EAST BETHEL, Minn., Jan. 12 (UPI) -- A Minnesota horse boarder was charged Thursday with animal neglect after 17 malnourished animals were seized from his East Bethel ranch.
Lowell Friday, 72, faces 35 gross-misdemeanor counts for alleged neglect of the horses, which investigators said were emaciated and being kept in squalid conditions.
The Animal Humane Society, based in Minneapolis-St. Paul, had investigated Friday several times in the past 13 years and had previously seized stricken animals in August and November, the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune said. The horses were nursed back to health at the University of Minnesota and sent to rescue ranches for further rehabilitation, the newspaper said.
The charges were filed after a court denied a request by Friday to have one of his mares returned to him. Friday said the horse was in fairly good health but investigators said it was sick and suffered a heart murmur caused by malnutrition.
