Two charged with animal cruelty to horses in Bibb County

Two women were arrested Wednesday afternoon and face animal cruelty charges after two horses were found near death at a home on Bonner-Gilbert Road near Lower Thomaston Road.

Macon-Bibb County Animal Welfare Director Sonja Adams said Patricia Forster, 43, was charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty, and 17-year-old Lori Michele Burlison, of Bennet Road, was charged with felony animal cruelty.

Burlison is engaged to Forster's son.

The state Department of Agriculture visited the property in February and saw the two horses had lost a lot of weight, Adams said. The state agency was back at the property Wednesday and called Animal Welfare to check on the horses. What Animal Welfare found Wednesday led to the charges.

A small horse, between 12 and 15 years old, had its harness embedded in its head.

Another horse that was more than 20 years old was near death, Adams said, and a veterinarian on site Wednesday recommended it be humanely euthanized because of its prolonged suffering.

The older horse's condition was "about as bad as you can get," she said. "Every bone was visible."

Both animals were taken from the property to a veterinarian for further evaluation.

About six other horses on the property seemed healthy, Adams said. The horses could be malnourished for a number of reasons, but "at this point, we don't know."

"They could be sick, they could have something wrong with them," she said. "But the key to that is, at some point, you got to say, 'My animal needs to go to the vet.'"

Bond for Burlison was set at $5,700 and bond for Forster set at $650, according to the jail.

To contact writer Laura Corley, call 744-4334 and follow her on Twitter @Lauraecor.

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This story was originally published April 6, 2016 at 9:40 PM with the headline "Two charged with animal cruelty to horses in Bibb County ."