CHARLESTON, SC NEWS - LIVE 5 WCSC Breaking News, Weather, SportsNeglected animals improving

Neglected animals improving

By Ian Silver, Live 5 News

CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) - Live 5 News reported Friday about three miniature horses and three miniature donkeys the Charleston Animal Society took custody of after the Charleston County Sheriff's Office confiscated the animals off the owner's property in McClellanville.

Today, the animals are doing much better.

"And this is really sad, because she's a very sweet horse," Charleston Animal Society Director of Public Outreach Kay Hyman said. "The first day she came in we couldn't barely touch her."

The animals were taken from their because a concerned citizen called and reported they weren't being properly taken care of.

"She had a think coating of mats of fur," Hyman said. "You can still see some of it on her legs where we haven't finished. We keep giving her a break because it's just too traumatic to be shaved all at once."

Hyman says the animals hadn't been groomed or properly fed.

"But she's obviously able to breath now, be able to sweat like she's supposed to," Hyman said. "But now you can see these terrible ridges in her sides where she was undernourished."

After two days in the care of the Charleston Animal Society, the animals seem to be doing much better. Equine veterinarians continue to monitor their progress and test for other problems.

"They drew blood," Hyman said. "We're going to see if the progesterone levels are up in the females to see if they're pregnant, because we do believe that they have been bred."

Officers issued the animals' owner, Cindy Dellinger, five citations for animal-care violations, and one for ill treatment of animals. She is scheduled to appear in magistrate court on Thursday. At that time, a judge will decide if the animals should be returned to Dellinger, or if custody will be turned over to Charleston Animal Society to adopt them out.

The whole saga began back in early May when complaints were first reported against Dellinger and how she was keeping the animals. Sheriff's deputies gave her a list of things she needed to do to prove she could care for the animals, but they say she failed to fulfill those requirements and that's why they took the animals from her.