HOUSTON – KPRC 2 Photojournalist Patrick Hardesty and Reporter Corley Peel were on their way to their assignment when they spotted a dead horse while driving down Cullen Boulevard. Corley immediately 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 a Valero convenience store. The camera’s captured the horse walking down Cullen Boulevard around 3:30 am. The horse walked into the middle of the street, but two cars made sure to slow down before passing. Camera’s from Richard’s business show the horse walking towards the sidewalk where the horse appeared to collapse.
“It’s heartbreaking because, you know, that’s somebody that took care of them and loved them,” said Richard.
HPD 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.
Susan Dancer is the Director of Texas Blessings Rescue and a certified animal cruelty investigator. She told KPRC 2 a horse randomly collapsing near a busy street is unusual.
“That’s something I would, associate more in the heat of summer, really super-hot days where dehydration and exhaustion are more rampant, but weather is pretty mild. It’s very strange,” said Dancer.
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 what not that was around the horse is probably just conducive with normal decomposition.”
As of 10 p.m. on Sunday, the horse had not been removed. BARC officials tell KPRC 2 the shelter closes at 5 p.m. on Sundays, but they do have on-call enforcement that can respond to calls after hours.
Officials said solid waste is typically responsible for removing dead animals. At this time, it is unclear when the horse will be removed. KPRC 2 is working to learn more about what happened to the horse prior to its death.