Recently, near Centralia, many local horse lovers took to Facebook, asking for something be done about a group of horses that were in bad condition. As a result of the Facebook campaign, 24 horses were removed from a location just east of Centralia on Feb. 18, 2013, after one of the animals was found dead near the side of the road. Many of the seized animals were in very poor shape and suffering from malnutrition.
When the rescue team showed up the animals were found to be living in extremely muddy conditions with shelters that were falling apart. Horse lovers in the area who often passed by the location say that they saw the malnourished animals and when they found the dead horse near the side of the road they had enough and took to Facebook. Amanda Sanders said "My first thing was to think, 'If it's a dead horse there and a bunch of horses that are not being fed well, why do they still have the horses?'"
Gerald Specht, the owner of the horses, says that he didn't mean for anything to go wrong or for any of the animals to be ill. He said "They were always fed. They were fed daily. I had just too many of them, I guess.” Daniel Venable of the Washington State Livestock Coalition said "We kind of did a little counseling with them, talked them into doing the right thing. And I think everybody is going to be a lot better off for it." The coalition also took 30 goats from the property. Gerald and his wife have been through some hard times. They lost their house in a fire and they are now living in a tent.
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