By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Humane Society yesterday seized three horses from the Bahamas Association for Social Health, citing complaints of animal cruelty against its executive director, Terry Miller.

The complaint, filed by BHS Inspector Percy Grant, alleges that the horses were suffering from starvation, severe malnutrition and other ailments and injuries for which they were not receiving the care and/or medication required.

Mr Grant said: “The resources are down, things are bad and he just doesn’t have the resources or the right facility. The barn is leaking and there is not proper drainage. It’s unfortunate but we’re saving these horses. I think if the situation was different and there was help ... the Humane Society had no choice. It’s in our best interest to help the animals.”

Yesterday’s seizure removed the last of five horses that have been at the centre of a bitter ownership battle for more than six years. The first two, Zeus and Martini, were released to the BHS by Mr Miller last Thursday. Martini has since been euthanised.

BHS president Kim Aranha said the seizure was the last resort after repeated attempts by the organisation to work with Mr Miller on the proper care for the horses. “These animals need a lot of help and will be under extensive veterinary care and cost a lot of money to bring back to normal,” she said.

“The BHS doesn’t have a lot of money. Every penny we raise, we spend on taking care of animals. It’s a very sad situation and it’s a situation I don’t really understand. The horse situation in The Bahamas is really becoming ridiculous,” she said.

“We’ve had problems in Eleuthera, Harbour Island, Andros. This is not a country given for horses. You have to be very wealthy to have a horse successfully,” she added. “That is not a racial comment, that’s a fact.”

Red, Arab, Soca, Zeus and Martini were originally leased to Earth Village, an eco-tourism component of BASH that was headed by Marlon Johnson. Since then, Mr Johnson severed ties with the non-profit organisation, but the animals remained at the facility. The horses reportedly played a critical therapeutic role in BASH’s rehabilitation programme and exposed inner-city children to the experience of horseback riding – a luxury Mr Miller said they would not otherwise have been able to afford.

In 2014, Happy Trails owner Sue Smith told The Tribune that she had been trying to reclaim horses for nearly five years. She said the animals had been slowly dying due to improper care.

At that time, Mr Miller admitted that the organisation had suffered a major financial setback, but was receiving assistance from the Department of Agriculture.

Yesterday, Mr Miller thought the biggest mistake he made was not acting on the BHS’ recommendation to euthanise two of the horses. Veterinary reports showed that the horses were malnourished.

“I had a difficulty putting them down, just like I had a difficulty putting my father down when he was sick. [BHS] they were here ten weeks ago, they looked at the horses and they agreed that these three were in good shape but the other two were in bad shape.”

Mr Miller said he was prepared to release the two sickly horses, Zeus and Martini, but he felt that the BHS was using their release as an excuse to seize the remaining three animals.

He said that although he was told the horses would be returned if he could get his stables up to standard, he expected that he would have to go to court.

“I feel that I’m targeted,” Mr Miller said, “because when you look at the condition of these horses and compare it to a lot of the horses around. I don’t want to put pressure on those guys because it wouldn’t be fair to do that, but they just constantly target me.”

He said: “I welcomed them [BHS] to come in and so-call help me, and then they turn it around to stab me. These ladies that came here, they were supposed to come and help, the Humane Society right there. It’s right next door, if they are the Humane Society and they’re designed to help people with situations why haven’t they helped?

“It’s the horses,” he said, “that’s what they wanted from the beginning.

BASH residents were visibly upset by the seizure yesterday. Some were outspoken while others looked on sombrely. One, Montgomery Kemp, said: “I’ve been taking care of these horses for the last two to three years. There is something desperately wrong here.”

Mr Kemp, also known as Monty Brown, the lead guitarist for the renowned funk and disco band T-Connection, said: “These horses, in comparison to the horses that I’ve seen on Bay Street, we take good care of them.”

BHS Legal Advisor and Board member, Metta MacMillan-Hughes, explained that the Animal Protection and Control Act 2010 was designed to protect animals from any form of cruelty, neglect or abuse and to ensure that all animals are kept under control. Ms MacMillan-Hughes, a partner at Lennox Paton, said that the police are proceeding under section 46, which states that anyone found guilty of an offence of cruelty is liable to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or both.

Mrs Aranha added: “We have to send a message out to the Bahamas this needs to stop. Animals do have rights and those horses have rights and we stepped in and gave them back their rights.” The horses will be sent out for rehabilitative care, she said.