Alabama Ag Officials To File Charges Over Dead Horses

Associated Press
Published: December 20, 2007
Updated: December 20, 2007

SHORTER, Ala. (AP) - State agriculture officials plan to charge a Shorter man with animal cruelty after finding three dead horses on his property and six others undernourished.

State Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks said today his department's investigators regularly receive reports about neglected animals, but the Shorter case was unusually severe.
Investigators had warned the horse's owner a year ago to take better care of his horses and he appeared to be doing better. But then investigators recently found six horses with their ribs showing and three other horse skeletons.

Sparks said the owner, Anthony Keith Story, is currently out of state. But he has been notified that when he returns home he will be charged with three misdemeanor counts of failure to bury a dead animal and nine misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals.

Sparks said the six surviving horses were relocated and now being fed properly.

Story did not have a listed phone number in Shorter and could not be reached for comment today.