Cruelty Charges Against Horse Owner Multiply

The owner of 43 horses purportedly living in neglect at a remote Saugus canyon ranch was charged Friday with 90 counts of animal cruelty, Deputy Dist. Atty. Elliot L. Fisher said.

Gerald Ingle, 67, had been ordered earlier this week by Los Angeles County animal control officers to trim his horses’ badly overgrown hoofs and clean up their manure-filled pens. He faces charges of cruelty to animals, failure to care for the animals, failure to exercise them properly and not providing them with a structurally sound shelter, Fisher said.

“I believe a crime was committed, and we’re going to proceed with a prosecution,” Fisher said.

The horses were impounded on the property Wednesday because animal control officers feared that moving them to a county ranch could harm them. Thirty-three horses were found in a corral filled with up to 12 inches of urine and manure, officials said. Ten more were found behind a small house on the property.

For each horse, Ingle was charged with at least two counts--cruelty to animals and failure to care for animals. Four more counts were filed because county officials believed two horses weren’t exercised properly, and two of the animals, officials said, were housed in an area with barbed wire and exposed pieces of jagged metal.

Although they remain at the Saugus ranch, the horses are under the supervision of the county’s Department of Animal Control.

Some area residents rallying to the horses’ cause criticized impounding them at the ranch and urged officials to move the horses to a county-managed facility.

“I think certainly the wheels are rolling in the system, but right now we only have paper control; we don’t have physical control,” said Laurene Weste, a Newhall resident who has led the local protest against the horses’ treatment.

40 Phone Calls

Fisher said he decided to file charges against Ingle after receiving about 40 telephone calls from concerned Santa Clarita Valley residents and after seeing photographs and hearing accounts of the conditions at the corral.

The offices of County Supervisor Mike Antonovich and the Department of Animal Control have also been deluged with calls this week, officials said.

If convicted of cruelty to animals, a misdemeanor, Ingle could face a maximum sentence of six months in jail and a $500 fine, Fisher said. Ownership of Ingle’s horses could also be turned over to the county, he said.