmetto Equine Awareness and Rescue League
A young mare was one of two horses that wandered Thursday onto a farm in Anderson.
Courtesy of the Palmetto Equine Awareness and Rescue League
A gelding was one of two horses that wandered Thursday onto a farm in Anderson. Officials are seeking to identify the owners of the animals.
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Officials are asking for helping identifying the owners of two stray horses.
Two horses wandered Thursday onto a farm at 1130 Southern Acres, which runs off of Old Denver School Road, in Sandy Springs, officials said.
The horses are being allowed to stay at that property overnight, but if the owner does not come forward, officials will need to move the horses today to the Anderson County Animal Shelter, as the Palmetto Equine Awareness and Rescue League doesn’t have any available pasture area, officials said. That is in part because of current drought conditions in the area and in part because PEARL already was on hold to receive some horses if animals need to be evacuated from Charleston because of storms now threatening the eastern coast, said Nicole Walukewicz, chairwoman of PEARL.
The two stray horses were, likely, out looking for greener pastures than the ones they had been in, given that the drought has affected pastures in the area, Walukewicz said.
“I’m sure these horses are owned by someone,” she said.
One of the animals is a gelding that is roughly 12 years old, the other one is a young mare, according to Walukewicz.
Amy Nichols, onto whose farm the two horses strayed, will not be able to use the pasture she has them in for a 30-day period to insure the show horses at her farm are not exposed to any potential health issues from these stray horses, Walukewicz said.
Anyone with information about who owns the stray horses is asked to call the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office at (864) 260-4400.
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One has to wonder if PEARL is stalling because they did not get the funding they requested from the ten million dollar budget!! If they are concerned about the horses, I am sure they will find some space for them. Try a little investigative work. I'll bet the horses did not stray too far, send county animal control out to ask around and see who is missing horses.
in response to simpletaxpayer
Umm, simpletaxpayer, Animal Control doesn't handle large animals, and PEARL doesn't "investigate", that's law enforcement's job. PEARL doesn't control what either Animal Control or the Sheriff's Department investigates.
PEARL didn't "request funding" from the $10 million bond, PEARL requested that money be set aside to build a large animal quarantine facility for the Sheriff's Department's use in situations like this.
If the horses are local, then the owner has probably already called the Sheriff's Department....unless they are on vacation. If the horses were abandoned on the side of the road, then it will take weeks to legally declare the horses abandoned, assign permanent ownership to PEARL, and find new homes for them.
How big is your yard? I'm sure they would be glad to truck them to your house.
I just love hearing it is not our job. but I can bet if it was a case of neglect or abuse PEARL would be finding out where the horses came from. I am sorry if I have a negative attitude but they claim to be a rescue site but I guess they can pick and choice. And if they have a lack of pasture why are they wanting to bring in horses from the coast. And from the pictures these horses are not hurting for food. LOL
in response to reddawn
Reddawn, PEARL does not investigate neglect or abuse of horses, law enforcement does. In Anderson County, that's the Sheriff's Department. If the Sheriff's Department decides to seize an abused horse, then PEARL will assist them with transportation, rehabilitation, and adoption.
PEARL is not a law enforcement agency and has no authority to go on people's property to investigate animal abuse or to seize animals. PEARL is a private organization of volunteers who care about horse welfare. PEARL gets no funding from Anderson County or any other governmental organization. All funds are contributed by private citizens.
This is not an abuse case, this is a case of animals running at large. These horses don't need to be "rescued", they need to be retrieved by their owner after contacting the Sheriff's Department.
If you have any questions about PEARL, their website is www.pearlsc.org.
in response to StringCheese
Umm StringCheese, then maybe we should demand that our taxes be used to pay animal control to do their job. That just does not make sense. For the life of me, I cannot understand why on earth the Sheriff's Department has to pull a deputy to investigate such issues. Can you explain what Animal Control does? You seem to know alot about the situation.
About the money, you say "Set Aside", I say "requested funds", what difference does that make? It is all the same thing.
Yes, I have a big yard, but I would consult my family and neighbors to see if they had any problems with me starting a Horse Rescue Shelter in my neighborhood and then I would ensure that I could feed those rascals. I understand they are high maintenance creatures. God Bless them, you and all of us. I have no fight with you, just voicing my opinion.
in response to simpletaxpayer
Yah, this really should be Animal Control's job, but we have two problems in Anderson County. The first is that the current county animal control ordinance does not give Animal Control officers the authority to deal with large animals, only dogs and cats. As a result the Animal Control department will only investigate cases where they have the authority to prosecute. I can't blame them for that.
Councilwoman Floyd has been working on a new animal ordinance, but instead of addressing this problem she has explicitly excluded large animals, thus compounding the problem.
The second problem is that although South Carolina has a very good state animal cruelty statute, and there is a state statute creating the position of county animal control officer, there's no state statute giving county animal control officers authority to enforce state cruelty laws. This apparently was an oversight and amendments have been introduced to correct this, but they never made it out of committee.
So, for large animals in Anderson County, only state law can be applied and only law enforcement officers who have authority to enforce state law can investigate. That's why the Sheriff's Department is herding goats and roping horses, and that's why the Sheriff's Department needs a quarantine facility to house these animals until they can be adopted, returned to their owners, or euthanized.
So, to summarize:
Dogs and cats:
- new shelter - $3.2 million
- shelter budget - $500,000/year(*)
- animal control budget - $250,000/year(*)
Large animals:
- facilities - $0
- new personnel - $0
- equipment - $0
- training - $0
(*) I have no idea what these numbers are, I'm just sayin'.
in response to simpletaxpayer
Oh, as to the request to set aside funds to build a large animal quarantine facility, this money doesn't go to PEARL, it goes to the county Environmental Services department, who manages the animal shelter. Setting aside a small amount separate from the new shelter budget will ensure that the large animal facility will get built regardless of how over budget the new shelter goes.
reddawn - Your post would be stronger if you asked what you can do to help or use accurate information about how we operate, what we have done, are doing, and have available as assets to offer to the Sheriff's Office. We do not investigate cases, we turn them over to the Sheriff and assist them as they request.
In a drought, we do not have a pasture we can retire for 30 days after taking in horses with no negative EIA papers, questionable inoculations and unknown parasite issues.
We can move our own horses around to accommodate some healthy horses that might need to be evacuated that are owned by the Charleston City Police or some of our volunteers with good horse management skills and healthy horses if needed.
If you had dogs and Animal Control called you and said, we have a dog with mange, parasites, a possible infectious disease, and bites would you say, being it over and add it to your healthy animals or ask them to take it to the shelter first? That is what we usually get with lost or seized horses.
PEARL asked the County Council to set aside 70 thousand dollars to create a safe quarantine facility to manage this issue. PEARL still offered to transport horses, pay for vet care, medications, feed, give daily body scrubs, wound care management, materials and basic equipment as well as work with the inmates to teach them these skills. We have also offered safe horse handling and cruelty investigation classes as well a rescue course for the county. Are you still LOL at what we do?
As StringCheese pointed out currently the county puts zero dollars toward this problem and expects the Sheriff to manage with that generous budget. Our supporters and volunteers deserve praise and recognition for their efforts, not posts like yous. This is not their "job" but a social problem we all have decided required attention, time and work.
Please do not hesitate to contact us at 864-287-9939 to get accurate information or visit and learn about us.
Regards,
Nicole Walukewic
Chair - PEARL
As a PS to reddawn - the horses were found at large, that means wandering off the owners property. The paint could have used some weight and most likely a good de-worming program which only a fecal exam would show. Providing a reliable assessment of a body score requires hands on and training.
A huge thank you to Amy Nichols for catching the two horses and allowing them on her farm. The list of horse owners and trainers that help us is huge. The horse community in Anderson deserves a standing ovation for what they do quietly to support PEARL and the horses. Thank you to all who help and support our efforts.
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