(4 August 2014)

A makeshift small stud farm in a wood, without the most basic provisions for the welfare of the animals in it - three horses kept shut in separate tin-roofed sheds full of muck, mouldy hay, stagnant water, and evident signs of stress; a donkey shut in a cage, two dogs shut in a cage.
In order to get the horses out of the jerry-built boxes it was necessary to remove about forty nuts and bolts, which says it all regarding the actual living space they had 24 hours a day. Plus the fact that these boxes were not surrounded by fenced paddocks, or even small spaces to stretch their legs, just the woods.

This situation was reported to the Carabinieri on 10 April, and there followed several months of investigation, monitoring, and pressure on the authorities in order to conclude the story with the owner being reported for mistreatment and the animals legally seized on 30 July and taken to a more suitable home.
According to information we have received, the person responsible had other animals legally seized for mistreatment two years ago: that time it was horses, donkeys, cattle, sheep and goats.

The operation was highly successful and a brilliant example of coordination and cooperation between the authorities and the associations: the seizure was carried out by the Carabinieri of San Casciano, the Corpo Forestale dello Stato and the ASL 10 of Florence. The Association AnimaEquina located suitable homes for some of the horses. Italian Horse Protection gave its support for the report to move ahead and to gain the intervention of the authorities. Subsequently IHP took part in the seizure itself, logging the condition of the animals and organising the difficult task of loading the horses - difficult because there were two stallions involved who were not used to being loaded onto a horsebox.

IHP President Sonny Richichi commented, "This case illustrates yet again that we are still a long way off from a firm application of Law 189. On the one hand we have a situation where just anyone can take on animals without the slightest idea of their natural needs and without adequate facilities to keep them. On the other hand we have inadequate checks: we wonder how it can be possible that this person, already found guilty in the past, could carry on acquiring animals. And we ask why it took a report and a concerted lobbying effort on the part of the Association over many months to liberate these animals from a situation in which they were suffering."

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