SEQUIM — The owner of severely malnourished horses seized last month from a pasture in Sequim has agreed to give up custody of all of her animals, according to the Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
Clallam County Deputy Prosecutor Tracey Lassus said late Wednesday that the attorney for Buffy Campbell and the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office have negotiated an agreement for Campbell to relinquish the horses permanently.
That means there will be no civil court hearing today as originally scheduled.
Civil hearing canceled
Campbell, 41, was scheduled to ask for the return of the horses she and her daughter, Heather Gouldart, 19, had kept in a rented pasture off Olson Road southwest of Sequim.
The Clallam County Sheriff’s Office seized 16 horses Feb. 16, saying the animals were suffering from varying degrees of starvation and malnutrition and were estimated to be underweight by between 50 and 200 pounds each.
No criminal charges have been filed. Lassus said charges are pending.
Twelve of the horses will be released to the Sheriff’s Office for transfer to reputable, registered animal rescue organizations, Lassus said.
Four horses will be returned to other individuals who have been identified by the Sheriff’s Office as their legal owners.
One of those owners had a court order from Jefferson County for the return of the animal, Lassus said.
The horses are being kept at several locations in Clallam County, including several private barns where property owners have agreed to board those most in need of special care.
A few remain in Campbell’s rented pasture, but their care and feeding are being overseen by authorities until new homes are found for them.
‘Happy for horses’
“I’m very happy for the horses,” said Deputy Tracey Kellas, Clallam County animal control officer, who has been in charge of the horses’ well-being since the seizure.
“The original intent was that the owner and her family not get any of the horses back,” Kellas said.
Because of the large number of horses, individual animals will be sent to a number of different horse rescue agencies, she said.
Kellas said the horses cannot be directly adopted to new owners because the Sheriff’s Office isn’t set up to properly screen each adoptive household for suitability, and the Olympic Peninsula Humane Society is only organized for small animals.
However, anyone who wants to adopt a horse can be referred to the rescue agencies, she said.
Collecting donations
The Humane Society is collecting donations to help defray the costs of the special care of the horses while they are in custody.
The horses may remain in custody for some time until they can be transferred, and even once they have found new homes, the Sheriff’s Office still will have a lot of bills to pay to cover the care of the horses received, Kellas said.
Donors can stop by the Humane Society shelter at 2105 W. U.S. Highway 101 in Port Angeles, phone the society at 360-457-8206 or donate at any First Federal branch, said Mary Beth Wegener, executive director of the Olympic Peninsula Humane Society.
Wegener said the Humane Society also will take deliveries of grass hay and Equine Senior horse feed.
The horses especially need salt blocks with selenium and specialized feed, including “senior” and “mare and foal” feed — bagged feeds formulated for special dietary needs.
The fund is being operated under the Olympic Peninsula Humane Society Horse Rescue organization, she said.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
