1 year ago
12
CENTRE COUNTY, Pa. (WTAJ)-- Animals on a Centre County farm were found kept in poor living conditions after state police found a pregnant horse that was shot to death by its owner.
Levi Byler, 30, of Howard, is accused of not taking proper care of his animals that were allegedly left outside in frigid winter conditions when he was out of state for weeks in December, state police at Rockview said in the charges filed.
Troopers said they got a report in January of a dead black Percheron horse that was lying in a pasture off of Marsh Creek Road for a week. Troopers found that the horse suffered a miscarriage and was shot in the head by Byler.
Byler stated to troopers that he was in Florida for three weeks for health reasons when they talked to him the next day. Byler admitted that there was no one tending his animals while he was gone and that the horse was alive before he left, according to the criminal complaint
A vet came to see the horse after Byler returned home and gave the animal a body score of two while noting it was in a muddy area on a slope, troopers said. Byler was given medication for the horse and was instructed to contact the vet the next day if the condition didn't improve.
Byler allegedly told troopers he saw the horse was still laying down and noticed its ear move so he took his rifle and shot it in the head.
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