40 horses sent away to greener pastures
Owners of about 40 horses living in filth in squalid, makeshift stables in Strawberry Mansion removed their animals yesterday on the orders of city officials.
Owners of about 40 horses living in filth in squalid, makeshift stables in Strawberry Mansion removed their animals yesterday on the orders of city officials.
About 20 more horses were allowed to stay in three garages on Fletcher Street near 27th that had been made into stables while owners of those properties made repairs, said George Bengal, animal cruelty investigator for the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
The other structures, described by Bengal as makeshift "shanty shacks," were to be bulldozed today by the city Department of Licenses & Inspections.
Authorities raided the "stables" Wednesday after a citizen complaint and found manure piled more than one story high, old cars, metal barrels, tires, rats and an overwhelming stench of urine.
A dead horse was found several blocks away from the stables last fall.
Owners Wednesday were given 24 hours to find other lodgings for the horses, some of whom were housed in at least one rowhouse. Bengal said that owners yesterday took the horses to stables in Bucks and Montgomery counties and elsewhere in Philadelphia.
During the raid, SPCA agents removed a horse and pony they determined were too sick to stay.
The owners of the garages turned into stables have 30 days to make repairs or they too will be bulldozed, Bengal said.
Some residents said that stench and unsightliness weren't the stables' only problems.
Latisha Williams turned her 2001 Nissan Maxima down Fletcher Street on Feb. 7 only to encounter a loose horse running rampant in the street. A man trying to corral the animal gestured for her to stop her car, and she complied. But the horse apparently wasn't feeling cooperative.
"It just went crazy, ran right at me and crashed smack-dab into my car," said Williams, who cowered inside, fearful for her own safety.
The horse was captured shortly after, and Williams emerged from her vehicle to assess the damage - $1,500 worth of dents and twisted metal. Police responded and took a report, but none of the people in the stables helped her or offered to cover the damages, she said.
"They just kept saying they didn't work there and they didn't know whose horse it was," said a frustrated Williams, who now is trying to get the damage covered through her own insurance. "They just didn't want to take responsibility for it." *
