| Updated: 9/19/2009 10:30 pm |
Published: 9/17/2009 9:49 pm |
A three-year-old horse is struggling to hold on after witnesses say a 49 year-old man dragged the horse down the road while driving. Independence County deputies first picked the man up on DWI charges. Now the Humane Society wants the driver to face additional charges.
"It's going to be a long uphill battle with him,” says veterinarian Teresa Medlock.
It’s clear to see the three year old horse is in pain. "The flaking off that you're seeing is his skin that has died. We're just seeing the tissues and muscles underneath the skin that is exposed now,” she says.
Medlock has him on painkillers and antibiotics. An IV tube gives him necessary fluids to fight his critical condition.
"We’re concerned about kidney failure at this point, also secondary infection,” Medlock adds.
Saturday deputies arrested 49-year-old Danny Ferguson for DWI. At the time, deputies say Ferguson was stumbling and told them he was "looking for his horsey". Witnesses tell investigators that night Ferguson was driving a red truck with a horse trailer attached and that they saw the horse inside.
"The horse fell out with the rope tied around the horse's neck and was dragged, I'm not sure how far on the asphalt, obviously bouncing on the back, the side, the legs, everything,” explains Kay Simpson of the Humane Society.
"Transporting an animal under the influence, you put even more people at risk and animals at risk too,” she continued.
It’s why Simpson is talking with investigators to have him charged with animal cruelty. "I don't understand. I've been doing this 17 years and how can you or anybody take anything that's totally dependent and treat it this way?" she said.
"We still have a chance of losing him just with the injuries,” Medlock said.
But they've nicknamed him Lucky Chance, in hopes he has just that to pull through.
Medlock says the injuries are so severe it's like having third degree burns. That’s on top of 2 broken ribs, 3 injured legs and the swelling that's formed as a result. No formal animal cruelty charges have been filed, but deputies are investigating.
Medlock says it could be 3 to 6 months before Lucky Chance returns to good health. The next 72 hours, she says, will give them a better idea just how lucky he will be.
Deputies say when they arrested Ferguson he had no license and is wanted in Texas for probation revocation. A misdemeanor animal cruelty conviction comes with up to a year behind bars and up to a $1,000 fine. A felony animal cruelty conviction comes with up to five years in jail and a fine up to $5,000.
