Sixteen horses, seized by authorities in northeast Iowa as part of a livestock neglect investigation, were put up for adoption Friday. Deputies with the Fayette County Sheriff’s office found the horses on a farm without food and water on March 10. Many of the malnourished animals were eating wood off feed bunks and bark off trees. Deputies also found the carcasses of three horses on the property and charged the caretaker, 41 year old Kelly Joe Olson of New Hampton, with serious misdemeanor livestock neglect.
On Friday, the sheriff’s office put the 16 horses up for adoption at $100 a piece, to help offset costs of caring for the animals over the past two weeks. Fourty-one people signed up for a chance to adopt a horse and were involved in a drawing. All 16 of the horses now have new homes.