State authorities on Tuesday took seven horses and one colt from a Sterling woman who had been charged with animal cruelty last year.
The action came after a neighbor complained to authorities about the animals’ welfare.
“They looked malnourished,” said John Schwei ger, state brand inspector for the Department of Agriculture who viewed the animals Tuesday.
He said they had been confined in a too-small area and had other health problems, but he declined to elaborate.
“They needed attention right now,” said Scot Dutcher of the state’s Bureau of Animal Control, who also checked the horses.
The animals were taken to a holding barn in Sterling pending the outcome of an investigation, said Christi Lightcap, a state Department of Agriculture spokeswoman.
The horses belong to BFD Land and Livestock and Cheryl Smith, Logan County sheriff’s Lt. Jim Coody said.
In May 2005, state and county agencies confiscated about 60 horses belonging to Smith and husband Donald Smith, a Sterling lawyer, after neighbors complained the animals were in poor health. In June 2005, Cheryl Smith went on trial on charges of animal cruelty, a misdemeanor, and was fined $3,000, but $2,000 was suspended. Animal-cruelty charges against her husband were dropped, Coody said.
A court-ordered adoption last year placed all but two of the nearly 60 confiscated horses, according to the Sterling Journal-Advocate.
The Smiths could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Staff writer Annette Espinoza can be reached at 303-820-1655 or aespinoza@denverpost.com.
