Pender animals rescued, three people charged with animal cruelty

not a sign of the times.

If you cant afford a horse when times get tough, you shouldnt have the horse/horses.

For some reason, people get a raise at work or save up a few thousand dollars and then go out and put themselves in the same situation they were in prior to the raise.

Do you go buy a mercedes if you get a raise or get a large commission on some sales this month? NO, because you know you might not make enough money next month to afford the payment.

Its all a sign of the thoughtlessness, narcissism & arrogance of the ME generation that is controlling things right now. They care about what they have and what it looks like to everyone else, not what they can afford in the long run.

Its the reason people are up to their eyeballs in debt with credit cards, mortgages and more. Its why the economy is the way it is and why so many people are getting layed off. Businesses, Banks, citizens etc have spent spent spent their way into debt not thinking of the repercussions of their selfish actions.

Why take a loan for a 200k house when you make 35K a year? You KNOW you cant afford it but you do it anyways. Why buy a 50K car when you can only afford $150 a month? Then you people try and blame the banks or credit card companies for the problem because you didnt read the fine print? And you wonder why you have no equity in the house when you go to sell it, not knowing youve only been paying on the interest? Gimme a break.

You are all responsible for yourselves and have no one to blame but yourselves. Its just a shame the horses cant sue you for neglect and stupidity and take the last $700 you have in the bank...then youd understand what Im saying to you while holding out your hands asking for spare change.

Why punish Sgt Lewis,the good person? Mr Smith should be the one punished, what else is he covering up,in the name of the law?

This is nothing new. Since the economy started going south, there have been stories of horses starving all over the midwest. Owners turning them loose to fend for themselves or taking them to the glue factory and selling them for dog food meat.

I know nothing about this animal rescue group in particular, but I have heard stories from people who have fallen on hard times and try to get resuce groups to take their animals and the groups refuse because they cannot afford to feed them either or they have so many already they have no room. There are also groups that will take your animal if you take it to the vet, get everything up to date, and then pay them board for 6-8 months until they find it a proper home. If you can afford all of that, you can afford to feed it yourself. As far as the owners finding new homes for them, this is not an area where there are numerous farms that could have readily accepted a horse. There are zoning restrictions and even one horse needs room to graze.

My sister has a horse and it takes money to keep it in shape. When you try to maintain weight on an animal of that size, it isn't like buying food for a chihuahua. Multiply that by ten and these people would have had an enormous feed bill. If the economy continues to worsen, there will probaly be more cases of this. It is a sad situation but it is also a sign of the times.

How could anyone be cruel to an animal? They are like children. Without us, they cant eat, they cant drink, get well when they're sick, they look up to us, we are they're soul providers. They love unconditionally. How dare someone mistreat an animal. I say SHAME ON YOU, and i hope you are prosecuted to full extent of the law!!!

It is sad what horses, and all animals are subject to in these situations. I do want to point out that it is not as simple as to just give away your horse. I have been in the horse industry for almost 20 years, I operate a stable and do independent equine rescue. It is nearly impossible to find homes for horses with the economy in the shape it is in. I get calls almost weekly - people wanting to give away a horse. The problem is that the horses they want to give away are elderly, sickly, or young & un-broke. I have even had a few that were EXTREMLY DANGEROUS from just not being handled. People are selling prefectly dead broke horses for $500.00 - healthy, young, registered stock. It makes finding homes for the "other" horses nearly impossible. Also, donations are way down causing the few horse rescues there are to hardly be able to operate & a few have gone under. We have had to scale back ourselves. Economy, reckless breeding, un-educated owners and closing of US Slaughter houses - take your pick, they are all to blame. It's only getting started!!Meanwhile..... :(

Horses are not a cheap pet. If you can not afford to feed them any longer sell them or give them away to someone who can. Just let them starve??? The owners should have the same treatment.

This story breaks my heart. I am continually amazed at the number of people who mistreat and neglect their animals. They should be punished to the full extent of the law. It's up to all of us to be a voice for the voiceless and protect those who can't protect themselves; which includes animals, children and the elderly. Our compassion should extend not only to our companion animals, but also to the millions of animals who are tortured and abused every second of every day in the many factory farms across the country. The animals of our earth are just as precious and deserving of love and compassion as any person. God bless all of you out there who love and care for the animals as they should be.

This is really sad for both the horses and other animals that live under these conditions, but what bothers me most is the quote by Cathy Williams "They have to decide whether to feed their kids or their animals and unfortunately it's the animals that are not getting fed." I hope this isn't the mind set of the Topsail Humane Society as a whole if so I no longer show support for the battle that you are waging with the county.