RSPCA: Yorkshire woman who abandoned foal without food or water banned from keeping animals

A woman who left a seriously ill foal without food or water has been banned from keeping animals for a decade.

Carol Summers, 60, of Foss Walk in Castleford, also received a suspended prison sentence after the young horse was found to be suffering so much that vets felt it was in his best interests to be put to sleep. Cricket, a six to eight-month-old piebald foal, was found tethered in a field in Stansfield Road in Castleford, on January 13 this year after welfare concerns were reported to the RSPCA.

The animal was thin, lethargic and wobbly on his feet and there was no food, water or shelter available. He weighed 85kg when he should have weighed nearer to 150kg. Summers has now been banned from keeping animals for ten years after she admitted causing unnecessary suffering to the foal and failing to meet his needs.

At a sentencing at Kirklees Magistrates Court on December 6, she was also handed a 16-week prison sentence suspended for 12 months. The court heard how RSPCA inspector Kris Walker had visited the field and seen multiple tethered horses but one in particular raised concern.

In a statement to the court he said: “I saw a tethered young colt. He did not look any older than eight to ten-months-old. He was lethargic, wobbly on his feet and very thin with his hips and spine all prominent. The rug he was wearing was too big for him and not on properly. He was scouring badly. There was no food, water or shelter readily available for him and he should not have been tethered due to his young age.”

A vet was called out and gave Cricket a body score of just one out of nine, saying he was suffering from dehydration, hyperthermia and diarrhoea and needed urgent veterinary care. The police took the foal into possession and as he was transported for treatment he was so thirsty that he drank from the nearest puddle.

Summers arrived and was told Cricket had been seized and an investigation would be started. She agreed to sign him over into the care of the RSPCA, saying she’d owned him for six weeks and had been given steroids by a vet to treat him, although no record of this was found.

Despite extensive treatment and care, Cricket’s condition sadly did not improve and the decision was made to put him to sleep to prevent further suffering. Summers agreed she had assumed ownership and had failed to get the foal the care he needed and he had suffered unnecessarily as a result.

In addition to the suspended 16 week custodial sentence - to run concurrently for each offence - Summers was also ordered to complete 15 RAR days and pay costs of £400 and a victim surcharge of £154. She will not be able to appeal her ban for the next five years.

Magistrates said Cricket’s basic needs had not been met and there was a failure by the defendant in all aspects of horse ownership. In mitigation they heard Summers had various caring responsibilities.