Dallas Animal Services turns dog play yard into space for badly abused horses

DALLAS – Dallas Animal Services (DAS) recently had to turn its dog play yards into space for six badly abused horses. 

Dallas police arrested the owner in southern Dallas and charged him with six counts of animal cruelty. 

DAS was not equipped to provide shelter for horses, but staff made some quick decisions to be able to nurse the horses back to health.

“It was a quite a thing to have six horses coming to an animal shelter that is used to only handling dogs and cats,” one DAS employee said.

Two weeks ago, DAS got the call that Dallas police officers were seizing six starving horses from a home.

“This poor mama and her baby. she is doing well, but you can still see her spine clearly,” DAS assistant director Mary Martin said. “If you look at the front legs of the white horse, he is down. That has to do with starvation.”

Martin said one horse had been tethered and was unable to lay down.

“A horse that is not allowed to lay down, it’s difficult for them to get REM sleep,” she explained.

After getting a tip, Dallas police began their investigation into the care of the horses in the 5800 block of Johnson Lane.

“In a state of malnutrition. They didn’t have any proper food or water, and they hadn’t received any veterinary or grooming care in some time,” DPD spokeswoman Kristin Lowman said.

Officers arrested 83-year-old Hulon McCoy Jones and charged him with six counts of animal cruelty.

Lowman said it was an unusual case for within the city limits. 

“Our Animal Cruelty Unit, it has investigated, obviously, chickens, roosters, dogs, cats, but they haven’t investigated cases that involve horses,” she said. “They’re prepared to do the work that’s necessary to hold people accountable.”

Martin said creating space for horses was no small task.

“We didn’t know what they would do with the Astroturf. At first, they thought it was grass, but learned quickly it was not edible and they prefer their hay,” she said.

“They said, ‘We have horses.’ I said, ‘Okay, what do we do?’” DAS field supervisor Glenn Morales recalled. “It’s very different, horses can eat a lot.

“There were things you just don’t think of, like, those two horses are stallions and they could see themselves in the glass and were kicking at the glass, we didn’t think about that,” Martin said.

Martin said field officers worked all hours of the night to literally help the horses get back on their feet. 

“Field officers had to use ropes to help him up, and once he was up, he was fine,” she said.

Dogs will soon get their play area back.

“Tuesday, they will go to their forever home, Habitat for Horses out of Houston. We think they are strong enough,” Martin said.

Lowman wanted to remind people that if they can’t care for their animals, they can always reach out to DAS for help before it becomes a case of abuse or neglect.