Horror.com Forums - Talk about horror. - Worst ever animal neglect case

Five members of the same family have been found guilty after scores of horses, ponies and donkeys at a Buckinghamshire farm suffered neglect.

The scene of unimaginable horror that faced RSPCA officers at Spindle Farm in Amersham can now be described.

More than 100 horses, emaciated, bones protruding, were dying where they stood from dehydration, starvation and infection.

Elsewhere on the farm, 32 carcasses were discovered decomposing into the wintry mud - the horses, ponies and donkeys still lying where they had collapsed.

The farm was owned by Jamie Gray - an equine trader with a history of animal neglect.

He had been fined £3,500 in 2006 for causing unnecessary suffering to equines - but was allowed to continue his trading business.

Less than two years later, the RSPCA officers who bought the original conviction were back, and the scene was more distressing than before.

"It was the worst case of neglect I have ever seen," said the chief inspector for the RSPCA in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, Rob Skinner, who has witnessed some horrific animal cruelty cases.

But the severity of this one shocked him and his fellow officers.

"We had to act fast. We had to sort out the worst - a pony collapsed by a trough. It was those real emergencies we had to sort out first," he said.

That was more than a year ago and, ever since, the rescued ponies have been at rehabilitation centres across the country.

Many were infested with worms, some had painful infections and all needed food, water and time to recover.

On the outside the rescued animals all look as if they have made good recoveries.

Skin and bones are covered with layers of fat and well conditioned coats but the damage from Spindle Farm is never far away.

Even now some of the horses are at risk from underlying conditions which they contracted in the care of Jamie Gray.

Their progress has been monitored closely by the RSPCA - and Kirsty Hampton, one of the investigating officers, has kept in contact with the rehabilitation centres.

"Some of the horses needed simple feeding, others veterinary care. For two weeks one of the donkeys had to be picked up every morning till it could stand on its own," she said.