16/09/2019

Manduria (TA). IHP lodges a complaint against an owner and the Asl
Asl fails to act – horse dies in his stable
Ministry of Health unblocks the delays, but too late: five other horses need help.

His name was Nerone, and he was found dead in his stable, after days of agony, semi-abandoned, in a livery yard in Manduria (TA). He died on 13 September, the very day IHP had managed to procure his legal seizure on grounds of mistreatment. An urgent intervention had already been requested by IHP Onlus on 6 September, but the ASL took action only 7 days later and only then because of the intervention of the Ministry of Health, called in by IHP when the local authority was taking no action.

IHP had sent a vet at its own expense to check the horse, as soon as the association received notification about the horses on 6 September, and subsequently expert opinion that urgent veterinary care was needed. IHP also contacted the Manduria Carabinieri and the relevant office of the local ASL. The dogmatic reply of their vet on duty was that he would not move without the formal sanction of the Carabinieri. Over the following few days, IHP sent two urgent Registered Emails to the Carabinieri and the ASL, and made several phone calls. It was at this point that the Association turned to the Ministry of Health, as well as to the Puglia Regional and National Veterinary Association, reporting the inaction of the local authorities. The resulting intervention of the Animal Welfare department of the Ministry finally succeeded in getting the local officials to actually start doing their jobs. Meanwhile, however, seven whole days had gone by, so it was late morning of 13th September before the Carabinieri and the ASL actually went to the premises and thus confirmed the seriousness of Nerone’s condition; they then begged the President of IHP to take care of the horse (note: at IHP’s own expense!) because otherwise they “didn’t know what to do”. IHP agreed, and immediately organised a horse trailer to take the horse to an equine clinic in Taranto, but the ASL yet again blocked the operation, telling the clinic to wait until ASL had checked the horse for infectious diseases. And so more precious time went by. That same day, around seven in the evening, the owner of the yard informed IHP that the horse had been found dead in his stable.

IHP has already gathered together its documentation to make a denounce, asking the Procurator’s office (which has already opened a file on the case) to include investigation also into misconduct of public office, given that the law is very clear that mistreatment of animals is a crime, and therefore no civil action needs to be brought. In this case too, IHP had not only taken the legal steps necessary but had also ascertained, at its own expense, the gravity of the horse’s condition by sending an independent vet, whose report had at once been handed over to the ASL with a request for immediate seizure of the animal.

All this started with a note from a private citizen who reported that there was a yard in Manduria where about ten horses and ponies had been confined. These animals belonged to two different individuals, one of whom was the yard owner. Because of quarrels and legal disputes between the two, six of the horses had been shut in stables for some long time, being provided with food and water but no other care. According to the person reporting the matter, the owner of these horses never set foot in the yard and had forbidden the yard owner to even touch them. The ASL had known about this situation since April (IHP has seen an email sent to the veterinary unit of the ASL) but did nothing concrete to remove the horses from that place. The resulting situation is one of semi-abandonment, the price of which has been paid by one horse in particular, Nerone, who presented signs of serious physical distress and pain so appalling that he was literally unable to walk.

“Nerone’s death could have been avoided if the ASL had intervened swiftly.” Commented Sonny Richichi, President of Italian Horse Protection Onlus, an organisation covering equine welfare throughout Italy. “This is a shameful affair which, unfortunately, reflects the current state of animal welfare in Italy. We have for some time been asking the authorities, in particular the Ministry of Health, to remedy this lack of appropriate swift action and make the law fully effective. Right now, everything is up to individuals who do not always act in the manner expected of their office.”

The work of IHP does not stop here: there are five more horses to rescue. Maybe there is still hope for them.
 

NERONE: