Officials hope 10 Morgan-Appaloosa-cross horses seized by provincial animal welfare officers from an unattended pasture in the Langruth area will soon have a new home.
“They are going to auction mart and I’m trying to line up a bunch of people to buy them,” said Richard Callander, a councillor in the RM of Lakeview.
“If somebody can get them for $100 to $150 maybe they could take them home and make something out of them.”
Callander became involved after the horses, which were owned by an elderly couple in the municipality, were seized under orders from the chief veterinarian’s office in early January. The owners, who have since moved to a nursing home, also had a number of domestic pets seized last year. They were issued an order restricting them from owning animals for three years.
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Callander had appealed the seizure on the owner’s behalf, saying the roundup was carried out under questionable circumstances and several horses from the herd had gone missing.
He said the Office of the Chief Provincial Veterinarian agreed to deliver the horses to the auction mart in Gladstone on the condition that the elderly owners dropped their appeal against the seizure.
Callander said the horses may have been living in a semi-feral state, but the Morgan influence might add a touch of draft-horse docility to their nature.
In the news release, the province said the horses were deemed to be “at large” and “the process of capturing and seizing” them was completed on Jan. 14.
