Alberta woman facing animal cruelty charges

EDITORS NOTE: Some details in this story are graphic and may not be suitable for all readers.

EVANSBURG, Alta. (CITYNEWS) – An Alberta woman is facing animal cruelty charges in relation to a case of starving horses.

RCMP got tips about horses starving at a home near Evansburg–a little over an hour west of Edmonton–between the end of November and Dec. 12, 2018.

Police tell CityNews Edmonton that the horses in question have died, although it’s unclear when the animals passed away.

Patricia Moore, 48, was arrested Friday without incident and has been charged with three counts of permitting and/or causing unnecessary pain, suffering, or injury to animals.

Moore was released from custody and is scheduled to appear in provincial court on Jan. 14.

CityNews reached out to Moore for comment and she said the SPCA went to her property on Thursday and “found no concerns, feed was available and adequate, horses were seen drinking from automatic waters” and the next day the RCMP had come up with charges and arrested her.

She also said she will let her evidence speak for itself in court, providing these photos of healthy-looking horses to us.

“Not emaciated, starved, neglected horses, but horses with access to food, water, shelter, and love,” she said.

Rally planned outside courthouse

Suits Us Farms is planning a rally outside the courthouse on the 14th. The Facebook event reads, “Stand up for the rights of the MANY horses who do not have a voice! [Patricia] Moore has done this one too many times! Something has to be done.”

It goes on to say, “Starving animals, and being a repeat offender is not something we should stand for in our community! Help us change the lives of those who are still able to be saved!”

Moore was previously convicted of “allowing horses in her care to be in distress” in 2012 according to the ASPCA’s website. She was fined $1,500 and prohibited from owning or caring for more than two horses for a period of five years. That sentence ended in 2017.

One woman on Facebook, Lauren Nagel, has been vocal about Moore and previous animal cruelty charges. She is also promoting the rally.

Nagel is painting a very different picture on the social media platform, claiming that she was contacted to help remove an animal from the Moore property. In her post–which has been shared over 1,300 times–she described what she reportedly saw when she got to the property.

“We were escorted by RCMP as Trish Moore has a violent past and we suspected we may have troubles, despite having permission to be on the property. I arrived to immediately seeing underweight horses, visible from the road in front of her house,” Nagel wrote.

The post goes on to discuss the condition in which Nagel saw some other animals on the property.

Nagel also said on Facebook the purpose of this rally is to make sure appropriate action is taken.

“Our goal is to push for freedom and fair treatment of the horses in her care. We want to put pressure on the RCMP and SPCA to make something happen,” she writes in the rally’s event page.

“We do not want people interacting with Trish Moore or acting belligerently towards the officers and courts people, we are only there to ask them why nothing has been done and to let them know that we will not allow this to continue.”

As far as the comments swirling on social media go, Moore told CityNews there are lawyers on her side.

-with files from Carly Robinson

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