HOUSTON – It was a sad sight to see on Sunday evening. KPRC 2 Photojournalist Patrick Hardesty and I were driving down Cullen Blvd. on our way to an assignment when we spotted a dead horse in the middle of the road.
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Immediately, I called 311 and was told others had reported seeing the dead animal. KPRC 2 spoke with Kim Richard who owns a nearby business. She also called 311 to report the dead horse sighting.
“They said they were sending somebody and had already reported it and they were going to send animal control,” said Richard.
KPRC 2 obtained exclusive surveillance video from the Valero convenience store. The cameras captured the horse walking down Cullen Boulevard around 3:30 a.m. The horse walked into the middle of the street, but two cars made sure to slow down before passing. Cameras from Richard’s business show the horse walking toward the sidewalk where the horse appears to collapse.
“It’s heartbreaking because, you know, that’s somebody that took care of them and loved them,” said Richard.
Houston police officers showed up and told KPRC 2 Animal Control was involved.
Richard said it is common to see people riding horses in the South Acres neighborhood, where many homes have livestock.
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Susan Dancer is the director of Texas Blessings Rescue and a certified animal cruelty investigator. She told KPRC 2 that a horse randomly collapsing near a busy street is unusual.
“That’s something I would associate more with the heat of summer, really super-hot days where dehydration and exhaustion are more rampant, but weather is pretty mild,” said Dancer. “It’s very strange.”
Based on pictures, Dancer said the horse does not appear to have signs of neglect. She noticed lacerations on the horse’s stomach.
“Those lacerations on the back of the horse’s lower abdomen were compatible with a horse that jumped the fence and didn’t quite clear it,” said Dancer. “It looked like there might have been a little bit of trauma to the head, but the fluid and whatnot that was around the horse is probably just conducive with normal decomposition.”
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Officials said the City of Houston’s Solid Waste Management is typically responsible for removing dead animals. They confirmed Monday at noon its Large Dead Animal Team removed the horse.
KPRC 2 is working to learn more about what happened to the horse before their death.