Council remove horses from roadside (From Worcester News)

Council remove horses from roadside

3:19pm Saturday 8th March 2014 in News By Paul Broome , Reporter

THE owner of two horses says he has been left angered after his animals were taken away.

Shane Smith’s horses were left grazing on council- owned grassland along Wainwright Road in Warndon Villages, Worcester, but have been impounded by the city council. Mr Smith says he received no warning, adding he has no idea where they are.

“I’m not very happy about it,” said the 23-year-old.

“They would not tell me where they were going to be taken. I said ‘you’re not taking my horses’. One of them is in foal and it’s not long until she has her baby.”

Worcester City Council said it acted following a number of calls from concerned members of the public, although the owner of a local horse rescue centre has told your Worcester News that the horses seemed well cared for.

It is understood Mr Smith did not have permissionto graze his animals on the land.

The city council declined to say if it had sought advice from a vet or animal welfare before seizing the animals.

Mr Smith, who lives in Offerton Lane, Worcester, says police officers were present when the animals were taken.

“I was going to move them to a stable the next morning anyway,” he said.

“But then a mate told me they were about to be taken so I went up there. I was very upset.”

He said his horses, one aged two-and-a-half, the other aged two, were well looked after, and added “there is nothing wrong with them”.

Sue Penny, of Penny Ha’Penny Horse and Pony Rescue, based near Malvern, said she was aware the animals had been taken.

“The horses were not suffering,” she said.

“He (Mr Smith) was feeding and watering them.”

Worcester City Council confirmed to your Worcester News that it authorised an external company, Equine and Land Management, to remove the animals under the Animals Act 1971.

“There was a lot of concern from the public about the horses,” said a council spokesman.

She said this included welfare worries and fearsthe horses may stray into the road.

Previous notices had been served on the horses when they were tethered in different locations around Warndon Villages.

The spokesman said the horses had been in Wainwright Road for some time.

“There was a notice left there (the spot from where they were moved) with a phone number so it was not as though the horses just disappeared,” said the spokesman.