Published: October 18, 2007 05:21 pm      

Horses, donkeys seized in Alvarado

Neighbors reported undernourished stock

An Alvarado woman will be charged with cruelty to animals after the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office removed three horses and two donkeys that appeared undernourished from her property Tuesday morning.

Neighbors reported the animals’ condition and directed officers to Michelle White’s property on County Road 204 in Alvarado, Detective Steve Shaw said.

The sheriff’s office attempted contacting White about the accusations and visited the property numerous times.

“We had been working this case for only about a month now,” Shaw said. “But we got no feedback from the lady at all.”

When arrested, she will be charged with a Class A misdemeanor.

Animals removed from the property included a gray stud horse, a black mare, a black foal and two donkeys.

The North Texas Humane Society had a veterinarian work on all of them Tuesday afternoon, Shaw said.

“All five of them had an extreme parasite problem and were undernourished,” he said.

The mare has a heart murmur, and the foal has crooked legs.

Four of them were in desperate need of having their hooves worked on. The foal needed it also but not to the extent that the others needed.

Attempts to reach White at home were unsuccessful. A seizure hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. Monday in Precinct 4 Justice of the Peace Betty Stiles’ court.

This is the second high-profile case involving seizure of malnourished horses in the past few months in Johnson County. On July 24, Michael Greenslade, 49, of Cleburne was arrested on charges of animal cruelty after two dead and three emaciated horses were found on his property in the 1700 block of Texas 171.

Greenslade was ordered to pay court and investigation costs and the Humane Society’s costs to house and care for the animals, and the horses were awarded to the Humane Society’s custody.

Greenslade also faces charges of animal cruelty.