SPCA could need $500,000 to care for horses seized from Conroe farm

Thursday, July 2, 2015

SPCA could need $500,000 to care for seized horses

Half of the 200 horses seized from Conroe are now in Houston at the SPCA's building getting care they never had

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Half of those 200 horses seized from Calico Dairy in Conroe are now in Houston at the SPCA's building getting care they never received. That care, for just a month, could run the SPCA about a half million dollars.

The Conroe 200, as they're being called, are in bad shape. Houston SPCA president Patricia Mercer says many of them have upper respiratory infections, abscesses, open wounds, and many are emaciated and have been starved.

One horse, believed to be about 20 years old, weighs about half of what she's supposed to.

Mercer says this is an unprecedented cruelty case for the Houston SPCA. They're asking for the public's help to care for these horses.

"It's a conservative ballpark estimate that we may spend as much as a couple thousand dollars per horse because we have to hold them through an appeal period," Mercer tells us. "And if it's appealed, we will hold them longer than that."

They've set up "Caring for the Conroe 200." You can go to the SPCA's website and donate to the Cinderella Fund to help them buy food and provide veterinary care for these horses.