| Updated: 2/03 3:01 am |
Published: 2/02 10:16 pm
|
One Oklahoma Rancher fed up after more and more abandoned horses keep appearing in her front yard.
Dara Steele has seen 11 abandoned horses in her area over the last two years including one Wednesday night.
Steele and her mother, Debra Hill, live just outside of the city limits of Chelsea, Oklahoma.
Steele says they are used to seeing abandoned dogs and cats but now they’re seeing more horses.
Hill has lived at the ranch for 16 years.
She says ever since the some of the slaughter homes across the area closed the number of abandoned horses has risen.
Hill says it's only become a bigger problem in the last two years, when she had five horses dropped off in her yard.
"It makes you angry,” said Hill.
It’s also affected her sense of security.
“Some people might think we're going to get robbed, it's the middle of the night and there's a truck stopped outside my house. With us we wake up in the middle of the night and think oh no more animals," said Hill.
Both women love pets. They raise and sell horses and can't stand to see an animal abandoned and starving.
So they've taken them in waiting for them to get homes.
But it's expensive just to feed one horse a week cost the family $50.
And with this family barely making it, Steele says the people facing hard times with their animals need to call an animal shelter for help or start making some sacrifices.
"We don't go on vacations. We don't eat out,” said Steele. “We don't go anywhere because someone has to stay home and take care of all the animals."
Both women own 45 of their own horses.
But Hill says her biggest problem is when horses come in sick.
It puts a burden on her herd. She's already lost two the West Nile Virus.
"Horses and cattle will bring disease on here then you got another vet bill and when they infect a herd you’re not talking about they made my horse sick and I have a vet bill,” Hill told FOX23. “Now we have a vet bill times 25, 30, 40 for animals.”
The family tells us they have asked the Rogers County Sheriff's Office for help to find out who's been abandoning the animals.
If you or someone you know in the Tulsa area is having trouble taking care of their animals-- you can call the Tulsa SPCA at (918) 428-7722.
