N.B. horses seized by SPCA doing well

All 38 horses seized from a farm in northwest New Brunswick last July havebeen placed ingood homes.

The animals were so mistreated they had to be taken in by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animalsand put up for adoption.

Sisters Beverley and Sandra Tomalin, who kept the horsesin Tilley area, near Perth-Andover,are charged with failure to provide adequate care.

Mike Murphy, executive director of the New Brunswick SPCA, said there was initially concern that some of the emaciated and dehydrated horses would not survive. It was alsounusual for the SPCA to take in such a large number of big animals, he said.

But once word about the seizure got out, the response for adoptions was immediate.

"To me, not being a horse person, I just didn't fully understand or appreciate what horses meant to people until we found ourselves in this situation," Murphy said. "And it was just incredible to see."

Murphy said adoption offers came from all over the Maritimes, and the SPCA ensured the new owners would give the animals better treatment.

"The backgrounds were checked, the farms inspected by our officers and such to make sure that the horse coming from a relatively neglectful situation isn't walking back into another situation like that," he said.

Murphy said he's heard from some of the new owners.

"I love to hear the stories and see the pictures and that kind of thing. It's a very feel-good story in the end."

The trial of the former owners of the horses is next month. Sandra Tomalin has called the seizure a theft.