Starving Horses

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Ag Official Charged With Starving Horses By SEANNA ADCOX

Associated Press Writer

 

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A top South Carolina agriculture official and two of his

relatives

are accused of mistreating dozens of horses here and in Georgia, where

authorities

described some of the animals as looking like someone " draped a hide over

bones. "

James Trexler, one of South Carolina's three assistant agriculture

commissioners,

was charged this week with five counts of ill treatment of animals. Authorities

said five horses on his Hopkins property were found without food in stalls

filled

with manure and mud.

Trexler, who was suspended without pay from the job he's held since 2003,

was released from jail Thursday on bond. His mother, Hazelene Trexler, and

brother

Terry Trexler remained behind bars because they are considered fugitives in

Georgia.

Both were charged there with 30 counts of animal cruelty, authorities said.

In October, investigators found about 70 Arabian horses, including one already

dead, on about 75 acres in Jefferson County, Ga., sheriff's deputy Jimmy

Kitchens

said.

" They looked like you just draped a hide over bones, " Kitchens said.

" I used to raise and train quarter horses, and I've never seen anything

like this before. If paperwork could've been done quicker, there'd be more

charges. "

None of the Trexlers could be reached for comment Thursday. No one answered

the

door at James Trexler's home. No one answered the phone at a listing for him

and a message could not be left.

An attorney named by the Trexlers at the bond hearing said he was not

representing

them. The phones for several Sumter businesses listed under Terry Trexler's

name had been disconnected. (Sumter, SC - isn't that where the sadist vet Barber

was practicing?)

The more than 20 horses seized Monday on property the mother and younger

Trexler

lease in Eastover, S.C., were so malnourished that their ribs were showing, said

Lt. Chris Cowan, a Richland County, S.C., sheriff's spokesman.

None of the horses was at optimum weight and all shared a 15-gallon trough of

water, officials said.

Kelly Graham, a spokeswoman for the Humane Society for the Prevention of

Cruelty

to Animals, said the organization did not find any food at the property or hay

in

the pasture. " The field was just mud. There was no grass at all, " Graham

said.

Hazelene Trexler, 70, is charged with 28 counts of ill treatment to animals,

and

Terry Trexler, 44, faces 23 counts of ill treatment to animals in South

Carolina.

A tip led officials to investigate James Trexler's property on Tuesday, Graham

said.

All 28 horses taken from the Trexlers, including a pregnant mare, are in

veterinarian

care and are expected to make full recoveries. The Humane Society plans to seek

custody of them and eventually find people to adopt them, Graham said.

Terry Trexler also faces a kidnapping charge. Deputies said he refused to let

a Humane Society investigator leave when she came to the pasture this month with

a camera to follow up on a tip. At the time, he claimed he was his brother,

James,

officials said. (He's out on bail, and suspended without pay, and there is a

kidnapping charge???)

Terry Trexler, a former lawyer, was disbarred by the South Carolina Supreme

Court

in January 2001 for misconduct in two dozen cases and his conviction on breach

of

trust.

As director of administration for the Agriculture Department, James Trexler

oversaw

budgeting and procurement, information technology, auditing, payroll and mailing

services, agency spokesman Stephen Hudson said. He declined to comment on the

charges.(

A disbarred lawyer convicted of " breach of trust " got a job at DOA for

handling payroll & auditing?)

James Trexler was hired under former Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Sharpe,

who resigned in 2005 after admitting he took a $10,000 bribe to protect a

cockfighting

ring.

 

 

Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance.

Confucius